Or do you rely on your rational, logical mind to “research” what to do when you travel?

I’ve been reading some books recently about developing your intuition and started thinking about how useful intuition is when you travel. I’m sure you’re familiar with the following situations.

You’re traveling in a country you have never been to before and are exploring a residential, non-touristy part of town. You’re hungry and looking for someplace to eat, or you’re tired and just want someplace comfortable to sit for a while and have some tea or coffee. Unfortunately, everyplace you look at looks like every other place you look at. And no matter how hard you examine the menu that is posted outside, or stare at the front of the building, you just can’t tell if the food will be any good, or if the atmosphere is enjoyable.

Or you are wandering through an amazing part of the oldest section of a city. There are so many interesting looking side streets that it is hard to explore all of them. You just don’t know which streets to wander down and which streets to avoid.

There are some people I know, particularly my husband, who rely on their intuition to guide them – and he generally ends up doing better than OK for himself.

My husband is someone who travels a lot for business, and has traveled a lot throughout his entire life. He’s not the type of person who would ever stick close to the tourist parts of town, where the more North American/British style of restaurants tend to be located. When he is in a new city, he’s off to the more residential areas, away from tourists and into the more authentic culture.

Invariable, when we travel together, we end up finding some of the best restaurants ever. When we were in Hong Kong, we walked for hours through some beautiful off-the-beaten track areas. Come dinner time, we passed by several restaurants with my husband finally settling on one he liked the feel of. We had the best meal. The food was fantastic and the atmosphere had us really enjoying ourselves – even though we couldn’t understand a word of what was being said around us.

This wasn’t a fluke or a ‘one-off’. This happens every time my husband travels. So I have decided to develop my own ‘travel intuition’.

Many people believe that intuition is something you are born with, however, studies show that intuition is a skill that anyone and everyone can develop. Developing your intuition is not difficult – it just requires practice and persistence.

One of the exercises that I have been using to develop my intuition, and it seems to be working, comes from the book Developing Intuition: Practical Guidance for Daily Life, by Shakti Gawain.

For this exercise you need a small notebook that you can carry with you wherever you go, and a pen.

For a period of a week or so, every time you experience a hunch, have an intuitive impulse, notice that something feels right or doesn’t feel right, etc., write this experience down in your journal. Keep a record of what the feeling is. The ‘feeling’ doesn’t need to be just a voice in your mind (in fact, intuition often appears as something other than a voice in your mind) but is likely to be a reaction in your body like a tingling or tightening in your gut or a numbness or sensation in your arm.

For those who are more rational-minded, you could also keep track of the outcomes of these feelings.

If you are preparing to travel, you could modify this exercise somewhat to fit the type of experiences you are look for from your travels. For example, you could spend some time visiting an unfamiliar part of the city in which you live, one where you are completely unfamiliar with the streets, restaurants, cafes, etc.. Wander through this part of the city monitoring your reaction to streets, stores, restaurants, etc. When ever you have a good hunch, or an intuitive impulse, explore it. Find out if the street really was worth going down, or if the restaurant really was worth going into. By monitoring these intuitive impulses, you begin to recognize them more easily and trust them more implicitly.

Do you use your intuition when you travel? If you do, then how successful has your intuition been? Have you discovered any real treasures through using your intuition while you travel?

Right, I’m off to find a nice restaurant – uummhh I mean, develop my intuition.

TTFN

~~~~♦~~~~♦~~~~♦~~~~♦~~~~♦~~~~♦~~~~♦~~~~

If you enjoyed reading this post, maybe you’d like to subscribe to our RSS feed, or subscribe via email (enter your email address in the box at the top of the page, on the right) so you don’t miss any future posts. Thank you for visiting!