If you are one of the many people who love to travel whenever you get a chance, then you must be thinking how nice it would be to spend the holiday season as far away from your normal life as possible. My girlfriend is an architect and it is always a treat for her to see new sights, especially on big cities where she can immerse herself with the buildings. The city lights brings out the souls of the old buildings as she would always say, that is the reason why we spend every christmas travelling to a new city that we have never been in. She would take pictures of the buildings, put them on architecture christmas cards and send it to all her associates at work. If you are thinking about doing the same thing, then you may want to focus on some suggestions before you start playing travel roulette on a globe.
Architecture Christmas Cards: Travelling with Family
The holiday season is definitely made for the family but as I have experienced a few times with my nieces and my girlfriend’s siblings, having too many people in tow can become very stressful really fast. The maximum number of crew I have tried travelling with in one of our vacation getaways was three and it was two too many than what we were capable of handling. This is not to say that you will not have a great time when you are with kids on a travel. But, you should definitely consider how many people you want to take with you. Consider your appetite for having kids around, your child rearing skills and, of course, how well behaved these kids are.
This, however, is coming from a place where I have not had too much practice around kids. Maybe our opinion changes when we have ones of our own. But, until then, younger travellers would do better just fending themselves without having to think about anything else. Like every kind of travel, the key here is to make a plan, sticking to it, and having a number of alternative plans should things go south.
Architecture Christmas Cards: Travelling to Visit Friends
A number of our trips was to go to see a few friends that have been detached from us from when were still in college. We had quite a blast in doing so especially because we ended up having a diverse set of friends while we were still studying. Most of our friends are now scattered all over different states, with some even working abroad. It would be nice if we are able to visit all of them in our lifetime which would not be too terrible of a goal. The best thing about having friends to come and meet you when you come to a new place is having someone that knows the ins and outs of the place. He or she can give you recommendations on where best to eat, to do certain activities, or to simply stroll around to get a better view of the city.
Despite having some of the best travels while visiting friends, it is still highly recommended to take the riskier option of going to an entirely new place where you do not know anyone. Some might say it would be more exciting and they would be right.
Architecture Christmas Cards: Celebrate Christmas First
When I say Christmas here, I mean Christmas eve and the morning after. We always make a point to spend this brief moments with family and closest friends to make sure that we keep our families’ traditions alive. Besides that, there are also a few reasons why you should hold out your vacation plans at least until the 26th of December.
- Travelling on a christmas day would be awful. When you think about it, the holidays are usually when families get together, which means a lot of folks travelling the same routes. You could probably get by if you have a personal vehicle but parking is quite expensive.
- You could get stuck at terminals which is not uncommon especially since the holiday season is also the winter season. One of my biggest fears was having to spend the special days on an airport waiting for the snow to clear. It is definitely not an experience you would wanna be spending with your loved one.
- You can also get a bit more time of preparation for your trip if you spend a few days at home first before the grand getaway. Try to keep that in mind before eating too much nutmeg and ginger bread the morning before your trip.
Architecture Christmas Cards: Keep an Open Mind
Planning a trip is a team effort, and as such you have to make sure to have everyone’s opinion taken into account. The thing about having many opinions is that you are able to generate options. This is especially valuable if the original plan goes south and you find yourself in a dilemma on how you will be proceeding on your trip. If you are not the main person on the trip, try to be supportive of the one that is doing the brunt of the work. There is nothing more discouraging than having to plan an entire trip by yourself only for people to wait for an opportunity to criticize the travel plan.
Part of having an open mind is also allowing yourself to be exposed to new ideas that you will surely encounter when you go to an unfamiliar place. Because it is the Christmas season, be ready to get a dose of culture as you will be subjected to their own versions of the holidays. It will also pay to do a little bit of research. You would not want to be the person who starts wishing everybody a merry Christmas not knowing that you are living in a predominantly non-christian city.
Another note about open-minded travelling that need a special mention is your attitude towards the food. Given that you intend to go to places that you have never been in, you have to be aware that you might be eating food that you might not be familiar with. This does not mean that you should eat everything that is being served to you, but if you had to ask what exactly it is that you are eating, then go ahead and ask. As long as you are polite and give the food a chance, everything should go well. If you are a picky eater, pack yourself enough food from grocery stores just in care none of the food served agrees with you. Let’s face it, the food becomes a bit more of an acquired taste the farther you go from your hometown.
Architecture Christmas Cards: Enjoy the Trip
There are a lot of ways that a trip can go wrong the minute you step inside the taxi. You can get motion sickness, seated next to a nightmare passenger, miss a flight, and so much more. While you can try to prepare for any of these problems, no amount of meclizine will ensure that nothing will go wrong. This is where your patience will be tested and you are going to have to make do with your own will power to try and resolve the situation in your head. Accepting that these roadblocks will occur will go a long way and will allow you to still enjoy the trip despite it.
There are plenty of ways on how I try to entertain myself when going on a long trip. Short of playing an entire season of a series I am following, I always try to keep some snacks with me to get my mind off the long hours of waiting when travelling. When you are travelling by plane for more than a few hours, make sure to bring all the items that will allow you to be entertained just in case the in-flight items does nothing for you. Not to mention the additional expenses that you would have to pay. But among all the activities that you can do while travelling, I figured that the best thing that you can do is to pack a few hours of music that you can play on your ear phones. They say that music makes everything better and travelling is no exception.
When we travel with my girlfriend during the christmas season, I always try to picture the places that we are going to go to first. She enjoys architecture, and as a chef, I try to sample the local cuisine. It is important that you connect your passion into your travels and getaways. We take the time to read beforehand about the city we are visiting and surprises awaits our keen senses. And for every single moment that you savor the trip, remember to keep some room for the memories that you intend to build with the companion or companions that you are travelling with.