“It was my lack of knowledge and planning that forced human interactions, ultimately paying off… ”
Seth Kugel, NY Times Frugal Traveler
When you reflect on the most memorable travel experiences of your life, which of them were planned ahead and which arose through serendipity? The New York Times Frugal Traveler offered some advice around the art and effectiveness of using well known travel review websites and concluded that, for all their utility, the planning, techo-wizardry and seemingly boundless opportunity afforded by the internet, it is those spontaneous chance discoveries that are ultimately the most inspiring and fulfilling. These fortuitous experiences have many ingredients requiring travel attitudes similar to a good conversation: curiosity, courage in the form of vulnerability and openness, rejecting assumptions, pausing for reflection, and allowing fate to enter…
Enjoy your travels. Embrace discovery. Relish the conversations.
Good post. On my blog “about” page, I maintain that you must have a Plan B . . . In life and when you travel. Why? Simply because any expectation is a preconceived resentment waiting to happen (in short, NOTHING turns out the way you expect).
I take your point… which now makes me wonder if we should plan at all… ? [Hmmm, some planning, perhaps. Maybe Plan ½?] Thanks for the comment!
The bottom line is not to focus on the external (people, places and things) which is uncontrollable . . . If I don’t allow them to “rent” my brain and only focus on what I can control (my attitude), it doesn’t matter what the plan is or how it turns out, right?
Agreed, in the broad sense that we should interrogate and be aware of our own attitudes. I would add (and I think your comment acknowledges this) that even if we may not “control” the external, we can still be open to how those external forces can shape and influence us.