This has been the year for booking bucket list vacations! After more than a year of Covid restrictions, Americans have quarantine fatigue. People are optimistic about travel and are making up for lost time. If you're one of these travelers, here are a few tips to help you connect with the places you visit and appreciate your new surroundings. 

Go to a New Place Every Year 
Travel is about getting out of your routine. It’s about experiencing new things, new cultures, new foods, and new people. There’s nothing wrong with going back to the same place over and over again, but if you want a trip to stand out and be memorable, you have to seek out new experiences. 

Leave Your Comfort Zone 
The right kind of stress can help cement moments in our memories. People remember emotions, so when they do something that frightens them a little bit, it gets their adrenaline pumping. 

Engage All Your Senses 
Experiences that stimulate several senses have a better chance of making memorable moments. Listening to sounds around you, smelling things, and tasting foods are all crucial memory triggers. 

Buy That Souvenir 
Objects remind us of a time and place and help us re-live our memories. And, for example, it doesn't have to be a replica of the Eiffel Tower; a really nice vase purchased in Paris would work the same. 

End Your Trip on a High Note 
We tend to remember experiences by their most intense moment and how they ended.  It could be as simple  as eating your last meal at a great restaurant, or as extreme as skydiving. 

Print Your Pictures 
Photos will trigger your memories for many years.  Pick your top photos—the happiest memories and the best experiences you had—and and print them. 

Don’t Be Afraid of Things Going Wrong When You Travel 
Struggles are always annoying when we are in them, but they also make better stories because we fought to get through them. That doesn’t help when you are in the situation, but five years down the line, that’s the story you tell. 

Meet the Locals                                                                                                                                                                If you want to really experience a place, immerse yourself in the culture with the locals themselves. Even if you have to pull out an app on your phone to translate, you'll make great memories by engaging in a little conversation with the locals. 

Travel in Style 
A location can be completely changed by the way you experience it. Years ago, you may have explored a city by foot or on a local bus, but now the travel transport opportunities are endless, with options including touring a city by segway or on a ‘party bike’ that you peddle while sipping your favorite beverage around your destination. This may not be your style, but you have plenty of other options to choose from. 

Give these ideas a try and you'll make precious memories that last forever!