The Triple Benefits of Travel

As we leave one year and get ready to enter the next, here’s a good quote from Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad (recommended; a very moving memoir).

He has a theory: When we travel, we actually take three trips. There’s the first trip of preparation and anticipation, packing and daydreaming. There’s the trip you’re actually on. And then, there’s the trip you remember. “The key is to try to keep all three as separate as possible,” he says. “The key is to be present wherever you are right now.” This advice, more than any, stays with me.

Just having a trip booked is enough to make you happier, according to the Institute for Applied Positive Research:

– 97% of survey respondents report that having a trip planned makes them happier.
– 82% say a booked trip makes them “moderately” or “significantly” happier.
– 71% reported feeling greater levels of energy knowing they had a trip planned in the
next six months.

This time of year seems to be a mix of when we are most likely experiencing all three of these effects – remembering past trips with kids no longer young and folks no longer with us, spending time with close ones this very moment, and starting to plan that next trip in 2026. A good reminder to savor it all.