How I Travel – The Meaning Behind It’s How I Travel

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Explore and Grow

If you have read the about me page or even skimmed the Instagram profile, you may know that I, Jay, have traveled for many years around the United States and Canada and within the last 4 or 5 years have started growing the exploration well past the North American borders. I have always had a love for travel and everything that comes along with it. Airplanes (including airports), trains, roadways, maps, public transit, and so on.

About a decade ago I took a job that allowed me to travel nearly every corner of North America. Amanda (my wife) and I would then use all of our time off taking my earned miles, setting off to see the world. We quickly learned that while resorts are nice, our preference most of the time became an Airbnb or basic hotel in less visited areas.

The excitement of an upcoming trip was less about room service and more about seeing somewhere new, trying new foods, exploring local pubs and coffee shops. I’ll explain more about this and what it all means to me.

Early on in my adult life, I had a very small view of the world, and like most, hadn’t seen any of it. My ideas of the world came from TV, American news, and some friends (who also had not seen much past the greater New England area). My mind wasn’t completely shut, but I believed I knew what I knew and it would take a lot to convince me otherwise.

I am not saying I was a completely closed-minded person, but it certainly wasn’t as open as it needed to be. I believed, at the time, it was wide open, and perhaps it was, but I just wasn’t allowing anyone near it to potentially alter it.

Don’t get me wrong, I always loved to chat with new people and make friends. I just truly didn’t know what I didn’t know, and I didn’t even know that I didn’t know that! Anyway…

One thing did break down the walls though, and that was travel. I wasn’t seeking out a change in the way I thought or acted. I wasn’t trying to “find myself” or anything at all. I was simply living the next chapter of my life and was excited to see our country.

Work took me all over the US and much of Canada. I often ate new foods out of necessity. Places I would travel to had only one or two restaurants with limited menus. Then of course I met new people who shared new foods. These new friends also shared their stories. The years went by and this continued over and over again, week in and week out. New places, new people, new food, and new stories.

I realized how much the landscape and geography impacted the people and the food. I started to actually understand the term socioeconomics. It’s a word thrown around the news a lot, but I finally had my own understanding of it from seeing it. I talked to a lot of people in a lot of different places. I grew more empathetic and understanding of people and culture.

I started to look differently at places I traveled for vacation and found myself spending more time in the “real” part of the city and away from the $80 buffet. Fast forward to today and that desire for authentic travel is only stronger.

Saying Yes

A lot of times trips are planned for me by others’ life events. Like a friend getting married in Aruba or my brother moving to Australia (and five other places before that). Family members running world marathons around the US and Europe. Sometimes it’s simply an invite for a quick trip somewhere.

The biggest part of this all working out is simply saying yes when you are able to. When time and finances align, go for it! Time is the biggest factor here. We don’t always have it and it is the hardest thing to find. Money is another factor but if you have time to plan, there is usually a way to get there even on a small budget.

Let’s use the 2024 Christmas Markets trip as an example. Our best friend asked, in October, if we wanted to go to a Christmas Market in Europe in December. We had traveled a lot in 2024 and our bank account wasn’t ready for another big trip. It sounded fun and we had been to some before and knew what to expect. Also being budget conscious, he hadn’t picked a location yet.

We would look at the best markets and then compare them with flights. After about three minutes of setting Google Flights to our dates and departure cities, we started searching different cities. Copenhagen showed $400 per person round-trip. Done!

Planning

Sometimes there is room to plan our own trips! A lot of those are even based on trips planned for us. For example, Amanda’s cousin ran the Berlin marathon, but we added in London.

Then there are the ones that come entirely from our planning. A great example of this is Puerto Escondido, Mexico. We have always wanted to go away for Christmas to a beachy area and finally decided to do it in 2023. We wanted three things in no particular order: Beach, Culture, Relaxation.

I searched online, asked friends or asked their friends and one of those friends suggested Puerto Escondido. I researched it a bit and booked it! That trip only fueled the culture exploration fire. We stayed at an Airbnb, ate local food, shopped at local markets, met new friends who showed us their version of Mexico.

The Environment

The more I traveled and the more I learned, the more I kept the environment top of mind. Yes, the carbon footprint I was leaving behind, but also a desire to understand more of the environment I was visiting. Being a strong advocate for the environment and constantly traveling around the world may sound hypocritical. I understand that the way I travel comes with environmental cost and I promise to always keep that top of mind.

I have learned that travel builds necessary awareness around protecting the environment and the tradeoff is positive. Learning alone doesn’t fix anything, but action does. When I travel, I make choices that minimize harm. Trains between cities instead of short flights, walking instead of Ubering, declining plastic bags when offered. All of these things add up and make an impact.

The real learning comes from seeing the impacts humans are having and the work that is being done to counteract it. Learning how other countries and cities govern with the environment top of mind. For example, Singapore has some of the lowest rates of air and water pollution in the world and San Diego, California is highly regarded for their environmental efforts.

You come back home with both the understanding that our planet is in dire need of help and the knowledge that it is not only possible to help, it is being done and you have had a firsthand look into how.

Summary

It’s How I Travel’s motto is “Explore and Grow”. This is a simple phrase that means a lot. Explore is the first part. If you don’t move and you don’t explore, you can never truly have an understanding of something. You can only form your opinions based on others’ accounts. The grow part comes next. Grow as a person from what you just learned.

You will see that I quote one of Maya Angelou’s famous sayings a lot: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” This resonated with me the first time I heard it. To me it means you should always move about life being the best version of yourself, understanding you’ll make mistakes, and you can’t know everything. But then when you learn something new, you are obligated to modify your way of thinking. I stay curious and open-minded, knowing I don’t have all the answers, and that isn’t always easy.

This brand can’t give you that perspective. That is the entire point. No brand, blog, vlog, or book can. What I will do is continue to learn so I can continue to write and share so that you can also travel with a similar ethos. I’ll share stories along with travel tips and suggestions so you can feel confident about your next trip.

Continue to explore, even if it’s nearby. Talk to new people, learn their story, build empathy, and respect everyone you come across, even if you differ to your core. Because in the end, you’ll be better for it and you can say “It’s How I Travel”!