While I’ve had a list of places I wanted to visit for as long as I can remember, and I went on plenty of road trips as a child, it wasn’t until my second year of grad school that I actually left the country. One of my professors was starting up a study abroad program, and asked me to volunteer for the pilot trip. I had no passport, no money, and didn’t really know anything about the Netherlands, but I signed up and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I was given the gift of travel, and it became my chosen method of celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, versus receiving or exchanging traditional gifts.

Here are five reasons why you should ditch the traditional gift, and choose a travel destination instead.

1. Experience: Traveling is an experience that you can’t replicate with a traditional wrapped gift or gift card. I’m not knocking the process of choosing the perfect gift for your significant other, friend, or family member and watching the excitement on their face as they open it. I will say though, that while I can’t remember the gift I received for my 16th birthday, I will never forget the family road trip that year from Georgia to Pennsylvania. That was also the first time I’d ever been to New York. Admittedly, traveling for every birthday and anniversary may not be feasible, but the idea of a new experience definitely is. You can “travel” to a different state of mind just by sharing a new experience together in your own city.

2. Quality Time: In today’s world, we’re all barely spending quality time with anyone. When you’re away from home and the familiarity of your day to day life, you tend to focus more on your surroundings and the people that you’re sharing the moment with. We’ve all experienced that moment at dinner or a group outing when you look around, and all you see is the top of everyone’s heads as they’re scrolling through their phones. I can only speak for myself, but the last thing on my mind is catching up on social media or my emails, when I’m in a new city or country.

3. Spontaneity: I love finding the “hidden jewels” in every city that I visit. I’m sure there are plenty in my home town, but when I’m at home I’m rarely in the mood to park on a random street and wander in and out of different stores and restaurants. The same goes for hopping on bus not knowing which direction it’s going in, or making reservations to a restaurant I’ve never heard of. You get the picture. Leaving your daily stressors behind makes it easier to explore. Which leads us to…

4. Culture Awareness: I love seeing the way other people live. My family gets on to me about this all the time, but there is no way I’m going to another country for a week and spending the entire time on a resort or within a few blocks of a hotel. Every touristy-like area in every city looks the same. I want to see how the locals live. I want to know where they shop for food, where they hang out, what the schools look like, how we are different, and what we have in common.

5. Money: If you plan on buying a gift, you’re going to be spending money anyway, so this way you’re just spending it differently. If you want to travel with your significant other, talk about the pros and cons of not exchanging gifts for a year and saving that money for a trip you can both enjoy the next year. There are many sites that let you pay in installments for a future getaway. This works well if you want to travel with a group of friends or family members also. Not everyone can come up with hundreds of dollars with little notice, but most people are willing to set aside a little money every month to pay on a trip. Airlines, and other sites have flash sales pretty often also. So if you’re open to choosing a destination based on whatever is on sale, don’t forget to check those out.

You will give many people, many important gifts, but an experience will stay with them forever.

-Just a Thought.

Written By: SM Grady

© 2018 SM Grady