Living Your Travel Dream

Most people have a dream vacation somewhere in their psyches. Lately, I've been consuming a lot of popular culture - a euphemism for spending too much time watching TV and reading scraps of newspaper. All the money-lending advertisements tout using a second mortgage for a dream vacation. Most of the whatever-seeking-someone personal ads tell you that the seeker loves to travel. The implication is that to really travel, you must be coupled and in debt.

To travel you must simply know where you want to go.

I don't mean to minimize the expense, effort, and inconvenience that can go into a dream trip. I wanted to go to the UK for over twenty years before I got there. But, to live your travel dream you must dream well, dream rationally, and educate yourself.

Again, back to popular culture. The media is full of seductive advertisements for cruises. I know many people who have loved cruising - it's fulfilled their fantasies and then some. I must confess that if I won the lottery, I still wouldn't consider a cruise. Let me tell you how I know. I shut my eyes and visualize myself on a cruise. I see myself sitting on a deck drinking umbrella drinks. I contemplate lavish gourmet meals. I imagine getting dressed up and watching Las Vegas style entertainment. I think about party games and social events. I consider having someone else do the planning of my itinerary. And I hate it. Many people love it.

I have a dear friend and a sister that love Disneyland. My son likes anything outdoors. I have a dear friend that looks forward to camping in the American West annually. My personal idea of horrible would be camping, then going to Disneyland. And I'll readily concede that what I enjoy would give a lot of folks hives.

So, step one in making your dream vacation a reality is to imagine it step by step. Find the steps you want to take on your journey. Dream the trip in detail before you take the dream trip.

That's the practical part.

Step two requires advanced dreaming skills. Forget what you think you know and find out new information. An unscientific survey of folks I've met has revealed that a lot of people know that Europe/the USA/a cruise/Asia is too expensive. I used to marvel at my colleagues' presumptions that because they spent X going to a nearby beach it would have to cost X times ten to go to Paris or Las Vegas or wherever they said they'd rather go.

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