The Real Trip Finder

By Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener

People often think of vacation as an opportunity to relax. Instead, it can be an opportunity to develop.

Have you ever heard the following sentiment expressed? “I wish everyone could experience what it’s like to work as a server in a restaurant.” I’ve heard some variation of this expressed often; perhaps even on an annual basis. To a person, my friends and colleagues who espouse this idea have worked in restaurants themselves. When they imagine a world in which everyone takes a turn carrying dishes and taking orders, I wonder what—exactly—they are trying to say. I think that some of them are wishing that restaurant patrons would have more empathy for the tough work of serving. I think, for others, that this notion is based in social class: they wish that middle- and upper-class people could appreciate what it’s like to be underpaid. Whatever the reason, they seem to want to promote a greater general sense of compassion. 

The truth is, when I hear this idea, year after year, I wonder why it is so often tagged specifically to restaurant work. Why don’t we say, “I wish everyone could experience life as a public-school teacher”? or “a police officer” or “a librarian.” Certainly, all of these jobs carry their own unique challenges and may, in fact, be underpaid. The list could go on: construction flagger, gas station attendant, barista, anyone in the military. I suppose that the issue may just be a common and deeply rooted longing for people to have wider experience and greater appreciation.

This is exactly why I have my own spin on the “I wish everyone could experience…..” scenario. Mine is travel. I wish everyone would travel. In the past, I have been criticized for this idea because it sounds so middle class and privileged. I agree, some people have more opportunities to travel than do others. People born in the United States are more likely to enjoy vacations than are their counterparts in Bangladesh. Even so, travel can include a trip to the park, or local river and does not necessarily imply business class flights to exotic beach resorts. 

Here, I would like to make the case for why you should travel and how it can help you be more successful. If you also want to take a turn as a server in a restaurant, that comes highly recommended. 

The benefits of travel

When many people think of going on holiday, they imagine bikinis and beaches, or great dinners in world-class cities like Paris or New York. Certainly, swimming and dining are both enjoyable activities, but do vacations really make people happy? What about the long lines, the unexpectedly bad weather, the lost items, the expense? Doesn’t travel carry hassles and hardships as well as happiness? 

Researchers have examined the psychological effects of travel from a number of angles and have found, by and large, that it is associated with greater happiness. Depending on the type of vacation taken, travel can result in greater levels of relaxation, greater connection with others, more enjoyment, and learning. Pretty cool, huh? I think it is important to know these potential outcomes because they can be used to consider trips before you take them. Rather than defaulting to the beach because it is supposed to be relaxing, you can consider whether it is even relaxation you are after. Knowing what you want out of a trip can help you spend your travel dollars more wisely. In essence, you can view travel not as an investment in a destination but as investing in yourself in the same way you might invest in an education. Wiser expenditures might also leave you with extra cash that can be used to tip your server.

Intermission: When travel isn’t relaxing

For many people, holidays and trips are a time when we aren’t working our regular jobs. This leads many people to assume that time-off is about enjoyment. We have more time to lay on the couch, read books, play games, chat with loved ones, and so forth. But, what if travel was as challenging as work? And what if it had a paycheck just like work? Not a monetary paycheck—unless you are a travel writer—but a psychological one.

To better understand this idea, let’s take a trip together to Norway, where people often enjoy skiing. A team of Norwegian researchers was interested in better understanding what people experience when they ski. Is it fear? Is it fun? Is it connection? To conduct their investigation, the research team fixed cameras to skiers’ helmets. In typical selfie fashion, these cameras were pointed at the skiers’ faces so that they could capture every change in facial expression from the top of the hill to the bottom. If skiing is simply a fun activity for those who enjoy it, we would expect to see a lot of big grins. 

What the researchers found, instead, is that people mostly had neutral expressions. This makes sense, because skiing requires a fair amount of concentration what with all the balance, obstacles, and changing snow conditions. They also found that people showed surprise about as often as they showed happiness. As in, “oh, I didn’t expect that steep drop-off!” Perhaps even more interesting is what the researchers discovered when folks skidded to a stop. You know how skiing is—swishing gracefully to one side and then the other—but then pulling up to a stop to take a little rest here and there. During these frequent breaks, the skiers’ facial expressions changed dramatically. Suddenly, smiles beamed forth. 

It is as if two separate psychological processes are happening in quick succession. First, there is the activity of skiing and it challenging. People experience it as a series of mildly enjoyable surprises and heavy focus. And then there is the period immediately after skiing where people suddenly encode the whole experience as highly enjoyable and experience a burst of happiness. Pretty interesting, no?

Whether or not you are a skier you can appreciate the fact that travel can operate the same way. The actual experience of travel doesn’t have to be completely enjoyable; only your memory of the trip does. For your information, this is exactly what a research team at University of Illinois found for students who planned a trip for Spring Break. Their actual experience of the trip was less important to their desire to take a similar trip in the future than was their memory of the trip! Here again, you can see that there is a slight difference between experience and memory of that experience. 

This leads us to a wild thought experiment: would you take a trip that was 25% hassles and 75% enjoyable if I could guarantee you that you’d remember it as 85% enjoyable? You probably would. And probably already have, because that’s what we just learned about how memory works.

So, what’s the point, Robert?

So, what does all this restaurant work, skiing, and memory discrepancy have to do with your success? Simply this: travel of any sort—whether it is an overseas trip or a “staycation” may be the most beneficial to you when it is challenging, novel, and packed with learning. Don’t worry, you will mis-remember all that later as a really enjoyable trip! Not that there’s anything wrong with a stroll on the beach or an afternoon with a novel. It’s just that vacations that include more growth opportunities might do double duty: they help you develop while also being enjoyable (at least in retrospect). 

Recently, I put this theory to the test in my own life. I chose an activity that cost money, but not one that would be out of reach to most people who—say—read blogs about success and self-development. I chose to visit a museum in a town about two hours away from the city in which I live. Specifically, it was the Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon. Now, just so you understand, I have no particular interest in ships, the Navy, or in anything nautical. I am not incurious about these matters; they simply aren’t an active hobby of mine. 

For my experiment, I took my grade school aged nephews along. My entrance fee was 14 dollars, lunch was about the same, and I paid about twenty dollars in gas. So, I paid 50 dollars for the experience (Except that I actually paid a bit more because I also covered the tickets and lunch for my nephews. But don’t worry, research results are pretty clear on this: spending money on others tends to make you happy). 

How was the experience? If I am honest, I sometimes felt impatient with my nephews, I occasionally felt uncomfortably cold, I didn’t care for my lunch all that much, and it was minorly stressful to drive in the heavy rain. On the other hand, the win column for this event was pretty long: I learned new information about weather, local history, map-making, commercial shipping, the Japanese tsunami of 2011, famous shipwrecks, the Coast Guard, and a number of other topics I didn’t even know were so fascinating! What’s more, I got to tour an impressive ship and I had the pleasure of sticking the kids in a hurricane simulator (I kid you not, the sign said “No experience necessary”). 

As a result of this trip, I have a better connection with my nephews, a better relationship with their parents, and a whole treasure trove of new knowledge. What’s more, I was able to savor this experience by telling others about it and this led to conversations in which I learned even more about nautical topics from friends and family members. Ultimately, a trip to a museum isn’t going to train me for a new job or otherwise give me readily marketable skills. It will, however, make the world more interesting and make me more interesting to the world, in turn. 

My recommendation to you

In the end, you might be considering a stint as wait staff in a local eatery. I get it, people are always recommending this kind of thing. Or, you might be considering how you can mine the most relaxation out of your time off. Already stocking up the wine, Netflix, and novels. I recommend making certain you have the following characteristics built somewhere into your next trip, whether it is local or abroad:

• Make certain there is some novelty
• Make certain there is some challenge
• Make certain there is some learning
• Make certain there is some connection
• Make certain there is some enjoyment

You’ll note that enjoyment such as relaxation or a nice dinner is only one of the five criteria I have listed. The other four are a lot less comfortable. They require the ability to adapt, the ability to compromise with others, and perhaps even a little courage. These more challenging aspects of travel are what make you smarter, wiser, more adaptable, and with a more solid social network. So go for it. No matter how tough it is, you’ll probably remember it as more fun and rewarding than it really was! If not, there is always waiting tables. 

About the Author 

Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener is widely known as the “Indiana Jones of Positive Psychology” because his research on happiness and other positive topics has taken him to such far-flung destinations as Greenland, Kenya, India and Israel. Robert works as a researcher, coach, and coach trainer at Postive Acorn. He lives in Portland, Oregon (USA) and rock climbs whenever possible. www.positiveacorn.com