Trip recommendations based on your company, not your destination
By YASMEEN O’BRIEN — yjobrien@ucdavis.edu
- Somewhere with friends
Traveling is a bonding experience, and doing it with friends will give you the opportunity to get closer and spend quality time together without everyday stressors. You’ll learn new things about each other throughout your travels. I don’t necessarily mean taking a long — and expensive — trip abroad; it could be a weekend camping trip or a few days by the beach. You and your friends will share moments that you’ll talk about for years to come.
- Somewhere meaningful to your family
Going somewhere that is meaningful to your family will connect you to your roots, where you came from and your identity. This could mean traveling with or without your family, depending on the kind of experience you want to have. However, I think being able to share the experience with family would enhance the experience. One of the most profound ways I have found a piece of my identity was traveling with my family to a small town in Tanzania where my grandfather is from. But so was taking a day trip to the Central Valley to see the house and town my paternal grandmother grew up in.
- Somewhere with a lover
This is a kind of fun I think everyone should experience. You get to see the world through the eyes of the one you love and create memories you’ll cherish for a long time. Experiences tend to be a lot rosier when you are with a lover, and this will make your trip a very special one. Also, according to the U.S. Travel Association, couples in romantic relationships reported that traveling together made them significantly more likely to be satisfied in their relationships, communicate well with their partners, have a better sex life and more. It’s a win-win situation!
- Somewhere alone
I think everyone should spend an extended amount of time alone at least once in their life. It’s important to make time to sit with your thoughts so that you can get to know yourself better. I think that nature is a great place to do this because it gives you the space, clarity and quiet to really hear yourself think. The most important relationship in your life is the one you have with yourself. Traveling alone also means you’ll have to make your own decisions, which will help you become more assertive and confident in yourself. It will make you feel strong to overcome obstacles knowing you did so on your own.
- Somewhere for no reason at all…
…Other than the fact that you’ve always wanted to go — make your little self’s dreams come true. I am a big believer in doing things because they sound fun. If a place has always called to you, go! You don’t have to have a different reason than that. You are in control of your own choices, life and destiny. Taking a trip that feels like you’re accomplishing something you’ve always wanted to accomplish will make you feel strong in yourself. This trip can be big or small, with a group of people or alone — it can be anything you want. A couple of these places for me are New Orleans, the Cascade Mountains, South Africa, Tahiti and Peru. I don’t have a fancy reason for wanting to go to these places other than I’d love to go, and I think that’s reason enough.
Written by: Yasmeen O’Brien — yjobrien@ucdavis.edu
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.
