Keeping the Vision Alive…Even from the Office!

Practicality Doesn’t Need to Kill Your Travel Dreams.

We travellers have a belief in something greater than ourselves: connecting to the world and its human and natural wonders! And the more dynamic our belief, the more dynamic our lives! Right?

I know, I know. You’re probably shaking your head in despair (and, perhaps, with a smattering of skepticism) and thinking: “I daydream about travel so much it’s almost a full-time job, AND I still haven’t gotten anywhere!”

Well, maybe you just need to express your vision externally! How? Through travel journals, vision boards, and what I call a Travel Cocoon!

Travel Journal and To Do list.

Write it Down:

• Forget about finances, work schedules, or mortgages and dive fully into your vision!
• Be as specific as possible about that unforgettable trip you would like to take: jot down what you hope the weather would be like when you arrive; create detailed itineraries; list the meals you would like to partake in while there; sketch the ideal place to stay and what you’ll wear. Bust out all the yummy sights, smells, and sounds you hope to subject your senses to!
• Write in the present tense – write as if you’re having the experience right NOW!
• *Re-read* every day.

One of my vision boards.

Make a Vision Board:

If you’re more of a visual person, a vision board is an excellent idea! The same rules apply for the vision board as for the travel journal:

• Be specific yet broad in your search for material: use magazines, newspapers, photographs, postcards, napkins with hotel and restaurant logos, poetry about the places you’d like to see, and even fortune cookie notes! Everyone has gotten one of those “you will soon go on a long journey” fortunes – it’s time to take that prediction seriously! 😀
• Keep in mind that you can make a digital vision board by cutting and pasting images onto a phone, tablet or laptop. You can also even create a Pinterest account and pin travel images there!
• Place the vision board somewhere you can see it regularly, so that it becomes the basis of your dynamic travel vision!
• I promise you that one day you’ll look at it and wonder: “WHYYY is it I haven’t gone yet? I have the blueprint and all that’s left is to buy the ticket!”

Your Travel Cocoon:

Your bedroom is another great space to utilise as an enveloping canvas of dreams! You may place your travel vision board right above the desk where you work. You can post larger maps on your walls. I have a classic Hammond World map on the wall facing my bed and another, smaller map, on which I place stickers over the cities and continents I’ve visited.

Map on which I place stickers over places I’ve visited. I lost the stickers in one of my many moves, so I’m missing a few! 🙂  

The larger-than-life Hammond World Map that faces my bed.

Travel related posters are also helpful. Three of my faves are in my bedroom. One says “not all who wander are lost” – and is a gentle reminder to all those naysayers! 😛 I have posters of beaches I would like to visit; the most notable is a photograph of a boat floating in the Andaman Sea, Thailand. This poster is perched right above my bedhead like a sweet travel angel.

The poster of the Andaman Sea that reminds me that “to those who can dream there is no such place as far away.”

My travel wall with map, a poster of a beach I would like to visit, Turkish lamp souvenir, a painting purchased while travelling through San Francisco, and the poster reminding me that not all who wander are lost.

You CAN do this at home or at your office/workspace! Go ahead and paste reminders in your cubicle, studio, or vehicle!

Simply put: what we focus on expands. Visualisation is a powerful mind exercise that has been used for decades by professional athletes to improve performance and drive. Psychologists have also discovered that merely imagining a task activates the same brain patterns activated by physically performing said task! If I hadn’t created vision boards and filled my travel journals with my plans, I would have never backpacked Europe a few years ago. And it was this inaugural journey that made me determined to make  travel a lifestyle!

So, why not give it a try? Either you’ll be extra motivated to turn your thoughts into ACTION, or the journal and boards can act as perky placebos in the interim. You can even travel locally, like I did, to make the best of not-so-ideal circumstances! Just keep the VISION ALIVE! 🙂

I’ll now close this post with the quote from the Andaman Sea poster: “To those who can dream there is no such place as far away.”