Wellness - a loaded word for many.  What do you associate with the word wellness?  Self-care? Yoga? Massages? New-agey retreats?  Now think about the term travel for wellness.  What comes to mind for you?

Traveling for wellness doesn’t necessarily mean spending a fortune on spa resorts in idyllic nature settings.  It simply means getting out of your comfort zone through travel, and growing as a result.  Temporary changes of scenery and routine can be challenging but good for the brain. Exposure to different ideas, different philosophies, different cultures and different languages - even different subcultures and dialects within your home country  - can really fire up the old synapses and get you out of a rut.  Case in point: Do you have a favorite restaurant where you eat so regularly that it feels like a second home?  Try somewhere new for a change.  Even if it’s a bit farther away or more expensive, or if you’re less familiar with the menu or the place’s regular clientele, you’ll at least come away with a good story (“It was great!”  “It was horrible!”  “All these interesting people were hanging out there!” and you’ll grow in some way.  It might sound ridiculous at first, but it’s true.  

Travel is also a change in routine for most of us, and Maria and I find that changing things up every once in a while keeps us mentally strong.   Travel for wellness is our way of self-renewal and, and research supports the idea that travel can refresh your outlook on life - see this Psychology Today article.  We may not be able to travel to Europe, Hawaii, or Asia every year, but maybe we can go away for the weekend to somewhere we’ve never been.  We also can’t just wait until retirement to travel, because we’re not promised tomorrow and we’re not kids anymore, despite the compliments we get on how young we look. Or maybe we look young because we travel and are happy while doing so?  Check out our photos and decide for yourself.