The 5 Ws of Travel: How to Avoid the Pitfalls That Spoil Your Vacation

by Lindy Rothenburger

Overview

Have you ever been disappointed in your vacation? Have you ever travelled with someone who spoiled the whole trip for you? Have you ever booked your trip with a tour operator who turned out to be unreliable? The smallest detail can turn your vacation from bliss to disaster! By using these insider’s tips you will turn every vacation you plan into the perfect trip you dream about. Let journalism’s five Ws - Who, What, Where, When, & Why - help you discover your own, personal travel style so you can plan the perfect vacation that is suited exactly to your personality. Asking yourself, Why do I want to take this trip? Why am I choosing this particular travelling companion? Why am I travelling at this time of year? could make the difference between enjoying a trip filled with exciting memories versus an abysmal disappointment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781490751290
Publisher:	Trafford Publishing
Publication date:	12/05/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	130
File size:	243 KB

Read an Excerpt

The 5 Ws of Travel

How to Avoid the Pitfalls That Spoil Your Vacation

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By Lindy Rothenburger

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2014 Lindy Rothenburger
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4907-5128-3

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CHAPTER 1

What?

Do you know what motivates you to pay out your hard-earned money, put up with the hassles of airport security and long flights, and suffer jet lag to venture outside your own country? Defining the reason(s) you travel is the beginning of finding you the perfect vacation.

What Are Some Reasons Why People Travel?

Here is a list of possible reasons why people travel. I've broken them down into three categories. Are any of these your reasons?

Business Related

* Conventions/conferences

* Business meetings

* Employment interviews

* Sales calls and meetings

* Executive retreats

* Management planning sessions

* Consultation with other professionals in your field

* To testify at a trial

* To study or write/paint/sculpt on location

* Continuing education credits

* Incentive rewards

I'm not going to spend any time on these because I'm focusing on finding you the best vacation. I just added these to the list because there are many road warriors out there who spend more time travelling than they do at home. I imagine many of them prefer to stay home for their vacation.

The next two categories deal with our reasons for taking a vacation away from home. Let's take a close look at them.

Purely Leisure

* Have rest and relaxation during scheduled vacation time from work

Many people go all out, giving 110 percent to their career. When holiday time comes along, they just want to kick back and relax on a beach or by a lake or in a tent in the woods.

* See exotic destinations

For some, this might be the Galápagos Islands, while for others, it's the Pyramids. It could be something as simple as the architecture on the streets of Amsterdam. What wonders of the world do you have on your list?

* Learn about other cultures

Nothing broadens the mind as well as travel. Do you have a hunger to know what it's like to live in China or Africa or Russia? Are there still other cultures on your bucket list that you want to understand?

* Retrace history

If you are a history buff, the world has a wealth of past civilizations and momentous events to keep you travelling until the day you die.

* Walk in the footsteps of the masters—music, art, literature, and religion

Is it your dream to trace the life of Mozart, Chopin, Rembrandt, Shakespeare, the apostle Paul, or Aristotle? That's only a small drop in a big, big pond. You could spend your whole lifetime delving into past lives.

* Attend major world events

Do you like to be on the scene and breathe in the excitement of the Olympics, World Cup Soccer, a NASCAR or Formula 1 race, a major film festival (like in Cannes), or even a space shuttle launch?

* Hike, bike, climb, raft, or zip all the natural wonders of the world

Adventure travel has no limits. I, personally, am not the outdoor type. Give me a soft bed and room service! But even I would like to zip-line and walk the treetops in the rain forest. I think all of us have at least one nature adventure on our list. Maybe yours is a safari in Africa.

* Have romance (weddings and honeymoons)—your own and others

Many people these days travel to be guests at a loved one's wedding. Young people today are planning their weddings in exotic environments or on cruise ships. Honeymoons are often that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel. Or maybe your relationship needs the shot of romance a second or third honeymoon gives.

* Explore your passion all over the world

Have you always wanted to attend a cooking school in Tuscany? If you're a gardener, maybe your dream is to attend the Chelsea Flower Show in London. Whatever your passion, I guarantee you will find more than one place in the world to explore it.

* Travel with others who share your passion

Maybe for you, the joy of doing something like cycling through Provence, France, is the camaraderie of sharing the moment with others who love it as much as you do. No matter what your interest, there are hoards of like-minded people to share it with.

* Visit family and friends

Today's world is quite small. You may live in North America, but you grew up in Europe or Asia or South Africa or Brazil. It's important to you to take time to go back and visit with the family you left behind.

* Explore your family history

Even if our families have lived here for many generations, unless you are Native American, your ancestors came from somewhere else. For many of us, getting in touch with our roots and walking where our ancestors walked are a huge attraction.

* Escape winter

Rain, sleet, snow, and hail may not stop our postal service, but it chases many of us away to warmer climes.

Other Reasons

* Have a multigenerational family vacation or family reunion

Our business lives today are so hectic that we often don't have the time to spend with family. Vacation is the perfect time for everyone to get away together to let the grandparents, siblings, and cousins all catch up with one another.

* Volunteer in a third world country

Most of us like to find ways we can give back to our communities. That desire has now spread into our travels. Many of the tour operators are providing opportunities to make a difference in the lives of the people who live and work in the countries we visit.

* Attend children's sporting events or recitals

If you have a gifted child, you may spend much of your time travelling to music recitals, gymnastics competitions, sports training camps, and much more all over the world.

* Have health, wellness, or spiritual retreats

You may be a leader in these fields travelling to discover other methods of treatment, or you might be a follower seeking more enlightenment.

* Have a girls'/guys' getaway

It is very common these days for wedding groups to hold their bachelor or bachelorette parties in a distant city. This also includes things like fishing trips or sporting events for the guys and spa or shopping weekends for a group of women friends.

* Visit a place you've read about or seen in a movie

Do you belong to a book club? Your reading group could take a trip together to explore the setting for a book you are reading. Eat, Pray, Love is the latest craze with people travelling to Italy, India, and Bali to follow in the steps of Elizabeth Gilbert.

* Consult a health-care specialist in another city

Medical tourism is growing by leaps and bounds these days. People travel to get medical treatments they can't get at home. They also travel for medical and dental procedures that are far cheaper in places like Thailand.

* Master a language

Learning French, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, or others? What better way to learn it quickly than to become immersed in the language?

There are as many varied reasons for travel as there are people to think them up. You may have reasons of your own that I didn't even think of. Or something in my list may have triggered a desire that has been sleeping just below the surface of your consciousness. We will come back to this list and any other idea you may have added to it. But first, let's look at this.

What Are Some Hobbies, Interests, or Passions People Pursue?

Please take the time to think about all the interests, hobbies, and pastimes that capture your attention. (Or maybe I should say will capture your attention if you had the time, since we are all so busy these days.) Don't skip this. This is a major component of helping you plan the perfect vacation for you. Here is a list that might help you start dreaming.

Quilting
Beading
Model airplanes
Model trains
Lego
Scrapbooking
Calligraphy
Painting and drawing
Sculpting
Music
Dancing
Yoga
Fitness
Walking and running
Hiking
Cycling
Cars and motorcycles
Racing
Sports
Architecture
Archeology
Yachting and sailing
Scuba diving
Skydiving
Snorkeling
Windsurfing
Sand castles
Religion
Health spas
History
Genealogy
Movies and theater
Photography
Gardening
Bird-watching
Languages

Just as there are a number of reasons why people travel, there are a multitude of interests for people to pursue. What would it be like to join a group of other enthusiasts to pursue your passion in some exotic location? There are many organizations that provide opportunities for people to combine their love of travel with their passions. No matter what your interest, someone has likely already paved the way for you to explore it all over the world!

Before we bring together these lists of what into a personal exercise to help us hone in on what will give you a perfect trip, I want you to think about one more question.

What Makes You the Most Comfortable and Stress-Free on Vacation?

You know yourself better than anyone does. You know exactly what you would prefer to do on your vacation and what takes away the stress of travelling for you. I want you to consider this question based on your own gut reaction, not on what your spouse or your family would say. If you are in a relationship, get your partner to think about this independent of you.

* Do you need to be active or prefer to kick back and relax?

Some people like to spend their vacation on a beach or in a deck chair on a cruise ship with a good book. Their everyday lives are so hectic they need time to relax and restore before they go back to work. Others say, "I can read a book at home. I want to explore places and things I can't see every day." What are your absolute must-haves to make your vacation perfect?

* How do temperature and humidity affect you?

My family loves hot climates and prefer to vacation where there is sand, warm water, and hot sun, whereas I get heatstroke when I travel to hot countries. I'd rather play in the snow on a ski slope than lie on a beach any day! Take a moment to crystallize in your mind what the perfect climate for your vacation is.

* Do you have trouble sleeping on a hard bed or with a flat pillow?

Travel can sometimes become an exercise in sleep deprivation. If you have trouble sleeping in an uncomfortable bed, will that make you cranky? What sleeping conditions would spoil the trip for you? What steps do you need to take to ensure that doesn't happen?

* Can you handle unfamiliar, and possibly strange, food?

One of my clients wants to explore China, but his wife is extremely cautious about unfamiliar food. That can be a valid concern when visiting other cultures.

I am fairly adventurous about trying new food, but even I was set back for a few days after I discovered that a bitter-tasting morsel I had just eaten was jellied duck's blood! Yuck!

What are the limits you can handle before it would spoil the trip?

* Do you suffer severely from motion sickness?

While there are different solutions for motion sickness, if nothing works for you, a cruise is probably not a good idea. You would be able to cruise on the quiet rivers of Europe but not a lake or open sea. Write down the times when you get motion sick—on the water, on a roller coaster, or in a car or bus on a winding road. Then consider how this will limit your choices.

* Are you able to stay in a rustic inn, or do you need North American–style hotels?

For some people, staying in accommodation that is indicative of the lifestyle of that country is a huge attraction. For others, it is just as big a turnoff. What is the least you are able to put up with before it spoils your vacation?

* Do extreme poverty and aggressive vendors and/or beggars upset you?

There are places in the world where you cannot avoid seeing the poverty in which people are forced to live. Would that spoil your vacation? There are also places where you are hindered from moving along the street because the vendors are aggressively pushing their wares in front of your face.

This happened at one of the ports where our cruise ship stopped, and my travelling companion was so upset by it she swore she would never travel to Mexico again.

Describe what you could and could not accept.

* Can you feel at ease if English isn't widely spoken?

If you only speak English but are visiting a country where very little English is spoken, would you be afraid to venture out of your hotel? Would you fear getting lost and not being able to ask for directions? Describe how you would feel and react on an unfamiliar street where no one spoke your language.

* Do you feel unsafe in a crowd of strangers?

Some people find it hard to feel comfortable in unfamiliar places or with people who are obviously different from them.

In China, a young girl came up to me in the lobby of my hotel, put her arm around me and, using gestures, asked me if she could have her photo taken with me.

Write out how this unexpected familiarity from a stranger might mar you trip.

* Are you tolerant of unfamiliar customs?

Can you travel to countries with cultures very different from yours and not judge them by our North American standards? Describe what you think your reaction might be to a practice you would find horribly gross. Let me tell you a story about how I reacted to this very thing on my second trip to China.

We were walking down Wangfujing Street in Beijing. It is a long, wide street full of high-end shops, two shopping malls, department stores, souvenir shops, and at night, a plethora of neon signs. Everything stays open late, so we just strolled down the street to soak up the local sights and sounds.

On our travels, we stumbled across a night market—an L-shaped alley crammed on both sides with stalls offering Asian snack food, souvenirs, fabrics, and Chinese wares.

The first stall inside the entrance to the night market served Asian snacks. There were sticks standing in jars with five or six scorpions or sea horses strung down each stick. They were still alive. We could see them moving. I was totally grossed out!

As we were about to move away from the stall, a young Asian couple, in their late teens or early twenties, came up to the counter to place their order. They each picked out a stick, which the vendor slipped into the vat of hot oil. It only took a couple of minutes before the young couple was ready to enjoy their meal. I stared in fixed fascination as this young man put his stick into his mouth and pulled off one of the scorpions with his teeth! Then as he chewed it, I could actually hear it crunch. I was repulsed beyond words but unable to pull myself away. I finally realized what culture shock is.

Never being one who can hide her emotions, my face must have been a kaleidoscope of horrified expressions as I watched these young people relish their treats. To break the spell, the young man came up to me with a mischievous glint in his eye. Before I realized what he was doing, he shook his stick of scorpions right under my nose.

I scurried backward with my hands out in front of me, palms out to ward off danger, and screeched, "Oh, no, no!" I was laughing and screeching and scurrying away all at the same time. My daughter-in-law bent over with laughter, and the young couple was thrilled with my reaction.

The Asian kids each gave me a hug and went their way. My daughter-in-law told me this was the highlight of her whole trip to China. And I was left feeling embarrassed that my reaction to watching what is obviously commonplace in China, and probably other parts of Asia, may have been offensive to this local couple. Luckily, they chose to deal with it in humor rather than insult. I realized I must be more careful about how I respond to the world around me as I travel to different cultures.

How would you handle such a situation? Would it spoil your vacation?

Now that you have thought about what you really want in a vacation, please fill in the following exercise. At the end, we will use these exercises to help you plan that perfect vacation, so don't skip them.

The What Exercise

Now let's pull the lists we made earlier into a personal exercise to determine what makes a perfect vacation for you. Please take the time to do this exercise before going on in the book. Take your time to consider each question carefully. The answers to this exercise will be used at the end to help you plan your perfect vacation. I have provided a second lined page if you need more room to write your answers.

1. List all the reasons why you might travel.

2. What hobbies and interests are you passionate about that excite you when you think of possibly exploring them in other parts of the world?

3. When you think about your dream vacation, what is there about it that thrills you the most?

4. What fears do you have, if any, about traveling to unfamiliar countries?

5. Is there anything you can do to relieve these fears?

6. What needs to be part of your vacation to keep it stress-free for you?

7. Are there any nonnegotiable must-have items that absolutely must be part of your vacation?

8. Are there any nonnegotiable must-not-have items that cannot be included in your vacation?

9. What is the maximum dollar amount you will be able to spend on your vacation?

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CHAPTER 2

Who?

In chapter 1, we looked at what types of trips you might like to take and what you need to make your vacation stress-free and comfortable. Now it is time to look at the who.

Who Will Be Your Travel Companion(s)?

For some of you, this may seem obvious. You would take your significant other or your family, of course. But would you? By the time we have examined the who, that may not seem quite so obvious after all.

Here is a partial list of people you might want to take with you on vacation. Are these who you are thinking of?

Spouse
Child(ren)
Siblings
Coworkers
Neighbors
Girl- or boyfriend
Parent(s)
Best friends
The "girls" or "guys"
Club or association members
Extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins)

Your immediate reaction is that you want to take with you the people you love. But is that really the best choice? It will depend on what style of vacation you are planning. It is extremely important to match your traveling companions to the trip.

During my first year in the travel business, I won free tickets to Europe for two people. Both my son and my daughter, who were grown and gone from home, said to me, "Your children like to travel, you know."

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The 5 Ws of Travel by Lindy Rothenburger. Copyright © 2014 Lindy Rothenburger. Excerpted by permission of Trafford Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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