Travel days can be hard.
That’s a pretty weird, negative thing for a travel blogger to say. But, I’m not about putting a glossy finish on anything. Don’t get me wrong…. traveling is a beautiful experience. I LOVE planning, packing, airports, trains, new destinations, and revisiting old favorites. I feel lucky to have seen a big chunk of the world, and I’m always excited to see more.
The beauty of travel is all about the destination, discovery and a sense of adventure. There’s pretty much nothing beautiful about early morning flights, long security lines, delays, or my husband’s propensity for forgetting his passport. Stuff just happens in the process for getting from Point A to Point B.
In our family, we have two big travel rules that we live by to make travel days lighter and brighter. We call them the Sanders Family Travel Rules, but you feel free to adopt them and put your own name on them. Honestly, if you are ahead of me in the security line and following these rules, I’ll be so excited I won’t care what you call them.
We start out every single adventure, whether it’s a 3-hour road trip or an 11-hour international flight, by talking about these rules. Best case scenario, we recite them as we calmly walk out the door with exactly the amount of luggage we need and plenty of time to spare. But, in most cases, my husband reminds me of them amid my last-minute flurry of activity when I have nothing packed and am still in my bathrobe 30 minutes before we absolutely must leave. We remind each other of them when we get frustrated about canceled flights or something we forgot to pack. These are our go-to rules for handling any kind of travel snafu.
We talk about these rules mostly on travel days when we are navigating airports, train stations and road trips. But, honestly, these are just good rules for life. They are just as applicable at your destination or on your random, regular Wednesday.
So here they are… the only two travel rules you will ever need. And they don’t have anything to do with carry-on liquid limits or packing light.
Rule 1: Keep Moving Forward
This one is a twofer. Keep Moving Forward is both a literal and figurative rule.
Literally, travel days are all about getting to your destination. To do that you need to maintain forward progress. In the most simple terms, and the most common situations, this could mean…
- Check in online before your fight so you don’t have to stand in line or use the kiosk at the airport
- Be prepared for the airport security line. Have your laptop and liquids in an easy to reach spot, have your pockets empty, have your jewelry off and your shoes ready to slip off. Being ready for your turn lets you sail through and keeps the line moving for the travelers behind you
- Don’t stand still in hallways, doorways or walkways. Just generally be aware of your surroundings and respond to them appropriately.
More importantly, Keep Moving Forward is an attitude of acceptance and energy.
In years of traveling, I have never been on any trip where every single thing went according to the original plan. I’ve had flights rerouted to different cities, checked into hotels they were decidedly different than advertised, and I’ve even driven to the wrong airport.
Guess what? It all turned out just fine.
Travel is all about a sense of adventure, and the key to making lemonade from lemons is to maintain that excitement and energy.
It’s so easy to let snafus drag you into stress and negativity. Instead of letting the unexpected ruin your trip, channel your inner Elsa and let it go. Whatever happens on travel days, keep moving forward by identifying a solution and doing what it takes to keep your trip as close to on track as possible. A solution-based attitude goes a long way toward keeping your whole travel crew happy.
Speaking of happiness, our second big travel rule is….
Choose Happiness
Travel is such a privilege. From hiking in the forest a mile from my house to riding roller coasters at Disney Land to walking through ancient cathedrals in Europe, I feel so lucky to have seen and experienced some incredible things in this world. And that’s why, no matter what travel days throw at me, I choose happy.
I can’t always decide what happens, but I can decide how I react to it and how I feel about it. I commit to choosing happiness because I want every trip to be a great one. I want to look back at our time in Washington DC and remember the beauty of the monuments on a sunny day instead of our two cancelled flights. I want the view from atop London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral to be bright and vivid in my mind while the 600 stairs slip from my memory.
So, sure, there are tons of other legit travel tips out there, many of which I will talk about here. But, at the end of the day, the only two travel rules that really matter are…
As long as you can do those two things, everything else will either fall into place or won’t matter.
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