travel is not for the faint-hearted ~

holidays are often about expanding your horizons, gaining new experiences and trying out new things during the course of the vacation. how about pre-holiday? surely, it shouldnt entirely be just about printing itineraries and maps, purchasing travel accidents, wikipedia-ing touristy hotspots and packing luggages right? caught up a bit on feeding the soul with this book before i embark.

favourite page of the entire book, makes so much sense.

within a limited time frame (aka # of days you have there), you gotta decide what do you wanna see which leads to where do you wanna go and how much you wanna see and do.

take for instance, for every tourist attraction you visit and every restaurant you patronize, you could be missing out on a certain local attraction and a roadside food stall. the point here is not about doing things the local way instead of the over-rated tourist manner, but rather - it highlights the concept of opportunity cost. oh well, if i hadnt been studying finance, i guess economics minus the econometrics will be my next best choice. with that said, it doesnt meant travelling has to be stressful. some people chose to manifest the ethical theory of utilitarianism which prioritizes the maximisation of overall happiness regardless of who gets what amount. it's average happiness (idontknowwhatstheoppositeof utilitarianism) versus total happiness (utilitarianism). some holiday-makers prefer to maximise the value out of their vacation by a typical filled-to-the-brim schedule:- must wake up early, have to visit xx1, xx2, xx3, gotta eat yy1 and yy2, die-die must do zz1 and zz2, whereas some travellers can have an equally fulfilling vacation by just waking up (own time own target), chilling by a cafe which they happen to chance upon, basically no checklist to accomplish by the end of the day. there is no good or bad method of taking a holiday, it's merely just about what meaning you wish to get out of your vacation. be it a break away from work/family, have some me-time or gaining new experiences, it's YOUR holiday, no one can dictate how it should go (BIG BIG mistake to let your travel-partner decide how it should go, so decide and pick a right travel-matey). and ultimately, as per above-mentioned, traveling is all about decision making:- decide on a destination, your travel buddy, the budget, what to bring, where to go, how to go, how you want your holiday to be, ... (you get what i mean). who ever said i was faint-hearted?

quite a long and boring post trying to make some sense of itself. hope it's perfect for your bedtime lullaby anyway.