“Traveling Happily Ever After”
June 27, 2007
As a travel agent for over 30 years, Nadine Nardi Davidson has heard “the good, the bad, and the ugly” from her clients and other travelers. That led her to write the book, “Travel With Others Without Wishing They’d Stayed Home.” Her talk included some valuable “pointers:”
• In her book, Nadine identifies nine “traveler types,” and gives you ten simple questions to answer to identify your travel type. Identifying what type you and your traveling companions are before the trip begins can give you a head start on warding off potential conflicts.
• It is critical to communicate your needs and expectations for the trip to identify differences and try to work them out in advance. Is one an early riser and the other someone who likes to sleep until they wake up? Does anyone snore or talk in their sleep? If so, you can come prepared with earplugs. (an essential for other noises too) Does one person get ready in twenty minutes and the other closer to two hours? These are differences that can impact your travel happiness.
• Personalities need to be compatible. Even if someone is a close friend, you might not be ideal travel mates when around each other 24/7. Plan for some alone time, especially if one or both of you are used to living alone.
• While people traveling together might come from the same income strata, their values may dictate differences in how they like to spend their money when traveling. This is an important subject to explore. Does one like to eat primarily at 5-Star restaurants listed in the guidebook and another preferring to discover inexpensive local places or find the nearest McDonald’s?
• Booking a packaged tour, even if it is a private one just for you, can help minimize the decisions needed to be made on a day-to-day basis. Being with other people on a tour can help diffuse any stress coming from being with one person for an extended period.
• Sometimes doing a “test-run” with a new traveling companion, opting for a weekend before a three-week trip to Asia, can be a good idea to minimize the “surprises.”
If you want to buy Nadine's book to discover your “travel type,” contact Barbara Goldberg at: researchbg@cs.com. Cost: $13.75, including shipping.
Nadine Nardi Davidson is a travel consultant with The Travel Store in Brentwood. You can reach her at:
prince pub@aol.com and (310) 689-5419