Travel by Design

Every time you travel, you learn something new.

The very first time I ever traveled on a plane I was four years old, moving across the country from Minnesota to Florida. When we got there, I thought the white sand beaches were “Florida snow.” It was the first of many lessons I learned through seeing new places and having new experiences.

My dad was in the military, so we traveled to new bases regularly on an airplane as my mother tried to wrangle three kids under the age of five by herself. Because of our odd number, I often ended up sitting next to a stranger on those plane rides. These were people who looked nothing like me, and had completely different lives and backgrounds. These trips created an understanding in me that the world was a big place, made up of people and things that were very different than where I came from. That knowledge triggered my curiosity to know more about the world around me and the people in it.

By the time I was a teenager, my favorites gifts were those of travel: flying to see friends who had moved away or friends from cities we had moved from. I was hooked – always looking forward to the next flight, the next place, the next experience. This feeling has never left me.

 Thanks to my previous work with a global retailer, I’ve had the opportunity to travel frequently and also to live abroad. After many years of a pseudo-nomadic lifestyle, I can confidently say I’ve gotten good at traveling. I have very specific ways I now prepare, all of which start by creating a travel scheduled a year in advance.

Throughout the year, I am always saving articles on things I’m interested in exploring. It doesn’t always have to be a specific place, though. Sometimes it’s an event that inspires travel – a trade show I’ve been meaning to get back to, a museum exhibit that I know will inspire me. Other times it’s the culture the city or region is serving up – an emerging food scene, technology, design or art installation. Maybe it’s a stunning piece of nature I’m itching to see or it could just be time to unplug and reconnect with family and friends.

Whatever the destination is about, I do my due diligence in research ahead of time. For work I scoured WGSN events, the Robb Report, Business of Home, and shopping guides for the trade and retail industries. For more personal trips my favorite resources start with my own network of friends and colleagues followed by Travel + Leisure blogs and articles.

While my travel schedule usually starts as either work related or personal vacation, it is rarely ever just one thing. We are a globally curious family, and I’m fortunate that we all love to travel. One of my biggest hacks as a working mom has been to blend a work trip into a family trip whenever possible. This allows us to explore new places as a family (rather than always traveling by myself and losing important time with them), but it also has allowed my sons to see what their mom does for her job as they’ve grown up. It goes without saying I am incredibly grateful to have a husband who has always supported my career, kept the family on track when I was away for travel without them, and who fully embraced traveling as a family for work or pleasure, whenever possible.

A few places my family and I have explored.

My ultimate travel hack is simple, though. Be present. Soak it in. Whatever the purpose, destination or intent of the trip leading up to that point is, let it be what it is. As much as I love to plan in advance, the magical moments of travel are often in the unexpected – but you have to be willing to let that happen. Never go into a trip with the mindset that you’ve done so much research you already pretty much know everything you’re about to see. Give yourself (and your family, if you’re as lucky as me) the opportunity to learn what that “Florida snow” really is. Leave space for those moments. That’s where the real inspiration lies.