Lessons

Lesson Info

Preparing Yourself For Your Trip

I want to talk about three sets for preparing a trip we're going to talk throughout the next two days about sort of breaking these things down and talking about saving money and how to book cheap flights and everything in between but what I've really found is that becomes overwhelming when I started planning my trip I had no idea what he began I walked in I turned to my friend on the beach I said, scott, I'm going to go quit my job he's like yeah, yeah yeah sure you are you know, I walked into that one english be store on this island in thailand called ko samui and I got lonely plans guide to southeast asia and I had no idea when I was coming back to southeast asia but buying that book made it seem like all right, I've decided I spent fifteen bucks for this book there is no turning back, I'm hooked and but that was it I had this guy in yeah, I'm going through all this information and I have my plan all this stuff what do I do? It's so confusing I'm so lost I'm looking online actually i...

t's sort of developed three things to sort of get you on the path first deciding where you want to go is really important because it's easy to say, well, I'm going to go into europe next year well, your next year comes and you're still not in europe I'm going to paris in july we've sort of created an actionable goal for yourself and I think that's, you know, that's important through life if you say, well, you know, this year I'm going to the gym, you know, when you're going to get to the gym, but if I'm going to go to the gym tomorrow four o'clock you put pressure on yourself to go to the gym tomorrow four o'clock and that's your in travel create an actionable goal where do you want to go? And when do you want to go there? Because suddenly you sort of you know I force yourself do it and tell your friends, get your friends of ok, I'm going to go to paris in july hold me accountable and it becomes a lot that amorphous dream in your head someone becomes a reality that in a goal you're working toward decide how you want to go for again, I'm gonna go to paris, okay? When how long I'm going to paris in july for ten days again, you now have an actionable goal and maybe you go on the paris only for seven days because flight is different are you still for two weeks? But I like creating these little mental tricks because I sort of forced myself to actually plan a trip it becomes a reality for may it's not just some sort of, you know, maybe I'll go in the future, the future will never come. I have many friends who have said yeah, well, go, you know, maybe next year, you know, either friend he has been trying to go to korea for about five years now I've tried to help him to go, but he doesn't want my advice um and then start researching and this becomes, uh, the hardest part because there's so much information out there, you know, where do you start when you begin? Uh, what blog's what's good? What websites? What magazines? So I like three star on three things one google it was a great resource, we just had a hang out, but I like to go what to do in x so we're going to paris, right? What to see and do in paris? Um places free place it's a visit in paris because you're going to get so many articles written that deals specifically with what you want, do you? I really like sushi and if you read my block a lot, you know it's, I'm a big fan issues she one thing I always google women planning where find good japanese third doesn't always work, I got thick in costa rica, had sushi we'll talk about food safety tomorrow and how to avoid not getting sick in costa rica but you know, I start with google that I moved to other travel blog's there are so many destinations specific websites out there um that it's become a lot easier to find local experts you know, david runs a website on mindy in colombia, right? So you type in your median, you know, travel block he's going to come up and now you have a person who losing that city you can email and say, hey, I'm planning a trip where device can you give me? When I started traveling, I didn't exist, there are forums and you had a sort of navigate and then you get all these span trolls, and now trump walks are a great resource because you've had experts who have been there and done that, and so I went to look for travel blog's type in the destination with the word travel blogger or try top travel blocks and then you're just gonna get lift sort of begin with um and also like lonely planet ah lonely planet's thorn trade is therefore, um and this is just like twenty years of collective travel experience and any question you could ever imagine any destination has been asked and is a wonderful resource that I still use trip advisor eyes really good for guesthouses especially in developing countries which we'll get to tomorrow but in more detail but you know hotels dot com expedia they all charge a fee she advises free so in developing countries they know taking you five ten percent is a lot for them so you can get a much better selection of low low cost budget guesthouses and being being b and b on ship adviser and I like weeki voyage weaken pdo it's simple it's basic information that gives you like this sort of glancy overview but they have great information about buses and trains like how doe I fly into this little no name island I was recently going to nicaragua and I want to go to these two islands off the coast called the corn islands and I I went oh no corn islands wiki and had like the flight all the flight information there I could just sort of glance at it click to the airline and sort of verify it and so it's great for sort of the small practicalities I don't use and you wicky site for things to do or see because they're so minute but for the small little practicalities that could be really beneficial so focus on that action will go it really makes things easier and so these three steps really turned that amorphous trip you're planning into a riel trip you're planning it's not an idea anymore it's something you're really going to d'oh uh and you know, I think that's really important because so many times I've encountered people readers, friends, family who talked about like yeah, we're going to go somewhere at some time but one thing I've learned this tomorrow never comes you can put everything off I mean, I've been putting off going to the gym for well, you know, my new year's resolution go to the gym our but I never gave myself anything actionable and they haven't been to the gym really upsetting um so you know, I know planning and ship can be stressful I know it can be overwhelming and throughout this course I'm going to break it down into these small parts that make it seem less overwhelming because there's really not a lot to do beef before you go you know, sell your stuff pack you know, get your bank finances in order, book a ticket and there you go people ask me how I plan for my trips now and of course, you know, I go I do a little research on things to see and d'oh, you know, so I could get in general sense of things, but a lot of times now after I have been doing it so often I've just come to realize so everything the bag got my boarding pass and here I'm going and it becomes a lot easier you know, I mean, I get so overwhelmed with all the information and what to do especially because I had no support system when I started but take a deep breath, relax, breathe and becomes a lot easier just make travel a priority work towards your goals don't overthink it it's as the allison and david and don and lauren said, you know, it was a lot easier than they imagine they had built all these fears and worries up in their head on dh then they got out there and they just took a leap and they had a great fun um that's not me, by the way, I, uh don't like heights, but you know, just take the leap as um, quote the dutch quote earlier says the hardest part of stepping out uh, your trip is stepping out the door and once you get out there, you find that all these fears and emotions we're all we're all up here on what you get past all that ignored all the stuff the magazines tell you you'll find traveling is a lot easier than you thought, and throughout the next two days I'm gonna take all these complex, complex things you think about it and really break him down and show you that the process of traveling is a lot easier and simpler because the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step and that stuff is just going out your door. So, um, anyone having questions and you won't have any questions out there? We do. We've got lots of questions that really things about that, they're gonna be coming up in the next couple of days. Great. Yeah, you know, I can relate to this. There was a day in a time when there wasn't a smartphone anywhere and he had to find an internet connected, so but we use smartphones and ipads and all of these things not only to help us stay connected, but to help us know where we are. I am lost without you google map? Yes. Oh, so we're going to talk about, you know, how to incorporate technology and thought this afternoon we're going to talk all about year in technology what I bring on the road, we're going to bring a technology expert on the google hangout line and to talk about securing your your your information and your your technology and dealing with wifi connectivity and all that great stuff that we think about because we're so connected now that we kind of want to area with us. But you definitely should not be stuck on facebook what your chaplain when I went off from traveling there is none of this because this is how old I am well, I was telling one of twenty three so I took a thing called a pen and paper that won't mean anything to you watching but I used to write letters but now coursing just because you're in touch with everybody where you are in the world which is wonderful they could follow your journey you know I have a uh I love hate relationship with technology I love it it's what I do and I love facebook really allows you to connect with people you've met but you know, you go into hospitals and everyone's glued into there glued into it and then the wifi goes down in their life are you connected? Are you connected that's the only time people talk sometimes without love hate something that they want to ask you this point you're getting is really sort of excited now you think we'll talk about your bucket list of the beginning or you've been thinking now this is how I'm going to do it I'm gonna do it this year and next year what we think so where is your action goal? So let's talk uh and on where do you want to go like let's work toward your go and help get you there that so it was really big for me is about a week eo I booked my flight so I figured at that point I wasn't gonna cancel or change my mind because I and allocated the resources and from then on out it just felt a lot different little at the moment I hit that that purchase button on I think that's great because now you can't there's no turning back I know many of you were just, you know, once you book the flight that's it makes it seem much more real and, you know, you know want to cancel the flight because then you lose all the money and so you're on you're going that when I think that's great and that's, another thing I would advise people to do is you know, if you're kind of hemming and hiring when you're really excited just booked the flight because we don't overthink it book it and now you're stuck and you'll be happy that you're stuck with it because you're like, well, wait, now I'm really going, yeah there's great way we have had some questions about that people saying what happens if you know you booked the flight, you're committed, then they're fearful of change because I suddenly think actually love to go from greece to italy while I'm there that sort of thing well, I'm going to be getting into that as well about how you avoid all the change fees yes, we're going to talk in depth about airline tickets because that is what a subject that how my daily email involved airline airline rules I want to change tickets what do I do? How do I avoid fees? How can I get upgraded into business class? How can I fly first class for free and we're going to talk all about that stuff and we're gonna talk about technology flights, accommodation and so you know I want you to start thinking of a goal and how you can work toward it because we're going to get you to work toward that goal so sam I missed it imposes a ticket you booked is that for your bucket list that's your thailand train it's you know it's the beginning of the beginning of my trip yeah, I will get to thailand but we're starting in amsterdam uh one of my other favorite cities oh, my god. The invention accident did what you had quite the adventure that so I lived there for a little while we'll playing poker and that that's under venturing himself you know that? Make sure you go to this place called pancakes let's get dutch pancakes. They're the wishes. Pancakes? Yeah, yes, I brought all my stuff with me today so you can see what I bring and how aipac ring and talk about that after lunch when we get to gear and technology and you can see all I take for forever whenever I go back and weighs less than twenty five pounds, all of it together.