Although Wilferd Peterson wrote this nearly 50 years ago, it’s just as powerful today as it was when first published!

The Art of Traveling

When you pack your bags to explore the beauties of your own country or to travel around the world, consider these keys to a happy journey:

Travel lightly. You are not traveling for people to see you!

Travel slowly. Jet planes are fro getting places not seeing places; take time to absorb the beauty and inspiration of a mountain or a cathedral.

Travel expectantly. Every place you visit is like a surprise package to be opened. Untie the strings with an expectation of high adventure.

Travel hopefully. “To travel hopefully,” wrote Robert Louis Stevenson, “is better than to arrive.”

Travel humbly. Visit people and places with reverence and respect for their traditions and ways of life.

Travel courteously. Consideration for your fellow travelers and your hosts will smooth the way through the most difficult days.

Travel gratefully. Show appreciation for the many things that are being done by other for your enjoyment and comfort.

Travel with an open mind. Leave your prejudices at home.

Travel with curiosity. It is not how far you go, but how deeply you go that mines the gold of experience. Thoreau wrote a big book about tiny Walden Pond.

Travel with imagination. As the Old Spanish proverb puts it: “He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.”

Travel fearlessly. Banish worry and timidity; the world and its people belong to you just as you belong to the world.

Travel relaxed. Make up your mind to have a good time. Let go and let God.

Travel patiently. It takes time to understand others, especially when there are barriers of language and custom; keep flexile and adaptable to all situations.

Travel with the spirit of a world citizen. You’ll discover that people are basically much the same the world around. Be an ambassador of good will to all people.
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be ever at your back.

Flight Park’s Happy Traveler

* Excerpt from The Art of Living by Wilferd A. Peterson, Simon and Schuster, New York 1961

Living in Nashville, people frequently comment, “You don’t sound like you’re from around here”, I usually answer, “I was born in the Mid-West, raised in New York, but now I’m a Damn-Yankee;  **you know the ones who won’t go back to the North**  I’m not goin’ anywhere!”

But I must confess, with all the travel research I’ve been doing lately, I’ve developed a serious case of wanderlust.  I want to cook my way through Tuscany and Provence, bicycle through the Alps, hike the Alaskan glaciers and sail to Fiji. Touring the literary sites of London is high on my list too.  Heck, they’re all high on my list.

There was a time when I felt as though I lived on planes, traveling on business anywhere from a day or two to six solid weeks at a time.  It wasn’t glamorous.  It was work.  I wish I knew then what I know now…in many ways, but what I’m referring to now is travel.

Traveling with ease, whether for business or pleasure, with the best recommendations, creative technology, and thoughtful words-of-wisdom…oh, and great specials/FREEBIES from Flight Park…is my new mission in life.

…and speaking of FREEBIES, I’d like to congratulate Katie Adkins, Sonia OpenmindedThinker & Janine Libby for their recent travel-savvy LIKE-ing of the Flight Park Facebook page.  Each of them is now the happy winner of a sparking car the next time they return from their travels.  Let me be clear about this: the next time they park at Flight Park, they each get a FREE car wash, on Flight Park, hence their sparkling cars.  May your car sparkle too!

Here’s to Happy Trails for Us All!

The Flight Park Happy Traveler

“Travel is freedom…one of the last great sources of legal adventure. Travel is intensified living, with maximum thrills per minute. It’s recess, and we need it.”

~Rick Stevens

I’ve never met Rick Stevens and yet I feel as if I’ve known him all my life. Freedom. Adventure. Intensified Living. Maximum Thrills Per Minute. Don’t you just love the feelings those words bring to your core!

Travel. Whether for recess, family or business, it should be, fun and yet so often it’s anything but. As such, it is my goal to enlighten your travel experiences with brilliant insights – some my own, some from the experts and others from seasoned travelers – recommendations, and story.

So, I invite you to join in this journey. I aim for hasslefree and aspire to intensified living! Welcome!