The contrasts of traveling

One of the things I really noticed when I went on my 5-month long trip around the world was how interesting the feeling of a quickly changing scene from one extreme to another, was. Going from a cold place to a warm, from a city to a beach or just quickly traveling through different countries or cultures every few days. While on the trip, I started to experiment a bit with this; aiming to purposely go to as different places as I possibly could, preferably at a really high pace. And it worked. There is just something about it that makes the memory of the trip (which is really what you’re aiming to ultimately accomplish) even better than if you just did one thing or stayed in one place.

Since then, I’ve always tried to keep this in mind when ever I’m planning any trips; be it a family holiday or our BJJ camps. If you’ve ever wondered why the camps are so different from one another, now you know the answer. I even tried a few times to run the camps really close to each other for a fast paced change of scene. While it was really fun to ski Monday in Austria and Surf Friday of the same week in El Salvador – or go from Greenland to Sardinia with very little break in between – it was also extremely exhausting.

Monday and Friday of same week

Two days ago, I came home from a little holiday with my family in New York. With a little help from friends I’ve made at the camps, I feel like I put together a nice, contrast-filled trip. We spent a few days in busy, noisy Manhattan, then drove 4 hours upstate to the Catskill Mountains where we stayed five days in an amazing wooden cabin found on AirBnB at a really good off-season price. Lastly, three nights in authentic, American suburbia on Long Island before heading home. 

Think about it when you plan your next trip. Of course, traveling in itself is almost always a contrast to your home, but I feel like there is something to be gained by pushing it a little further and look for contrast during the trip as well. It’s too easy to just sit by the hotel pool for a week. Challenge yourself, see how far you can take it. How many different things can you experience over the course of your trip?