I posted a BTS (behind-the-scenes footage) over the weekend of me tripping over some stairs while filming a video.

Some people said that it was faked or staged.

I’m the Busy Traveler, not the Busy Stuntman.

Anyways, let’s get to this week’s topic.

I have a fix to make trips less stressful.

On a trip, have you ever been nervous because you’re afraid that your plans might fall apart?

This happened to me in Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany because if one part of the plan failed (e.g. rental car, traffic, etc.) I would have missed visiting the castle.

We can all agree that traveling like this is not fun and there should be a better way.

So I mentally reframe bad experiences in a different way.

Instead of running away from them, welcome the bad experiences.

No really.

Sometimes your worst travel situations can create the best memories and stories.

Let’s be real, nobody wants to hear about your perfect trip. If you want to talk about stuff like that, DM me when you start your blog so we can collab.

On the other hand, it's much more interesting to recall bad situations, like having to hitch a ride on the back of a police truck to escape a flood in Colombia. I was worried during that ordeal, but now I look back and laugh.

What’s the point?

Having this shift in thinking makes traveling a lot less stressful because…

The anxiety around wanting a trip to go perfectly causes more harm than most bad situations.

But there are more benefits.

Knowing that bad situations won’t affect your travel experience gives you the confidence and clear thinking to navigate through those tough situations.

At the end of the day, it's usually not that big of a deal.

Let me be clear, this doesn't mean pretending everything is fine when bad things happen.

I'm no Buddha, but I believe I will get through tough situations in one piece, and that gives me peace.

The whole point is to keep traveling. Just like bad things happen in life, bad things will happen while traveling. The more bad things happen, the tougher you'll become at handling future problems.

As a general guideline, just do your best. Plan to make your trip go as smoothly as possible, and if it doesn’t, you'll get some great stories.

P.S. For you planners out there: During my planning phase, I specifically plan for things to fail, so I have a backup already in place. I may not be able to control the future, but I’m going to try to shape it to my will.

Keep traveling,

Andrew

What's a bad travel experience you've had that turned out to be a great memory?