Mastering Travel: Avoid Common Mistakes & Enjoy Your Adventure
I’ll always be honest with you. A life of solo travel is fun. You meet so many good people and see amazing places.
But there are times when my travel mistakes are self-inflicted. This is not a post to complain – it is a warning to myself, fellow solo nomads or any traveler.
In December, I quickly said “Yes!” to join a fellow traveler on my current cruise from Japan to Vancouver. At the time, I was on my way to South America and Antarctica for the first time. Beware of the travel high when making travel decision. At the time, everything and every travel opportunity sounds like fun!
In this travel planning I didn’t:
Look carefully at the cruise itinerary – I was excited to get back to Japan and visit cities I had not seen before
Understand the ports in Japan had never hosted a cruise ship, were not prepared and had little to offer. (When Viator didn’t have ANY tours in ANY port, I should have known better.
Realize there were 8 which became 10 days at sea out of 22 (I love sea days but even for the Pisces in me - that’s a lot)
Clock the weather in the North Pacific Ocean in early May – it’s cold and windy keeping everyone inside the ship
Take the time to research every port (it is not a thing I do before my travel, I like the discovery and the basics get me there to find out great find with locals)
Could I have avoided this? Yes. I have no one to blame but myself. As a solo traveler, there is no one else…
How have you recovered from a travel mishap?
Leave a comment below.
I am making the best of days at sea.
I am in the gym every morning for 60-90 minutes
Another two hours of sea day Zumba and line dancing classes are lots of fun (and there’s the morning done!)
Organizing my life, thoughts, future travel. Time to sit, think and plan (better?)
Meeting and connecting with diverse people from all over the world. We can become:
Facebook friends or more
Followers of my blog or YouTube channel
We share personal contact information for more direct messages and emailing
I am active on cruise roll calls as soon as I sign up for a cruise. These are groups specific to the cruise you are taking. They are found on Cruise Critic and Facebook (I prefer FB for this purpose). On these forums, you can “meet” many of your fellow cruisers before the ship sails. Lots of good and bad information, opinions and experience are shared. Once we’re onboard, it’s always surprising when someone recognizes me from one of these forums. Or one of my Facebook followers or subscribers to my blog or YouTube channel says hello.
This the end of the pity party. Writing from the third day of sailing in the North Pacific Ocean on a grey, cold, dreary day. This is the reality of traveling full time, stuff goes wrong by accident or choice.
What’s your biggest or last travel mistake?
Please leave a comment below.
