Pack Your Bags—It’s Time to Travel!

I love the opening of Dr. Seuss’s book “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

What great places have you visited in your lifetime?  What are your travel plans for the future?

With the start of a new year, this is the perfect time to plan a trip or two for the upcoming year.  Whether you set your sights on jetting off to Las Vegas, Barbados, New York, Paris, taking the train across Europe, or reserving a car and driver for a special night out, your travel experience will help you to better assist your executive with his/her future travel plans.

I believe that knowledge can be acquired in many different ways.  As an avid reader, I’m constantly gaining information through books, magazines, and social media sites.  However, learning by reading doesn’t always provide the personal discoveries gained from firsthand experience.  Experiential learning is learning through experience.  Through this active learning process individuals learn through observation and interaction.

Traveling offers a great example of experiential learning.  Taking a trip with a friend or family member will offer you firsthand experience about applying for a passport, customs regulations, airport and luggage requirements, arranging an airport shuttle, reserving a private car for transportation, language barriers, hotel check-in and check-out policies, car rental agreements, and so much more.

Administrative professionals can better serve their employers by taking their brains and their feet on the road in any direction they choose.  Travel doesn’t require deep pockets.  It requires planning and knowing when and where to travel during non-peak travel periods.  What vacations and professional development conferences can you attend this year?

Attending professional development conferences throughout the year not only provides administrative professionals with educational and networking opportunities, conferences provide a great way to acquire travel experience.

As an adult, I have lived in four different states: California, Idaho, Utah, and Maryland.  While in college, I was fortunate to take advantage of an opportunity to travel for several weeks across multiple European countries including Greece, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, and Italy.  Since graduating from college and securing full-time employment, my sister Michele has been my travel buddy.  We have visited locations throughout the world taking in many of those sights on cruises.  We love cruising!  Our travels have taken us across the United States, Mexico, Hawaii, the Bahamas, and all throughout the Caribbean. Wow!  What an incredible world we live in.

Spending time away from home and the office has many benefits such as:

• Traveling offers the opportunity to disconnect from your daily routine
• Traveling offers relaxation
• Traveling offers the experience of new cultures
• Traveling offers new experiences
• Traveling broadens our perspective

Because of my travel experiences I am better prepared to assist those in my office with their travel requests.  I can also engage in conversations and share experiences related to travel.

Today is a new day.  January brings a new year.  Consider adding a new travel destination to your life over the next 11 months.  Where will you go?  Take a moment to comment and share your travel stories and favorite destinations.