Showing posts with label Articles and spirit. Show all posts

Letting go dan cycling era

Fuyohh tajuk.

Jiwang namatey gituh.

Kadangkala kita terlalu cuba jadi terbaik, korbankan semua tapi tiadapun yang sempurna.
Maka janganlah kau memaksa.

Biarkan semua berjalan dengan apa adanya, berlalu dengan yang seharusnya dan berakhir dengan apa yang semestinya.

'' Jika kita pernah kehilangan seseorang, maka ambillah pengajaran dari sepohon pokok yang kehilangan daunnya setiap hari tetapi tetap teguh dan utuh dan kuat untuk teruskan kehidupan.

Ya betul kita kehilangan seseorang maka usahlah kita terlalu menangisi pemergiannya atau kehilangannya tetapi kita harus tegar hadapi apa kehilangan itu kerana pastinya Allah swt nak gantikan sesuatu pekara yang lebih baik kepada kita.

Berhentilah bersedih, berhentilah meratap dan berhentilah menangis..mulakan langkah pertama untuk perkuatkan diri kita.''- coach termizi via tiktok

Ubat hati yang terluka cuma doa dan masa.

It's time to let go - Iceman Top Gun Maverick.

Even if you don't know how.

perit melepas adalah sementara namun sakit bertahan lebih berpanjangan

teguh lah seperti sepohon pokok

Let go or be dragged

dulu belajar ilmu ignore ni skrg dh lupa byk..jgn jd emotional ok..merugikan byk benda

kena stop buat rutin sometime sebab benda tu menjemukan.

'' Bila wujud seorang manusia yang pada suatu hari tiba-tiba muncul di hadapan kau dan tanpa kau sangka dia menjadikan hidup kau tunggang langgang, hati jadi libang libu, perasaan tak tentu arah.

Dan semua ini berlaku tanpa kau tahu kenapa.''

Mahathir Mohamad 89 tahun

dipetik dari:
http://parpukari.blogspot.com/

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad mungkin boleh dikatakan sebagai antara figur dunia yang paling banyak diperkatakan. Meskipun dia tidak memimpin bala tentera dan berperang seperti Stalin, Kar Marx, Hitler, Churcill mahupun Patton atau Arthur, malah banyak pula pihak yang mempertikaikan agama dan amalannya, namun lelaki yang dilahirkan dari kalangan keluarga bekas Menteri Besar Kedah yang terkenal dengan pembinaan Terusan Wan Mat Saman selain hubung kait dengan keluarga Mahsuri, tetap terkenal di seluruh dunia walaupun dia telah lama meninggalkan perkhidmatan dan pentadbiran awam.

Walaupun pemujanya meletakkan namanya begitu sayup tinggi mencecah awan, namun sepanjang pentadbirannya, Mahathir sama seperti manusia yang lain tidak lepas daripada melakukan kesilapan. Namun kesilapan tersebut ditebusnya dengan banyak kaedah bagi menambahbaik keadaan dalam negara ini.
Daripada orang Melayu bertangga gaji puratanya RM180 sebulan, hanya dalam tempoh 1981-1984, tangga gaji RM450 sudah mula dikecapi. Dan pada penghujung pentadbirannya, kebanyakan orang Melayu sudah terlupa tentang menjala ikan, bersembang dengan rokok daun dan tembakau cap kerengga, berjalan kaki keluar ke pekan, malah kebanyakan orang Melayu yang dahulunya totok jumud, semakin terbuka dan berasakan pemimpin-pemimpin negara tidak lebih bijak daripada mereka sendiri.

Hasil dan dasar pentadbirannya jugalah yang membuatkan anak-anak muda Melayu mempunyai lebih banyak masa lapang untuk merungut dan melihat keburukan orang lain tanpa menilai pencapaian diri hasil daripada pelbagai peluang yang diwujudkan. Hasil dan dasar pentadbirannya jugalah membuatkan kebanyakan anak muda Melayu yang tidak pernah hidup dalam kesusahan seperti ibu bapa dan datuk nenek mereka sebelum 1984, menganggap mereka sekarang tertekan dan dizalimi.
Katalah apa pun, yang pasti dunia mengiktirafnya. Walau seburuk manapun kesilapan yang pernah dilakukan sepanjang pentadbirannya, Malaysia tidak akan berada pada takah sekarang kalau dia mendengar bantahan, rungutan atau momokan daripada Lim Kit Siang dan konco-konconya. Malah Malaysia tidak akan berdiri di atas kaki sendiri jikalau dia terus lemah dengan penghinaan demi penghinaan yang dilakukan oleh Lee Kuan Yew di seberang tambak sana dan tidak mewujudkan kemandirian seperti Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas, KLIA dan sebagainya selain giat membawa masuk pelabur dari luar untuk meningkatkan tangga gaji dan status sosial rakyat Malaysia.

Dan sekarang, rata-rata rakyat Malaysia tidak lagi bercakap tentang gaji RM300 atau berpusu-pusu ke seberang tambak untuk membeli limau oren atau laici dalam tin lagi.
Permusuhannya dengan Zionis ketara menerusi serangan demi serangan yang dilakukan oleh Zionis dan konco-konco mereka kepada Mahathir. Dan Mahathir tidak menggunakan kelancangannya semata-mata tetapi sebaliknya memberikan 'bantuan sewajarnya' sehinggakan Allahyarham Yasser Arafat, Allahyarham Alija Izetbegovic, Haris Silajdzic dan beberapa orang tokoh pemimpin dari negara Islam yang bergolak, datang ke negara ini untuk berterima kasih kepada Malaysia.
Palestin, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Selatan Thailand, Selatan Filipina bahkan Afghanistan dan Farrah Aidid Ethiopia mempunyai thumb-print Mahathir. Kebanyakan anggota-anggota PENGAMAN PBB dari Malaysia seringkali menceritakan perkara berkenaan, terutama sekali selepas kargo yang dibawa menggunakan sebuah kapal yang didaftarkan di Greece, dijarah oleh tentera Israel beberapa tahun dahulu kerana disyaki membawa bantuan senjata dan peluru untuk Gaza dan Tebing Barat.
Tetapi si tua yang menyambut harijadinya yang ke-89 hari ini (secara rasmi), tidak pernah mendabik dada tentang hal tersebut biarpun dia terus diberikan pelbagai cop dan status.

Ramai juga yang masih ingat kisah dia berjalan kaki dari Seri Perdana lama ke Parlimen yang kemudian cuba ditiru oleh Ahli-Ahli Parlimen yang bersikap mengampu dan membodek. Ramai juga yang masih ingat bagaimana dia menutup mulut Lim Kit Siang dengan membawa Lim Kit Siang menyaksikan pelancaran Satelit pertama Malaysia. Ramai yang masih ingat, dia berjalan kaki seorang diri atau ditemani oleh pengawal yang tidak kelihatan di jalan raya sekitar Kuala Lumpur. Dan ramai juga yang masih ingat tentang 'kegemarannya' meninjau projek-projek besar seperti PLUS, LRT Putra dan STAR, kenaikan harga dan barangan di pasaran secara peribadi tanpa banyak publisiti.
Kita tidak menyamakan Mahathir dengan Umar Abdul Aziz. Taraf kedua-duanya jauh berbeza. Tetapi sebaik-baik pemerintahan Umar Abdul Aziz, kebaikannya yang berganda-ganda itu akhirnya dibalas dengan pembunuhan khalifah Bani Umaiyyah itu.
Walau apa pun yang pernah dilakukan oleh Mahathir sama ada disukai atau tidak disukai oleh rakyat negara ini, sememangnya dia adalah seorang NEGARAWAN.

SELAMAT HARI LAHIR YANG KE-89, TUN!!!

Cheap Travel vs. Budget Travel: There’s a Difference-Bootsnall articles

“Pssht, I only spent $8 a day when I was in India.”
“I traveled the world for a year, and I only spent $6000.”
“Dude, you spent waaaay too much on that.”
“Brah, I spent half that during my time in Thailand.”
“How did you spend that much in Southeast Asia?”
We’ve all heard the comments. We’ve all had these conversations with the headier than thou backpackers who wax poetic about how little money they have spent on their trips. We see them comment on Facebook or Twitter or in the comment sections of articles. You know the ones. Those travelers who clearly think they’re better than you because they spent the least amount of money out of everyone else in the room.

What type of traveler are you?

We published an article a few years back chronicling the The Real Costs of RTW Travel, where we highlighted 11 trips and what people spent on those trips. I was kind of surprised at the comments. There were lots of people coming out of the woodworks to comment about how everyone in the article must have been doing it wrong because the dollar amounts revealed.
We absolutely promote the idea of budget travel, there is a massive difference between traveling on a budget and just being downright cheap. BootsnAll is full of budget travel articles and tips for making the most of your trip with the money you have, and in my eyes, that’s what budget travel is all about. It’s not about who can spend the least.

1-It’s not a contest.

Travel is a not a contest. The traveler vs. tourist debate is a tired one that simply makes people sound stuck up and pretentious. Just because you spent $10/day in Thailand doesn’t make you an awesome traveler that everyone should bow down to. Making snide comments like “How someone can spend that much in Laos I’ll never know” simply makes you sound like a douchebag.
There is no prize for traveling the right way. Actually, there is no right way to travel. While we promote the idea of indie travel, we also completely respect a person’s wishes to take guided tours, go on cruises, and head off to an all inclusive resort – if that’s your style, go for it!

There is no prize for traveling the right way. Actually, there is no right way to travel.

The same goes with the budget. I certainly respect those who manage to get by on a paltry budget (though I have to question what one can actually do on $10/day, but more on that later), but I also respect those who like to stay in hotels and have air conditioning when it’s 100 degrees and humid outside. You don’t get an award by spending the least, so stop bragging about how little you spent and get out of the hostel common room and actually do something.
Read Stupid Travel Arguments (And Why We Should Stop Having Them and check out the Six Travel Types You Love to Loathe

2-You can’t do/see anything on $10/day, no matter where you are.

Sure, there’s nothing wrong with trying to get the best experience for what you spend, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and pay more for something you really want to do. There are plenty of travelers out there who claim to be able to travel in countries like India, Nepal, and areas of Southeast Asia and Latin America for $10USD/day. I am not calling them liars, but I certainly have to question what it is they are doing on a daily basis. Yes, there are plenty of free activities when visiting a new place. Simply wandering around different neighborhoods, hanging out in parks, and just taking in the natural beauty of a place or hustle and bustle of a city are all things you can do for nothing. But sooner or later, you’ll actually want to visit a museum, see a famous site, or take part in an awesome experience that may actually cost some money, no?

So say you spend $5 on a bed, get breakfast for free, and then eat at a street stall for your other two meals, you’re at $7. What the hell else can you do for $3?

3-Let’s take a look at the numbers, shall we?

Even if you can get a bed for $5/day, which is still possible in some areas, you still have to eat. I’ve eaten plenty of $1 plates of curry from the streets in Bangkok and $1 bowls of pho from an alleyway in Hanoi. I’ve shopped in markets in South America and cooked my own meals in hostel kitchens. I usually try to find hostels with breakfast included. So say you spend $5 on a bed, get breakfast for free, and then eat at a street stall for your other two meals, you’re at $7. What the hell else can you do for $3?
Even in the cheapest areas of the world, doing things cost money. And while you can certainly maintain that $10 budget for a while, I would imagine you’d actually want to do something at some point or another.
Read 12 Reasons Why Southeast Asia is the Best Place in the World for Backpackers, find out 8 Ways to Travel for Free on Your RTW Trip, read How to Travel Around the World for $40 Per Day

4-Comfort is not a bad thing.

The travelers who like to brag about how little they spend are also the ones who like to say things like, “I don’t need comfort when I’m on the road, bro. I like to get back to the roots of man and keep it simple.”
Hey, I’m all for keeping it simple. I’ve embraced my inner hippie many a time while on the road. There’s nothing wrong with sleeping in a dorm bed, camping in order to get closer to nature and save a few bucks in the meantime, or cooking your own food in order to save money for something else. Comfort is all a matter of personal preference, and we all have our levels of comfort we prefer.

If you can stay in a room in Southeast Asia with no windows, a tiny fan, and a pet rat, more power to you. But it doesn’t make your experience more authentic than mine.

Usually our ability to deal with uncomfortable situations declines with age. When I was 20, I had no problem sleeping on the ground or having questionable cleanliness in the shower that’s supposed to be helping me get clean. Back then I was following Phish around the country, sleeping in rest areas, and showering in those rest area sinks. But now that I’m in my 30′s, I tend to like a bit more comfort, and I’m sure as hell not going to apologize for that.
The thing that irks me are the travelers who act like they’re better than me because I want air conditioning in April in India. I’ve stayed in non-air conditioned rooms while it’s hot as hell more times than I wish, and there’s nothing cool about having to take ice cold showers every hour just to temporarily stop sweating. In fact, it sucks. If you can stay in a room in Southeast Asia with no windows, a tiny fan, and a pet rat, more power to you. But it doesn’t make your experience more authentic than mine.
>>Read Five of the Worlds Most Expensive Countries and How to Visit Them on the Cheap

5-Saving for a trip is hard work. Don’t you want that hard work to pay off?

Usually when someone goes on a long-term trip, he or she has to sacrifice to do so. We forego nights at the bar or meals out. We bypass that concert or ball game in order to save more money. Saving for a trip, no matter the length, can be hard work. We did without a lot for 18 months to be able to save for our RTW trip.
Because we were on what we thought was a tight budget, I continued that mindset for the first month of our trip. We bypassed activities in order to not spend money. We didn’t try new food or go hang out with new friends because it was going to be too expensive. We’d walk around for an extra hour trying to find a hostel that might save us an extra $3. After a while, it became old. We were fighting about money way too much.

We weren’t being budget travelers. We were being cheap travelers.

And then something clicked. We sacrificed so much, we saved for so long, we quit our jobs, we gave away or sold so much of our stuff. And we did this to be able to travel the world and have the trip of a lifetime. But we weren’t doing that. We weren’t being budget travelers. We were being cheap travelers.
So we changed our tune. We decided that we’d bypass some comfort here and there for an awesome meal out. We decided to get that non-air conditioned room every so often so we could climb Franz Josef Glacier, ride the World’s Most Dangerous Road, and go on a full moon trip to Iguazu Falls. Our trip instantly became better. Our mindset improved, we stopped fighting, I stopped fretting about money so much, even if that meant we had to come home sooner.
What’s the point of going on a trip and then not doing the things you really want to do?
Read the Step-by-Step Guide to Visiting Machu Picchu, and check out these 10 Delicious Discoveries

6-Budget travel isn’t about spending the least. It’s about getting the most value for your money.

Budget travel is not about who can spend the least amount of money or who can travel in Thailand on $10/day. It’s not about finding the cheapest, grubbiest room. It’s not about eating ramen noodles for all your meals and sitting in the hostel common room watching a movie while everyone else is out having drinks and dancing.
Budget travel is all about getting the most value for your money while you’re on the road. There is no monetary value attached to the phrase “budget travel.” If someone sacrificed what they consider to be comforts and still spent $40/day in Laos, then that’s budget travel for that person. Just because you did it on $10/day doesn’t make your experience more authentic, or indie, or better.

Budget travel is all about getting the most value for your money while you’re on the road. There is no monetary value attached to the phrase ‘budget travel.’

There are many different types of travelers. Some would never think of setting foot in a hostel. Some would never think of paying more to stay in a hotel. Some prefer to eat out at decent restaurants on the road. Some only eat at street carts and cook their own meals. Some always do guided tours. Some never do. Our society likes to label everything, and that’s fine. Budget travel, like all types of travel, isn’t a black and white definition – there’s a huge amount of gray in there, too. And you certainly aren’t a better traveler because you spend less money than the guy next to you.

Read about these 12 Budget-Friendly Sustainable Travel Experiences, save some money by checking out these Eight Tips for the Newbie Hitchhiker, and check out these tips for Saving Money for Your Trip

Photo credit: 1, 2, 3, 5; picture 4 belongs to the author and cannot be used without consent.

http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/12-02/cheap-travel-vs-budget-travel-theres-a-difference.html

Travel Makes You A Better Person -bootsnall articles

By Jennifer Miller | January 29th, 2014 |

http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/14-01/travel-makes-you-a-better-person.html

It sounds arrogant, doesn’t it? The insinuation being that who you were before was “worse” in some way. Or maybe some people who haven’t traveled will read that and assume that the underlying assumption is that those who travel are better than those who don’t, or that I’m making a value judgement based on my preferred lifestyle which automatically denigrates theirs.

My assertion here that travel will make you a better person is not arrogant, and if it strikes you that way, please hear me out.

If there is one thing that my travels continue to underscore, it is that pride is my biggest struggle and arrogance lurks just below the surface. Every time the discussion devolves into “us” and “them” or my thought process struggles with a reality elsewhere, the solution to which seems so “simple” to my “Western” way of thinking, I am reminded that I have work to do. Travel is nothing if not a continual and painful lesson in humility. However, my assertion here that travel will make you a better person is not arrogant, and if it strikes you that way, please hear me out.

Let’s begin with what I’m not saying

I’m not saying that only people of travel have worth. I’m not saying that a lifestyle that takes a person around the globe is somehow better, or more enlightened than one that does not. I’m not saying that you are a “worse” person now, before you’ve traveled. I’m not saying anything at all, in fact, about the generalities.

What I am saying is that we are shaped by our experiences, and travel changes us. It changes us on an individual and very personal level, in ways that bleed over into every aspect of how we live our lives. Or at least it can, if we let it.

~There is really no way to convey what you saw, what you experienced, and how it changed you on the inside, even when everything external looks the same.

If you’ve traveled, even a little bit, you know this to be true. You’ve struggled to put into words the experience you had with a homeless mother and her hungry child, or the simple joy of a village full of kids with nothing but a ball to make fun with; and make fun they did. There is really no way to convey what you saw, what you experienced, and how it changed you on the inside, even when everything external looks the same. Your physical body went traveling and came back with a tan, but the nebulous you is still out there and can never fully return.

~Travel takes what you had to offer when you picked up your backpack and builds on it, molds it, and shapes you in the process.

It’s not that travel somehow magically improves on everyone who strikes out, it’s that travel affects an individual, and then that individual, forever changed, interacts differently, with herself, with friends, with family, and in the market place. Travel takes what you had to offer when you picked up your backpack and builds on it, molds it, and shapes you in the process. You return, not better than anyone else, but a better version of yourself.

Overflowing into daily life

And then those changes, imperceptible at first, overflow into your every day life.

-You become a better friend for having walked alone in the world and knowing what it is to miss people. Relationships may matter more. You may find yourself open to strangers in ways that you were not, because you know what it is to be taken in as an alien yourself. You may find that your trust in humankind and our basic goodness increases once you breakdown the walls of “us” vs “them.”

-You become a better partner for taking the time to learn more about who you are and your place in the world. Travel teaches you the insignificance of your own life, and paradoxically, the supreme importance of the impact of one person on the world. If you’ve traveled for a while, it’s much harder to make life all about “you” and much easier to be willing to be flexible, to give, and to see other points of view, all things that will serve us well in relationships.

-You become a better parent for having a bit of perspective on how the other half lives, and understanding that, in fact, it’s not the “other half,” it’s more like the other 80%. All of a sudden those lists of what you “need” for a baby and cost calculators for child rearing seem ridiculous. Because they are. You’ll be less likely to fill the landfill with colourful plastic and the happy trash that goes with toddlerhood when you have seen kids with bare feet, a stick, and a ball develop just as nicely as a coddled mini-Manhattanite. You’ll have a desire to show your child the world where perhaps before your instinct was to try to protect her from it. You’ll be less worried about the many, well marketed “right” ways to parent and more accepting of the reality that there are as many ways to raise well adjusted kids as there are caring parents who are doing their best.

~You may find that one of the results of your travels is an intense desire to be part of the solution, to make a difference in your family, in your neighbourhood, or in your community, which affects the whole world.

-You become a better employee, or entrepreneur for having some international experience and perspective on the diversity of the world marketplace. Not only will you have valuable new connections, you’ll have new skills that allow you to build bridges between cultures and add value to your particular niche in the business world.

-You become a better citizen for having seen what works and what doesn’t in other parts of the world. On the one hand, you’ll gain a first hand appreciation for the many blessings of being born into a first world country. On the other hand, you’ll come face to face with the reality that “our” way of doing any number of things isn’t the only, or the best way. Spending time in a communist dictatorship will renew your conviction to vote and be part of the political process. You may find that one of the results of your travels is an intense desire to be part of the solution, to make a difference in your family, in your neighbourhood, or in your community, which affects the whole world.

Lots of folks come home from a journey with an intense desire to change the world. Some of them do it in big ways: they start NGOs, they volunteer their time, they move to India and live in communities where they empower little girls with education, healthcare, and tools to escape cycles of poverty and desperation, like a friend of mine has.

~Our travels, what we’ve learned and how we’ve been changed by them, will leak out of every pore if we let them.

What’s not as obvious, not as sexy, but just as powerful is the myriad of small ways in which the rest of us, who come home and go about normal life, change the world. Our travels, what we’ve learned and how we’ve been changed by them, will leak out of every pore if we let them. We’ll be different friends, partners, parents, employees, coaches, activists, community members and citizens, of our individual countries and the world; if we have the courage to live authentic lives instead of just blend back in.
So let me ask you, how has travel changed you? How has it changed how you live your life?

Travel Resolutions to Keep This Year-Bootsnall article

By Katie Hammel | January 3rd, 2014 |

We hope 2014 brings you more amazing indie travel experiences, and to help you make travel a priority in your life this year, we’ve put together a list of travel-related resolutions that you can actually keep.
Yesterday we unveiled our annual list of great destinations for indie travelers for 2014, and this year we’ll be focusing on long-term travel and helping and inspiring all you folks to get out on the road.

We know there will be some changes in store for the travel industry and travelers around the world, but we think one thing that won’t change is travel’s ability to transform us and to make the world a smaller place as we learn more about people and cultures different from our own.

1. Take your travel in any portion you can

At BootsnAll, we believe that the life-changing experience of extended travel is possible for almost anyone. But we also understand that it’s not always the right fit (or the right time) for every traveler. If you can’t get away for longer trips, take your travel in small chunks. Taking weekend trips, booking red-eye flights, and planning your trips around holidays to take advantage of extra free days off can help you get more out of limited time, but remember that not every trip needs to be epic. Pick destinations that seem manageable for the amount of time that you have, don’t worry about “seeing it all,” and expect that you’ll return at some point in the future.

2. Earn your experiences

Maybe it’s the endorphins or the adrenaline that kicks in during physical activity, but some of the best travel moments are the ones that are earned with sweat, tears, and a few small bruises. Get active and experience the world on a human-powered adventure. Go hike, kayak, swim, run, climb, ride, row, push, pull, hang, crawl, jump or whatever else gets you moving.
>> Read: Trek Around the World and 10 Small Countries You Can Walk Across

3. See less, experience more

You know the traveler type….the one who is running around from monument to museum, pausing for a moment to snap a picture, and then scurrying off to check the next item off a packed itinerary. It’s easy to recognize the most extreme examples of this type of whirlwind traveler; it’s harder to recognize the signs of trying to do to much in your own travel behavior.

'Travel shouldn’t be about getting it done, but about savoring the moment.''

If you find yourself needing a vacation after your trip, if the only conversations you have with locals involve ordering food or buying museum tickets, and if you come home with more photographs than memories, you may be forsaking the experience of travel for the accomplishment of it. Travel shouldn’t be about getting it done, but about savoring the moment. Slow down, unpack, relax, stay awhile.
Read: Travel is Not a Contest (and Other Reasons to Embrace Slow Travel)

4. Invest in good gear

We’re always extolling the benefits of packing light; it makes travel easier, cheaper, and more convenient. But without the proper gear, traveling light is much more difficult. Just try going two weeks with three shirts that aren’t quick-drying, and after spending all your time waiting for your sink-washed clothes to dry or hanging out in the laundromat, you may give up on packing light altogether. Investing in gear that is designed to help you travel with less can make all the difference. Compression sacks, quick-drying and lightweight clothes, and the right toiletries are worth the investment.

5. Protect yourself

No one wants to think about something going wrong on a trip, but nothing ruins a trip faster than unexpected illness or injury, and the financial strain that can come with them. Most travelers won’t need insurance on their trip; they’ll return home with only happy memories. But for those who do encounter unexpected problems, insurance can be a literal lifesaver. From replacing stolen goods to getting you home in the event of major injury, insurance is one of those things which, when you need it, you really need it. Protecting yourself, your family, and your financial investment in your trip is worth the minor expense.

6. Get past the “once-in-a-lifetime” roadblock

“Going on an African safari is a once-in a-lifetime-experience, so I want to do it right.”
“I’ll probably only go to Europe once, so I want to see it all.”
“This will be our last trip before we have kids, so it needs to be amazing.”
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to splurge on a trip you’ll remember forever, and of course there are some destinations that you will probably only go to once. But the problem with the “once-in-a-lifetime” mentality is that it leads to “all-or-nothing” thinking. Too many travelers think that they don’t have enough time or money to “do the place right” and so they keep waiting until they have more time or more money. Except it never comes, and so they never go.
Snap out of it! One week in Italy is better than none, and going on a budget safari is better than never going at all. Compromise on your dream trips and you’ll find it’s easier to make them a reality.
>> Read: Affordable Places to Go on Safari and How to Experience the Trip of a Lifetime for Less

7. Change up your travel style

If you’ve been traveling for any length of time, you probably have a well-defined travel style. You might be a budget-backpacker, a mid-range traveler, or a slow traveler; you might crave adventure, prefer the beach, or stick to cities. Change things up a bit!
If you usually go budget, splurge a bit on your next trip – book one night in an ultra-luxe hotel, or bump up to business class, or spend big on a multi-course gourmet feast. If you prefer the finer things in life, seek out some street food or try a night at a hostel. If you’re an adventure junkie, take a break on the beach for a few days, and if you’re a sun-worshipper, add some active adventures off the beach. Solo traveler? Plan a trip with your parents. In a couple? Go it alone next time. Changing things up can help you discover more to love about travel.
>> Read: Solo Travel Pros and Cons and It’s Not What You Think: Long-Term Family Travel

8. Save the planet you love to explore

We travel to meet people, to experience things outside our normal life, to eat, to drink, to do. And we travel to explore this big, beautiful planet we call home. Yet, there’s no denying that the very act of travel is effecting the planet’s ecosystem in a negative way. Planes, trains, and buses all add pollution to the atmosphere. The hotels we stay in and restaurants we eat in also require energy to operate. And if we’re not careful, the tours we take and treks we go on can actually harm the local environment and peoples we’re going to visit.
You can’t eliminate the negative impact your travel has on the Earth, but you can reduce or offset it. Travel slowly, go by foot or take mass transit as much as possible. Respect the local culture and environment and only support businesses that do as well. Give back to the local communities you visit, and encourage others to do the same.

9. Boldly go solo

Traveling alone for the first time can be scary. You might worry if it’s safe, if you’ll be lonely, who you will talk to. But what you’ll quickly discover is that solo travelers are never really alone unless they want to be, and that there is always someone to talk to, eat with, or explore alongside. Many solo travelers also say they meet more people than when they travel in a group, as they are more approachable alone. If you’ve never gone on a trip by yourself, make this the year you do, even if it’s just for a weekend. And if you have taken a few trips alone, go bigger this year, traveling solo longer or farther than you have in the past.
>> Read: Tips for Solo Travel from Those Who Have Done It and Things You Learn About Yourself (and the World) Traveling Solo

10. Learn something

The best trips teach us something, whether that be something about ourselves or the place we’ve gone to explore. Embrace more opportunities to learn on your next trip by taking a class in something that interests you. From one-day cooking or dance classes to week-long lessons in art, culture, language and activities, studying around the world is one more way to make a deeper connection with the local culture.

11. Be a traveler at home

Part of travel is about experiencing new places, seeing and doing new things, and meeting new people. So many travelers are open all these things when they’re on a trip to a foreign place, and yet they quickly forget the traveler’s mindset as soon as they return home.
Be a traveler no matter where you are. Be a tourist in your own town. Try a new restaurant; head to a side of town you never visit; find a new event, festival, or parade you’ve never attended; go to a museum you’ve never explored. Look at your familiar environment with fresh eyes and try to see it as you would a new destination.
>> Read: Things to Do Discover About Home by Traveling and An Essay on Returning Home

12. Eat something that scares you

Chances are, you probably try a few new foods on every trip – spicy curries in Thailand, the local fish in Colombia, a traditional dessert in Italy. It looks good, it smells good and it’s local, so you try it. Why not go beyond that a bit, and try something that you actually don’t think you’ll like? You don’t have to start chomping insects or rotten shark (unless you want to), just sample something you wouldn’t normally expect to enjoy. If offal isn’t your thing, at least try the tripe in Rome, and don’t scoff at lentils without at least tasting them in an Ethiopian berbere sauce. You’re mom was right: you don’t know if you’ll like it until you try, and if you don’t, you may miss out on something delicious.
>> Read: How to Plan a Foodie RTW Trip and The Most Unusual Snack Foods in the World

13. Find your quest

The earliest adventurers didn’t travel to “get away” from something, they were searching for something. You don’t have to go in search of a new land or a new trade route in order to follow in their footsteps. Plan your own quest, whether it be an ambitious goal like biking from North America to the bottom of South America or a more personal journey, like tracing you family history. Having a greater purpose to your goal can give you more motivation to achieve it.
>> Read: 9 Epic Quests to Inspire Your RTW Trip and What is Your Why?

14. Talk to strangers and make meaningful connections

One of the best parts of travel can be the connections you make with locals and other travelers. If you tend to be on the shy side, focus on making more meaningful connections on the road. Strike up a conversation with a stranger in a cafe, on the bus, or in your hostel common room. Try a home exchange program to get a better look at local life, or Couchsurf for the first time. And don’t forget the connections you already have; keep up correspondence with people you’ve met on your trips, and plan more visits to family and friends who don’t live locally. Visiting someone you know in another city gives you a built-in local guide and helps you save money.
>> Read: How to Meet People on the Road Without Hosteling and The Art of Keeping in Touch with Fellow Travelers

15. Be impulsive

Some of the most memorable experience are the ones we never expected to have. This year, vow to be more spontaneous. Book a last minute trip or arrive somewhere with no plans and just see where the wind takes you. On a longer trip, leave one day (or week) or one destination up in the air, or plan a mystery day trip where you just get on the next train and see where it takes you in an hour’s time. You can even apply the same idea locally. Pick a nearby city and just drive or hop on public transit and get off at a new stop. With no time to prepare, you can be more open to serendipity.
>> Read: How to Use a Guidebook Without it Ruining Your Trip and From Dreaming to Doing in 4 Weeks

16. Be an inspiration

Think back to the time before your first big trip. You may have wondered if someone like you could actually do this. Could you study abroad, could you go on a trip alone, could you travel for a whole year? Maybe what pushed you over the edge and made you finally just do it was the advice or inspiration of someone who had shared their own story with you. Pay it forward by inspiring someone else to take a trip, to travel more, or to accomplish their own travel goals.

17. Ditch the technology

Smartphones and easy access to the internet have been great for travelers. We can stay connected with home, easily make travel arrangements, and get local information at the touch of a button. But all this technology can also keep us from truly being present; we’re too busy tweeting about the moment to really appreciate it. Take some time to disconnect. Spend at least one day on your trip without tweeting, Facebooking, or texting. Go a week without checking email. Or really take a tech-break by traveling to a destination where you won’t have any internet or cell service at all.
>> Read: Tips for Balancing Technology and Travel

18. Make this the year you do it

How many times have you said that this was the year you would visit that place, or save for a round the world trip, or travel solo? Stop putting it off! It doesn’t get any easier, you aren’t getting any younger, and there will never be a perfect time. Don’t let five, or ten, or twenty years go by before you know it. Whatever your travel dream is – to sleep on the Great Wall of China, to dive in the Red Sea, to ride a horse in Mongolia, to stomp grapes in France, to haggle in the markets of Morocco, or to take a round-the-world trip – make this the year you make it happen! Come up with a plan to achieve your goals in small steps and make 2014 the year you realize your travel dreams.

''It doesn’t get any easier, you aren’t getting any younger, and there will never be a perfect time.'

http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/11-12/travel-resolutions-to-keep-this-year.html

37 Things You’ll Regret When You’re Old

They say youth is wasted on the young. Are you wasting yours? posted on December 17, 2013 at 1:01pm EST

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/37-things-youll-regret-when-youre-old

Mike Spohr BuzzFeed Staff

1. Not traveling when you had the chance.

Flickr: surfingthenations

Traveling becomes infinitely harder the older you get, especially if you have a family and need to pay the way for three-plus people instead of just yourself.

2. Not learning another language.

Apatow Productions / Dreamworks

You’ll kick yourself when you realize you took three years of language in high school and remember none of it.

3. Staying in a bad relationship.

howdoyougetaguy.com

No one who ever gets out of a bad relationship looks back without wishing they made the move sooner.

4. Forgoing sunscreen.

SNL

Wrinkles, moles, and skin cancer can largely be avoided if you protect yourself.

5. Missing the chance to see your favorite musicians.

celebuzz.com

“Nah, dude, I’ll catch Nirvana next time they come through town.” Facepalm.

6. Being scared to do things.

Paramount Pictures

Looking back you’ll think, What was I so afraid of?

7. Failing to make physical fitness a priority.

Columbia Pictures

Too many of us spend the physical peak of our lives on the couch. When you hit 40, 50, 60, and beyond, you’ll dream of what you could have done.

8. Letting yourself be defined by gender roles.

ABC / hookedonhouses.net

Few things are as sad as an old person saying, “Well, it just wasn’t done back then.”

9. Not quitting a terrible job.

20th Century Fox

Look, you gotta pay the bills. But if you don’t make a plan to improve your situation, you might wake up one day having spent 40 years in hell.

10. Not trying harder in school.

Jive Records

It’s not just that your grades play a role in determining where you end up in life. Eventually you’ll realize how neat it was to get to spend all day learning, and wish you’d paid more attention.

11. Not realizing how beautiful you were.

Flickr: thexbeautyxofxlove

Too many of us spend our youth unhappy with the way we look, but the reality is, that’s when we’re our most beautiful.

12. Being afraid to say “I love you.”

Fox

When you’re old, you won’t care if your love wasn’t returned — only that you made it known how you felt.

13. Not listening to your parents’ advice.

Flickr: ffg

You don’t want to hear it when you’re young, but the infuriating truth is that most of what your parents say about life is true.

14. Spending your youth self-absorbed.

Fox

You’ll be embarrassed about it, frankly.

15. Caring too much about what other people think.

SNL / Paramount

In 20 years you won’t give a damn about any of those people you once worried so much about.

16. Supporting others’ dreams over your own.

Flickr: kvnfilm

Supporting others is a beautiful thing, but not when it means you never get to shine.

17. Not moving on fast enough.

NBC

Old people look back at the long periods spent picking themselves off the ground as nothing but wasted time.

18. Holding grudges, especially with those you love.

Via themetapicture.com

What’s the point of re-living the anger over and over?

19. Not standing up for yourself.

New Line Cinema.

Old people don’t take shit from anyone. Neither should you.

20. Not volunteering enough.

tumblr.com

OK, so you probably won’t regret not volunteering Hunger Games style, but nearing the end of one’s life without having helped to make the world a better place is a great source of sadness for many.

21. Neglecting your teeth.

New Line Cinema

Brush. Floss. Get regular checkups. It will all seem so maddeningly easy when you have dentures.

22. Missing the chance to ask your grandparents questions before they die.

Flickr: judybaxter

Most of us realize too late what an awesome resource grandparents are. They can explain everything you’ll ever wonder about where you came from, but only if you ask them in time.

23. Working too much.

youthopia.in

No one looks back from their deathbed and wishes they spent more time at the office, but they do wish they spent more time with family, friends, and hobbies.

24. Not learning how to cook one awesome meal.

Parkwood / Columbia

Knowing one drool-worthy meal will make all those dinner parties and celebrations that much more special.

25. Not stopping enough to appreciate the moment.

Flickr: guillermofdez

Young people are constantly on the go, but stopping to take it all in now and again is a good thing.

26. Failing to finish what you start.

Via insideballet.com

“I had big dreams of becoming a nurse. I even signed up for the classes, but then…”

27. Never mastering one awesome party trick.

Flickr: luciano_meirelles

You will go to hundreds, if not thousands, of parties in your life. Wouldn’t it be cool to be the life of them all?

28. Letting yourself be defined by cultural expectations.

fanbase.com

Don’t let them tell you, “We don’t do that.”

29. Refusing to let friendships run their course.

Comedy Central

People grow apart. Clinging to what was, instead of acknowledging that things have changed, can be a source of ongoing agitation and sadness.

30. Not playing with your kids enough.

Flickr: dasqfamily

When you’re old, you’ll realize your kid went from wanting to play with you to wanting you out of their room in the blink of an eye.

31. Never taking a big risk (especially in love).

Via hellobeautiful.com

Knowing that you took a leap of faith at least once — even if you fell flat on your face — will be a great comfort when you’re old.

32. Not taking the time to develop contacts and network.

Tri-Star Pictures

Networking may seem like a bunch of crap when you’re young, but later on it becomes clear that it’s how so many jobs are won.

33. Worrying too much.

ABC

As Tom Petty sang, “Most things I worry about never happen anyway.”

34. Getting caught up in needless drama.

Oxygen Network

Who needs it?

35. Not spending enough time with loved ones.

Flickr: practicalowl

Our time with our loved ones is finite. Make it count.

36. Never performing in front of others.

Flickr: theeerin

This isn’t a regret for everyone, but many elderly people wish they knew — just once — what it was like to stand in front of a crowd and show off their talents.

37. Not being grateful sooner.

NBC

It can be hard to see in the beginning, but eventually it becomes clear that every moment on this earth — from the mundane to the amazing — is a gift that we’re all so incredibly lucky to share.