Spencer Municipal Utilities' Website Compass

4 WebsiteCompass What You Need to Know About Traveling With Strangers Traveling alone has many benefits. They include easier decision making, increasing your confidence in your own problem-solving abilities, and getting better acquainted with yourself. Exploring new places with others has its advantages as well, and the increasing trend of traveling with strangers gives you the best of both worlds. But you should know what to expect before using this approach. Take the following steps to make your trips safe and fulfilling. Try a tour. Not sure a full trip with people you don’t know is for you? Consider starting with a group tour on your solo trip. Spending a few hours with a new group will give you a taste of traveling this way. Meet others along the way. You don’t have to begin your trip with others, but you can end it that way. To do so, consider staying at a hostel or doing other things where you can meet other solo adventurers who might want to keep you company. Use a service to find a group trip. Several services are available to help you find opportunities for traveling with strangers. They include JoinMyTrip (joinmytrip.com), TripGiraffe (tripgiraffe. com), and Unite Strangers (unitestrangers.com). Get to know your fellow travelers. For a planned trip, use social media or other tools to ask fellow travelers about their interests and intentions for the trip, and share yours with them. Be safe. Follow standard travel safety procedures. Share information about your plans only with trusted others, stay in well-traveled areas, wait until you return home to post on social media, and remove yourself from situations that make you uncomfortable. Should You Try a Bleisure Trip? The word “bleisure” is a portmanteau of “business” and “leisure.” A bleisure trip is one in which you engage in both work and vacation activities. You can either tack on a few days of vacation to a planned business trip or work for a few hours each morning and follow with fun activities in the afternoon. But is this kind of trip for you? It might be if you answer “yes” to the following questions: • Does your business travel take you to places you might like to explore more? • Are you a freelancer or a remote worker who can perform business tasks from anywhere? • Are you good at leaving work at work, and focusing on fun during your off hours? • Can you stay focused on work even with distractions in your environment? • Do you have limited time for vacations? Still not sure? Try adding just one vacation day to your next business trip and see how it goes. QUICK TIP: If you’ll be working on your trip, look for a hotel that specializes in business travelers. Feature Story

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTMzNDE=