Travel Resolutions for the New Year

“New Year’s Day is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” ~

Mark Twain

New Year’s resolutions often are a topic of derision. We treat the annual ritual of making promises to ourselves as a joke, a light-hearted acknowledgement of our inability to keep a commitment. Something about that sits poorly with me. Promises are important. We make promises to our business associates, our clients, our community, and our family. We take oaths and we enter into contracts with every intention of honoring them. Inherently, we know promises are not random statements to be taken lightly. We may disappoint ourselves, and others, but never without remorse. Yet, the lowly New Year’s resolution continues to take its annual beating. Nevertheless, I will continue to make promises to myself, especially when it comes to travel. I am going to promise to travel more carefully, to be more respectful of my companions and the places and people I visit. I want to travel more sustainably. In fact, I would like to move from sustainable travel to what is being called “regenerative travel” – the idea that travel can be a force for good, that it is possible to leave the people and places we visit in better shape than when we arrived. Here is to hoping for the best of good fortune for you and yours in all your travels and in all of your endeavors.