Spain Savvy Travel Tips: Mindful travel

Do you practice mindfulness?  Do you want to learn mindful travel?

Are your days so harried that you count the days towards mindful travel to a new place where you can disconnect and live your days peacefully while having new, exciting adventures?  Are you curious about traveling somewhere like Spain but afraid to take the leap?

Then this post is for you.

Spain Savvy fully believes in the positive benefits of living a mindful life and we see so many connections with this practice that can be applied to international travel. Mindful travel will

We recently found this post from Elephant Journal to be so helpful in providing tips on how to make your next trip a mindful one and we’d like to explain how Spain Savvy can guide you towards an authentic experience on your trip with us.

Abandon materialistic philosophy, keep an open mind, embrace everything

This will be easy because you’ll only have a suitcase or two of your belongings!  Forget your preconceived notions of what you think you know about the country(ies) you will be visiting, and just take in every moment as it comes, experiencing each new sensation with an open mind and an innate desire to understand what is going on around you in your new environment.

Spain Savvy will prepare you for major cultural differences (like meal times, cultural norms, etc.) but ultimately, this adjustment will be up to you and how open you are to embrace these differences.

Immerse in the culture, make local friends, try your best to learn the language

Our clients often come to Spain Savvy purely for this reason – for their desire to really get to know people and the culture.  As an American expat located in Spain with a large professional and personal network, we can offer fantastic opportunities to do that and can recommend some really special experiences – like having a meal at a local’s home or taking in an intimate flamenco show.  It’s also fun and will heighten your experience if you actually pretend you’re Spanish by doing as the locals do, and even speaking like they speak.  We are happy to provide you with tips to practice the language online before your departure, and can even hook you up with local cooking and language schools all over Spain if you really want to apply yourself in-situ.

Adventure every day

Relish in the fact that you will be doing activities you don’t normally do at home, and stepping out of your comfort zone, which while it sounds like something that may bring suffering, will only push you to grow and become a better person.  If an activity sounds like something you wouldn’t normally do, DO IT.

Eat the street tacos and the coconut sashimi

In Spain, this might translate to “eat the pig’s ears and the snails”.  This goes back to going outside your comfort zone, and food is a great way to do that.  It won’t kill you! We get so wrapped up in our diets and eating the same things every day, that we forget there are VERY different diets all over the world, and many healthy people regularly benefiting from them.  Spaniards live some of the longest lives on the planet, mostly thanks to the Mediterranean diet.  Here at Spain Savvy, we are gastronomic experts and if you are looking to be adventurous with your eating while in Spain, we can definitely provide you with some excellent tips.

Stay positive, stay strong, seek out life lessons

We are firm believers that the world is the best classroom there is.  Take full advantage of your time abroad and make these life lessons real for your own existence.  For instance, if you come to find that your body enjoys indulging in the Spanish custom of the “siesta”, try to incorporate that in to your life back home.  If you like the gazpacho, learn how to make some at home.

Traveling abroad can be psychologically taxing – you can get tired and frustrated with delays or unexpected changes in your plans.  Training yourself to stay positive while undergoing these experiences is a fabulous way to strengthen your patience and general behavioral skills.  You will only be stronger when you come out the other side and will have a fabulous adventure under your belt!

Mindful travel is an especially positive experience for family travel.  Your children will do so much more than visit a new country – they will come away from it with a new world understanding and hopefully, a desire to explore the world over.

If mindfulness/meditation/yoga is a part of your daily life, or you are curious to learn more about it, we also have some wonderful local contacts who can set up yoga retreats in some beautiful, natural locations in Andalusia.  We hope to launch some of these trips for small groups soon and are happy to organize these kinds of activities for our clients on a custom basis.  Contact us today for more information.

We want end with a direct quote from the Elephant Journal article that resonates so clearly with us as we set out on this journey to make the world a little bit smaller by providing localized travel services and connecting cultures:

When you do, keep the experiences close to your heart and then take them home. Use them there, too. Tell others. Maybe we can start to change the world. End the judgments and hatred, increase the respect and understanding. I know it’s a leap, but maybe it all starts with conscious travel.

Namaste!

Contact us today to set up your own custom itinerary filled with opportunities for mindful travel.