I’ve learned to leave room for spontaneity when I travel. This, coming from someone who used to book herself solid from takeoff to landing, is kind of a new evolution in my travel journey.
Let me explain.
I just finished preparing for an upcoming trip later this month.
Finally!
It’s been too long since my last true vacation and to say I’m jazzed is a bit of an understatement!!
I’m going with my friend to Paris, and another friend will be meeting us out there. During our trip, we’ll be spending a few days in Barcelona to visit some other friends.
In total, we’ll have 6 full days in Paris and just over 2 days in Barcelona.
When you think of it, that’s technically a long trip to take.
But when you add in travel time, potential jet-lag, the fact that this is the first time any of us will have been to either destination, AND the added pressure that this is one of my friends’ first trip abroad…AND…PARIS! BARCELONA!
If I don’t plan this out well, we’ll be burnt out, exhausted, and broke by the end of the trip.
Definitely don’t want that.
I have a reputation to consider as a good traveler that can manage my time while still getting around to exploring a new place.
Fortunately, I’ve learned a lot over these last 10+ years of traveling (thankfully) and my style of travel has evolved.
Left to right: Boston 2018, New Orleans 2013, Extraterrestrial Highway 2017
So…what exactly is spontaneity?
The Cambridge dictionary defines spontaneity as:
the quality of being natural rather than planned in advance.
I interpret this as having blocks of time where nothing is planned out or booked. When you leave room for spontaneity when you travel, you might have half of the day booked with a tour, but leave the morning open, for example.
This is by no means the only way to travel and see the world. But here’s why I think it’s important to leave room for spontaneity when we travel:
We only know what we know.
Confused?
Chew on this: when you plan out a visit to a new destination, how do you figure out what to do?
Do you consume endless blogs online like this one????
Do you watch endless travel vloggers on YouTube?
Look at articles online? Ask your bestie? Listen to podcasts?
In the end, our knowledge of a new destination is limited to what we consume prior to leaving.
…
Left to right: Thurmond, Charleston, New River Gorge National Park, WV 2023
It’s true.
We book tours we were recommended. Make lists of places to photograph, foods to eat, and stuff to look at. Most of the time, our days are booked solid with this, that, and the other thing. We want to “make sure we get our money’s worth” on this trip, right?
Does this ring a bell for anyone?
I know it did for me, way back in the early days of my travels. I would “hit the ground running,” barely stopping to sit back and actually enjoy where I was and what I was doing.
I was the type of traveler who had everything figured out to the millisecond! You better believe I was “making the most” of my trip with my limited PTO and budget, wanting to make sure the struggle and everything was worth it.
I’d usually book my flight as soon as I could get away from work, going straight to the airport from the office…and then back to the office from the airport upon my return. I’d pack carry-on only so I didn’t have to wait for luggage (and I still travel 95% carry-on only, but for a variety of reasons) and…crash by 2pm in a post-travel hangover.
While I had the time of my life, I realized this wasn’t the most sustainable way for me to travel. And while I was in a new destination, I’d learn so much about it that no guidebook, forum, or “top things to do in XYZ place” list would ever divulge. Or find important. Because aren’t those “top things” lists based on someone else’s opinions and tastes, other than yours?
Hm.
Left to right: Isla Caja de Muerto, Puerto Rico 2021, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany 2023, Castelul de Lut, Romania 2018
What happens when we learn about something new at a destination?
Last night I was watching some of my old YouTube videos, and I came across my first “Q&A” video that I ever recorded. In the video, like a lot of other Q&A-style videos, I ask questions the I received about a specific trip, and then answer them. It’s a fun way to record memories and also answer a lot of the same questions in one go.
This particular trip was my 5-day vacation to Alaska with my friend. We based ourselves in Fairbanks, went on a road trip, sea kayaked, hunted for northern lights, and a whole bunch of other things. It was an EPIC trip.
One of the questions I addressed was along the lines of “if you could go back, what would you do differently?”
Although I never have any regrets when I travel, I do make mental notes on what I can do to improve my travel style and increase my overall experience. Something I talked about was the fact that I wished we had more time to be spontaneous.
When I go on road trips – for the sake of just being out on the open road and discovering new places – I like to have plenty of time for adventure and, well, DISCOVERY! My friend and I were on a time crunch (work sucks sometimes) and we had to push forward, even though we both wanted more time to explore Interior Alaska.
Left to right to bottom: North Pole, Fairbanks, Talkeetna, Denali NP, Alaska 2021
What happens when you learn about something new at a location? Some new adventure you want to go on, corner you want to explore, people you want to hang out with?
When you don’t leave room for spontaneity when you travel, you miss out on certain adventures and opportunities for growth.
You can certainly cancel plans to make new ones, incorporating what you recently learned, but is that something you really want to do? Or is it even feasible? Did you make a deposit? Are other people counting on your current plans?
And sure, you can make a mental note to return someday to do the things you learned about…but how often does that actually happen? Is that a true reality?
When I Chose to Leave Room for Spontaneity
Like I discussed before, I learned to leave myself room for spontaneity when I travel. I enjoy having the freedom and flexibility to choose my own adventure while in the moment. Here are a few examples of when I left room for spontaneity in recent years:
St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Towards the end of 2020, travel was barely starting to open back up. Airplanes were back in the air and I booked a last-minute *secret* solo trip to the USVI.
Seriously – I kept it a secret. Click here to give it a read to learn why!
Due to the virus, I intentionally/unintentionally kept some holes in my itinerary. One morning, I woke up to the sun rising over the horizon, just laying in bed and soaking in the fact that I was traveling. After a while, I pulled out my phone and started perusing a few apps to see if there were any fun excursions I wanted to go on that day. After a few minutes, I decided to book a half-day catamaran snorkeling adventure.
Left to right: watching the sunrise, about to find the snorkeling adventure; on the adventure with a blurry turtle and fish
Lake Atitlán, Guatemala
My first trip to Central America was a week-long venture around Guatemala. The first few days I was in this lesser-known country, I based myself in Panajachel (Paná), the largest of the lakeside villages that dot the coast of Lake Atitlán in the Guatemalan highlands.
As usual, I did a lot of research prior to this trip. I was excited to visit not only a new country, but my first that was truly south of the border of the US. I consulted numerous websites and read countless articles from trusted bloggers, most of whom were saying the same thing: spend time at the Lake and don’t book anything.
Done. I didn’t book any excursions for my time in Paná, leaving myself fully available for spontaneity.
And it was the best decision. I spent those few days hopping around the different lakeside villages on the water taxi and learned so much about the area.
Left to right: San Marcos, boat ride on the lake, cafe in San Pedro, shore of Paná
Nassau, The Bahamas
The last example I want to share where I decided to leave room for spontaneity when traveling was on my trip to The Bahamas.
To be honest, this was a trip I considered cancelling multiple times. It was going to be a pricey trip and, after having been to Germany, New Mexico, and Guatemala during the 4 months prior to the trip, my funds were running lower than I wanted. But I pushed through and made more of a concerted effort to find free/cheaper adventures and be careful with my spending.
I found myself staying in a hostel and met some pretty cool people, also staying in the hostel.
Yet another reason why staying in a hostel is a great travel experience everyone should try!
4 fun things happened during that trip that I wouldn’t have been able to do if I had every moment booked:
- Coordinate a birthday dinner at a really nice restaurant
- Go island-hopping and snorkeling
- Tour the John Watling’s Distillery
- Spend 2 lovely days relaxing at Atlantis for FREE
Left to right: John Watling’s Distillery, Rose Island, Atlantis
Conclusion: Leave Room for Spontaneity
When you leave room for spontaneity, you open yourself up to possibilities. When they come your way, practice being a yes-person. Remember – we only know what we know.
Have you had a chance to leave room for spontaneity? Would you ever give this a shot?
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