A Busy Few Weeks Ahead

Travel can be exciting and fun, but when it is for work, it can also be stressful and tedious. During the month of November, we will be on the road for three out of four weeks. Two of these will be for work, one to Austin, Texas, and the other to Fairfax, Virginia. At the end of the month, we have our trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, which we are definitely looking forward to having some relaxing time.

View from the Resort in Cabo
Villa Del Palmar
Sunset in the Marina

The problem with traveling for work is that you don’t really get the opportunity to explore the city because of being stuck in meetings all day long. We try to take whatever time that we can to see some of the sights, but it definitely isn’t like visiting a place on a dedicated trip. It also means that we might not have as much time to post over the next couple of weeks, but we will be doing our best to keep up with our normal schedule.

Vendors on the Beach
Where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean
View from Our Room at Sunset

We will focus on our trip to Cabo to try and reduce the mental stress of the next couple of weeks. Cabo is not as much about travel, but is an old-fashioned, do nothing, vacation. We intend to sit by the pool, walk to local restaurants, and generally relax. It is our chance to unwind after a long year that has been exciting, but exhausting due to all of the places that we have visited.

Words of Wisdom

We have been fortunate to have had many great mentors throughout our lives who have imparted words of wisdom to us that have molded our thoughts and actions.  Most of the best advice that we’ve received apply to all parts of our lives, whether with family, work, or travelling.  Usually they are amazingly simple and yet very powerful when applied consistently.  With this week’s Discover Challenge – Piece of Advice, we decided not to share a single piece of advice that we’ve received, but instead we’ve listed our top five words of wisdom and specifically how they’ve related to our travels.  Hopefully you’ll find them to be as useful over time as we have found them to be.

  1. Treat others as you want to be treated (the golden rule) – Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we treated EVERYONE that we met in the same manner that we hope and expect to be treated.  Sure, we learned this rule as children, but it is probably the most important piece of advice that hopefully all people can learn.  Whenever we travel someplace, anyplace, we want to learn about the customs and traditions of the locals.  We respect their religions, beliefs, and social expectations.  Having an understanding and respect does not mean that you have agree with or do things that conflict with your own personal beliefs, but you must have empathy and understand where they are coming from.  You would be surprised how much better your experience will be if you are friendly and honestly express your desire to understand the culture of the place that you are visiting.

    Talking to an Old Woman in Bolivia
  2. Make decisions quickly and act upon them – This doesn’t mean that you don’t do your due diligence and get as many facts as possible before making a decision, but too often people become paralyzed by fear of making a mistake or spend so much time thinking about the decision that the opportunity passes them by.  We have a lot of military in our family and the motto for an officer on the battlefield is that the only bad decision is no decision, this is surprisingly true of life in general.  Will this lead to some mistakes?  Sure, but you don’t grow and learn without making a few mistakes.  More often than not, just deciding to go someplace and making it happen has led to some of our best experiences.  If you wait for all of the stars to align and the moment to be perfect, you’re likely to miss out on some of the best experiences of your life.

    Our First Trip to Europe was Planned in a Few Weeks
  3. Never stop learning – Learning is growth and the moment that you stop learning new and interesting things is the moment that you stop truly living.  Obviously it is hard to go through life and not continue to learn new things, but don’t just learn through osmosis, actively seek out and find new things to learn that might interest you.  Pick a country that you’ve never heard about and learn as much as you can and then go visit there.  Understand the history of a place, what has influenced its culture, the leaders of the past and the regional forces that shape their current beliefs and society.  Learn as much of the language as possible and use it when you visit.

    We’ve Learned to be Better Travelers
  4. Strive for continuous improvement – None of us are perfect and those people who think that they are should be avoided like the plague.  In all aspects of life, we periodically seriously reflect on our current state and consider how we can improve in our relationships, work positions, health (mental and physical), as well as our travel goals and expectations.  Even during our travels, we will ask ourselves if we’re seeing the most relevant and interesting sights that mean the most to us or are we just following a list from a guidebook?  Are we talking to the locals and getting the best advice on places to see and food to eat?  We’ll come home from a trip and talk about our experiences and what things we could have done better and use that information on our next trip.

    Lunch at a Moroccan Restaurant
  5. Step out of your comfort zone – It is easy to get complacent and accept the normal routine, whether at work or in your personal life, but some of the most rewarding opportunities come from pushing your limits.  That might mean doing an activity that makes you uncomfortable, like zip-lining, parachuting, or just spending the night in a forest.  We’re not suggesting that you pursue dangerous activities, but just that you try something that perhaps you’ve never previously considered.  It might be going to a country that makes you uncomfortable, but it could be as simple as trying food that you’ve never heard of.  Growth comes from new experiences that most likely reset your image of what you’re capable of doing or achieving.

    India Definitely Stretched Our Boundaries

There isn’t anything earth shattering here, just simple concepts that, when followed consistently, will improve your life and our case, our travels as well.

Our Love Affair with Cabo San Lucas

Heading Toward the Arch
Cave on “Divorce Beach”

It was the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last. Two weeks after our youngest daughter moved off to college, we boarded a plane and flew to Cabo. It wasn’t that we didn’t miss her, it was just that we were ready to start the next chapter of our life as a couple.  From the moment that we arrived in Cabo, we fell in love with the town.  We went during the off-season, so there weren’t a ton of people, but even during the busy season, it isn’t over-crowded.  Within the city limits, there is a height restriction of seven stories, so there aren’t the enormous resorts with thousands of rooms like there are in places like Cancun.  Since our first trip, we’ve been back a couple more times and our passion for Cabo has only grown.  It is our go-to location when we want a vacation, not travel, but a “sit on the beach with a drink in your hand, complete relaxation get-away”.

Happy on the Beach
Reverse View of the Arch
Living Like a Local

This is our entry for this week’s Discover Challenge: Opening Line.  Not only do we like to go back to Cabo, but we like to revisit our photos from Cabo as well, they are soothing and calming.  All of these were taken during our very first visit to Cabo, which actually ended with a hurricane coming into town on the day that we left.  We have shared other pictures from this trip in the past, so these are all photos that we haven’t previously shared.

Second Honeymoon
Boating Activities
Fish Under Water