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Intentional Travel

Writer's picture: Lori MeierLori Meier

Updated: Jul 2, 2024


Intentional Travel, What is it?

Have you ever set a goal for yourself that you are going to get up early, eat a healthy breakfast, and workout... only to wake up groggy the next day and lose all motivation to follow through with what you intended? Then the next day you prepare yourself to follow through with your intention by taking 10 minutes the night before. You prepare by prepping your overnight oats, setting out workout clothes, and setting your alarm. The next day, your alarm rings and you are still tired but you remember breakfast is prepared already, as you make your way to eat your healthy breakfast you see the workout clothes you laid out, you already ate a healthy breakfast and now you are motivated to workout as well! You work out feeling refreshed, amazing and accomplished! 


Intentional travel is what I describe to be traveling with a purpose and goal in mind. In my opinion, when you set intentions for your travel you instantly add value to ANY vacation/getaway. We all like added value right? Although I do not force my clients who book travel with me to write down their intentions and goals, I am there for them to encourage and assist with setting goals for their bookings should they want too. What does this look like? 


First off take a moment to think about why people travel. Some examples can be the following:


  • Family vacation to relax and get away from all the noise of life

  • Solo getaway to heal emotionally from trauma or a loss

  • Reunion to connect with family or friends

  • Business trip required for work

  • Romantic getaway to reconnect with each other

  • Travel to reconnect spiritually and revisit your values


Now lets see how to travel intentionally for one of these. Let's take the family vacation for example. Some intentional goals could look like:


  • "I want to be present with my kids"

  • "I want to create memories that last forever"


Ok so, now let's break these goals down into action steps. For being present with your kids what are some things you could do? This may look like turning off all notifications from social media for that week so that you are less distracted. If you still have the habit of checking the apps then you can always delete them from your phone and reinstall when you get back! So to set yourself up to follow through with your intention of being present with your kids, you could turn off notifications or delete apps the night before you travel. 


As far as the memories, I once heard that the average family has 16 memories collectively from one family vacation alone! What I like to do is allow each person to choose a memory they would like to create and then just do it! Obviously stay within your budget but there are so many memories that can be created even for free if you set the intention to make them. What me and my sisters like to do on our sister trips is for each of us to choose an activity to do. My younger sister, Amber, usually picks something that I would never do on my own. Our last sister trip, I ended up going rock climbing and ziplining for the first time ever even though I am scared of heights! I did indeed survive and now I have that memory FOREVER. 


This was just an example of how to travel intentionally. So to summarize how to travel intentionally; Ask why you are traveling, set your goals around your intentions, and then set your action steps to fulfill those intentions! Remember our example at the start about the healthy eating and working out? Both days you had intentions on being healthy, but the difference was setting those action steps to follow through! 





I'll leave you with a few more examples of Intentional Travel:


  • A solo traveler wants to kickstart their healthy lifestyle change. Their intentions are to eat healthier and start a yoga routine. Action steps: They book a Wellness focused retreat where the environment allows for healthy eating. They sign up for some of the nutritional classes and there are many yoga class options available included. 

  • A Couple wants to reconnect with each other. Their intentions are to reignite the passion and love they have for each other. Action steps: They book a romantic all-inclusive stay in the exclusive private space. They intentionally plan a formal date night. They agree to allow free time to relax and decide for one activity per day to allow time to recharge and reconnect. 

  • A traveler wants to reconnect spiritually. They book a cabin immersed in nature and their sole intention is to spend some time alone to revisit their values, commitments, standards and to reconnect spiritually. Action steps: They may intentionally choose a book to read or a study to do while there. They choose a new trail to walk every morning in nature to meditate. 

  • A business traveler wants to intentionally make memories during his required travel locations. Action steps: He researches the locations he will be visiting (or uses a travel agent to save time) and he intentionally makes a list of sights he wants to see during his free time. 


Thank you for taking your time to read this and I would love to hear if this inspired you to travel intentionally on your next trip! 



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2 Comments


Nancy Sauer
Nancy Sauer
Aug 15, 2024

I am doing the business traveler as a travel nurse. Thanks for the tips to make my adventures more intentional!

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Lori
Lori
Aug 15, 2024
Replying to

Thank you for sharing! What a wonderful opportunity!

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