Preparing for an adventure is essential to allowing the adventure to be experienced fully.
We all know that feeling when we head to the beach only to realize we haven’t packed our swimsuit. While this might be a small issue (there are often nearby swimsuits to purchase,) it serves as a small example of the issues you might experience if you neglect to prepare.
However, there are other reasons why preparing is so fundamental, and this isn’t always defined by the contents of your suitcase.
There are many mental, emotional and even spiritual hurdles to overcome before you can enter an adventure well. Now, while a spontaneous trip might be considered the best way to travel, sometimes this can leave you unprepared for the entire stay.
We’d recommend the following tips to gain experience in your outside-the-ordinary travels, and from there, learn lifestyle traveling tips you can apply to almost any situation:
Prepare Your Packing List
It’s important to know what to pack. This will largely be determined by where you hope to go.
Sit down with your travelling buddy and decide every small event that you might like to encounter. Heading to the tomato festival in Spain? A new change of clothes and tight, agility permitting footwear might be the key. Hope to enter a full music festival like Coachella? It might be thin, breathable fabrics is the best way forward.
However, sometimes people enjoy encountering more intensive adventures. If this sounds like you, it can pay to stay a little more wise and tick survival gear off the list. From an Antarctic to a Galapagos packing list, you can be sure that more prepared is often better prepared.
Also, consider the weight of your luggage. Consider the cost of transporting this via the reward for heading there. Be realistic in what you can actually see and achieve. This doesn’t mean spontaneity is out of the question, but it’s almost impossible to visit a place successfully without thinking of this. Consider what you might buy at the location, and what might be provided.
For example, it could be that specialist adventure equipment tried and tested at the location could be a better option than purchasing new and traveling with the item in question there. Some items might not get through customs, such as survival knives or similar items. Be realistic, yet pack for your biggest adventure. A strong inventory is a good place to start.
Read
Immersing yourself in the culture of the place you hope to visit will often help you naturally move through the space when you finally visit.
When we think of adventure, we often think of Lara Croft or Indiana Jones visiting ancient temples and moving through spaces they have never seen before with relative ease. However, even these fictional characters were archaeologists, and understand the vast amount of research they have committed prior to the visit. While spontaneous trips can give you a hands-on experience of a country and to a wonderful degree, sometimes spending at least two weeks prior to your trip absorbing its culture can help you become a more informed tourist.
Watching the best films from the most celebrated directors of the country, to contributing to the online message boards where those citizens congregate can inform you of places to go, things to see, and experiences to have.
Reading will also help you feel more familiar with the culture on an emotional level. When you head to a new place there are very many small culture shock moments that might feel a little intense if you aren’t quite yet the experienced traveler you have the capacity to be.
This small effort in reading might even help you initially overcome the language barrier, although understanding that this is likely to only be a drop in the ocean will help you stay humble conversing with the locals.
Be Open
Adventure is all about seeing new horizons, enjoying the prospect of more, and challenging your current perceptions. It’s about fully saying ‘yes’ to the culture you’re about to experience, and by that extension respecting it fully. We’ve all seen tourists who head to a country because the culture seems fun, and then sticks to the cuisine of their home country and sticks to the beach and tourist shops. This is a corporatized version of the culture that you visit, not the authentic side. The authentic side can be harder to track, especially in the tourist hotspots. However, that doesn’t mean a little scratch under the surface can’t reveal the most beautiful places and people you have ever encountered.
We’d recommend either hiring a local tour guide, heading to the nice restaurants off the beaten path, or simply conversing with the locals about your stay and how best to experience the culture. Locals in beautiful areas are more than used to tourists, but genuine adventurers of knowledge and interest are much less common. You’ll likely see someone’s eyes light up when asked about the intricacies of their area or the history you should know.
Staying open is the first key into finding a real window into the place you head. This means that adventures can be found in almost every small little detail. After all, what is a realistic adventure? Are you to find the Holy Grail in a ruined temple, or are you to experience some beautiful food, finding an adventure in every mouthful? Are you to trek up the mountains for the most stunning view you have experienced, and are you to drive across the country on a custom built rented motorbike and sidecar? Adventure is in the little choices, and so is the capacity to be open. When you have both of these things working in conjunction through simply saying ‘yes,’ you’ll find that the overall trip takes on a new light, and you’ll never want to leave.
With these small tips, even the most travel-shy will find a wonder in heading out and exploring the world at their doorstep.
What are your best packing and travel prep tips?
Share them in the comments section below!
This is a collaborative post.
