I have always been conscious of the use of time, both mine and the time of other people of my close group. Since a very young age, I got used to having a scheduled plan of the things that needed to be done, such as studying, and the things I wanted to do, whether that was playing with friends, participate in sports or other activities. As I was growing up and my responsibilities started to expand, defending my free time became harder and harder, especially when I started focusing more on my career. Suddenly maintaining a clear border between the hours I am busy with work, whether that’s within or outside my official work hours, and my free time became extremely hard to establish and my actual free time started hanging on a very thin thread.
That’s when I started feeling that the lack of free time has a real impact on my psychology as well as my performance both at work and personal relationships. I also felt that my personal development, which was once a priority for me, had now got forgotten as I hardly ever had the time or the energy to put a new personal goal and manage to stick to a specific plan. One day, something clicked in my head and I realised how lucky I am to be working in the most eye-opening, universal and adventurous industry, the travel industry, and I figured out that although I had been travelling a lot for work, which was one of the most exciting parts of my job, leisure travel plans had got dismissed for quite some time.
Planning a trip is an exciting adventure itself, not to mention how exciting it is when you actually take the trip. Putting yourself into a mental condition that is directed towards something new and unexplored is not only fascinating but also intriguing. Although both short escapes and long-hair trips can be equally refreshing, I believe that a long-haul trip is the best opportunity to explore very different cultures, get closer to alternative philosophies and get exposed to different influences; this helps unlock the brain cells that have got paralysed as result of our daily routine which is something that minimises fantasy whilst enhancing settlement. Investing in a good trip can be extremely beneficial both in the short-term and the long-term, and by good I do not necessarily refer to a luxurious trip. Escaping stillness and becoming available to jump into new experiences allows you to see things from a different perspective and creates a sense of freedom. This is something we easily forget; absorbing the empowerment that freedom creates is an unbeatable feeling and travelling is one of the ways to unveil that superficial feeling. Personally, this feeling gives me strength, motivation and helps me see a new angle of everything. I always get these super powers, as I like to call them, when I dive into a good travel experience.
For all these reasons, I consider travelling to be my personal choice of luxury because it helps me become a better person and expand my horizons whilst enjoying my time. Additionally, visiting different places along the years has helped me make new friends from all over the world and I feel honoured to have seen different places on earth through their eyes; you always have something new to learn when you see a place through another individual’s perspective so, that’s part of the experience I truly value. In the bigger scheme of things, after having visited different countries at the four out of the seven continents of this planet, I know I have developed a polygonal way of judging different situations and I am confident I can easily switch from one point of view to the other by putting myself in another person’s shoes without them even having to ask. This is result of the different people I have met around the world with whom I have had the chance to have interesting, honest conversations and get a good sense of their way of thinking and their way of looking into things.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post.
For any comments or feedback, feel free to send it to One Nice Hotel.
-Anna-
