“Experiential” is the New Travel Buzzword
By: Melinda Crow
Tags: Traveling, Experience, Vacation, Travel, Travel Tips

It’s easy to say that you want to experience more from your travel, but not always easy to put that into practice. We tend to fall into the trap of thinking that simply going on an amazing trip translates to experiences that we will cherish. That isn’t necessarily the case. Here’s how to ensure that you get the most out of your experiential travel.

Plan to do, not see

It is easy to fall into the trap of “seeing the sights.” Flip that around as you plan a trip by thinking about what you want to experience at the destination, not just the sights you want to see. For example, it’s hard to miss seeing the Acropolis when you visit Athens. You can choose to hike up the hill for a closer look, and that is certainly an experience worth considering. But experiential travel goes beyond the obvious.

Stop for a minute and imagine one small moment of your time in Athens. What would make that moment perfect? Would it be dining at a street café within sight of the Acropolis? How about tasting ouzo at a local taverna? Or shopping for leather sandals at the same store where Jackie Onasis shopped for hers? Those are the experiences you will remember and cherish, so plan to make them happen, even if it means skipping the sightseeing tour.

Learn to enjoy the mundane

I realize that this sounds like the total opposite of experiential travel, but the reality is that when you learn to enjoy the mundane parts of a trip, amazing things come into focus. Take scuba diving for example. Seasoned scuba divers know that they won’t see giant manta rays or whale sharks on every dive. They may, in fact, see them only once in their lifetimes. Acknowledging that fact is crucial in learning to see the smaller wonders of the ocean. You can spend hours looking for seahorses, but it is only when you learn to enjoy looking at coral, both living and dead, that seahorses magically appear — because it’s where they live.

Enjoying the mundane also means using all your senses.

Embrace the unexpected

As much as you plan, there will always be detours, schedule changes, and side streets that catch your attention. Those detours are part of the travel experience. Jump in whole-heartedly and enjoy them. So what if you are stuck in traffic in Rome? It’s Rome! Doesn’t it beat a day at the office?

Gary and I recently shared a dinner table on a cruise ship with a couple that was having an almost catastrophic trip. Their travel agent had mixed up their reservation and told them they were on a round-trip cruise from their home port, when in fact they were on a one-way cruise, ending in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They did not even know they needed return flights until they were about to board the ship.

They laughed at dinner every night anyway. Halfway through the cruise, their stateroom was flooded by a water leak above them. Clothes were soaked, electronic devices ruined, but still they remained calm. The cruise line upgraded them to a balcony cabin and they continued to enjoy the trip — now with not one, but two tales to tell and two memories that they shared.

Share your experiences

That brings us to another way to get more out of your trip. Simply sharing the trip with someone else enhances your own enjoyment. There’s a lot to be said about solo travel, and that is an experience of its own, but experiences only come to life fully when we share them.

At that same cruise dinner table with the disaster couple, there was a gentleman traveling alone. His wife did not care to cruise, but by dining and enjoying activities with others that he met onboard, he enhanced his experience — and ours.

Capture the memories, selectively

One of the joys of experiential travel is reliving the moment. The problem comes when we spend the entire trip with our face behind a phone or camera. You can’t fully experience something that way.

My suggestion is to take the best camera equipment you can afford, so that the memories will be captured well, but not to feel like you have to record every single second. Put down the camera and fully experience the moment.

Slow down

This is especially true when it comes to traveling with children. You don’t have to see all of the zoo. Or the theme park. Or the museum. Or all of the wineries in a region.

Move at a pace that allows you to let the destination wash over you and reveal itself to you bit by bit. Experiential travel is not a race; it’s an experience meant to be savored.

Go left

Stop and think for a minute about the last time you entered an amusement park, zoo, or museum.

Generally, the flow of traffic is to the right. Go left instead. Left is where the short lines are. Left gets you to the polar bear exhibit while it’s still cool enough to see them playing in the water. Left is uncharted territory. Left is hard unless of course, you’re a racehorse or race car driver trained to go around in a left-hand circle so that spectators can feel comfortable watching you move to their right.

Go left. Stretch your boundaries. Move at your own pace, not that of the pack or what is dictated by some traffic flow designer somewhere. Walk through entryways and make a deliberate decision to go to the left. See what things look like from a new perspective.

Going left is not just about literally turning left. It’s about traveling outside the norm. It means renting a car and wandering the city on your own rather than taking the tour. It means walking when everyone else is getting a cab. It means taking a chance on an unknown eatery rather than a chain restaurant.

It’s about exploring your surroundings in such a way that you discover who you really are and what you want from your life’s journey. It’s about fully experiencing your travels.