Playbill from the Met Opera, NYC
A colleague recently asked me, “How do you keep it together with all this travel?” I laughed out loud and thought, “what in the world is ‘together’ and how do I get there?” The reality of the situation: if you don’t love to travel, you probably couldn’t handle this lifestyle. But, there is a little secret to ‘keeping it together’…
It’s no secret I love to travel, but when it comes time to actually putting the trip together there are few things I can’t live without. I love sampling the local food, shopping in the local markets and exploring hidden streets and hideaways that are often untouched by tourists. While my tastes in travel have changed over the years one thing has remained the same: my guilty pleasures. These five little things don’t cost that much, always enhance the trip, and they’re essential for “keeping it together” on the road or in the air:
1. A taste of home: There’s nothing like tasting your first sip of Barolo from atop the Spanish Steps in Rome, or biting into a fresh eclair from a hidden bakery in Paris. The local food and flavors of foreign cities are part of what keeps travel exciting, but there’s nothing wrong with grabbing a Starbuck’s grande half-caf, no-whip caramel macchiato when you’re between airports. There’s nothing wrong with ordering baked chicken and mashed potatoes from a bistro in Provence, or asking for U.S.-brewed beer in Belgium (caveat: you can only do that once, then I’d cut you off and insist you drink from the local tap). There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting ice cream instead of gelato or cinnamon rolls instead of crumpets. The little tastes of home keep you centered and as long as you branch out for the majority of your trip, indulging in the savory bites that remind you of home won’t hurt your travel experience.
2. One hour off: It’s necessary – essential, even – to give yourself a break when traveling. Exhausting yourself by running to one tourist attraction after another won’t do you any good. The excitement is overwhelming, especially when you’re visiting a new place, and the chances of you remembering everything you saw are slim to none if you don’t take a moment to let it all sink in. I often have to cram three days worth of work into an overnight stay and an airplane ride, which makes the trips downright tiring. One of my favorite guilty pleasures: Devote one hour to doing nothing. You can fill the hour a million different ways – get a manicure in the airport before boarding my flight, catch the end of the big game in an airport bar, enjoy a cup of coffee and stroll through the city where you’re staying, book yourself a tour, sunbathe, nap, spa, whatever! Taking one hour out of your travel planning will result in a much more enjoyable and productive trip.
3. Handing over the agenda: We Virgos, by nature, are very meticulous planners. We’re perfectionists, like everything done a ‘certain’ way, and usually take over the situation when it comes to fine details because let’s face it: if it’s not done our way it’s not likely not done correctly. Of course, you don’t have to be a Virgo to understand this. But handing over the agenda to someone else is somewhat liberating. Allow yourself the opportunity to see the destination through the eyes of your travel companion — I guarantee you’ll discover something new (and you’ll probably enjoy the mini-break from planning).
4. (In)expensive indulgence: I buy a little something from every destination. The items don’t have to be expensive, but the guilty pleasure is in the prize. I’ve nabbed drink napkins from pubs in Ireland, saved opera tickets from the Met in New York, handed over $10 for a silver mermaid charm from Mystic, Connecticut, and spent hundreds of Euros on one-of-kind artist renderings from the square in Montmartre, Paris. Each time I look at my ‘one indulgence’ from a particular destination it brings back a million memories.
5. The latest copy of Vanity Fair: I never board a plane without my Vanity Fair. I don’t care who is on the cover, what the topic is, or how thin or thick the issue, the VF is coming with me. I’ve gone so far as to pay 12 pounds for my Vanity Fair UK edition, simply because it was new on newsstands and wasn’t available in the US. I rarely get the opportunity to sit down and read a magazine or get lost in a good book – while some people pick up the latest John Grisham novel or dive into their Kindles, I open the pages of a crisp magazine and lose myself in the photography on page 1. There’s about 20 minutes during taxi and takeoff when electronics are not allowed on the plane, and I’m at peace with my Vanity Fair.
Have your own guilty pleasures when you travel? Share them!
