CHOOSE DESTINATION
There are two currents of thought . One defends the permanent need to conquer new territories, we can call it the napoleonic current . The other finds pleasure in repeating routines, a bit like Pessoa. Both are correct.
There are people who travel, by default, to New York and don't even consider visiting Washington, so solemn, organic and museum-like, just four hours away on a train. There is another one that every time she sets foot in a country she finds herself obliged to comb it in case someone picks up the red telephone, a nuclear bomb falls the next day and they are left without doing it. Everyone is right.
There are no better or worse destinations, but there are those with a better or worse brand image; We will not say neither one nor the other so as not to offend susceptibilities, but let's say that it is more shareable (we are governed by that verb) to say that we have been to Laos, Comporta, Biarritz, Marfa than to say that we have traveled to (gap to fill in according to each one) . If someone thinks that it is the millennials who travel to less conventional destinations, they are wrong. The latest Portrait of American Travelers study reveals that they prefer family tourism and even cruises. Every year there are lists of the hottest destinations; so the most insecure can be governed by them. Next year according to the gurus we will have to travel to Botswana, Saint Helena, Trasnsilvania, Bahamas, Quito, Mumbay, Auvergne … Is it for tips? Ours: out of stereotypes and let's travel wherever we really want.
The remedy: we have to embrace our obsessions. If we feel comfortable in London, let's sell out London, which, by the way, never runs out. With the destinations you do not have to hit. And the thing about closing your eyes and pointing to a point on a map, map (Google Maps doesn't work) continues to work.
Choose the destination that fills you the most
ALONE OR IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS
This point is irremediably linked to the previous one. The journey begins when you begin to fantasize about him. We have a week of vacation; If we are lucky, we can choose between traveling with family, friends, dog, acquaintances, significant other or alone.
The family guarantees emotional intensity, but also trust and tender moments of embarrassment. . Friends ensure laughter and its corresponding microtensions. The dog promises company without tension , neither micros nor macros but certain restrictions. Acquaintances will be in the best position to become friends or fade away. Traveling with a partner (or their substitutes) can be heaven or hell, although many times it will be neither one thing nor the other. And less bad. Traveling alone is pure peace and self-knowledge , but it does not allow sharing, which we have already said is important, especially when done with tired feet, at the end of the day and with a glass of wine in front.
The remedy: the best destination is always the company with which we travel . This also works for when we travel alone. Or alone.
With a pet you can also
BOOK A HOTEL
A quiet traveler can become a deranged hydra looking for a hotel. There are many races of travelers. There are those who put the options in an Excel, those who repeat (is there a problem with repeating Le Bristol, La Mamounia or Mandarin de Tokio ad infinitum?), those who compare so much that, in the end, they have to sleep at the cousin's cousin's cousin and those who do not give the slightest importance to that act.
According to Hosteltur, the user consults an average of 38 websites looking for the best price, location and services Many? Organizing a trip is preparing the ingredients for future memories and the hotel is important. It is a pension on a cobbled hill in Lisbon, a hostel with a shared bathroom and an Asian villa with a green and private pool. It is because it will be an important stage where, let's not fool ourselves, even if we only sleep, it will not only serve to sleep. It is an ephemeral each and the houses are important.
We always doubt if we have hit the neighborhood, if we are spending more money than necessary, if we are missing the definitive hotel, if we are in the room with the best views and the biggest bathroom. Those doubts are legitimate. Let's think that we choose hotel as we live , groping and as we can. Travel, like life, has no dress rehearsals.
The remedy: Have references to turn to. Here too it works like life. If we want a hotel, let's use seal websites that guarantee a good offer, security and advantages, such as the ** Preferred Hotels&Resorts **; We can also go to sites that do the filter work, such as i-Escape or Mr. And Mrs Smith, two classics. And to reinforce or destroy a decision, our friend (or enemy) ** Tripadvisor ** is always there. Or a traveler friend of flesh and blood, which works very well. Or to magazines like this one, where hotels come out so pretty.
For the hotel, go to your favorite website
PREPARE SUITCASE
Bernard Herrmann should appear here and delight us with some of his compositions, for example, Psycho or Vertigo. Nobody, listen well, no one, but no one, knows how to pack the perfect suitcase . In fact, that suitcase does not exist because life is ahead of you and throws you a shower or a party when none of that was in your plans. You have to try, yes. There is a lot of literature about how to make a sensible and optimized suitcase. The best advice is to do it with time, music and enthusiasm. And then, as Coco Chanel said, referring to appearance, before leaving the house you always have to remove something.
The remedy: assume that you are going to be wrong and laugh at your brief clumsiness. You will forget something and that will matter very little . Also, remember that fate has put Amancio Ortega on our path and that there are many possibilities that wherever you go, he will come to our aid.
The perfect suitcase does not exist
AIRPORT SECURITY
Maestro Herrmann, don't stop playing his haunting music because the moment you cross the security checkpoint is a source of stress and discomfort. Before we arrive we are dignified and well-dressed beings, but in minutes we become ragged tightrope walkers with the face of ISIS terrorists . We have to place the entire technological arsenal on the trays, we have to get semi-naked and, even worse, we have to reveal our cosmetic miseries in the obligatory transparent plastic bag. **Everything is slightly humiliating (or at least aesthetically mediocre)** in the minutes that this procedure lasts. The journey begins once we have put on our shoes and belt again. Only at that moment.
The remedy : let's make it easy and fast. Let's get everything ready , let's leave the gladiator sandals and the ten bracelets inside the suitcase, also the rebellion. We'll take it out when we get to the destination.
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