The Comfortable Traveler

Welcome back to Philip James Travel!

What comes to mind when you hear the word, “comfortable”?  Does the word conjure up a tactile feeling like a favorite place to sit when you want to read or watch “Ozark”?  Or does it bring to mind an emotion such as a feeling of safety and connectedness?  Or do you think of comfort as a physical state of well-being?  If you’re like me, it’s probably all three depending on which context is being defined first.  However you choose to define it, your comfort will be an all-important determining factor in your willingness to travel again, and where you will go.

As we discussed last week (“It Depends”) there will be many factors you will need to consider when planning a trip in your future.  For some folks, your future might mean in a couple of weeks, and for others, it might a year from now before you’re ready to venture off.  But for everyone regardless of where or when you will travel, you must surely consider comfort in its various connotations before pulling the trigger.  And you should ask yourself (or let us ask) these questions: 

• Are you comfortable leaving your home?  

• Are you comfortable coming into close contact with people in airports, airplanes, cruise ships, restaurants, theaters, museums, and other sightseeing attractions?

• Are you comfortable with possible disruptions to your plans, either before or during your trip? 

• Are you comfortable investing in a trip?

• Are you comfortable with the possibility of being uncomfortable?

Once you’ve cleared the hurdles of these questions by answering “yes”, it is very likely that you are ready to travel!  We would then pose the next question, which is whether you would be comfortable purchasing travel from a vending machine (Expedia, Orbitz, Hotels.com)?  To this, the answer is hopefully a resounding NO!  Though many DIY travel consumers have success with “vending machine” travel purchases, ask the many thousands of them who were either caught by this pandemic while traveling and had to find their own way home – or those who had or have bookings in the Spring or Summer that had to be canceled, rebooked, or refunded.  Do you want to spend hours of your time on hold while trying to get help?  That’s one of many services travel advisors will do for you.  I suspect in the times ahead; professional travel advisors will have a whole new set of converted DIYers as clients!  

I hope this week’s newsletter sparked some questions for you to ponder.  Thanks as always for taking a moment to visit us here at Philip James Travel.  Should you wish to talk through any of these comfort questions, please give us a ring at (504) 258-9107 or let us know by return email.

Keep your travel dreams alive, and stay well.

Destination Inspiration (for when the time is right): Turks and Caicos

Philip -