One of my longtime friends, Elaine, emailed me a few days ago and asked me:
~ Let go. Don’t hold on so tight. Release the reins of life. Let your trip (and life) have its way with you. Letting go of control will allow your trip to reveal what it wants to reveal to you. Enjoy the exhilarating ride.
(It’s funny, even this blog is forcing me to let go! The next four paragraphs are stuck together. I’ve tried for 20 minutes to put a space between each of them but the blog won’t let me. I’ve got to let go of the way I think things ‘should’ look…even on this blog…)
~ Eat lots of local food and the food that you most enjoy. Eat without guilt. Life (and food) are meant to be fully enjoyed. If not now, when?
~ Even (especially?) during extended travel one needs lots of downtime. Allow yourself to spend a whole day in bed without showering. Stay in pjs. Without guilt. Order room service. Enjoy your day in bed with the guiltless food mentioned above if you like.
~ Laugh a lot. Especially at yourself and especially when you don’t feel like laughing. Especially then.
~ You are crazy if you think traveling for an extended period of time is easy. It’s not. You will be challenged on inner and outer levels that you didn’t even know you had. That’s okay. It’s part of the journey. Relax into it as much as you can.
~ If you are traveling alone it’s inevitable that you you will get lonely on your trip. When you do get lonely, grab the phone and call a local or long-distance friend. Or just step out the door and smile and talk to a stranger or an animal.
~ The Internet rarely helps cure loneliness. Often it makes loneliness worse. Use it sparingly. Be around real live people instead.
~ Sometimes loneliness needs to be felt and not shoved away with people or activities. Learn to gauge when those times are. Exploring the loneliness instead of pushing it away will cultivate deep intimacy and connection with yourself that will sustain you during future challenges.
~ Prayer and meditation really do help calm the mind. Do it for at least 20 minutes every day to maintain sanity (and connection with self and your Higher Power).
~ Just like you, people everywhere want and yearn to connect at that deep heart level. Slowing down will allow them to see your heart and allow you to see theirs. Remember that seeing each others hearts is all that matters anyway.
~ Do as the locals do to experience maximum enjoyment and freedom in a place. (When in Rome: eat lots of pasta. When in Bali: smile a lot for no reason, ride motorcycles without a helmet, don’t take life so seriously, be late to events because nothing starts on time and you’ll look silly arriving on time anyway. When in India: eat with your hands. Wear a Bindi on your forehead. Get your nose pierced. Don’t worry about wheat allergies-if you don’t eat at least one piece of naan you’ll end up regretting it.
~ Remain calm. No matter what. Even when the taxi driver says he definitely knows where a place is (Me: “I need to go to a shop that sells mosquito nets. Do you know where I can find a mosquito net for sale, Mr. Taxi Driver?'” Taxi Driver, nodding enthusiastically, says: ‘Yes, yes, I do know where to find mosquito net!’)
…and then after 25 minutes of driving around in what feels like circles, and you have to go to the bathroom and you are cranky from hunger and you still haven’t gotten to your destination…just then when you are wondering where the heck you are, the taxi driver looks over his shoulder and says, “So the place we are going is called ‘Mosquito Net’?”
Especially then. Remain calm.
Thanks for this question, Elaine! It was fun to think about what I’ve learned on my travels…
Love,
Kristin
About Me: 
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Thank you for this post, Kristin. I love seeing your journey unfold and enjoy the way you share it with us.
A couple of very important things I have learned on my travels:
1) Traveling alone does not mean that I am alone. In fact, I am never alone. There are ALWAYS people around me that want to know me and help me.
2) When you travel alone, you meet even more people than you would if you had a companion because people naturally want to make sure you are alright and offer their homes, their lives and their last bit of food with you.
3) Do all that you can to “unplug” when you travel. Don’t rely on the internet too much (except to let your loved ones know that you are ok), don’t read newspapers or watch tv. It only clogs your brain and puts a heavy cloak of expectations on your travels.
As you said, relax, let go and flow with where your travels take you. This is very scary for a lot of people but when you do, it’s a beautiful thing!
Love to you my dear friend!