ENTRIES / Marion Doyle
August 21, 2010
I am an avid reader and many great travellers have inspired me with their writings. Freya Stark who travelled widely throughout the Middle East and the Arabian Deserts captures my own travel philosophy in her quote “One can only really travel if one lets oneself go and takes what every place brings without trying to turn it into a healthy private pattern of one's own and I suppose that is the difference between travel and tourism.”
For the past 20 years I have done more then read about travel. I have travelled extensively through my work and with good friends who follow the old Chinese proverb- “Don’t listen to what they say. Go see”.
During dozens of trips both business and pleasure I have developed 10 Guiding Principles for travel. As I Blog around the World I will share the many travel adventures experienced and new wisdom gained.
1) Travel Light, Right and Smart . “ When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.”
--Susan Heller--
2) Don’t Leave your common sense at home. When your African tour guide tells you not to move more than 3 feet from your tent at night - believe him.
3) Become a universal linguist. Be able to check-in to a hotel, ask directions, ask for help, order food and find a toilet.
4) Keep an Open Mind “ If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might better stay at home."
--James Michener--
5) Be prepared. Research, visit the travel clinic, bring a first aid kit.
6) Physical training essential. If you are hiking the Inca Trail you better be in good shape.
7) Develop a collection of travel gear and gadgets.
8) Become a seasoned story teller. Practice-journal, blog, share stories.
9) Travel with friends. “ I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.”
--Mark Twain—
10) A sense of humor is required in all situations. “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable."
--Clifton Fadiman—
I am ready with my iPad, my collection of travel gear and gadgets, an open mind and a gypsy mindset.
