Kiyoko

When I’m not out traveling the world, I’m working in cyber security. I have found that many of the tips and tricks I give to my fellow colleagues in order to keep them safe from hackers and identity thieves can also help my fellow travelers. Besides, nobody wants to be worrying about hackers and identity thieves when traveling. You want to be out enjoying the adventure! Without any further ado, here are my tips and tricks for how to stay secure when traveling.

What’s your excuse for not traveling? The common ones I hear all the time are “I don’t have the money to travel,” and “I don’t have the time to travel.” This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Chances are, you do. It just seems like you don’t have the time or money because you haven’t made travel a priority.

When I tell people that I love to travel, one of the first questions I usually get is something along the lines of “Where do you want to travel to?” Problem is, I have A LOT of places I want to visit. Deciding where to go next can be quite the challenge. I’m sure many other people face the same struggle. So, how do you decide where to go next?

You’ll have to excuse the cheesy title. My boyfriend made fun of me a while ago for never having heard the phrase “have your cake and eat it too,” so I felt compelled to use it. At the same time, I felt like it really fit the topic of this post. I wanted to take a moment to remind you that it is possible to travel and have a normal life.

I am convinced that a majority of hatred and stereotypes that exist in the world today at least partially originated from a bad first impression. Being aware of what kind of impressions people might be making of us is always something to be mindful of, but it is even more important for travelers. You could affect a person’s opinion of an entire race, ethnicity, religion, place, and more. You are a representative of who you are and everything you stand for.

I don’t know about you, but I hate working out. On more than one occasion I’ve decided that I was going to get in shape, but it never lasted long. For whatever reason, I don’t get that “satisfied” or “fulfilled” feeling that a lot of people seem to get when they finish at the gym. I just walk away feeling exhausted and question why I went to the gym in the first place. Thankfully, you don’t need to go to the gym to get physically fit. You just have to start traveling!

Dealing with homesickness can be incredibly rough, especially because it is often something that won’t go away overnight. It’s made even worse by the fact that some people don’t take homesickness serious and don’t realize just how much it can affect a person. However, being homesick does not mean that you are weak. It is experienced by a great number of people, and can be beaten.

One of the things that has truly allowed me to succeed in life is my ability to listen to other people’s advice (and their mistakes) and then plan my own actions accordingly. For most people, that is a great trait, and most days I am grateful that I am able to do so. However, I also found that my need to plan everything in order to get the most desirable outcome can possibly have the opposite effect. I could actually end up limiting myself. Travel made me realize that.