Travel options are overflowing nowadays with plenty of conscious choices for travellers. From socially and culturally conscious tours to eco-conscious accommodations, people are better able to travel with a comfortable conscience. Yet, how do you stay truly conscious while travelling after you’ve booked your ticket and arrived at your destination?

Being a conscious traveller takes more discipline than you might expect. Being open and aware of all that surrounds you on your travels can be not only over stimulating, but overwhelming as well. A new place, new faces, new sounds, new smells, new tastes, while these can all be very exciting, they can also take their toll on your sanity and consciousness if you are not properly prepared. Some call this experience “culture shock”; I like to call it “a paradigm of new consciousness”.This experience not only stretches and expands our physical, emotional, and mental boundaries, it forces us to be present, to wake up and really see the world in all its glory. Experiencing something new and different enables us to truly travel consciously. It’s like lighting the spark to a new way of thinking or fanning the flame of enlightenment. When you wake up and look into, and not just at the world, you’ll see not only all the fascinating features that abound, but you’ll also see a reflection of yourself. Now what could be more beautiful and eye opening than that?

While opting for a vacation where you can enter more of a vegetative state and just relax and release stress by lounging around the beach has its perks, choosing to explore, discover, and really live into a destination can be so much more rewarding and rejuvenating. So, do you want to just “sleep” through your vacation or wake up and stay conscious and really take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to gain new insights and knowledge? In the words of Rudolf Steiner: “To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.”

What kind of traveller do you want to be?

~ Daniela Masaro