Make An Experience

What is your ideal vacation?

Is it an all expense paid stay at a 5 star resort? Maybe it is a flight to Jamaica. Or are you a person who would rather have a “staycation”?

In my past life, I would have jumped at any of those options but things changed a few years ago. That is when I decided to take my first solo road trip.

At this time in my life, minimalism and living off the land were forefront in my mind. As time went on, this evolved in to a challenge to deprive myself of life’s “luxuries”. Less became more — to a point where having too much felt shameful.

If I stayed in a hotel or hostel, I felt a bit guilty. “Why are you reverting back to your old life Correy”, I would ask myself.

But a text from a friend gave me perspective — I was there to enjoy the experience. It just so happens my enjoyment came thru having unique experiences.

Every trip I took from that point forward revolved around enjoying the experience. Here is what I mean:

When I take a vacation, I try to make sure I am getting a unique experience. While a hotel or resort can be a very good experience, it does rarely qualifies as being unique for me. Unique is sleeping in an A-Frame out in the middle of the Chihuahua desert of Texas. Or renting a tiny house at the base of Mount Sneffles in Colorado. Unique is driving up a treacherous mountain road to a lake overlooking a portion of the San Juan mountain range.

Having a unique experience is doing something or staying somewhere unique to the location you are in. An experience you can’t get locally but that most people aren’t willing to have because it isn’t easy or comfortable.

So when I look for a place to stay or an experience to have, I make sure it is so unique I have a story to tell after.