Travel and the Importance of Leading a Balanced Life

Travel has been a priority for most of my life. It can be a luxury, a necessity for work, an opportunity for reunions, and more, but most importantly for me, traveling is how I feel most alive. To do that well, the importance of leading a balanced life becomes a priority.

When traveling, my senses are on full alert as I’m pulled away from my routines and ritual obsessions. Set me into an unfamiliar environment or situation, and I have to pivot to external concerns and away from self-consciousness. I can only do that well when I have enough sleep, nourishment, and a comfortable enough environment. Like the fairy tale where Goldilocks explores the Bear’s home, you have to find what’s “just right” moment to moment.

“Balance is not better time management, but better boundary management.” — Betsy Jacobson

Mastering the importance of leading a balanced life is like building a muscle – it takes effort. (I’m still learning – it’s a never-ending task.)  Some people are plotters, and others are spontaneous travelers. I’m somewhere in between and struggle to keep from getting distracted by shiny objects as I plan trips. Each online search can be a rabbit hole of options. I manage it by taking notes and keeping them easy to find. For example, I use Evernote and can file my sample itineraries, just about anything by copying and pasting. My Travel file is stuffed, but it’s organized! I can also access it from my other electronic tools – phone and tablet.

Research points to two primary options for note-taking. The best choice depends on your needs. OneNote is better for those who need a free, flexible, and highly integrated option, especially if you’re in the Microsoft ecosystem. Evernote is better for users who prioritize a polished interface, powerful search, web clipping, an organized note-taking structure, and the need for a subscription. (I am not an affiliate of either.)

Back to travel: The only way to know what works is to get out of your comfort zone and try new things – at any age. How can you know if staying in a hostel will be exciting or a noisy nightmare? One night in a budget dorm room was all I needed to know it wouldn’t work for me. Sure, it was inexpensive, but it wasn’t worth the lack of sleep – snoring bunk mates, late-night partiers, snackers rustling wrappers. It didn’t turn me off hostels, but towards those that offer private rooms, and sometimes I split the difference by having a shared bathroom. The bonuses were having interesting company, sharing travel tips over the breakfast table, and extending the budget.

Work, love and play are the great balance wheels of man’s being. – Orison Swett Marden

Importance of Leading a Balanced Life as a Nomad

I was fortunate to take a six-month backpacking trip when I was in my mid-twenties. It was my first time away from the North American Continent and really set me up as a lifelong traveler. As soon as that first international flight took off, all the stress of planning and preparation evaporated. Years later, that buzz continues.

Part of the plan on that first trip was to document everything with photos and journaling. However, about a week after landing in Sri Lanka, I jettisoned that mission. There was too much going on at any one time to take notes, and I found my big camera, framing shots, made it more difficult to connect with the new cultures and the people I was meeting. Things have changed in the world, luckily, now pulling out my cell phone with a simple point gesture and the OK sign usually works well as opposed to having a bulky camera. It can lead people to freeze and often ask, “What are you going to do with that picture?” Over time I’ve learned when to rely on the cell camera and when to use the bigger camera.

During those nomadic days, I discovered how leading a balanced life made the trip much more enjoyable. Instead of zipping from destination to destination, which builds stress and fatigue, I learned that a minimum of two or three days per location was optimal. It gave me time to savor local rhythms and learn more.

Below: Whale Shark Dive – Footage: Elaine Masters

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The Importance of Leading a Balanced Life Takes Time to Master

While in the Philippines, my partner and I wanted to scuba with whale sharks, and we chose a location run by locals. We arranged for three nights in a simple boarding house and were lucky to have an upstairs room with an ocean view. We were in a tiny village on the main road and reserved a dive on our first morning. I wasn’t prepared for how the street transformed. Vendors with food, souvenirs, clothing, and more showed up at dawn. Fishing boat operators swerved into action as into boat guides, each with a number and specific hours.

Dive operators and snorkel tour managers jumped into action. Parking lots that were fields the night before became packed with vans, cars, and buses. We were merely two numbers, and once we had our gear, were shuttled into the water. Once we submerged, it was simple to pose below the crowds snorkeling above and easy to observe the mighty whale sharks emerge from the deep for the morning feedings.

I need to admit that the practice of commercializing feeding whale sharks is controversial. But I also saw the freedom they had to come and go, how respectfully the boat captains maneuvered to keep their distance. Still, I was grateful to have dodged the crowds on the surface. For the most part, the snorkelers behaved and stayed out of the way of the large mammals.

Travel buddies on a boat tour along the Algarve Coast. Photo: Elaine Masters

The entire enterprise was run by locals, many from surrounding neighborhoods. As it approached noon, the crowds thinned, the boats slipped into moorage, and the stalls locked up. A gate between the beach and the street was locked, and everything quieted. The rush to get there, jump in the water, and return to hotels and other towns was avoided. I was able to rest, use the WiFi, and download my pictures. Before dinnertime, we watched the sunset from our room and mosied over to a local restaurant. All was not perfect, but somehow the tourism industry there had discovered the importance of a balanced life. You can read more about diving with whale sharks in Tubbathaha Reef in this earlier post.

Problems arise in that one has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself.

– Jessye Norman

Travel Buddies and a Balanced Life

If you’ve ever been on a trip with someone who’s a morning person and you’re not; if you prioritize historical landmarks and your travel buddy’s a beach lover, you know how important it is to find a middle ground, to find the balance to help assure a happy trip. It’s important to talk it out, before leaving if possible, and find a way to meet everyone’s needs as much as possible.

I was in Portugal’s Algarve region with Brazilian in-laws. It’s vacation central for many Europeans. Guess who couldn’t get enough time in the sand and sun? Guess who longed to visit the historical center and take in cafe culture? We didn’t know how different we were until after we arrived. I’m uncomfortable in a lot of sun or heat, so with my daughter-in-law translating to her Brazilian parents, I explained that I needed to do something else and left the beach. Once we got that settled, we were able to meet for dinner later, much more happily. Those beach days were a highlight of the trip for them, and I’ll never forget the little galleries and surprise cave boat trip my partner and I discovered. Win-win.

So divinely is the world organized that every one of us, in our place and time, is in balance with everything else. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe