How I Choose Where To Travel Next & How I Keep Costs Low

I like to explore Mother Nature more than cities. Although many times, en route to my main destination, I pass through an international hub. I tend to select warmer destinations and go in the shoulder season. I’m not a traveler that goes during a festival like Oktoberfest or Carnival. The music, dancing, and merry-making may be fun, but the crowds, prices, and availability are deterrents for me. My next adventure is a move away from South Florida. This fall, I will be returning to the Hawaiian Islands. Later this year, I will be hanging my hat in Maui.

Before Covid, I would travel twice a month with a balance between personal travel and leading tours. The trips would be about a week to ten days. Since Covid, my travels have been domestic and all outdoors. My most recent trip was a remote adventure into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of Northern Minnesota.

In order to keep costs down prior to Covid, I chose between communal accommodations at a ryokan or hostel with a private room, but shared bath and dining area. In these challenging times, I see camping, both tent and van, as a healthy and economic option.

An Important Travel Anniversary

Last fall I celebrated an important anniversary by walking the Kumano Kodo on the Kii Peninsula of Japan. Ten years earlier, I had nearly lost my life. I broke my neck in a freak accident in New York. Luckily, I underwent a successful surgery and a year-long recovery to be where I am today, healthy and with full mobility. The 5-day solo walk amongst cedar forests, mountains, Japanese killer hornets, and soothing onsens was challenging, mind-blowing, and life-changing. Ichi-go ichi-e was my favorite phrase learned on the trip, which loosely translates to YOLO (You Only Live Once).

I've Been Stung One Too Many Times

Bugs like me. When I met my former in-laws for the first time in rural Minas Gerais, Brazil, I was curious about a tropical fruit tree that I had not seen before. I looked under a branch with fruit. Unfortunately, a wasp was enjoying the fruit as well as stung me on my nose. Needless to say, the sting hurt, but it was the allergic reaction that was not a good first impression to my in-laws. Within an hour, my face started to swell. By later that same day, my head with swollen cheeks and forehead was the size of a basketball. Thank goodness for a local pharmacy only a dirt bike ride from the house. However, I didn’t learn my lesson until another sting by a wasp while hiking in Mendoza, Argentina nearly a decade later. So, when you learn of my run-in with Japanese killer hornets, you know I was carrying an Epi-pen.

My Biggest Travel Challenges

Other than the big Covid-19 elephant in the room, I, like many, try hard to find the delicate balance between obligations (financial, family, etc.) with travel time. I’ve tried to create synergistic opportunities so that my travels turn into freelance travel articles, a chapter in a new book, or another great creative project.

My Best Piece Of Travel Advice

Do it now and often. Don’t wait until after college, kids, and your career. Travel is the best way to check in with yourself and evolve.