6 Steps to a Perfect Vacation
IMHO* a Perfect Vacation has nothing to do with where you go. Or what you see. Or even what you do when you get there.
For me, a Perfect Vacation is always about the people you meet along the way. How you treat them. And how they treat you.
The people you meet can transform the dullest afternoon into a celebration. They can turn you on to great places, activities & events you'd probably miss on your own. And they can warm your heart when you find out that by gifting some small thing you take for granted, you can change their life forever. Or vice versa.
Best of all...when you let go of the urge to control every little thing, you get so much more back in return -- the opportunity to find your Vacation Zone. And maybe discover a great part of yourself you never knew was there.
If I got you hooked, here's my 6 basic steps for a...
Perfect Vacation
*IMHO = In my humble opinion
Photo Credit: Paula Pandey Chhetri
"Despite all the benefits, I estimate that only 2 or 3 people out of 100 will try a Perfect Vacation."
Perfect Vacation How-to at a Glance
- What Makes a PERFECT Vacation?
- Perfect Vacation - the Only Rule
- Perfect Vacation - the Preparation
- Perfect Vacation - the Strategy
- Perfect Vacation - the Challenge
- Perfect Vacation - the Exploration
- Perfect Vacation - the Adventures
- Perfect Vacation - the People
- Perfect Vacation - the First Time
- GUEST BOOK: Your turn...
- A Few Closing Words...
IMPORTANT NOTE: These steps apply to travel by car only. If you're traveling by RV, bike, plane, train, etc., some minor adjustments may be necessary.
What Makes a PERFECT Vacation?
Spontaneity. Curiosity. And the Joy & Wonder for living that you probably had as a very young child. But maybe lost touch with since then.
If you expect me to recommend places to go, things to see, and stuff to do, YOU'RE READING THE WRONG PAGE.
What I'm offering here is not what most people are looking for.
This page is for people who want more out of life. And more out of their vacations. It's for people looking for ADVENTURE.
Not dangerous adventure. Not jumping out of a plane adventure. Or visiting a war-torn land adventure.
This is about a PROCESS for discovering your own true Personal Adventure.*
It's an almost magical PROCESS I stumbled on when I was in college. I don't claim to own it. I've crossed paths with many people who regularly tackle life with the same carefree enthusiasm.
What I have done here is compile a step-by-step description of how I've refined the PROCESS over the years, while traveling all over the U.S. While living in a couple of foreign countries. And even on day trips just a few miles from my home town.
Today, I can't imagine vacationing any other way. Because it rejuvenates, fulfills and always amazes me. Yet tends to cost far less than any other vacation options I've tried.
* IMPORTANT NOTE: Let me say again...the Perfect Vacation I have in mind is not about proving you're fearless. Or seeing who can take the most ridiculous chances. No one expects you to face off against a mugger with a gun. Or jump off the roof of a building. Whatever could hurt you in your home town will probably hurt you anywhere else. Please...listen to your instincts. And use your head to make safe and intelligent decisions. ALSO: see A Few Closing Words...
Two Personal Adventure Stories...
I realize neither story is specifically about vacationing. But they are about trusting yourself. Following your heart. And unlocking the mysteries and wonders of any unique journey. Whether it's a few days on vacation. Or the rest of your time on earth.
The Royal Road to Romance: Travelers' Tales Classics
It's a cliche'. But this was one of a handful of books that literally changed my life. The author's autobiographic story as a Harvard grad during the early 1920s, who chose to travel around the world with no money, rather than get a cushy executive position at some Wall Street firm like his classmates.
'REAL Personal Adventures' decades before today's contrived Reality TV. Awesome book !!
Read it for FREE at Google Book Search.
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The Razor's Edge
W. Somerset Maugham's story of a World War I vet who rejects his family's wealthy lifestyle and his pending marriage to follow his own bohemian path to personal fulfillment. He returns decades later to discover some revealing truths about his childhood friends' perfect lives. Bill Murray stars (not a comedy).
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Perfect Vacation - the Only Rule
Step 1 -- Make no commitments in advance for the vacation period.
No reservations. No appointments. No meetings. No dates. No nothing.
I suggest you...
- ...forget about the usual vacation criteria.
- ...throw away the "let's make reservations" mentality.
- ...put on hold any bias about FUN, SUCCESSFUL and BEST.
Instead, give yourself permission to PLAY, like children play.
More about Playing
Create a New Identity
Feeling a little uneasy about letting go of the compulsion to plan & control every aspect of your vacation? Sometimes a little fantasy role-play can ease the tension. Imagine living your life as someone else using this online tool. Being more flexible in your imagination can help prepare you for being more flexible in real life. (Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority)
The Value of Play
"Play in our species...provides a state of mind that, in adults as well as children, is uniquely suited for high-level reasoning, insightful problem solving, and all sorts of creative endeavors." (Psychology Today)
Suburban Warrior Syndrome
"From The Matrix to Harry Potter, heroic fantasy is hot stuff. These modern epics tap into our frustrated impulse to be 21st-century knights. And may even help unleash the workaday hero inside each of us." (Psychology Today)
Perfect Vacation - the Preparation
Step 2 -- Pack lightly, with items appropriate for 3 possible scenarios.
Ideally, pack only 1 bag per person with clothing and personal grooming items. Bring nothing else. No sports gear. No iPOD. No video games. Nothing.
If you find you need something you don't have: Borrow it. Rent it. Or buy it. When you're finished, return it. Or immediately give it away to someone who will appreciate it.
Use your cell phone ONLY to stay connected to the other members of your vacation group. Or to check in regularly with a trusted friend back home.
What to Pack
Bring at least one complete outfit for each category. (Definitions courtesy of ApparelSearch.com.)
- Semi Casual - for most indoor activities & travel.
- Casual - for most outdoor activities & travel.
- Semi Formal - for fine dining & more formal events.
Who cares if you wear the same thing twice. Tomorrow, you'll most likely be in a different place. And with different people.
Perfect Vacation - the Strategy
Step 3 -- Pick a direction. Drive for at least 1 hour. Sometimes more.
The objective: discover new people, places and things you normally would not come in contact with.
Drive until you find some place fresh. Rely on your gut feelings or intuition or hunches or whatever to pick places that STRONGLY appeal to something deep inside you.
Sometimes it may feel like you have to stop, no matter what. When this happens to me, I know I'm on the right track.
More about Gut Feelings...
Why You Should Go with Your Gut Feeling
Is your unconscious brain intelligent enough to select the best options? Can you really base your decisions on intuitive hunches? Shouldn't you be worried that you could be tricked and influenced against your will? This study tells you some important facts about trusting your abilities. (New Scientist).
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
The best-seller about the "first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant."
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Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious
Covers research in a very readable format from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. It strongly suggests: "rules of thumb serve us as effectively as complex analytic processes, if not more so."
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Somewhere in Time (Collector's Edition)
Story of a young, contemporary playwright who, on a whim, stops at a grand hotel. As he uncovers one 'clue' after another, he launches himself on a completely unexpected journey across time to unite/re-unite with a lost love.
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Perfect Vacation Poll
Please consider your...
- political beliefs
- religious beliefs
- scientific beliefs
- informed opinions
- philosophical beliefs
- your 'need to be right'
Perfect Vacation - the Challenge
Step 4 -- Give yourself permission to act SPONTANEOUSLY.
A Perfect Vacation of true Personal Adventure requires a willingness to break free of stale habit patterns.
Allow yourself the freedom to discover something new without pre-judging it. And ultimately...
Live Completely in the Moment
Do only what you want. When you want it. Do something only so long as it's fun and fulfilling. Or for as long as it takes to learn something you want to learn. Then walk away. And do something else.
More about Living in the Moment...
Back to the Present
How to live in the moment and appreciate your surroundings every day. (Psychology Today)
The Art of Now: Six Steps to Living in the Moment
We live in the age of distraction. Yet one of life's sharpest paradoxes is that your brightest future hinges on your ability to pay attention to the present. (Psychology Today)
Live In The Moment
"...Seize each day with gusto." A mother's anecdotes & suggested activities for living each moment to the fullest and loving every minute of it.
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Perfect Vacation - the Exploration
Step 5 -- Move around. Look at everything. Read posters. Get oriented.
When you've reached the place you want to spend some time, remember that you're wearing your CHILD hat.
Get out of the car. Get out of the hotel room.
Explore like children explore. With CURIOSITY. And without prejudice.
More about Curiosity...
Curiosity: The Fuel of Development
"For too many children, curiosity fades. ...the less-curious child will make fewer new friends, join fewer social groups, read fewer books, and take fewer hikes. The less-curious child is harder to teach because he is harder to inspire, enthuse, and motivate." (Scholastic.com)
4 Reasons Why Curiosity is Important and How to Develop It
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Never lose a holy curiosity." -Albert Einstein (Lifehack.org)
"In print: Perfect Vacation looks trivial.
In practice: it can change how you live your life."
Perfect Vacation - the Personal Adventures
We've had the good fortune to meet extremely generous people.
I can't count all the times I and my friends have been thrown together with people we might normally pass right by, if we saw them on the street back home. But in a different setting, and with an open mind, they spontaneously offered to share a small slice of their lives with us. And created exceptional experiences we could never find in any guide book or on a vacation package tour.
Some examples...
- A trainer at 6 Flags in Texas took us on a private 'backstage' tour, where we watched dolphins being trained; petted and fed handsful of whole fish to a killer whale; and learned how the daily shows were put together.
- An engineer in the mid-west guided us through an operating steel mill on his day off. I remember hard hats, cauldrons of scorching-hot molten metal, and very loud clangs and bangs.
- A native American raised as a medicine man helped us complete personal vision quests at Mummy Cave - Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo Tribal Trust Land in Arizona.
- A wealthy & grateful businessman told us to "mention his name," and his name opened all sorts of unexpected doors for us on a trip to Bermuda.
- A UFO buff shared with us his favorite camping spot in Joshua Tree National Park (California), where we all watched little white dots way up in the night sky do an incredible choreographed dance, then stop and blend in to look like all the other 'stars.' (See: Disclosure Project set of videos)
- And on and on and on.
All of these experiences satisfied something inside each of us personally in different ways. At the same time, the experiences also brought us closer together, because we shared something unique and meaningful and fulfilling as a couple or group.
Perfect Vacation - the People
Step 6 -- Talk with people. Most are nothing like the stereotypes on TV.
Too many people make all their decisions based ONLY on superficial criteria.* So they never know how much they miss by moving on without making contact.
For me, it's the words and actions of the people I meet -- regardless of their outward appearance -- that elevate an otherwise mundane trip to the level of a Perfect Vacation.
Time after time, the 'right people' seem to come into my vacation at just the 'right moment.' And provide exactly what I need 'right there and then.'
Likewise I've been told over and over, how my presence has worked the same 'magic' for them.
I know shyness can also keep people from starting a conversation with someone they've never met. So here's a couple of suggestions to help break the ice.
- Start with 'Hi.'
- Ask them about what's going on locally.
- Ask them to recommend a good restaurant close by.
- Ask if they're on vacation, too. And how their vacation is going so far.
- If appropriate, share your experience in a way that honors and respects the listener's time and energy.
- Overall, just keep your words simple, honest and from the heart.
* IMPORTANT NOTE: Let me say one last time, the vast majority of people I've encountered on vacations have been great people. But if you ever sense that 'something is not right,' withdraw immediately with confidence, politeness and a smile. Listen to your instincts. And use your head to make safe and intelligent decisions.
More about Meeting People...
A Couple of How-to's
- How to Overcome Shyness -- from eHow.com
- How to Introduce Yourself -- from WikiHow.com
- How to Start a Conversation when You Have Nothing to Talk About -- from WikiHow.com
- Seven Tips for Making Good Conversation with a Stranger -- from Huffington Post
Shyness is an over-generalized response to fear. And it's easy to beat once you understand this. (Psychology Today)
Being There (Deluxe Edition)
Illustrates the power of meeting people with no expectations or pretense. Peter Seller's humble character combines honesty with innocence. to show how being yourself is all you need to be.
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Perfect Vacation - the First Time
Keep it simple. Start small.
If the Perfect Vacation concept fires your desire for a true Personal Adventure, start with a day trip to an unexplored place close to your home. Nothing fancy. Just go through the 6 basic steps.
Then trust the universe to provide the magic that makes your mini-vacation -- or your life -- the best box of chocolates you ever tasted.
Another Living in the Moment Story...
Forrest Gump (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)
A modern-day Classic movie that symbolizes everything remarkable about 'Living in the Moment.' Forrest doesn't think much about the outcomes of his actions. He just acts. He's just himself. And somehow he excels at everything he does.
"Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."
So do the best you can...right here...right now. You're contributing to the most valuable piece of art you'll ever create: yourself.
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Perfect Vacation in Las Vegas
Here's how I'd create a Perfect Vacation in Las Vegas.
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How to Create a Las Vegas Adventure
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Las Vegas Adventure means doing things in and around the Las Vegas Valley that make you feel really alive. That activate all your senses. That burn themselves into your memory. And still make you smile 20 years from now. I'm not talking about doing...
GUEST BOOK: Your turn...
Let us know you were here.
What do you think about the Perfect Vacation? True Personal Adventures? Vacations in general?
Share a relevant comment, suggestion or correction. Thanks.
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A Few Closing Words...
I provide the information on these pages for educational purposes only. Read more.
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by vacationjunkie
I call it the 'Vacation 'Zone.'
Living in Las Ve... (more)
