When you think of travel, what do you see? Beaches, mountains, hiking, sunbathing and all the things we tell ourselves we’re too busy to do regularly at home? We’ve entered a new year and a new decade folks! Consider that it may be time to welcome in a new mindset on what is considered travel.

Let me start by making the task easy on you; don’t consider what isn’t travel. Broaden your idea of what is travel and I guarantee you can go further. The amount of time it takes you to get from one place to the next is indeed called “travel time” is it not? For me, the difference in traveling to the city for work and traveling to a foreign country is my level of familiarity with the destination. I could happily do without riding the train or sitting on an airplane – in both instances the commute is simply the necessary evil. Consider someplace closer than a country 8+ hours away may provide you a similar or even greater level of unfamiliarity and excitement as a city across an ocean and a sea. Either way, you’re traveling! Give yourself the credit!  The only difference is the distance. Don’t let the distance of a location blind you to the benefits of experiencing every new destination as robustly as possible.

I offer you the opportunity to be mindful in and of the experiences you’re having away from home. On my podcast Travel N Sh!t, I, along with my guests, discuss what we experience while we’re abroad and how often mundane and routine experiences may be enriched or experienced differently when viewed through the lens of travel. Through these conversations, I’ve developed a distinct appreciation for what I gain from my time spent in new environments. I loooove wandering around cities I at one time never considered on my radar of places I’d be able to see before I got BIG RICH. Little did I know, I’d become “BIG RICH” from opening my mind to the incredible experiences I’m able to have in ANY destination, near or far. You don’t have to travel far to go far.

Be sure to check out the conversations my guests and I have on Travel N Sh!t every Thursday wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Visiting a new state, or even a new destination in a state you’ve already been to can be very similar to visiting a different city in a country that’s new to you.