Maximise Your Travel Mindset: 6 Ways to Be an Every-Day Explorer

Sometimes the desire to travel can become overwhelming. Those of us bitten most severely by the travel bug can fall into slumps of unhappiness when we’re not on the road. It’s great to have so much passion for travel, but in some cases it can hold us back.

For those who can’t travel because of full time work or other responsibilities, it seems like exploration is something you’re only allowed to fully indulge in for a few weeks a year. Right?

Wrong.

It takes just a simple change of your travel mindset to make it a part of your life every single day – these six tips will show you how.

1. Know that travel is about discovery above all

And you can discover new things in every corner of the world. By developing an ability to see places both close to home and far away from a fresh perspective, you’ll feel like a traveller all the time.

Once you start understanding travel not solely as being in a different place by instead seeing things with new eyes, you’ll realise that it’s possible to feel that thrill of exploration on a daily basis. It might be more difficult if you’re in one location for a long time, but reminding yourself every morning of this way of thinking will help discover become a habit no matter where you are.

2. Consider every day an opportunity

It might be raining, or you might be at work for most of the day, but these occasions still provide an opportunity to feed your wanderlusting spirit. Treat every day as a chance to understand more about the world and people in it.

It could be as simple as setting your alarm 30 minutes earlier to do some more travel reading, or something more daring like going on wild midweek microadventures. If you’re away and in a new place, mix up your routine during your visit to learn about different aspects of that destination.

Wherever you are, do something every day that pleases your desire to travel.

3. Don’t always yearn for the far away

I, more than anyone, can understand what it’s like to always be dreaming of distant places, but this mindset distracts us from the world directly before us. Focus your energy on what you can achieve in the here and now with travel instead of always looking to the far away. These thoughts will block any chance you have of being an every-day explorer.

It’s good to have a plan for future trips, of course, but try to find a balance between looking ahead and being present. Understand that there is just as much value as what you can do today – right now – as there is in what you can do in your dream destination.

4. Be curious and ask questions

The most seasoned explorers will never settle for anything but the full story. Keep your curiosity switched on at all times, and if you come across something you don’t understand fully, be sure to ask questions or do some further research to find out more.

Going out of your way to understand a place will open doors left, right and centre, leading to new opportunities to learn about the world no matter where you are in it.

5. Show gratitude for home

If you consider the place you’re living as boring old home, that’s all it will ever be. If you presume there’s nothing to do there, you’ll find exactly that – nothing. Home can’t be exciting to you if you’re not excited about home.

Appreciate where you live and make it your mission to become its biggest fan. People are at least half the spirit of a place, so even if it’s a tiny town with few sights and only 500 people, that’s still 500 stories you haven’t heard in full. Make an effort to listen to as many as you can.

6. Push yourself to see a place from all angles

We often get sucked into our own interests, so much so that different destinations can feel similar because we do the same activities in each. Switch things up to discover a place from alternative perspectives – if you’re a foodie, look from a historical point of view. If you love nature, try your hand at exploring a city.

They say variety is the spice of life, and that sentiment couldn’t be truer with this way of thinking. Challenge yourself to see and understand things from all points of view – in return the world will keep you on your toes and reveal life from so many different perspectives.

What do you do to evolve your travel mindset?
What tips you would add to this list?