Avalon Nuovo

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You’ve just walked in the door after your latest adventure.

And whether it was a day trip or a weeks-long voyage, there are ways to make it last a lifetime.

One of the keys to a life-changing journey, says celebrated travel writer and TED Course instructor Pico Iyer, is what you do with it afterwards. This means taking the time to unpack your experiences, and not just your suitcases.

“It’s only when you get back home that you can really begin to understand a trip and implement the changes it may have set into motion inside you,” says Iyer in a lesson from his TED Course on “How to take a life-changing journey.”

To make the most of your travels, he suggests asking yourself three questions when you return:

Question 1: “What moved me most over the course of my trip?”

“For me, it’s nearly always the differences in other cultures that ultimately toll most deeply inside,” says Iyer.

Think about what stood out to you on your trip.

When did you feel moments of joy, wonder, excitement or longing? What are some of the things that you experienced on it that you rarely or never experience in the same way at home?

Was it being face-to-face with natural beauty, like craggy caverns, clear waters or sunny fields?

Or was it something more human, like murals made by local artists, buzzing street markets or nightlife, or crowds of school kids in distinctive uniforms?

Or was it coming face to face with the weight of history in the form of ancient structures, winding streets or time-worn sculptures that connected you to the humans who lived long ago?

Question 2: “What surprised me most on my trip?”

In a trip to Antarctica, Iyer was stunned by unforgettable vistas that were unlike anything he’d encountered. “The vast silences, the colonies of penguins in the snow, the thousand shades of silver,” he recalls. “They were all beyond anything I’d seen or even imagined.”

On your trip, what caught you off guard or made you stop in your tracks?

For Iyer and Antarctica, it was the unimaginable beauty combined with the realization that he and other travelers were contributing to its erosion. He says, “In recent decades, significant steps have been taken to protect that environment. Only smaller ships are permitted to take visitors ashore and the number of people on shore at any time is very strictly limited … But still, we’re damaging the environment just by flying down there.”

Which leads to the final question.

Question 3: “How might my trip move me to think or live my life a little differently?”

Now this is the question that puts the “change” in “life changing.” For example, reflecting on his trip to Antarctica, Iyers asks: “How will we live differently in the light of what we saw there? How much can the strengthened sense of responsibility that arises from witnessing that grandeur offset the cost of traveling around it?”

Perhaps a “strengthened sense of responsibility” might motivate you to do things differently in your daily life — to bike instead of drive, cut down on plastic or volunteer for a clean-up.

But your response doesn’t need to be so literal or direct. Maybe sitting in a sculpture park on your trip will inspire you to notice the shapes of the trees in your yard. Or the colors of the city where you stayed will inspire you to wear a shirt in a particular shade of blue. Or the midday siesta that was common in the country you visited will make you prioritize rest.

“Promise yourself 20 minutes every day to ensure that the journey doesn’t get lost,” says Iyer. “How might you act differently now? Ask yourself how your life is rich in ways you hadn’t imagined before [and] ask yourself how it’s poor.”

Just keep thinking about these three questions — and there’s no predicting what you could learn, how you’ll grow or who you might become.

Go to the TED Courses site to sign up for Pico Iyer’s “How to take a life-changing journey,” where you’ll also learn how to set an intention and choose a destination; how to be fully present while you travel; and how to appreciate and navigate cultural differences.

Plus: While you’re there, check out our other courses, including how to boost your brain and memory with neuroscientist Lisa Genova, nurture your imagination with creatives Charlie Jane Anders and Wanuri Kahiu, and reshape your career with Manoush Zomorodi.  

Watch Pico Iyer’s TEDGlobal Talk here: 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hayley Caldwell is a copywriter on the Audience Development team at TED.

This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

Thoka Maer

We don’t know about you, but we’re ready to travel. And that typically means flying.

We have been thinking through this issue as mothers and as an infectious disease epidemiologist and an exposure scientist. While we’ve personally decided that we’re not going to fly right now, we’ll walk you through our thought process on what to consider and how to minimize your risks.

Why the fear of flying?

The primary concern with flying — or traveling by bus or train — is sitting within six feet of an infected person. Remember: Even asymptomatic people can transmit. Your risk of infection directly corresponds to your dose of exposure, which is determined by your duration of time exposed and the amount of virus-contaminated droplets in the air.

A secondary concern is contact with contaminated surfaces. When an infected person contaminates a shared armrest, airport restroom handle, seat tray or other item, the virus can survive for hours although it does degrade over time. If you touch that surface and then touch your mouth or nose, you put yourself at risk of infection.

Before you book, think

While there is no way to make air travel 100% safe, there are ways to make it safer. It’s important to think through the particulars for each trip.

One approach to your decision making is to use what occupational health experts call the hierarchy of controls. This approach does two things. It focuses on strategies to control exposures close to the source, and it minimizes how much you have to rely on individual human behavior to control exposure.

The best way to control exposure is to eliminate the hazard. Since we cannot eliminate the new coronavirus, ask yourself if you can eliminate the trip. Think extra hard about traveling if you are older or have preexisting conditions, or if you are going to visit someone in those categories.

If you are healthy and those you visit are healthy, think about ways to substitute the hazard. Is it possible to drive? This would allow you to have more control over minimizing your exposures, particularly if the distance requires less than a day of travel.

You’re going, now what?

If you do choose to fly, check out airlines’ policies on seating and boarding. Some are minimizing capacity and spacing passengers by not using middle seats and having empty rows. Others are boarding from the back of the plane. Some carriers that were criticized for filling their planes to capacity have announced plans to allow customers to cancel their flights if the flight goes over 70 percent passenger seating capacity.

Federal and state guidance is changing constantly, so make sure you look up the most recent guidance from government agencies and the airlines and airport you are using for additional advice and for current policies or restrictions.

While this may sound counterintuitive, consider booking multiple, shorter flights. This will decrease the likelihood of your having to use the lavatory and your duration of exposure to an infectious person or persons on the plane.

After you book, select a window seat if possible. If you consider the six-foot radius circle around you, having a wall on one side would directly reduce in half the number of people you are exposed to during the flight, not to mention all the people going up and down the aisle.

Also, check out your airline to see their engineering controls that are designed or put into practice to isolate hazards. These include ventilation systems, on-board barriers and electrostatic disinfectant sprays on flights.

When the ventilation system on planes is operating, planes have a very high ratio of outside fresh air to recirculated air — about 10 times higher than most commercial buildings. Plus, most planes’ ventilation systems have HEPA filters. These are at least 99.9 percent effective at removing particles that are 0.3 microns in diameter and more efficient at removing both smaller and larger particles.

How to stay safe from shuttle to seat

From checking in to going through security to boarding, you will be touching many surfaces. Here are some tips to minimize your risks of infection:

1. Bring hand wipes to disinfect surfaces such as your seat and seat belt and your personal belongings (like your passport). If you cannot find hand wipes, bring a small washcloth soaked in a bleach solution in a ziplock bag. This will probably freak out airport security less than carrying a personal spray bottle, and viruses are not likely to grow on a cloth with a bleach solution. But remember: More bleach is not better and it can be unsafe. You need only one tablespoon in four cups of water to make an effective solution.

2. Bring plastic ziplock bags for personal items that others may handle, such as your ID. Bring extra bags so you can put these objects in a new bag after you have the chance to disinfect them.

3. Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer as often as you can. While soap and water is most effective, using hand sanitizer is helpful after washing to get any parts you may have missed.

4. Once you get to your window seat, stay put.

5. Wear a mask. If you already have an N95 respirator, consider using it but other masks or coverings can also provide protection. We do not recommend purchasing N95 until health-care workers have an adequate supply. Technically, it should also be tested to make sure you have a good fit. We do not recommend that you use gloves, as those can lead to a false sense of security and have been associated with reduced hand hygiene practices.

If you are thinking about flying with children, there are special considerations to keep in mind. Getting a young child to adhere to wearing a mask and maintaining good hygiene behavior at home is hard enough; it may be impossible to do so when flying. Children under 2 should not wear a mask.

Each day, we are all constantly faced with decisions about our own personal comfort and risk. Arming yourself with specific knowledge about your airport and airline and maximizing your use of protective measures that you have control over can reduce your risk. A good analogy might be that every time you get in the car to drive somewhere there is risk of an accident, but there is a big difference between driving the speed limit with your seat belt on and driving blindfolded at 60 miles an hour through the middle of town.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

Watch Kacey Ernst‘s TEDxTucson Talk about mosquitoes here:

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Kacey Ernst PhD MPH is an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Arizona. Her primary projects examine the environmental determinants of vector-borne disease transmission and control; primarily dengue and malaria. Current research projects include an examination of insecticide treated bednet use in western Kenya.

Paloma Beamer PhD is an associate professor in the College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She holds joint appointments as an associate professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering and as a research scientist in the Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center. Her research focuses on understanding how individuals are exposed to environmental contaminants and the health risks of these exposures with a special focus on vulnerable populations.