There are several traits many people associate with frequent travelers – excellent navigational skills, a steal-trap memory, with perhaps a knack for organization. The truth is that you can thwart the best intentions of any GPS, forget your middle name on a regular basis, and not know where you’re going until you get there – while at the same time enhancing your travels.
Although some of the following might cause you problems in your day to day existence (forgetting that important client meeting or to pick up your kids from…wait, where did you leave them…?) Traveling is an art of making the most out of anything, including what could be considered weaknesses.
1. A Terrible Sense Of Direction
Being good with directions gets you to where you want to go quicker but getting lost on a regular basis guarantees you interesting and unpredictable routes. Most of my memorable travel experiences have come about because I couldn’t find exactly where I wanted to go. Getting lost not only helps to increase the chances you’ll find a new favorite spot you weren’t expecting, it often forces you to interact with locals. A few hours of trying to find your hostel in central Santiago will have you brushing off your rusty Spanish against all reluctance.
2. Having The Memory Of A Goldfish
It’s a myth that goldfish have 5-minute memories (rather more along the lines of 3 months) – and having a good memory is not a hindrance in the least. Yet those of you with short attention spans and lazy neurons can take comfort in some research from the University of Chicago [PDF]. Researchers have found those with poor memories tend to have more diffuse attention focus. Simply put, these folks tend to notice things others don’t and be more flexible problem solvers as well. So you might not remember visiting La Moneda Palace quite clearly but can order a lomito backward – in your sleep – with that rusty Spanish of yours.
“The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time” -Friedrich Nietzsche
3. Being As Organized As Vincent Van Gogh
Traveling is really much easier than many people imagine or make it to be. I realize that everyone can’t travel but for those who can, doing so is a fairly easy process. Save, travel, and off you go – keeping these 4 things every non-planning traveler should be prepared for in mind. Big or small, you can overcome the obstacles to travel the world, on your terms, by accomplishing your dreams piece by piece.
Being disorganized is a good example of a trait that works against you in an office and many other jobs since it introduces entropy to the system. What makes your work-life less efficient increases the randomness of any trip. Being disorganized lead me to Essouria, Morocco, got me drunk with a group of cab drivers in Argentina, and keeps my backpack on a diet. The less you carry, the less there is to manage.
Rather than try to become more organized, simply have less to organize in the first place. Call it laziness or efficiency, they tend to overlap more often than not.
Don’t Forget To Be Flexible
Much of this might sound like I’m trying to make you us forgetful, disorganized bunch of travelers who can’t read maps feel better but really, it’s an exercise in working toward your strengths. Or, in this case, what might be considered weaknesses in places that are designed to keep you in one place, rather than everywhere you want to be.
[top photo by: JoeBenjamin (two confused guys)]
I quite enjoy getting lost, yet have a really excellent sense of direction usually. It helps getting back to a hotel. Though I do have a VERY diffuse attention span, shall we say.. oo a squirrel, and organization is accomplished with the pile method. Both of these seem to cause angst at work, yet like you say are nice when traveling. That flexibility that lets you deal with closed borders and unreserved hotel rooms and missed trains is what seems to cause frustration with project plans and planning meetings.
Laziness and efficiency overlap, is now my favorite paraphrased quote of the day.
haha, awesome! I think the two terms are often interchangeable 🙂 …squirrel!
Uh oh: I have none of these three traits. Maybe I need to look at how the opposites are hampering our travels, haha
The best part is that not having these traits is an advantage too. haha, if anything you can get lost, be disorganized, and use many means of alcohol to loosen up the memory…it’s much hard to go the opposite direction!
I like your suggestion of ‘have less things to organize’- that sounds like my kind of thinking!! Loved this entire post.
Lazy for the win!
These are great. It’s true that people often see their faults as flaws, which usually isn’t the way it is. When you’re traveling you have to be focused to keep everything flowing smoothly but I think you’re right, if you plan well you don’t necessarily have to have a good memory, organization skills or a sense of direction to have a successful trip.
I like to think of it as a wind-up toy car. Get things tight before you leave and then just let yourself go. The trip will happen without you having to do much of anything else.
Nico, I love analogy, great one!
I’m not sure I look for things to flow smoothly when I’m traveling! Some of my greatest travel stories stem from hiccups in my plans that lead to all sorts of interesting detours.
I totally agree with the wind up car analogy. It’s good to know at home what you can do when the most important things go wrong or to have some kind of itinerary set up and then chuck some of those plans when you get there!
It’s all in appreciating some kind of flow. Many people get jarred trying to force it one way or the other but it seems like you’ve got that attitude down 🙂
Thank god because I’ve got two deficiencies out of three and am about to take off on my around the world adventure!
hahaha! 9 out of 10 forgetful people recommend these deficiencies 😛
I LOVE this article! For the past couple of years of my perpetual travel, I’ve decided not to do any forward research on the places I’ll be visiting. Part of that is the desire to arrive without expectations and see things with fresh eyes in order to better write about the experience. But another part of me wants to be open to whatever is put in my path, to be surprised, astounded, shocked, or even made miserable by what I see and do. And so, though I have a good sense of direction, I often wander with no planned destination in a new location. It’s truly amazing the experiences that come to me when I do this. You are so right that flexibility is the key.
Too much planning in advance makes it very difficult I’ve found to stray from the guides like you say. Your comment has me thinking that in my travels, most of my vivid memories are of my experiences, not of many particular sites.
Though I would like to borrow some of that directional skill from time to time!
Very insightful! I just included your blog in my 10 Digital Nomad Blogs You’ll Love.
I’m honored to be on that list, thank you!
Geez, I am actually all 3 of these supposed drawbacks.
Bad, bad sense of direction (east waa?), really terrible memory (I just left THIS place, what is its name?), and highly disorganized with my own travels (Red Fort light show is 8:30, not 9 & why didn’t I check the website instead of showing up randomly?).
Ironically, I work smarter when writing about travel. Now I feel so much better about my terrible 3’s. 🙂
I’m 3 for 3 as well haha, did you ever catch the Red Fort light show?
Nice post… Really great insights. Something I’d like to share in light of this post… Last year I took a new year’s resolution. “Go with the flow” In general that meant that I’d choose to be free and not resist anything in particular. Doesn’t mean that I tried everything like in the ‘Yes Man’ but choosing to do something on impulse and being as open as I could. I tried that on each and every travel I took and discovered a whole new set of experiences that I wouldn’t have otherwise. One of the things that I decided last year, was to quit my boring monotonous job for a much more exciting and creative one, even if it mean’t losing out on the pay. I did it and successfully enough found it more productive and rewarding… But this idea came up only after I did one of those impromptu travels and realized my dream was in travel writing and chose to follow it…. Just like my thoughts, as mentioned in your article, every single point is valid, at the same time it has it’s own paradox to itself… While many times its good to be organized as a whole, have a great memory, plan things out efficiently… which every traveler does, sometimes it’s best to let go, especially when it comes to smaller things in terms of the destination…. Truly rewarding is the journey when more than the destination, the journey is cherished and etched in your memories… As I always quote… “To traverse beyond the limitations of my mind, I travel to truly look upon the journey within myself.” 🙂
Hi Srinivas, thanks for sharing your story. I’m curious if you were a strict planner before and how that transition was?
Though the nice thing about these deficiencies (all firmly built-in to myself to a scary degree) is that they’re strengths to have them or not 🙂
Well… I still haven’t completely transitioned… But you can say it was more of a gradual change… and there’s lot to change even more 🙂
Great points. I have a horrible sense of direction, but that only means I get to talk to strangers (to ask for help!)
I’m in the same boat, good way to break the ice!
While I’m pretty organized and have a good sense of direction, I will purposely get lost in cities! It’s definitely the best way to see a “slice of life” that tends to be found off the main touristy roads!
Any particular technique you use in your wanderings to increase the randomness?
It’s true that all’s well when it ends well and I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I don’t think getting lost in the middle of an unknown area is fun 🙂
It can be fun…or at least I’ve come to appreciate the benefits of it. Either way personally for me, I’ve got little choice. Wish I could flick navigational skills on and off like a light switch 🙂
I think I would prefer entering some cheat codes for more money 😀
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