Over the past few years I've been fortunate to have traveled the world several times — 48 states 5x, 27 countries, 5 continents to be exact. During this time I've been to places I never thought I would see and did things I never thought I would do. While I still love to travel, and currently still am, it's less about me and more about showing those close to me (friends and family) the places I've been that I know they would love.
Truth is, although I love to travel, I don't get as excited as I used to about going to certain places because I've already been there. What excites me now is being able to take my experiences and act as a travel agent / tour guide & photographer for my friends and seeing their faces once they get there.
When I see their faces I get to re-live my first time through them. I can't imagine seeing all these places and having all these experiences and not being able to share them with anyone. These days I just tell them what flights to book and what dates and they show up. When they arrive, my previous travels come in handy because I already know the sites, the restaurants, the photo opportunities, etc. It takes out the guess work and the indecisiveness of what to do and where to go.
Last week I had my Dad come visit me in Canada. I rented an RV so he could have his first RV experience for his birthday and we spent 5 days on the road from Vancouver to Kelowna, to Jasper National Park, to Banff and then I dropped him off at the airport in Calgary. Shortly after I dropped him off at the airport, 2 of my friends landed in Calgary a few hours later from NY and LA and we did the entire trip in reverse. The first half of the trip was more conservative because it was my Dad, but when boys arrived things got turned up a notch.
I can't express the importance of paying it forward after you've achieved your success. Not only will it inspire you to create new goals but it's less about you and more about others — which has a much greater personal reward in the end.
Below are some photo's that I took along the round trip drive.
