- Go on organised excursions to learn more about your destination, stretch beyond the limits of your resort.
- If you have a room with a view, order a meal to your room and eat out on the balcony.
- Keep a journal of your travels, thoughts, experiences to reflect back on in the future.
- Get up early to watch/photograph the sunrise and appreciate the area you are in, before the hustle and bustle begins.
- Buy your souvenirs from local people, street sellers etc rather than big store chains – give back to the needier local people rather than already flourishing businesses.
- Eat in small locally run restaurants.
- Purposefully try new foods and drinks.
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Soursop juice
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- Try a new activity, step out of your comfort zone.
- If you drive, hire a car and explore.
- Hire a driver to give you a customised day tour.
- Go out and explore using local public transport, see how the other half live, try and blend in to experience it more.
- Schedule in days to just lounge around, read a book, people watch, basically rest.
- Go for a long walk, explore your surroundings at your leisure.
- Talk to locals, learn about their culture and how they live, their insight is better than any guide book and will leave them feeling somewhat valued rather than overlooked by tourists.
- Buy a local newspaper and immerse yourself.
- Leave a surprise gift/thank you card for your housekeeping staff.
- Wherever you happen to be, make an effort to watch the sunsets.
- Make time to reflect on what you have left behind at home and any changes to work on when you return.
- Try and come away knowing at least a couple of key pieces of history about the country or place you are staying in.
- Remember how fortunate you are to be able to fly across the world to be on that beach, in that city, on that hillside, walking through that village etc, while many of the local people around you might only dream of doing this one day. Travel makes you humble, if your heart is right.
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