What does travel mean to you?

Travel means something different to everyone, as with each individual trip we take. Yet we treat travel as a group of generalisations – backpacking, luxury travel, volunteering, cultural exploration and so on. Travelling is, or should be, about the individual experience you want to have and the one you ultimately do have.

Each trip can be a unique formula that is tweaked to include all the things you enjoy most. What's more, people are often really important to that process. We meet amazing people randomly and it invariably makes a huge difference to our trip, but such chance encounter depends largely on our mindset. If we are in a rush, having a bad day or feeling a little insecure in a new place then our attitude and persona changes dramatically and the chance of meeting that great person decreases. Think about it - you're having a bad day or it's raining, you don't want to meet anyone else let alone go looking for them. But then consider you're having a fantastic morning, walking along with a spring in your step and bump into someone. The chance that you'll engage at that moment is significantly more likely.

This is important to consider when we travel because arriving in a new place is exciting but often disorientating and it takes time to find our bearings. During this our heads are often inside a guidebook or filled with directions for getting from A to B. But these moments are critical to our resulting travel experience and a positive initial experience has a big impact on our overall trip.

We find that when we are already equipped with a little local knowledge and especially when we know someone in the destination it changes our whole attitude. We become more personable, so that the chance of being open to and encounter with a great person increases.

Now, it would be fantastic if we could all be open minded and chilled the whole time but in reality we are not and there are a huge number of influences on that attitude. So YSP is, effectively, the chance to encourage this to happen by introducing you to a great local person before you arrive.

It’s like having a connection to that place before you get there, so you start the relationship with the destination before you arrive. The value of the overall experience increases and this means when you do arrive you’re already miles ahead of the crowd. While the tourists are standing outside the airport with blank stares you are already on the way, ready to hit the ground running.

So YourSafePlanet doesn’t replace those wonderful chance encounters that flexible planning allows, or the stumbling across buried gems and unknown adventures. If anything the YSP connection enhances the chance of that happening because you are more open to the possibility. And interaction, as we know, is what travel is all about.


Other great websites offering that invaluable local connection:

• www.whl.travel - the original website for connecting to great local service providers and ensuring more of your money is spent locally
  
• Another great website offering connections to great local knowledge is www.spottedbylocals.com - check them out!
• Find a local tour guide www.leaplocal.com
• For authentic local travel experiences try www.tourdust.com