My Most Minimal Travel Setup Yet

I just got back from a trip to Beijing and Shanghai, and really loved how light I traveled for 8 days.

It was the least amount of stuff I’ve taken on a trip of any length, and traveling has never been less tiring.

When you have very little on your back, it’s less draining. It’s faster and funner.

I thought I’d share my latest travel setup, in hopes that it’ll inspire a few of you to try the joys of traveling lightly.

This setup is unique to me, so I don’t recommend that you copy it … but that said, I’m sharing it so you can possibly get a few ideas and see how light travel is possible.

The backpack. I traveled the entire time with just a tiny backpack, no luggage or roller bag. The one I used is the Goruck 15L Shadowruck, which is just 15-liters in volume and only 0.27 lbs. (!). It’s super light. It’s tough. Not much room in it. Perfect.No laptop. The most significant change I made to my setup this trip is to travel without my 11-inch Macbook Air. This tiny laptop is only 2.38 lbs., but traveling without a laptop is a huge change in weight. I was only going for 8 days, so I did my writing before I left. This wouldn’t work for many people. If I had to write for a longer trip, I could find an Internet cafe in most cities and write there.The iPhone. While I resisted getting an iPhone for 6 years, in June Eva bought me the iPhone 5 for Father’s Day. So I’m now a part of the smartphone masses. And I embraced it on this trip, carrying only the iPhone, no laptop or camera. I did my reading, Tweeting, email and other work on here. And of course used it to document my trip with sweet photos. Also included: the charging cord.Clothes: I favor workout clothes, because they are breathable, washable, comfortable and dry fast. So I wore the Ascent Pant, which looks a little dressy and is light and breathable. And a Precision T. And ExOfficio boxer briefs. I packed: another Precision T, two more boxer briefs, some workout socks, workout shorts, and a long-sleeve workout T-shirt. Just in case, I also packed a thin, lightweight Nike rain jacket (I didn’t need it this trip). Just in case it was cold, I also packed a beanie.Toiletries. Deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, nailclippers.Food. Just in case, I packed a handful of fruit & nut bars, and some raw almonds.Other. I also had a couple of notebooks and pens, for writing, my passport, earbuds, a travel towel, a sleep mask, ear plugs, and a universal travel adapter.

Total weight: under 8 lbs.

Q: Why travel without a laptop?

A: I liked traveling without all the weight. And I tend to use the laptop too much when I travel, so I thought the restriction of not having a laptop would be good for me. If I needed to write, I might have found a foldable keyboard for the iPhone, or used an Internet cafe.

Q: How do you travel with so few clothes?

A: I simply wash them in the shower, wring them out good, and hang them to dry in my hotel room. I didn’t need to wash the pants, though they’re easily washable (as opposed to jeans). If you wash underwear, a shirt and socks on most nights, you only need one or two changes.

Q: Why workout clothes and not cotton?

A: I love cotton. It’s just heavier, and it gets smellier, than the workout clothes I pack. And it takes longer to dry. And wrinkles more. So the clothes I brought solve all those problems, and they’re very comfortable.

On another note, I invite you to join me, Matt Frazier of No Meat Athlete, and Jesse Jacobs of Samovar Tea Lounge, for a great panel discussion we’re holding at Samovar Tea Lounge in San Francisco next week (Oct. 29) from 8-10 p.m.

If you’re interested, get tickets here:

How To Deal With And Create Change — Tea, Tips & Talk

View the original article here

21 Top Travel Apps and Tools

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

How to Travel with Just Hand Luggage

Many people balk at the idea of travelling with just hand luggage. Paring down your packing and travelling light might seem like a sacrifice, but it can make your trip far more pleasant. Travelling light and just taking cabin baggage has a number of benefits. Not only can it save you money on baggage check-in fees, but your bag is less likely to get lost or stolen as it will be with you the whole time. In addition, when you arrive at your destination, you can skip the baggage reclaim crowd and head straight for the nearest exit.

Check your airline’s restrictions on cabin baggage. Most airlines offer a generous allowance in size and weight, but you need to make sure that you’re within that allowance otherwise you could find yourself having to check your bag after all.

Skip scissors or any other sharp objects. Most everyday items, including common toiletries will be available at your destination. Buying these things abroad will save valuable space and weight in your luggage.Swap liquid cosmetics for solid counterparts, where possible. Soap, shampoo, and deodorant are all available in solid form from shops like Lush. Using solid toiletries will help you stay within your liquid allowance.Remember that any liquids you carry must not be more than 100ml each and must all fit into a clear 1 litre plastic bag. Items like toothpaste, deodorant, and cosmetics like mascara and lipstick all count as liquids so be aware of this when packing.Ask for a doctor’s note to cover any liquid medication you need to take on board. It’s also worth contacting your airline before flying to confirm that you will be taking necessary medications on board.Choose three, and only three, outfits. However long your trip lasts, you won’t need more than this. Sinks and washing machines are the light traveler’s best friend.Be ruthless. As a general rule, I’ve found that I usually need about 25% less clothing than I take on a trip.Take clothes that work with multiple outfits. That skirt that only matches one top won’t be a practical addition, whereas a pair of denim shorts that you can wear with pretty much anything will serve you well.Wear bulky clothing on the plane and save lighter clothing for your case. Boots, walking shoes, jeans, and winter jackets all take up space in hand luggage, so wear them on the plane to reduce the weight of your bag.

Making a few simple adjustments to how and what you pack will save you a lot of space. Here are some suggestions that will help you cut down your load even further:

Get a Kindle or other e-reader. Gone are the days where we need to check a separate suitcase just for our holiday reading. Kindles are small, light, and give you the chance to carry around your own personal library.Book swap. If you’re determined not to go digital just yet, take one paperback book with you to read on the plane, then swap it for another paperback at your destination.Check whether your accommodation provides toiletries like soap and shampoo. If so, you don’t need to take them yourself.Swap a beach towel for a microfiber towel. Microfiber towels do everything beach towels do, but weigh less, take up less space, and dry faster too.Use your pockets, especially if you’re taking a jacket or wearing cargo pants. Your hand luggage might have a weight allowance, but you don’t…Roll your clothes instead of folding them. This helps reduce the amount of wasted space inside your suitcase, and is less likely to crease your clothes than folding.Use any shoes you’re packing as storage containers. The inside of a shoe is wasted space so stuff them with underwear or miscellaneous objects for more efficient packing.Sharp objects. Nail scissors, pen knives, tools, crafting equipment and other sharp objects are not hand luggage friendly.Liquid-based gifts – Remember that you can’t take more than 100ml of liquid in a single container. Save buying gifts such as spirits or perfume for the duty free section, and make sure you can fit it in your case before purchasing.

What are your tips for travelling with just hand luggage? Leave a comment and let us know!

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-take-charge-your-tech-related-hand-pain.html: How to Travel with Just Hand Luggage

Featured photo credit: Businesswoman is waiting at the airport - selective focus via Shutterstock

Hannah runs Becoming Who You Are, the guide to authentic living. She is passionate about helping people create the lives they want from the inside out using a rational approach to personal development. Get the free ebook “The Five Most Common Blocks to Authentic Living... and How to Overcome Them" and much more at http://www.becomingwhoyouare.net/.

Want to be a Lifehack Expert? Join us

View the original article here

How to Travel: 21 Contrarian Rules

(Photo credit: Moyan Brenn)

This is a tactical post on travel from Ryan Holiday, who’s written on this blog before about the pragmatism of Stoicism and lessons learned as Director of Marketing for American Apparel.

To his 21 rules, I’ve added a few of my own tricks. Please share your own rules and tips in the comments!

Why are you traveling?

Because, you know, you don’t magically get a prize at the end of your life for having been to the most places. There is nothing inherently valuable in travel, no matter how hard the true believers try to convince us.

Seneca, the stoic philosopher, has a great line about the restlessness of those who seem compelled to travel. They go from resort to resort and climate to climate, he says, and continues:

“They make one journey after another and change spectacle for spectacle. As Lucretius says ’Thus each man flees himself.’ But to what end if he does not escape himself? He pursues and dogs himself as his own most tedious companion. And so we must realize that our difficulty is not the fault of the places but of ourselves.”

It’s hard for me see anything to envy in most people who travel. Because deep down that is what they are doing. Fleeing themselves and the lives they’ve created. Or worse, they’re telling themselves that they’re after self-discovery, exploration or new perspectives when really they are running towards distraction and self-indulgence.

Is that why you’re packing up your things and hitting the road?

Not that I don’t travel myself–I did my fair share this year alone. Both coasts of Australia. I was in Amsterdam for a speaking gig (and I found myself at a tulip farm with Tim where he caught a chicken with his bare hands). I researched for my next book in Rome. I went down to Brazil. I went to Copenhagen. I spent enough time in New York that it felt like I lived there. I road tripped across the United States more times than I can count–New Orleans to New York; New York to Miami; Miami to Austin… The list goes on. If there was a chance to go somewhere I’d never been, I tried to take it, especially if it was historic.

But are you, as Emerson once put it, ”bringing ruins to the ruins?”…

The purpose of travel, like all important experiences, is to improve yourself and your life. It’s just as likely–in some cases more likely–that you will do that closer to home and not further.

So what I think about when I travel is that “why.” (Some example “whys” for me: research, to unplug, a job or a paying gig, to show something that’s important to me to someone who is important to me, etc.) I don’t take it as self-evident that going to a given famous place is an accomplishment in and of itself. There are just as many fools living in Rome as there are at home.

And when you make this distinction, most of the other travel advice falls away. The penny pinching and the optimization, the trying to squeeze as many landmarks into a single day, all that becomes pointless and you focus on what matters.

I am saying that saving your money, plotting your time off work or school, diligently tracking your frequent flyer miles and taking a hostel tour of Europe or Asia on budget may be the wrong way to think about it.

In the vein of my somewhat controversial advice for young people, I thought I’d give some of my thoughts not just on traveling but on how to do it right.

1. Don’t check luggage. If you’re bringing that much stuff with you, you’re doing something wrong.

[TIM: I second this and encourage you to take things to extremes. Here's exactly how I travel the world with 10 pounds or less.]

2. Instead of doing a TON of stuff. Pick one or two things, read all about those things and then actually spend time doing them. Research shows that you’ll enjoy an experience more if you’ve put effort and time into bringing it about. So I’d rather visit two or three sights that I’ve done my reading on and truly comprehend than I would seeing a ton of stuff that goes right in and out of my brain. (Oh, and never feel “obligated” to see the things everyone says you have to)

[TIM: Need some inspiration? Here are my highlight lists for Tokyo and Buenos Aires.]

3. Take long walks.

4. Stop living to relive. What are you taking all these pictures for? Oh, for the memories? Then just look at it and remember it. Experience the present moment. (Not that you can’t take photos but try to counteract the impulse to look at the world through your iPhone screen)

5. Read books, lots of books. You’re finally in a place where no one can interrupt you or call you into meetings and since half the television stations will be in another language…use it as a chance to do a lot of reading.

[TIM: I strongly suggest that non-fiction bigots (which I was for 15+ years) read or listen to some fiction to turn off their problem-solving minds. Try The Graveyard Book audiobook or Zorba the Greek.

6. Eat healthy. Enjoy the cuisine for sure, but you’ll enjoy the place less if you feel like a slob the whole time. (To put it another way, why are you eating pretzels on the airplane?)

[TIM: If you want to follow The Slow-Carb Diet, my default cuisine choices in airports are Thai and Mexican food. Also, keep a *small* bag of almonds in your bag to avoid digressions in emergencies.]

7. Try to avoid guidebooks, which are superficial at best and completely wrong at worst. I’ve had a lot more luck pulling up Wikipedia, and looking at the list of National (or World) Historical Register list for that city and swinging by a few of them. Better yet, I’ve found a lot cooler stuff in non-fiction books and literature that mentioned the cool stuff in passing. Then you Google it and find out where it is.

[TIM: I like to spend an afternoon visiting hostels, even if I'm staying in an apartment or hotel. The hostel staff will know which free and low-cost activities get the best reviews from the non-museum-going crowd.]

8. I like to go and stand on hallowed ground. It’s humbling and makes you a better person. Try it. (My personal favorite is battlefields–nothing is more eery or quiet or peaceful)

9. Come up with a schedule that works for you and get settled into it as soon as possible. You’re going to benefit less from your experiences if you’re scrambled, exhausted and inefficient. Me, I get up in the morning early and run. Then I work for a few hours. Then I roll lunch and activities into a 3-4 hour block where I am away from work and exploring the city I’m staying it. Then I come back, work, get caught up, relax and then eventually head out for a late dinner. In almost every time zone I’ve been in, this seems to be the ideal schedule to a) enjoy my life b) Not actually count as “taking time off.” No one feels that I am missing. And it lets me extend trips without feeling stressed or needing to rush home.

10. When you’re traveling to a new city, the first thing you should do when you get to the hotel is change into your work out clothes and go for a long run. You get to see the sights, get a sense of the layout and then you won’t waste an hour of your life in a lame hotel gym either.

11. Never recline your seat on an airplane. Yes, it gives you more room–but ultimately at the expense of someone else. In economics, they call this an externality. It’s bad. Don’t do it.

12. Stay in weird-ass hotels. Sometimes they can suck but the story is usually worth it. A few favorites: A hotel that was actually a early 20th-century luxury train car, a castle in Germany, the room where Gram Parsons died in Palm Desert, a hotel in Arizona where John Dillinger was arrested, and a hotel built by Wild Bill Hickok.

13. Read the historical markers–*actually* read them, don’t skim. They tend to tell you interesting stuff.

14. Add some work component to your travel if you can. Then you can write it all off on your taxes (or better, be paid for the whole thing).

[TIM: Here's how an entire family moved to a tropical paradise in Indonesia and continued to earn income.]

15. Don’t waste time and space packing things you MIGHT need but could conceivably buy there. Remember, it costs money (time, energy, patience) to carry pointless things around. (Also, most hotels will give you razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other toiletries.)

16. Go see weird shit. It makes you think, shake your head, or at least, laugh. (For instance, did you know that there is a camel buried in the soldier’s cemetery at Vicksburg?)

[TIM: If you go to Japan, don't miss the incredible Ghibli Museum, made by animator Hayao Miyazaki and located in Inokashira Park.]

17. Ignore the temptation to a) talk and tell everyone about your upcoming trip b) spend months and months planning. Just go. Get comfortable with travel being an ordinary experience in your life and you’ll do it more. Make it some enormous event, and you’re liable to confuse getting on a plane with an accomplishment by itself.

18. Regarding museums, I like Tyler Cowen’s trick about pretending you’re a thief who is casing the joint. It changes how you perceive and remember the art. Try it.

19. Don’t upgrade your phone plan to international when you leave the country. Not because it saves money but because it’s a really good excuse to not use your cellphone for a while. (And if you need to call someone, try Google Voice. It’s free)

20. Explore cool places inside the United States. The South is beautiful and chances are you haven’t seen most of it. There’s all sorts of weird history and wonderful things that your teachers never told you about. Check it out, a lot of it is within a drive of a day or two.

[TIM: Here are 12+ gems of the Pacific Northwest, encountered on a road trip from San Francisco to Whistler, Canada.]

[TIM: 21. OK, this one's from me, just because it's so much fun. Take pictures of yourself jumping in different places! It can turn a boring "adult" afternoon into a giddy kid-like experience. The below is from Burning Man 2010.]

(Photo: Mike Hedge)

Travel should not be an escape. It should be part of your life, no better or no worse than the rest of your life. If you are so dissatisfied with what you do or where you live that you spend weeks and months figuring out how to get a few days away from either, that should be a wake-up call. There’s a big difference between *wanting* a change in scenery and *needing* to run away from a prison of your own making.

To me, there is more to admire in someone who challenges their perspectives and lifestyle choices at home than in some Instagram addict who conflates meaning with checking off boxes on a bucket list.

[TIM: I'm a fan of bucket lists, but different strokes for different folks...]

So ask: Do you deserve this trip? Ask yourself that honestly. Am I actually in a place to get something out of this?

Over the years, I feel like I have mastered the art of something I wouldn’t call “travel.” I’d call it living my life in interesting places.

These rules and tricks have helped make that possible, and maybe they’ll work for you, too.

###

What rules and tools have worked for you? Please share in the comments!

(A much shorter version of this piece, without my comments, first appeared in Thought Catalog.)

Posted on July 14th, 2013

View the original article here

How to Keep Habits Going During Travel

Keeping up with habits can be difficult when you’re traveling, because all of your normal triggers are gone.

I’m in the middle of a long stretch of travel (2 trips, traveling 19 out of 23 days) and I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with habits while traveling.

Let’s take two quick examples:

Exercise. Let’s say you normally go for a run or do a workout after you drink coffee, process email, brush your teeth, and eat breakfast … if you’re traveling and in a hotel room, you might wake up later than normal (after an exhausting flight or day of sightseeing) and go out for coffee and check your email in the coffee shop (for example). Now when will you run or work out? You usually do it after a certain sequence of events, with your breakfast being your main trigger for the habit. Without the trigger, the habit doesn’t happen automatically.Healthy eating. Let’s say you tend to eat a healthy breakfast of steel-cut oats, nuts & fruit at home, right after taking a shower … but when you travel, you don’t have the same meal in your hotel room after you shower, and maybe you’re in a hurry, so you grab something quick & easy (and less healthy). You’re walking around all day and grab a pizza for lunch (rather than the healthy lunch you normally pack for yourself). The change in your routine has changed your healthy eating habits.

Yikes. And this happens with every habit you have, if it’s tied to something in your routine at home or your office (and pretty much every habit is).

So what can you do?

Here are some things I’ve learned as I travel, from numerous mistakes:

Think ahead. It’s no good to say, “I’m going to stick to my exercise habit on this trip” and then hope you do. That’s like a New Year’s resolution — those guys never come true. Instead, figure out an actual trigger for your habit. Set up a reminder. Prepare your stuff the night before. Have an accountability buddy.Hold loosely to your expectations. Habits like exercise depend more than you might think on how much energy you have. If you are exhausted from walking and sightseeing, you might not be able to exercise like you do at home. This takes a flexible mind.Try to do the minimum. Keeping with your flexible mind: if you normally exercise for 30 minutes, try 5-10 if you’re pressed for time or low on energy. If you normally meditate for 20 minutes, try 2 or 5 minutes. It’s better to keep it going with the minimum, than to only do it if you have the time/energy for the full session.Know your keystone habits. If you have 5-7 habits you try to do every day, what are your most important ones you should try to do when traveling, and which ones can you put on hold? For me, I kept meditation, flossing and running, but let go of the rest.Pick it up when you finish traveling. If you don’t have the time or energy, just put the habits on hold, and take extra care to start as soon as you get back. You might even get some accountability buddies to help make sure you get started asap. The longer you put it on hold, the harder it will be to get started again. Also: when you start after your trip, start small.

I hope this helps! Happy travels, my friends.

View the original article here

Ask the Entrepreneurs: 8 Ways to Save Money During Business Travel

Ask The Entrepreneurs is a regular series where members of the Young Entrepreneur Council are asked a single question that aims to help Lifehack readers level up their own lives, whether in a area of management, communication, business or life in general.

Here’s the question posed in this edition of Ask The Entrepreneurs:

Use a platform like Startup Stay to connect to the local startup ecosystem and save some cash — it’s like couchsurfing for entrepreneurs. Who knows? The connections you make might result in some unexpected opportunities.

- Christopher Pruijsen, FounderBus

Instead of rushing in and out of an event, consider staying for an extra night or two. This lets you take advantage of peak flight rates and better hotel rates when you’re staying for several nights. It also enables you to have time to catch up with new contacts, local leads or colleagues.

- Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems

There are other ways to connect with people, like Skype and Google+ Hangouts. Travel is expensive and can be tiring. Also, meetings and events don’t always turn out to be as productive as you think they will be.

- Jim Belosic, ShortStack/Pancake Labs

In our early days, I used to wait until the last possible minute to book a trip — I was never sure if the business would “need” me to be onsite, so I deferred the decision. Plan your trips for the year and decide early on which events you can extract the most value from. Then, commit by booking your airfare and hotel at lower rates.

- Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches

If you know that you’re going to need to take multiple trips in the next couple months, see how many of them you can block together. Last month, I was away from home for two weeks straight — but I don’t need to take another trip until May. It’s exhausting, but it saves money in the long run.

- Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting

Leverage the purchasing power of your business by charging all your company’s expenses on credit cards with aggressive reward points programs. Purchase everything from materials to office supplies to vendor payments and marketing services on your credit card to rack up points. When it’s time to travel, simply trade points for airfare and hotel rooms.

- Anthony Saladino, Kitchen Cabinet Kings

Find a flat-rate airport car service that will get you where you need. Almost every city has one. Not only will you save money, but you will most likely be in a more luxurious car with a more professional experience.

- Benji Rabhan, MorrisCore

If you travel a lot, cards like American Express Platinum are well worth the $500/year fee. If your foreign transaction fees add up to more than 3 percent, this type of card is well worth it. Add in all the mileage rewards, bonuses for signing up and other assorted travel insurances and perks, and you end up saving big in the long run.

- Matt Wilson, Under30Media

Here are Lifehack's four top tips for effective business travel:: 4 Simple Ways to Maximize Productivity on the Road

Featured photo credit: Airplane flying above tropical sea at sunset via Shutterstock The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program.

View the original article here

How to Travel Through 20+ Countries with Free Room and Board

Casey Fenton founded Couchsurfing.org, which connects millions of travelers with free accommodation around the world. (Photo by Alexandra Liss)

I met Alexandra Liss on a rainy day last September, outside of one of my favorite Thai restaurants in San Francisco.

Alex had just returned from six months abroad, traveling through 21 countries for free while shooting her full-length documentary, One Couch at a Time. She was wrapping up the film and had requested an interview with me.

Our topic of discussion? The Sharing Economy.

Startups that are part of this “sharing economy” — like TaskRabbit, AirBNB, Uber, and Sidecar — have given us unprecedented access to incredible experiences and resources, allowing many people to completely upgrade their lifestyles. By capitalizing on underused resources and new technology, people can live many strata above their income. In Alex’s case, she was able to raise $8,000 through Kickstarter to crowdfund her travel and the making of her film. She also lived rent-free during those six months, staying with more than 80 different strangers she’d met through Couchsurfing.org.

In this post, Alex shares exactly how she’s managed to become a couchsurfing guru, and the steps you can take to travel the world on next to no budget…

I love the look people get on their face the first time they hear about Couchsurfing.

I might mention how I’ll be hosting a revolutionary leader from Egypt, or that I’ll be crashing in the heart of the Amazon on a stranger’s couch. They inevitably tilt their heads like confused puppies.

Of course, once they’ve experienced Couchsurfing and understand how it works, their whole attitude changes. Nearly all of them end up loving it. Me? I can’t get enough of it.

After six months of sleeping in 80 different homes — staying with people I’d never met — I can definitively say that Couchsurfing has enriched my life more than anything else. In fact, I believe this site is changing our entire world for the better, one couch at a time.

Couchsurfing.org is an online hospitality network that connects travelers to free places to stay all over the world. There are more than 4 million globetrotters and backpackers, in 80,000 cities, who want to share their homes and time with you… at no cost!

Couchsurfers are all over the world. This map shows the areas with the highest concentration of members.

A great host can offer a fellow surfer some of the richest experiences of their lives — and vice versa — all without a euro, rupee, dinar, peso, yen, shilling, or dollar being exchanged. Simply for the love of hanging out with a kindred soul.

Couchsurfing has brought more amazing people and incredible adventures into my life than I can count. Thanks to my hosts, I’ve met Peruvian Shamans, zipped through Ho-Chi Minh, taken boat rides in the delta of Maun, hiked to hidden spots in Victoria Falls, sat VIP during the Spanish Valladolid finals, ridden horses on an Afrikaans farm… The list goes on and on.

The bonds that form through Couchsurfing are on a completely different level from those that arise in hostels. Hosts will go out of their way to pick surfers up at the airport, open up their homes, cook exotic meals, and share their world. They can also readily show you the hidden gems in their city, unearthing attractions that you’d never find in a ‘Lonely Planet’ book. If you’ve ever wanted to get the Anthony Bourdain VIP treatment, Couchsurfing is for you.

But it’s not just the surfers who benefit; being a host can be tremendously rewarding, as well. For instance, my hosts in Morocco, Vietnam, and Brazil all use CouchSurfing as a means to improve their English. Others simply enjoy meeting new people and hearing interesting stories from the road. I get just as much enjoyment out of showing travelers around my city as I do being hosted. My appreciation for San Francisco is instantly revitalized whenever I see the wide-eyed look on a grateful CouchSurfer’s face, looking upon a site they’ve only seen in the movies.

Whether you’re hosting or surfing, it’s a win-win for both parties.

Everyone has a fair amount of skepticism when they first hear about Couchsurfing. The number one question I get from people is: “What if you stay with an axe murderer?”

My friend Eric, who hosted me in Paris, had this to say about the perceived “dangers” of Couchsurfing:

“When I first heard about CouchSurfing, I thought to myself, ‘There is no way am I going to stay with strangers and get raped, robbed, and murdered.’ But I was curious enough about the concept, so I did some research and made a profile. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made! It completely changed my life and has afforded me to see the world.”

As with anything in life, there are always potential dangers, but most risks can be easily avoided (more on this in the next section). As long as you adhere to community guidelines and use common sense, you are very likely to have great experiences.

Ready to give the Couchsurfer lifestyle a shot? Fantastic!

Here’s my advice for anyone who wants to travel rent-free…

Your profile is your key to the Couchsurfer’s kingdom. It allows hosts to learn about and trust you before meeting, and it will be a magnet for other fun surfers wanting to connect. It will behoove you to invest enough time and energy into building an awesome profile.

Here’s a screenshot of mine:

I cannot stress enough how important it is to accurately represent yourself. There’s no use in trying to be someone you’re not, or being bashful about your spiritual beliefs or diet preferences. If something is really important to you, then tell people! Show the community who you really are! The more information you can provide other members with, the better odds of everyone having positive exchanges.

Here’s what you’ll need to do in order to create a great profile:

Register on Couchsurfing.org. After signing up, you’ll be asked if you’d like to verify your profile with a contribution. You can skip this part for now (we’ll cover it in “Step 2: Verify Your Profile”) and begin creating your profile right away. Just click your name in the top left corner, then click ‘Profile.’Post 5-10 pictures of yourself. We are visual animals, so don’t be afraid to upload a bunch of fun photos of yourself (ideally from any global excursions you’ve been on). Make sure the photos are interesting or remarkable, which gives fellow surfers material to start a conversation with you.Fill out your profile. There are a lot of fields to complete, but don’t worry! You don’t have to complete everything all at once. Fill out as much as you can, then polish up the rest when you’re up to it. [Since I host a lot of surfers, I included a note in my profile to spell the word “couch” correctly when messaging me. You’d be surprised how many people request to stay on your “coach.”]

If you’re already feeling overwhelmed with the task at hand, relax! Spend some time looking at other members’ profiles, take notes on what you like and dislike, then emulate your favorites when you’re ready to get started. And if you need a starting point, here’s my profile. Feel free to use it as a cheat sheet!

There are two primary methods for verifying your profile, which are designed to increase security and trust with members on the site. Both are technically optional, but I can assure you that you’ll have a much harder time getting started without having one or both of these:

Personal references. Ask a few of your friends to leave a positive reference for you, which shows the community that you are a worthwhile person to host or surf with. If none of your friends have profiles on Couchsurfing, check out some of the local activities and meet up with couchsurfers in your area. Let them know you just joined the site, and after you’ve made a few friends, kindly ask if they’d be willing to vouch for you.Credit card verification. As mentioned in Step 1, you can pay a contribution to “lock in” your name and address. You’ll be mailed a postcard in 1-2 weeks with a code that you can enter into the site.

Members trust members who have been verified, so do not skip this step!

Now that you have the two most important pieces in play, it’s time to get the ball rolling. Click ‘Surf’ or ‘Host’ in the site’s navigation bar, enter in your destination, and begin looking through the list of members in the area.

You can also set a number of filters to improve your search results, including:

- Age
- Gender
- Language
- Keywords (e.g. “vegetarian filmmaker”)
- Has photos
- Has been verified
- Most recent login
- Apartment is wheelchair accessible

Take some time to go through all the profiles in these results. It reallys pay off to thoroughly examine a potential host’s/surfer’s profile before you decide to contact them. That means reading their description, scanning their photos, and going through each of their references. Some hosts will want to hang out with surfers; others are short on free time. Some hosts own three cats, or they need to wake up at 5:30 AM… Whatever the case, you can easily avoid mishaps and unpleasant experiences by figuring out what their expectations are of you.

Couchsurfing’s official recommendations for finding compatible hosts and surfers.

Although the chances of an ax murderer hosting or surfing with you is slim-to-none, I always always ALWAYS read people’s profiles diligently. I do not share interests in “making hair dolls” or “watching you sleep,” so I do my best to steer clear of members who could pose a problem.

Once you’ve found a fellow Couchsurfer whose expectations and priorities appear to be aligned with yours, it’s time to reach out!

The purpose of your first message is to show the recipient how great it would be for you two to connect (it is NOT to immediately reserve a free couch). If you can successfully show that you’re someone they have to meet, a friendly dialogue will begin and you can make plans from there.

Here are a few ways you can create legendary requests:

Make it personal. This is absolutely essential. No matter how many requests you send out, every single one should be custom-tailored for its recipient (cut-and-paste CouchRequests are so obvious!)Create a video request. If you really want to stand out, record a video with the camera on your computer and appeal to your host directly. Upload it to Youtube as an unlisted video, then send them the link. This might take longer than writing a message, but it gives them a much better idea of how well you’ll get along and improves your chances of being accepted.Write a catchy headline. Include something about who you are and/or how you want to connect. For instance, one surfer sent me a request during a very busy week. She grabbed my attention in her title (“SOS Fellow Entrepreneur Coming to San Fran!”), then mentioned our similar interests in books and dancing. I made sure to meet up with her the following day!Make it memorable. No one likes boring messages, so include at least one thing in your message that makes you stand out. Mention something you both have in common, suggest cooking them a homemade dinner, talk about your life path or your love for Mario Kart… anything that sets you apart from the crowd.

Be respectful when you reach out to other members. Remember: Surfing is a privilege, not a right. When someone writes a lame request, where they show no interest in their host but free accommodation, it destroys their chances.

Here is an example of what NOT to write in a request:

Hi, my name is Anna, im 20 years old student. I am in New York for summer and am looking for coach. Looking forward to hearing from you – email me on ***@gmail.com

And yes, that is an actual message I received.

The correspondence you have beforehand establishes your connection with this person, so be sure to do it right!

Send CouchRequests to five members, 1-2 weeks prior to your arrival, and you’ll have a couch lined up in no time.

Once your host agrees on having you stay with them, you’ll need to exchange contact and travel information. Here’s what both parties should know…

If you’re surfing:

Confirm your arrival and departure date. Although you might change these dates, it’s always polite to set reasonable parameters. This is CouchSurfing, not CouchLiving, so be clear when you’ll be in and out.Write down your host’s address and phone number, and enter it in your cell phone. I can’t tell you how many times I forgot to charge my phone when entering a new country. When traveling, expect for some type of miscommunication or technology fail.Have a backup plan! Whether it be your creeper meter or inevitable failings of plans – you need to have a back up. You’re in a foreign country and always need safeguards. Make sure you have established contact with a few other CSers who you might be able to call/message in an emergency, as well as the locations of some hostels before you arrive. Also, knowing where the nearest Internet cafes are can help you in a pinch to try to find a new place to stay if necessary.

If you’re hosting:

Send the surfer your address, phone number, and directions to your couch. Include any details about hidden keys or codes to get in (assuming you’re comfortable with this). And if you’re feeling generous, offer to pick them up.Have their couch ready and room tidy.Have a few local recommendations in mind. Your surfer will want to know the must-sees and tastiest dishes. This is your chance to show the best of your hometown!

One more thing… CouchSurfing is NOT a dating site. Don’t make your host or surfer uncomfortable by crossing into OKCupid territory. And yes, I’d be lying if I said I’d never been attracted to a host or surfer. I’m just saying… keep it classy.

Let the surfing begin!

Congratulations, you’re not in Kansas anymore! It’s time to mute your hometown identity and embrace this new culture. This is harder than it sounds at first, but you will quickly get the hang of it.

Here are a few tips to make your time in this new world much more pleasant:

Avoid tourist tendencies. See the spots you want to see, but don’t follow what every tourist does. If your host is willing, let them take you off the beaten path to their favorite local spots. And whatever you do, leave your “I <3 NYC” t-shirt in your bag.

“When in Rome…” If you’re in a different country, curb your ethnocentrism and attempt to assimilate. Learn how to say “hello” and “thank you” in the native language. Respect their customs, try new foods, use the hole-in-the-ground toilet, be willing to go out when you are tired… In short: show your appreciation!

Facebook surgery. You’re traveling, nerd! Peel yourself away from the computer and go explore Your friends will withhold their ‘Likes’ of your photos until you return.

If, at any time, you aren’t happy with your CouchSurfer’s behavior, be sure to tell them why. In most cases, the problem will be unintentional or a cultural difference. But if you don’t speak up, your CouchSurfer might never know they’ve bothered you (or vice versa). And if the awkward antlers keep cropping up and lines are repeatedly crossed, it’s your duty to warn the community of your experience in your reference.

In my over 150 CouchSurfing experiences, I have never had to leave a negative reference or had one left about me. However, I’ve had countless instances of cultural misunderstandings and uncomfortable learning experiences. For instance, when I was traveling through Cambodia with my Pakistani friend, Zohra, I thoughtlessly made an off-color comment about terrorism. Whoops. My “sense of humor” was extremely offensive to her, and when I learned about the atrocities she lives with everyday in Pakistan, I realized I’d been watching too many episodes of South Park. Best to leave your amateur hour material at home.

When it’s time to hit the road, make sure that you tidy up and leave your room spick-and-span. If you borrowed anything, double-check that you’ve returned it. If your host isn’t at home when you leave, make sure that you know how to secure the door correctly. Leave a handwritten note or a gift from your home country to say “thanks.”

Last but not least, leave them a thorough reference. If your host treated you well, be sure to write positive things about them so other CouchSurfers will want to stay with them! And if you set the bar with a kick-ass reference, they will usually return the favor.

The age of sharing is just beginning. I’ve experienced first-hand the inspiration and transcendence that regularly takes place, and I plan to be a CouchSurfer for life. I want my future children to grow up around different cultures and instill sharing and exchange. And when I’m too old to travel myself, I’ll be hosting from my rocking chair.

###

Do you have a story about how Couchsurfing or the sharing economy changed your life? Tell us in the comments!

Also, there are two public screenings of One Couch at a Time coming up soon…

- San Francisco - January 17th (tomorrow) @ 6:30PM at The Hub SOMA, 901 Mission St. (Buy tickets here)

- Los Angeles - January 26th @ 6:30PM at Just Cause Entertainment, 4130 Del Ray (Buy tickets here)

We’d love for you to come join us! (If you’d like to request a screening of the film in your city, click here.)

Posted on January 16th, 2013

View the original article here

How You Can Broaden Your Horizons with Travel

Travel can offer more than just a getaway.

Instead of just sitting on some tropical beach and sipping pina coladas during your vacations, it is very possible to get a ton of personal growth from your travels. But in order to do this, you will have to get off those all-inclusive beach resorts and five-star hotels. Although there might be some exceptions, most of these resorts will be too comfortable — unless there are some attractions nearby that offer some type of personal growth opportunities.

Even so, the reality is that the majority of tourists who stay at all-inclusive resorts will never go off site during their entire vacations. If you want to go to the most rewarding travel destinations offering the most personal growth, you have to steer clear of the places that are too “touristy” and aimed for the masses. You have to find less-traveled locations where you may not have the comforts and conveniences of luxury travel.

One of the best travel experiences comes from direct interaction with the locals. Many Canadians and Europeans have been vacationing in Cuba for years and despite the US travel embargo, there are American tourists who travel there with official special permission as well — and by using other indirect routes from time to time.

As expected, the vast majority of tourists stay at new all-inclusive beach resorts. The only Cubans they will see during their entire stay are the resort staff and those at the airport. These tourists will never leave the resorts to see the real lives of Cubans in their own local communities.

When I was down there, I chose to stay for part of my trip at a casa particular. These are rooms at homes that average Cubans rent out to travelers. I ended up getting a full apartment in Havana. Although it was not a five-star luxury suite, it was clean, safe and comfortable.

Instead of eating at tourist restaurants, the family who owned the casa particular prepared home-cooked meals for me. Through my rusty, basic Spanish, I got to interact with the family and see how average Cubans really live. They told me about Cuban life while I entertained them with some facts about life in my own country, Canada (especially our winters).

The personal growth I got out of this interaction with the family was priceless. One just cannot get this by staying at a five-star resort. Not to mention that staying at a casa particular with the home-cooked meals was actually less than 50% of the cost of staying at the resorts and hotels. I was providing some much needed income for the Cuban family as well, which made it even more worthwhile.

During this same trip, I also decided to venture out further. I got private transportation and traveled five hours west of Havana to a remote location that was a recognized biosphere called Maria La Gorda. Here, I scuba dived in pristine waters untouched by the tourist crowds. Sure, the transit was a bit rough, but going to places like this really broadened my horizons.

The trip along the way was also an experience in itself as I got to interact with my local Cuban taxi driver one-on-one for the entire ride. He pointed out interesting things along the way, told me about Cuban baseball, discussed classic American cars that are still running on the island and how his family dealt with hurricanes.

You just can’t get any of these experiences by staying at an all-inclusive resort.

Of course, instead of having everything catered to you as in an all-inclusive resort, you have to figure out where to stay, where to eat, where to travel and how to get around and some safety precautions. All of such information is available if you spend enough time doing advance travel research.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of information that you can access online via travel forums, travel reports and even social media including YouTube (I uploaded a few Cuban travel videos you can search there as my contribution). You can also get information from travel agencies that deal with adventure or specialized travel and from consulates from destination countries.

Travel away from the tourist resorts does take more planning and you may have to rough it out a bit. I have taken similar trips in Asia, Central America and Europe. But the direct interaction and connections you make with people from other cultures as well as experiencing special destinations that the tourist masses will never see, make such travel incredibly worthwhile.

If you have or plan to travel to special places to broaden your horizons as well, please feel free to share below.

Clint Cora is a motivational speaker, author & Karate World Champion based near Toronto, Canada. Get his FREE 3-part Personal Development Video Series on how to expand your comfort zone and finally conquer even your most daunting goals in life.

View the original article here

How to Achieve Travel Goals

Are there some places you’d just love to visit? How long have you dreamed of doing so? Years perhaps?

When you see movies about visiting certain cities, or hear about people traveling there, does a certain part of your psyche salivate with desire? Do you have the thought, I really want to go there someday.

Do you realize that it’s absolutely possible to turn your travel dreams into reality? Those dreams aren’t mere fantasy. They’re the seeds of real experiences.

In this post I’ll share with you some lessons I’ve learned during the past couple years as I worked to transform myself from a very infrequent traveler into the kind of person who regularly sets and achieves new travel goals.

I certainly wouldn’t label myself an accomplished world traveler at this point. There are dedicated travel bloggers who post at length about all the places they’ve visited. But the unique transformation I have to share, and which I hope will be of value to you, is that I just went through this transition recently. It’s clear to me that I’ve passed my own personal tipping point, such that now I know I can maintain regular travel as part of my lifestyle. I didn’t just take a trip — I transformed my whole lifestyle to make this a reality. So these lessons are still very fresh for me. I can still clearly relate to the vibe of being a person who had travel dreams that always seemed to be delayed for a distant someday, so I can draw a sharp contrast between these two different states of being.

What are some of your most common excuses for not traveling?

Fill in the blank: I’d like to travel more, but I can’t travel right now because _____.

Here are some of the excuses I’ve used in the past:

I can’t travel right now because I have kids.I can’t travel right now because I don’t have enough money.I can’t travel right now because I don’t have the time (or I can’t afford to take time off from work).I can’t travel right now because I have too much to do at home.I can’t travel right now because I haven’t finished X, Y, and Z yet.I can’t travel right now because I need to do more research about places to go first.I can’t travel right now because it’s too complicated.I can’t travel right now because I don’t know how.I can’t travel right now because my wife doesn’t want me to.

Any of those sound familiar? What are your favorite excuses for not traveling?

How about this very popular disguised excuse: I will get around to traveling someday – I just can’t get to it right now.

I encourage you to actually write out your own personal list of excuses. Now look at them, and acknowledge that the entire lot is B.S.

When you make excuses and feed them as if they’re real, you’re using your power against yourself.

Let’s review some of the excuses above and see just how nonsensical they are.

You can’t travel because you have kids? Lots of people have kids and still travel. They just don’t use their children as excuses. If you ask enough people, you’ll find someone who can watch the kids while you’re on the road. You may enjoy having some away time from the kids, so you can come back to them fresh. Traveling without them will give you a chance to miss them. Also, notice that kids are portable. You can take them with you if you want. Try it and see if it works for you. You can do this even while they’re still in the womb. So this excuse is just lame. If you want to travel and you aren’t doing so because you have children, you’ll end up resenting them as a burden, and how is that going to serve them? Is that the kind of parent you wish to be? Do you want to teach your kids that they can’t have what they desire if they become parents?

You can’t travel because you don’t have enough money? Last time I checked, money was earnable. Money is an important part of the travel game, and we’ll address that later, but just admit to yourself for now that it’s incredibly pathetic to hide behind a lack of money as an excuse for not traveling. People were traveling long before money was invented. If you want it badly enough, you’ll do what it takes to get the money you need, and you probably need less than you think. In fact, clear travel goals are great motivation to earn more money.

You can’t travel because you don’t have the time… or you have too much to do? Yeah, right. You have so much to do that you have time to read my blog but not to make travel arrangements? You have the same amount of time as anyone else, including those people who are traveling all over the place. Ferdinand Magellan somehow found the time to sail around the world, and he lived to the ripe old age of 41. It’s nonsense to say that you don’t have the time. A more accurate statement is that you haven’t made travel a high enough priority in your life. You’re putting too much lesser crap ahead of it, like watching TV or web surfing. Turn off your cable TV, and never look back. You do realize that at the same time you’re reading this article, you could be exploring another city — right this very moment. Someone else is doing that instead of you. They got there not by having more hours in the day, but by making different decisions and setting different priorities. This may sound ironic since I’m a blogger, but I don’t read other people’s blogs. I don’t have the time. If I tried to keep up with all the blogs that interest me, I wouldn’t have just spent 2 wonderful weeks in Paris. Stop making time for stupid stuff, and you’ll have plenty of time for travel.

You can’t travel because your spouse won’t let you? Not a problem — just tell your spouse I said it’s okay. You have my permission. If your spouse has a problem with that, tell him/her it’s out of your hands because I said you had to go travel. Steve’s orders. Also read My Wife Won’t Let Me Start My Own Business – same ideas apply here. Seriously, don’t be such a wimp. If you want to travel and your spouse won’t let you, then go travel without your spouse; if they have a tizzy cow about it, find a new spouse that loves to travel as much as you do. I know that sounds over the top, but it’s even more over the top — and utterly ridiculously — to try to use your relationship as an excuse for not achieving your own happiness and fulfillment. If you hold back for the “good” of your relationship, you’ll just end up silently resenting your partner. Is that really the kind of relationship you wish to have? Is that the kind of person you want to be — an inauthentic one who can’t speak up and be true to yourself? It’s better to forgive yourself for picking an incompatible partner — we all make mistakes — and open yourself to attracting a relationship with someone who enjoys traveling as much as you do.

You can’t travel because you can’t get the time off of work? That’s B.S. too. Everyone who travels could just as easily make this excuse, but they take the time off of work anyway. What if you have a job? It doesn’t matter. You Are Self-Employed no matter what. You may simply not be very good at managing your personal services business. Perhaps you did something rather dumb like taking on an indefinitely long contract job where you somehow agreed to give a third party control over your schedule. Realize that it’s not your bosses fault. You did this to yourself. You didn’t have to do that. Lots of people don’t do that. I don’t do that. I think it’s a stupid way to live. Then again, maybe your employer subtly manipulated you into a form of slavery. But now that you’re aware of those limitations, do you wish to continue? Or do you want more freedom? If you want more freedom, don’t expect someone else to bestow it upon you. You must demand it and claim it. Freedom is seldom free. Ask any former slave. Frequent travel requires that you have the freedom to control a significant part of your schedule. The truth is that you already have this freedom right now. You can buy a plane ticket and go. Whatever structures you feel are getting in the way are structures that you need to collapse and replace with better structures. Otherwise you’ll never have the freedom you desire, and your travel dreams will indeed remain pure fantasy till you die. Your employer and your work schedule aren’t real problems; you can ditch those today if you want. The problems you must overcome are your own past stupid decisions and your own wimpiness in giving your power away too easily. Fortunately these are solvable problems.

Are you beginning to see a pattern here? A common thread weaves through every excuse. The problem is always one of giving your power away, feeding energy to your excuses instead of your desires. And the solutions are the same in each case: Stop it! It’s a stupid thing to do to yourself.

All of your excuses are lame and pointless. None of them are valid. For each excuse you can name, lots of people with similar challenges are already traveling in spite of those challenges.

No doubt at this point, there will be some nudnik who feels compelled to offer up a counter-example… like What if you’re serving a life sentence in prison? How are you supposed to travel then? Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison, and he sures seems to get around. For every retarded excuse, there’s an inspiring example of using your power correctly.

If you need more help with this notion, read Feeble Excuses and How To Give Your Power Away and Abuse of Power. And then of coure… Stop it!

In addition to making excuses, another challenge to overcome is that of limiting beliefs. A limiting belief is a perspective that prevents you from taking actions you’d otherwise like to take.

Here are some examples of limiting beliefs I had about travel:

Traveling is selfish and self-indulgent.The more I travel, the more I’m neglecting my work, kids, etc.Traveling is difficult and complicated.Traveling isn’t worth the effort.Traveling equals taking a vacation, a break from more important matters.

And again I had to go through a process of breaking down these limiting beliefs and replacing them with more accurate ways of thinking.

Is travel selfish and self-indulgent? Of course it is — to an extent. But is there anything wrong with that? I think the underlying assumption with this belief is that if we do something that we really desire, that somehow it’s wrong. Instead of trying to frame traveling as something I do for other people, I got past this belief by accepting that for me, traveling is indeed a self-indulgent thing to do. And then I admitted to myself that I like to self-indulge in this way, and I feel good when I do so. When I’m traveling at a frequency and pacing that feels good to me, I’m happier with my life. I could say that it benefits others in some fashion, but I don’t want to overplay that because that isn’t really why I travel. I travel primarily for myself, and it’s perfectly okay to do so.

Are you neglecting your work, kids, etc. when you hit the road? No, you’re creating the balance you seek. You can’t give everyone and everything your attention at all times. The requests for your time will often exceed the time you have to give. It’s up to you to discover the right balance that works for you.

For more than a decade, I tried “balancing” my life with 1-2 weeks of travel per year at most, usually to destinations I’d already been to many times before. In 2010, I traveled about 12 weeks out of the year, mostly going to new cities. That was a huge shift for me, as I’d never done anything like that before. It didn’t take long to see how much happier I was with this level of travel.

Is traveling difficult and complicated? It may seem that way at first, but the more you practice, the easier it gets. You can learn a lot from other people who travel frequently, but you can also just ease into it and learn by doing. I prefer a mixture of both. Travel has its share of challenges, but all of them can be handled, and the process of dealing with them will help you grow stronger and more capable.

Is traveling worth the effort? I figured this one out by trial and error. For me it has definitely been worth the effort. By and large, the trips I’ve taken have been better than I expected. I enjoyed them even more than I thought I would.

A couple weeks ago, I was standing outside the Louvre, thinking to myself, This is so cool! I can’t believe I’m really here at the Louvre. It’s even more amazing than I thought it would be.

I feel so much awe and wonder as I travel to different places. There have been many magical moments, like when Rachelle and I were the last people to leave the Eiffel Tower one night and had the whole top level to ourselves for a while as we gazed over a moonlit Paris… or when we rode bikes through Stanley Park in Vancouver… or when I drove through the beautiful landscapes at Yellowstone and saw a bear, a wolf, and lots of bison.

Yes, you can feel over-traveled if you do it to excess, but when you find your balance, I think you’ll agree that it is indeed worth the effort.

Is traveling just about taking a vacation? Travel is what you make of it. If you treat it as a vacation, a break from your normal life, then that’s all it will be to you.

That isn’t how I prefer to travel through. Getaways are nice now and then, and I do occasionally enjoy them, but I can’t usually stomach vacation-style trips for more than a few days. I get bored with them pretty quickly, and I end up feeling that my time would be better spent elsewhere. But for many years, those were the only kinds of trips I took because I thought that’s all there was to travel.

Today I no longer think of traveling as taking a break or a vacation. It is a shift in routine to be sure, but the purpose isn’t to escape or take time off from work.

Travel is just as important to me as any other work I might do. Traveling, when I do it in the way that works for me, provides me with an integrated bundle of growth experiences. It pushes me and challenges me. It wakes me up to new possibilities. It exposes me to new perspectives. It inspires me.

I don’t get these benefits if I keep going to the same places I’ve already been to and repeat experiences I’ve already had. I get these benefits when I branch out and visit places I’ve never been to, inviting new experiences I’ve never had before. For me, travel is the progressive experience of the new and the unfamiliar.

I don’t feel guilty about traveling for weeks at a time because I know that for me, travel is time on, not time off. Travel is an important part of my path of growth. I love that there are so many places I have yet to visit — it means I have a long line of growth experiences ahead of me. When I’m traveling in the manner I find most fulfilling, I’m not on vacation. I’m working on myself. Travel is exactly the opposite of taking time off. When I travel I’m pushing myself to be on 24/7. By comparison when I return to Las Vegas after a long trip, that’s when it feels like I’m taking it easy.

In a similar manner, I encourage you to list out your own limiting beliefs about travel, and then work through them one by one. Step into the real truths behind these apparent limitations, and realize that the only limits are those you place upon yourself.

If you need more help busting limiting beliefs, I encourage you to use the Lefkoe Process, especially if you’re a very logical and left-brained person. Take advantage of Morty’s 20-minute videos to eliminate beliefs that hold you back from traveling as much as you’d like to.

I know that not everyone feels a call to get on the road and travel. And that’s fine. But for whatever reason, I’m one of the people who does hear this call. I love being on the road… not every day, but often.

Are you one of those people? Do you feel a stirring in your soul to get out on the road and see more of the world? And does it scare you to think about it? Fear is a pointer to desire.

If you hear this call too, it’s important to honor it. Traveling is a part of you. It’s time to awaken to this calling and to make it a part of your life, not someday… but now.

It may not be easy to make it happen. You may have to overcome many challenges and undertake significant lifestyle adjustments. It may take some time to work through all those shifts, but you can make this happen. It’s all very doable, regardless of your current situation.

I travel because it stirs something in my soul. It feels so good to me. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve enjoyed the trips I’ve taken during the past couple years even more than I expected to. Paris was even more amazing than I thought it would be. The reality of travel seems to keep exceeding my expectations.

I often find that I don’t really understand certain desires until I begin to explore them. Before taking action I can’t fully fathom why they matter so much to me. Those lessons unfold over time — only after I dive in and act. As a result of lots of trial and error, I know it’s important for me to listen to these desires and to give them outlets for expression, even before I fully grasp what they’re trying to express.

By giving myself permission to travel more, I’ve learned more about why it’s so important to me. Up until mid-2009, I’d never left the USA. I think that limited my perspective. I would occasionally see feedback on some of my articles about how “American” my perspective was. I had no idea what that meant. My blog has an international audience, with 50% of readers living outside the USA, but I wasn’t a particularly international person. Sure I studied other cultures in school, but that doesn’t come close to actually experiencing them firsthand.

I’ve gone far enough along this path to know that traveling will continue to be a significant part of my life henceforth. I couldn’t fathom going back to a lifestyle that lacked expansive travel experiences.

Traveling offers a variety of different challenges, and those are good challenges to help me keep growing. My life in Las Vegas is fairly easy. If I settle into it too much, I feel bored and restless, and I crave new challenges. Going to France and trying to communicate in French was a real challenge for me at times — a challenge I can’t readily duplicate in Vegas, at least not with the same level of immersion.

One time I was at a museum in Paris, and a woman said a couple sentences to me in French. I couldn’t consciously make out a single word, but somehow I understood what she was saying. She was asking me if I wanted to do the audio tour, which would cost extra. It was surreal to have a communication experience where I didn’t understand any of the words, yet I grasped the meaning. This gave me a different perspective on how I communicate with others.

Even if you don’t fully understand why you wish to travel, I encourage you to begin honoring this call anyway. From the outside looking in, it may appear to be self-indulgent whimsy. But once you get on the road and start experiencing what it’s really like, I expect you’ll have a profound shift in your perspective, just as I’ve had.

Give your travel calling the attention and the respect it deserves. It matters.

When you’ve worked through the excuses and limiting beliefs and accepted your travel calling, the next step is to place your order with the universe.

Many people are really, really bad at this — as in pathetic. Let me save you a lot of time here and get you past all the fluff that will keep you stuck at home.

Do this: PICK YOUR NEXT DESTINATION!

This means to pick one specific place to travel to, such as a city or an island. Make that your next travel goal.

Pick your next destination based on where you most desire to visit next. Don’t base it on what you think you can get — that’s a misuse of power. Ask yourself: If I could hit the road tomorrow on a free trip that someone else was paying for, where would I most like to go?

In order to get moving on your travel goals, you need to pick a destination that inspires you. It has to be a real, genuine, heartfelt desire. If you don’t really want it, or if it’s just something you’re settling for but isn’t really your top choice, then it’s a phony, wimpy-ass goal, and you’re probably not going to put any real effort into it.

When you acknowledge the destination you really want, it’s probably going to scare you a bit. That’s good. That means it’s a stretch goal.

If you travel goal seems too easy and doesn’t stir up any fear or trepidation, chances are you’re wimping out and picking something because you think you can get it, but it’s not a deep, soul-stirring desire. If you move forward and try to take action on that goal, you’ll most likely procrastinate and sabotage yourself, and even if you do make it happen, you’ll get there and may feel bored and listless.

Recently on Twitter and Google+, I asked people what city they’d most love to travel to next. Most people seemed to have no trouble offering up their top choice. But some people gave a list of possibilities, which is an abuse of power. You can only be in one location at a time, so if your next destination is a list of items separated by the word or, have you really made a decision yet? No, you haven’t.

What if you can’t decide? Seriously… you can’t decide? How did you decide what to eat for breakfast? Use the same process to pick your next travel destination. It’s not rocket science. You just decide. If you didn’t know how to make such decisions, you’d have died of starvation long ago. Don’t overcomplicate it. You can visit more than one destination in your lifetime. All you need to do now is pick your NEXT one. It’s no more difficult that choosing your next meal.

It’s perfectly fine to make your next destination a package deal — a string of ANDs rather than ORs. Just be clear that you want the whole package, and get clear about the order in which you’ll visit each city/location. I did a 23-day road trip last year, and it was fairly straightforward to make it happen, but I had to figure out what all the stops would be. I visited Reno, Sacramento, San Francisco, Ashland, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Kelowna, Banff, Calgary, Glacier Park, Yellowstone, Salt Lake City, and back to Vegas. It was an awesome trip!

Vague goals have very little power to manifest. When I tried to set a goal to visit the Pacific Northwest or to travel to Europe, nothing much happened. It was only when I got specific that these goals started to manifest quickly. A goal to visit the Pacific Northwest is lame; you can’t take action on that. I had to concretize that goal by deciding which cities to visit and in what order. Same goes for Europe. I intended to go to Europe for many years. But it was only when I shifting to a more concrete goal and picked Paris for my next destination that I finally found myself on an intercontinental flight.

So don’t pick a country or a continent or some other vague B.S. like that. China isn’t a destination. Pick a real city. And it’s not a bad idea to get even more specific if you can, like deciding to stay in Midtown Manhattan when you visit NYC. In my experience, picking a city is enough specificity though — once I’m there I’ll probably travel all around the city anyway, so just about anything within city limits can potentially be part of the experience.

Even if you’ve already read How to Order, read it again. If it seems like I’m being excessive in constantly referring back to this article, that’s accurate. I’ll keep doing so until people start ordering correctly and stop behaving like nimnuls who walk into the universal restaurant saying, “I’m hungry. I want some food. Bring me some food.”

Don’t be one of those dolts who says, “I want to travel more” or “I want to visit Asia.” You’ll stay home if you do that. Place a real order. What city? What island?

Once you’ve picked a destination, do NOT change your mind.  Poke a pin in it on a paper map, and don’t move the pin till you’ve been there and back.

Don’t consider other alternative you might visit. Remove all doubt from your mind. You are going to go to this place. And you’re going to start making it happen now… not someday. Someday is never.

This is your reality. You’re a god here. If you want to visit this place, nothing can stop you from getting there. It’s a done deal.

Pause for a moment and let that sink in. This isn’t just a dream or a fantasy. This is about to become your reality. Soon you will physically be in your chosen destination. Yes, you’re really going to be there. It’s going to happen.

If you think it’s not going to happen, if you harbor any doubts about it, give yourself a good smack. That’s an abuse of power. Stop it!

You are going to reach your destination. Period. Whatever obstacles come up, you’ll surmount them. Whatever problems arise, you’ll solve them. Whatever challenges present themselves, you’ll overcome them. You cannot be stopped.

Do NOT use your power against yourself. Direct your power in one direction — strictly towards your intended destination.

Doubting that you’ll reach your destination is the same as deciding to stay home. Don’t do that unless you’re #1 destination is to stay home.

Whenever I finally get moving towards a new travel destination, I invariably hit a certain snapping point. I may waffle and vacillate a good bit leading up to the decision, but once I’ve made the decision, I turn off all alternatives. After that snap point, I direct all my energy forward, towards making the trip to the chosen destination a reality. I don’t give myself permission to change my mind or to doubt whether it will happen. I create the reality where the trip is an absolute certainty. The odds that it will happen are 100%.

You already know how to do this. Recognize that you’ve used your power in a similar manner at various points in the past. Remember what it felt like when you hit that snapping point of making a real decision, and you never looked back. Maybe you quit a certain job or ended a relationship or decided to move to a new city. Remember what a done-deal type of decision feels like.

Notice how easy and straightforward it is to take action after you’ve snapped. And noticing how incredibly difficult it is to take action before you’ve snapped.

Until you snap yourself into 100% commitment, your trip probably isn’t going to happen. I’d bet against you. But once you snap, it’s a done deal — after that you just know that it will be done.

Before your personal snapping point, various obstacles will seem like big deals. They’ll make you want to give up. That’s because you’re allowing some of your power to leak out and feed those obstacles. Not having enough money seems like a real problem. Not being able to get time off from work seems like another major problem. But once you’ve snapped, these problems reveal themselves to be ridiculously minor challenges. Stop allowing your power to be drained by excuses, and direct all your power forward towards your destination. Solving problems becomes child’s play after that. You’re much more powerful than any obstacle that stands in your way.

Begin to obsess over your chosen destination. For now, it’s the only place you’re going to think about visiting. Ignore all other suggestions or alternatives; for now they’re irrelevant.

Concretize your goal. Bring it from the level of fantasy to the level of reality.

Use maps.google.com to look up your destination. Study the layout of the city. Check out what’s there. Start thinking about what you’ll see and do while you’re visiting. Use the street view to zoom in on some locations to see what it would be like to actually be there. Know that soon you’ll be there seeing these places for yourself.

Before going to Paris, I zoomed in on a few places like the Louvre and a some spots along the Seine. I rotated the view around and imagined that I was seeing this through my own eyes. Less than a week later, I was actually there doing it.

I recommend buying a travel book for your intended destination and reading through it. Based on a reader’s recommendation, I bought Rick Steves’ guide to Paris. Rick has been traveling through Europe for 30+ years and has written extensively about it. His company also hosts a variety of guided tours through Europe. As I flipped through the book, even just for several minutes in the bookstore, it made the idea of going to Paris become more real and concrete, shifting it further from the realm of possibility to certainty.

For many years, I’d thought about traveling to Paris, but once I committed to really going there, I started visualizing the upcoming experience differently. It took on a different flavor.

Another recommendation is to do an image search to find a nice photo of your destination, and make it your background pic on your laptop, iPad, cell phone, etc. This will help you think about it some more.

Make your intended destination a serious obsession. Be very clear that you’re going to go there. If you catch yourself thinking of obstacles, again… give yourself a good smack across the jaw. Stop it! Think only of the successful achievement of your goal. You WILL go there. It’s a done deal.

Another thing you can do to continue obsessing is to start watching movies that involve your destination. Rachelle and I watched Amelie a while before visiting Paris, and we ended up visiting the café from the movie when we went to Montmartre. Additionally, we had the surreal experience of walking up the steps in front of Sacré-Coeur, only to realize that it was also used in a scene from the same movie.

The reason this obsession process is important is that it gradually moves your goal from the realm of fantasy into the realm of reality. When you learn more about your destination and begin to study it AFTER you’ve committed to it, the goal becomes significantly more solid. You start to accept that it really isn’t just a fantasy — you can and will actually go there and experience it for yourself. This is an important shift to make because it’s so easy to fall into the trap of wishful thinking when it comes to travel goals. Wishing isn’t enough to make it real.

Some people like to create a vision board for their destination. I do have a vision board, but the only Paris-related element was a tiny cutout of the word “France.” So for me this wasn’t really necessary. I got more value from zooming in and out of the Google map for the city and visualizing myself standing there — that made it more concrete for me. Other people swear by vision boards though, so I encourage you to experiment to see if you find them helpful. I don’t see how it could hurt.

Keep obsessing over your destination till you’re actually there.

You’ll probably find that your obsession starts to polarize the people around you. I’ve been through this process countless times, so I’m used to how it plays out, but I caution you to prepare for the inevitable social ripples your newly emerging travel vibe may unleash.

Some people in your life will be turned off by your new obsession. I got a few jabs here and there for being a bit nuts about Paris at times. Some people just can’t relate. Some people hate Paris. My attitude is mostly to roll my eyes at them and tune them out. I don’t need to explain to anyone why Paris was my #1 pick. Either you get Paris or you don’t. Same goes for Las Vegas… or any other city for that matter. There’s no need to explain or justify your choices to anyone else. Let it be enough that you want them, and let other people have their reactions.

Pick the destinations that inspire you, and don’t worry if the other people in your life don’t get why you want to go there. These are your desires. That’s enough. Nobody else needs to agree with you. If people react negatively to your choices, feel free to indulge in some eye rolling, but don’t change your mind.

On the other hand, when you start obsessing over the destinations that truly excite you, you won’t turn everyone off. You’re also going to light up and inspire others who share similar desires. I’ve received some nice positive feedback from others who found my destinations inspiring too, whether or not they’ve already been there.

There’s something really cool about attracting new people into your life who share similar desires. Rachelle and I enjoy traveling together, but I also think it would be fun to travel in small groups with other like-minded adventurers. We’d have to test this at some point to see how it goes — I imagine it would depend on the people and how compatible our specific interests are.

Don’t get clingy to past connections that are no longer in sync with you. Your social life will shift. Let it. You won’t end up alone. New connections will flow into your life soon, and those connections will be a better fit for you than the old ones.

You’ll also discover that as you embrace your own travel vibe, you’ll awaken similar vibes in others. I’ve been seeing a lot of this lately, where my own travel adventures are stirring up some excitement in others. One person’s travel-mania can be infectious at times. Initially, when you encounter someone who stirs up such desires, there’s a tendency to feel envious or dismissive if you’re still repressing or denying your own desires. Try to move past that phase as quickly as possible. Yes, it will be a good bit of work to make this a reality for you if it seems like a distant goal, but you can do it once you reach your own personal snapping point.

In the long run, if you want to travel a lot more than you’re traveling right now — as opposed to just taking very occasional trips now and then — it’s important to transform your lifestyle into one that’s structured to support your travel goals. You don’t want to remain stuck in a lifestyle that’s at odds with frequent travel.

I’ve made certain career choices partly because I want the freedom to travel a lot. Today I enjoy the fruits of those decision. I have a flexible work schedule that’s under my control, and I’m able to make enough money to financially support frequent travel.

None of this just happened. It wasn’t an accident or a stroke of luck. I made deliberate decisions and commitments to create this kind of lifestyle. That began with saying no to decision paths that would interfere with this goal.

I didn’t get it perfect, but I got what I wanted. My lifestyle choices and my travel vibe are integrating themselves nicely. I still have more work to do in this area, but I’m very pleased with the synergy thus far.

Recognize that if you want to travel a lot, and your current lifestyle structure doesn’t support it, then you’ve got some transformational work to do. If you’re tempted to blame your lifestyle elements or use them as excuses for not traveling, don’t do that. If you want to blame something, then blame yourself for making dumb choices in the past that led you to this point. Go ahead and give yourself a sound thrashing — you deserve it! You’re the one who made the choices that led you here, and now you’re dealing with the consequences of those choices. It’s no one’s fault but your own.

We all make stupid choices at times. And sometimes it’s not such a bad thing to smack ourselves when we come to terms with the ridiculously lame consequences of those choices. I’ve certainly made my share of stupid choices.

But realize that your situation isn’t terminal. Don’t try to make the best of a bad situation. That’s even dumber. Instead, figure out a lifestyle structure — especially involving your career and finances — that will support the kind of traveling you’d like to do.

You can start by saying no to anything that conflicts with the lifestyle you wish to create. If you desire to travel for about 12 weeks out of each year, then does it make any sense to accept a job where you get only 2 weeks of vacation time each year? Of course not. That would be moronic.

Can you admit to yourself that in light of your current travel desires, some of your past decisions have been fairly dumb? If those decisions create consequences that don’t mesh with your travel desires, then they’re stupid decisions. Don’t try to justify them. Just admit the sheer idiocy of them.

I’m not suggesting that you’re an idiot. But we all make stupid decisions at times. And in such cases, the worst thing to do is to pretend they’re smart choices with a “Hehe… I meant to do that” attitude. You didn’t mean to do that. You didn’t mean to get stuck. That was a mistake.

The good news is that once you acknowledge the stupidity of some of your past choices, you can start to release them and make some better choices for the road ahead. You can choose a new career/financial path that fully supports your travel desires. You can attract new relationships that are compatible with frequent travel.

You’re not stuck. You’re way more powerful than any situation you find yourself in. Don’t act like a baby. If you want to travel more, than snap yourself into a real commitment. You’re going to undertake all the lifestyle transformations necessary to make that a reality. It’s a done deal.

It may take time to get there, but harbor no doubts that it will happen. Again, the creation of doubt is an abuse of your power. Stop it!

Create only the certainty that you are absolutely, definitely going to do what it takes to transform your lifestyle structure into one that fully supports your travel goals. You’ll be on the road as much as you desire to be, and that will be a good thing for the other parts of your lifestyle. Traveling will enhance your career, your finances, and your relationships.

A lack of funds is a common reason people give for not traveling, but like all feeble excuses, it’s a bogus one.

Your income isn’t fixed. You can go out and earn as much as you desire. There are countless ways to earn money.

The main requirement for earning more money is having the motivation to do so. Picking a clear travel destination and obsessing over it can create some pretty strong motivation, the kind that will get you off your butt, fire up your brain, and get you taking new actions.

When people say that a lack of funds is holding them back, they’re lying to themselves. The truth is that they’re holding themselves back. They’re empowering money as the excuse of the moment. They could just as easily abuse their power by blaming their spouse, their job, their kids, or their country.

The cool thing about travel goals is that they’re pretty easy to accomplish with money. You can use money to buy plane tickets, to secure places to stay, and to pay for experiences. While it’s entirely possible to travel with little money, there’s no reason you can’t earn more money. It certainly makes travel easier.

Let your travel goals inspire your financial goals. It’s not particular motivating to earn more money just for the sake of having a bigger number in your bank account. But if you translate those financial goals into visiting more cities every year and having cool adventures, then your financial goals will be much more meaningful.

In my experience, the financial aspects tend to take care of themselves when you’ve done the other steps properly. The means present themselves when you’ve properly turned the corner and hit your snapping point.

Before the snap, the lack of funds may seem like a pretty big obstacle. If you’re ever willing to use the lack of money as an excuse, you’ll always experience this as an obstacle for you. But when you’re 100% commitment, then money is no longer your enemy — it becomes your ally instead.

Whenever I set big goals that require more money that I have on hand, the money shows up pretty quickly. Either I get inspired by a new idea or project that brings in the money, or the money just shows up through some other channel, often in ways I didn’t expect. These days I even make a game of it by asking the universe to pay for my trips in creative ways. It’s fun to see how that unfolds. For my recent Paris trip, I received way more than I needed. First, I launched 4 new workshops, which created an avalanche of initial registrations. The registrations from just one day were more than enough to cover the costs of the Paris trip twice over. Then on the day I left, I received a $16K refund from the IRS; that was expected, but the timing was very nice. Then on the day I got back from the trip, I received a $6K inheritance, which wasn’t at all expected.

This pattern keeps popping up in my life. Whenever I set stretch goals and commit to them before I can see how they’ll work out, the universe backs me up. If money is needed to achieve the goal (or even if I don’t need more money but playfully request it anyway), the money just shows up.

If this sounds like a completely alien experience to you, then stop feeding your power to excuses. Try doing the opposite to test how it works for you. Commit to doing something that really inspires you, even when you can’t see how it’s going to work out.

How do you commit to pursuing a path when you can’t see how it’s going to turn out? How do professional athletes do it? When they show up for a game, they don’t know how it’s going to turn out. They show up anyway and play full out. Do the same.

The point is to play full out — because that’s how the game of life is meant to be played.

If you need more money to travel, go make more money. Quit acting like a baby about it. It really is that simple, but it only becomes simple when you snap into 100% commitment. If it looks complicated, that’s because you’re letting your power leak into excuses. Stop doing that!

Look within and take note of what you see. Are you a traveler, or are you a homebody? There’s no right or wrong answer per se, but what are you? What do you see?

Do you believe as Cervantes said, that “the road is better than the inn”? Or would you rather be the innkeeper?

Where do you fall along this spectrum? Where do you see yourself?

How many weeks out of the next 52 weeks would you ideally like to be traveling away from home? When I asked this question on Twitter and Google+, the answers were all over the place. Many people gave answers in the range of 8-16 weeks. But some said 0-2 weeks. One person actually said 53 weeks.

For me I’d say that 16-18 weeks feels about right on average, but the exact amount of time I’m on the road isn’t as important as other factors like the specific destinations and the new experiences I invite.

What kind of person are you when it comes to achieving your travel desires — or any other desires for that matter? In your heart of hearts, are you the sidelined spectator who will watch others achieve their dreams? Or are you the achiever who will commit fully to your own dreams and desires?

How much longer are you going to make excuses? Is that who you truly are? Do you really think it’s right to keep blaming external factors like your empty bank account, your debt, your family, etc? Is that the real you?

Isn’t it time you placed the responsibility for achieving your desires squarely on your shoulders? Aren’t you the one who made the decisions that resulted in the reality you now experience? Didn’t you invite it to happen, either by your own choices or by your silent approval?

It’s not up to me to tell you who you are on the inside. Only you can determine that. You’re the one who must determine whether or not you’ve been living up to your own ethical and moral code.

As for me, I think it’s wrong to blame my lack of results on external circumstances. Deep down I know I’m stronger than that. I can’t possibly blame the failure to achieve my desires on a lack of money, unsupportive relationships, lack of time, etc. I know I created all of those things by own choices. If I don’t like my financial situation, it’s up to me to change it. If I feel my relationships aren’t supporting me, I’m capable of releasing or transforming them and seeking out more empowering connections. If I lack the time to achieve my goals, I can reassess my priorities and stop putting lesser concerns ahead of more important desires.

When I make excuses for not living up to my potential, I give my power away, and I don’t feel quite myself. When I remember that this is my reality and that I’m not some powerless weakling who has to accept the whims of fate, I reclaim my natural creative powers. Then I can change whatever I desire to change, and my life zooms off in a new direction of my choosing… with results that are even more rewarding that what I imagined.

How do you feel about yourself when you excuse yourself from setting stretch goals and achieving them? Do you like letting yourself off the hook? Does that align well with your personal moral code? Is that the kind of person you truly wish to be?

At the end of the day, would you rather accept what you don’t want and try to make peace with it, or would you rather reclaim your power and commit fully to creating what you do want?

Obviously these concepts go far beyond mere travel goals. Your travel goals are part of your personal training program to fully embrace your power. They’re going to continue dangling in front of you for the rest of your life, teasing, coaxing, and daring you to pursue them. Will you step into your power and claim them, or will you live passively till you die?

Will you live as a person who reaches your destinations, or will you continue to push them away, deny them, pretend you don’t want them, and excuse yourself from doing what it takes to experience them?

Let me say that the view from atop the Eiffel Tower at midnight is indeed more glorious and inspiring than the tiny portal into which you’re currently staring.

Why did you summon me into your reality anyway? You did it to keep reminding yourself not to settle for less. You can have what you want. You like watching me figure out what I want, come to terms with it, commit to it, and achieve it. You live vicariously through my experiences because you want to integrate similar vibes in your own life. Your desires will be your own of course, but you keep coming back here because whenever you’re tempted to settle, you know that I’ll make it more difficult for you to do so. Settling isn’t you, and you know it. You’re way stronger than that.

When you’re ready to snap, you’ll snap. And the universe will back you up — you’ll see. Your challenge is to snap before you’re able to see the avalanche of support that awaits you on the other side. There’s very little support on the pre-snap side; all the good stuff is post-snap.

Next stop: London.

View the original article here