BLOG 168—Why I Like to Travel

With my words, I hope to throw some oblique light upon your life.
I want to inspire you to see life in a different and/or better way.

*** Remember, to read past blog posts, go to >> kitsummers.com/blog/
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*** The happiness I am experiencing in my life is a marvelous thing!
*** Going where I want, when I want, and seeing wonderful places and people, too. (But no longer alone, Beth is by my side.)
*** I will have places to show you and tales to tell.
*** Secrets to unfold and good news!
*** I want to thank my wonderful wife Beth for her superb editing and adding to the blog each week.

BE TAKEN AWAY WITH ME
ON WONDERFUL ADVENTURES!

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INTRO TO THIS WEEK >>

It surprises me how I can obtain enough material to write a full blog each week. Beth and I actually “make” things happen to include in the week’s blog. How about you, can you make things happen in your life to make a more spectacular existence?

As you might know, for about six years I was living and traveling in my van all around the US. Mainly going to national parks and wilderness areas, I loved that lifestyle.

Most Americans do not travel outside of the US. The average person in the UK has visited 10 countries, Many Germans have seen eight, and the French traveled to five nations on average. But Americans? Most tend to visit just three. In fact, 29 percent of American adults have never been abroad, and with such a big world out there.

Myself, I have been to Europe three times, Japan three times, and Australia and New Zealand for one month each. Also, I have traveled, round trip, across the US at least thirty times, including visiting every state. In 1978 I lived with Barrett Felker in Hawaii for three months — very nice. 

But, when I say travel, it does not mean it has to cost much.
Even taking a bus to a nearby city for the day can be exciting. 

When citizens of the US do move past the border, most visit Canada or Mexico. Affordability is evidently a big factor — so many Americans say it’s too expensive to leave the country — but that’s hardly the whole story.

Given what all the travel and deal sites have to offer today, you can travel abroad without ransacking your piggy bank. Perhaps many Americans don’t grasp the benefits of traveling abroad — and there are many! And, I have found that language is ever a problem. So many in the world can speak English, or you can get your point across.

Traveling the world isn’t just fun and exciting; there’s abundant research to suggest it’s highly beneficial for your physical, mental, and emotional health as well. So many people I have met around the world are wonderful.

Let’s dive in and take a look at some of the health benefits that researchers have and supported scientifically.

1—Travel Can Make You Healthier
Traveling actually keeps you happier and healthier. The study found that people who vacation at least twice a year show a significantly lower risk of suffering a heart attack than those who only travel every six years or so.

2—Travel Relieves Stress

Although missing a flight or losing baggage in an overseas airport is sure to boost your anxiety, traveling has been proven to lower stress levels, and rather dramatically.

I read one study that showed that three days after taking a vacation, travelers report feeling less anxious, happy, more rested, and in a better mood. Interestingly, these benefits tend to remain for weeks after the trip has ended.

3—Travel Deepens Your Creativity

You will increase both cognitive flexibility and depth and integrativeness of thought, the ability to make deep connections between disparate forms,” explains Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia Business School who has authored a number of studies that investigate the concrete links between creativity and international travel.

The main thing is multicultural engagement, immersion, and adaptation. People who live abroad and don’t engage with the local culture will likely get less of a creative boost than someone who travels abroad and gets involved in the local environment.

4—Travel Encourages Happiness and Satisfaction

Most people tend to be happier when they’re traveling and don’t have to worry about their work and home life. You see, people also experience a direct increase in happiness in the process of just “planning” a trip.

Then, three days after taking a vacation, overall, travelers report feeling less anxious, more rested and in a better mood.

You see, just the prospect of taking a vacation is far greater than the anticipation of acquiring a physical possession. Thus, the benefits of traveling abroad begin well before the trip does, as your mind gets better.

5—Travel Lowers your Risk of Depression

While people often avoid the subject in our society, depression is, unfortunately, often a major problem. Millions of Americans struggle with depression on a regular basis and it’s not uncommon for doctors to over-prescribe medication for depression.

Luckily, healthier alternatives are available for escaping the hopelessness of a depressed state. You CAN stay away from medications. According to research, travel can be one of them.

I read that people who vacation at least twice a year are less likely to suffer from chronic stress and depression than people who vacation less than once every two years.

As you can see, there are scientifically-backed health benefits of traveling around the world. Mentally, physically and emotionally, you can gain many from just packing your bags and visiting places you’ve never been.

Besides that >>
It boosts happiness and satisfaction.
It makes you mentally resilient.
It enhances creativity.
It’s a great stress buster.
It helps you reinvent yourself.
Expanding your horizons.
Connection.
Adventure.
These are the things that unite travelers in that shared experience so many of us know and love.

Perhaps you are the kind of traveler who likes to throw away the map and just get lost, or maybe you’re the type that prefers to have an itinerary with a defined list of things to do. In any case, dreaming up future trips is at least half the fun, and letting your imagination run wild with fantasies of back-country bike rides or long walks through cobblestone streets in a foreign city is always a joy.

Whether travel has been a regular part of your life or you are just now itching to explore, there is no shortage of inspiration to help fuel your wanderlust.

LIFE IS HAPPENING ALL THE TIME – ARE YOU KEEPING UP?

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WORDS TO INSPIRE YOU! >>

Inspirational quotes and motivational sayings have an amazing ability to change the way we feel about life and can change our thinking.

This is why I find them so interesting, challenging, and important on our path to joy and happiness and finding ways to inspire ourselves as well as others.

Inspirational quotes and ideas provide us with a quick and timely burst of wisdom to get our focus back, offering the inspiration needed for the day or occasion.

I hope to inspire you with my words.

Words have power.

At any age, you can (and should) make changes to make your life better.

You see, the way you think and feel about yourself, including your beliefs and expectations about what is possible for you, determines everything that happens in your life. It all derives from your quality of thinking.

When you improve the quality of your thinking,

you change the quality of your life—sometimes instantly!

Just as positive words can make someone smile, and/or, a well-timed amusing quote can make someone laugh, your own thoughts react to the world in real-time. You have this control!

In fact, you have complete control over only one thing in the universe — Your Thinking — and that’s where motivational quotes come in!

To keep your motivation, you have to use each day as an opportunity for improvement, to be better, to get a little bit closer to your goals. It might sound like a lot of work—and with your busy schedule—next to impossible. But you can do it!

Self-talk is so important—THINK RIGHT!

Motivational words, yes, they’re just words.

But they’re positive words; they will keep you on track.
Remember, you are only as young as the last time you changed your mind.

Keep your thoughts and self-talk fun and productive and always reaching for advancement.

VERY LITTLE IS NEEDED TO MAKE A GREAT LIFE.
I HOPE THE FOLLOWING WORDS INSPIRE YOU >>

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Here are some quotes on why travel is important in life >>

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
— Lao Tzu

If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it’s lethal.
— Paulo Coelho

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.
— Anaïs Nin

Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
— Terry Pratchett

To get away from one’s working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one’s self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.
— Charles Horton Cooley

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.
— Anatole France

One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
— Andre Gide

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to control it.
— John Steinbeck

Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body.
— Anthony Bourdain

Sometimes you have to travel a long way to find what is near.
— Paulo Coelho

When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.
— D.H. Lawrence

For the born traveler, traveling is a besetting vice. Like other vices, it is imperious, demanding its victim’s time, money, energy and the sacrifice of comfort.
— Aldous Huxley

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.
— Henry Miller

COMPOSE A NOBLE BOOK AND WRITE A BEST-SELLER.
YOU ARE AMAZING—PLAY YOUR PART!

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MY DAILY JOTTINGS >>

4/23—As I awoke early, I went out to the new gardens. Two are filling with organic materiel—branches, grass, limbs (not human ones), and tree trunk sections. The one that is empty right now, with the plastic up on the sides, had a small occupant.

There was an immature squirrel in it this morning. This small creature was not scared of me, at all, but just could not get out of his trapped enclosure because of the plastic on the sides. Beth was worried that he might bite me, but I picked him up. We had an empty container used for rabbits, so that was his new temporary home.

Next, Beth called some friends who rescue animals and they will help with what to do with the varmint. I’ve always wanted a pet squirrel, maybe this is the time?

Here I a holding a baby fox

We discovered that our squirrel has a bum back left leg most likely from a cat carrying him. I am hoping that it will heal and he will be good once again. After he is better, back to the wilderness with him. But, if he does not get better, we have a new pet.

4/24—The squirrel needs to get help, so today we left the little creature with a person at Greenville Animal Rehab. They will make sure the leg is OK and let the squirrel return to the wild. I would love to have seen it grow and befriended the little guy (who, we found out, is a girl), but this way is better for the four-legged little one. There were many animals in care here, good to see. 

Two baby raccoons in my hands.

On our way home, we passed by some people with signs stating, “Free food”. This group is part of St. Paul Methodist Church. They gave us each a sack lunch (quite tasty, too.) She was very nice, but I did not let her know I do not believe in any God.
Here they are >> stpaulsaluda.com

4/25—The four gardens need to be filled up. We were going to get a truck-load of dirt, but could not find anyone who delivers. I know that we have to put leaves in, the back yard is full of them right now, so I did a lot of transporting with my wheelbarrow-cart.

On top of the leaves, I will be putting a layer of wood chips. Then on top a thin layer of dirt. Over the next year all this will break down and we will have a great medium to plant “next” year. As I compost we will have all the future material for the gardens.

4/26—At the library, Beth found a green Anole lizard. Usually, they do not let you pick them up and handle them, but this one didn’t put up a struggle. It is temporarily living in a terrarium (not the one with the snails) with fruit flies to eat until it gets better. We YouTube everything to learn how to care for our foundlings.

Also, next to the house, under the ivy, Jemma was focused upon something, we couldn’t tell what. We had thought it was a snake, but it was Mr. Toad, which we still have in our keep. And yet, another terrarium. Beth bought crickets to feed him and I dug up worms for him. Nice little life he is going to have until we turn him loose. We enjoy learning about our local critters and do them no harm in caring for them.

My above-ground gardens are coming along. I am filling each with leaves, wood, and plants up about ¾ full. On one of the gardens, I filled with dirt up to the top. These are bags of dirt I bought, next year we will have enough compost and dirt that there will be no cost.

In this dirt, I planted tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce. They should do well, then we will consume them. So far they are looking good. For the garden next year, we are already planning to have one of the four just for strawberries.

Because of all the trouble in the world right now, I am hearing that food might be hard to acquire in the future. That is the main reason I am building our gardens, so we will have no trouble getting food to eat.

I am hearing from some people who think the world is soon going to become a wild place and everything will be under control. I think, if trouble does come, people will work together to keep things under control.

How about you?
Time to start your garden?

4/27—Once again, I drove the 68 miles round-trip to Costco. Their prices are so good and they sell quality merchandise, so it is well worth it.

Beth told me that Jemma was quite upset and missing me and miserable. Missed her, too (but missed Beth much more.)

4/28—In the bunny hutch we had put up some 8-foot wooden poles to hold up the tarp on top. Today I built a support system that is keeping the tarp up well—a roof it is. I love projects like this and this one turned out magnificent. I built this with leftover pallet boards, at no cost. You will see photos.

As Beth and I were putting one of the two in place, one end dropped and bonked my head. This is Beth speaking: “He always has blood leakage somewhere but head wounds are worrisome. Thankfully, we lived thru it.”  

I put in a new mailbox this week (I would love to hear from you!) 

4/29—Very busy this week, today we slowed down, but I still got stuff done (like finishing this blog to get it off to you.)

Still enjoy the horses next door.

Just today Jemma was after something, we could not tell what. Beth is very scared of snakes, that is what Jemma found. Being a baby serpent, it was quite small. 

YOUR CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK >>

Take a trip, even for a day, to a local city or park.
Then make it a part of your life.

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NEXT BLOG >>

You will learn how my gardens are coming along.
Also, if we pick up any other animals for our zoo (like, perhaps, a chimpanzee?)

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THIS WEEK, MAKE YOUR LIFE SOMETHING

THAT YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT!