When people decide to leave the comforts of their home and venture to other locations there is usually a reason behind it. Whether the cause to travel was a last minute whimsy or had an actual purpose, it makes one think about all of the reasons why people travel.

Reflect on the last time you left your location and ventured to another one. Did it have a purpose behind it? Let's look and see if your motive to travel matched any of the one's listed below. These are not listed in any particular order.

1. Romance - There are thousands of people who are involved in long distance relationships. At some point though, they need to see each other. For the sake of love, people will travel for hours to spend as much time as they can with the love of their life.

2. Relaxation - All work and no play is not a good thing. People need to get away from the stress of everyday life, and a nice sunny location with a beach might just be what the doctor ordered.

3. Family/ Friends -Many people have family/friends that are located in different parts of the world. They need to visit with them even if it's for a short period of time.

4. Religion - There are places in the world that hold religious importance for many people. Religious travel is often related to a purpose such as seeing where the last pope was buried, or traveling to the town where Jesus was born.

5. Death - A relative, friend or acquaintance has passed away and travel is required to attend the funeral which is located out of town.

6. Honeymoon - You're getting married and are going somewhere special to celebrate. This usually occurs right after the wedding, but there are many occasions where people celebrate a honeymoon years later.

7. Education -You're getting your education somewhere other than where you live or you are going away on an educational school trip.

8. Celebration - Wedding, Anniversary, Birthday, Birth- There's always something to celebrate and it doesn't always happen where you live.

9. Medical/Health - Sometimes the treatment you need isn't available in the city/town where you live. Often the best medical care is costly and requires travel to receive it.

10. Work - Job requirements might mean a fair bit of travel is involved. Even if the travel is within your own country it still has a purpose attached to it.

Overall, traveling can be a wonderful experience or it can be draining, expensive and just plain torture. Nonetheless if you need to go then embrace it for what it is, and try to make the best of it even if it wasn't planned.


Shirley Merith is a certified travel professional with over 20 years of travel industry experience. She is also a college professor, professionally trained public speaker and freelance travel writer. For more travel related information contact smcreates@gmail.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shirley_Merith

The health connection

I don't need to tell you that you feel great when you're on vacation! Granted, the stress level BEFORE that vacation may be high,
but often there is some time that you can really say you feel that ‘ahh' feeling, at least once.
You know; you're lying in the pool in your vacation home rental, listening to wind in the trees and the waves hitting the shore just below you. And when you get that feeling, you wish it would last even longer. My favorite explanation of the benefit of a vacation is from Dr. Mel Borins, author of the book Go Away Just for the Health of It; He says that every trip is a break from the ‘treadmill of daily life'.

But is it just all in your head? There actually have been multiple studies that have investigated the affects of taking vacation on our health. In the year 2000, researchers published their findings in the medical journal Psychosomatic Medicine, after following over 12,000 men in the MRFIT (Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial) study for nine years. They found that the men who took vacations in most years were 20% less likely to die of any cause than those who did not take vacations. They also found that the vacationers were 30% less likely to die of heart disease.

1. Plan your vacation, now, for at least six months from now. You'll be much more likely to take it if you start planning far ahead of time. The planning will help your excitement grow, plus you'll have time to save for that trip, too. Additionally, you can benefit from lower travel rates and fares if you plan early and can watch prices.

2. Pick out something you would really like to do, not something you feel committed to do. This is your time for renewal and rebirth. The point is to get away from stressors and make it all about you for a change!

3. Consider the slowest time for your business and plan your vacation for that period of time. This kills two birds with one stone, actually. You don't have to stress about business slowing down and you can get away without feeling you're missing new opportunities.

4. Put the vacation on your calendar. Once you've committed, it starts to feel more real and you are more likely to do the planning and organizing to make it happen. Scheduled vacations are less likely to be canceled than ones that are just talked about.

5. As mentioned above, don't let financial concerns keep you home. In your planning phase, be realistic about what you can afford. Shop around and consider different options that fit into your budget. The fact that you are planning ahead of time means you can even set up a separate ‘vacation fund' account. Be sure to save up for the time you are gone, too, if your income is dependent on your physical presence.

6. Use that vacation time to do something different. Don't take time off for painting the house or remodeling or visiting family as an obligation. Do something different each year! When my daughter was growing up, we never believed we could go far for our vacation, so we always went to the same location, which was only a few hours away by car. However, after she was out of the house, and we started talking about our next trip, we analyzed how much we spent and started looking at other options that cost the same amount. Since then, on the same budget each time, we have been to Hawaii two times, to Jamaica and to Mexico. Our next trip will be Costa Rica! My point is, do not feel that your budget will always limit you. With online travel resources, there are incredible deals for all budgets, today

But in the meantime, you still need some downtime in the course of the day and week. Although the emphasis of this article is on REAL vacations, life is what you are living right now and can't be put on hold. You have to enjoy each day. Again, you have started your business so you can enjoy life more. This means having, or taking, the time to sit back and smell the roses along the way. So what are you doing each day to really enjoy those roses? Taking some time to spend researching where your next ideal vacation will be is one way of ‘getting away from it all', actually. But that's just one idea. When was the last time you called up a friend in the middle of the week to meet for lunch or a game of tennis? Are you taking time for yourself to exercise, mediate or practice self-care? Do you always feel you must be productive? I am challenging you today to spend some ‘quiet time' each day doing either nothing, or at least nothing that fits in your category of being ‘productive'. Too much productivity leads to staleness and actually decreased productivity.

And, after all, we want you healthy enough to TAKE that great yearly vacation!