The Six Knows of Preparing to Travel

By Scott Rains

"Vacation" is a magic word. Use it in a conversation and people are likely to momentarily spirit off to their private bit of paradise; disappear to somewhere that exists between fantasy and the world-as-we-know-it. But even Harry Potter puts in long hours of preparation to work his magic. So, what's the magic formula for conjuring up a charmed vacation?

First, open up your own personal travel style for inspection. Add a pinch of experience from each of the Six Knows below and you will spice your formula with the wisdom of other travelers with disabilities. Stir it up with a friend or travel agent. Then get out there and see the world!

Know Yourself

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Take it from me, it's not worth carting along on the road with you either.

First off, ask yourself: What would make this vacation a success for you? Try to answer that question even before you decide on a destination, a reservation, or a travel companion. Pare down to the non-negotiables. Are you looking for quiet rejuvenation -- or exhilaration? Do you have strict budget limits -- or room to splurge? Does success mean having sun, snow, a tropical rainstorm -- or are you content with whatever comes along? Do you have "must includes" for your trip such as a food, an event -- or a language?

Secondly, review your physical health. Do it with your physician if necessary. How is your physical strength? Your stamina? Your immune system? Are you in physical pain that would influence your travel plans? Are your medications working correctly and do you have enough to bring on the trip?

What about your mental health? How is your emotional resilience? What's the recent pattern of your moods? Are your dreams or fantasy life telling you something about how you might react to travel right now?

First published at Suite101.com

How do you measure happiness?

Written by Scott Rains, Senior Advisor, [with]tv and editor of the Rolling Rains Report

It may sound absurd to put “measurement” and “happiness” together like that. What’s next? People saying, “I’ll take 2 pounds of happiness please?”

Actually, the travel industry is beginning to ask itself for a “happiness metric.” In an industry that successfully markets dreams and sells experience, quantifying the ineffable does not seem to be a goal beyond reach. Innovation is beginning to characterize an industry as it takes up the causes of ecological sustainability, equitable treatment of its employees, and inclusion of seniors and people with disabilities.

Thailand, drawing on concepts from Bhutan, seems to be taking the lead in exploring happiness as a new benchmark. The core concept is a complement to the economic measurement of Gross National Product. It is Gross National Happiness.

A conference on the topic was held in Bangkok, Thailand July 18 & 19, 2007. According to the organizers of this conference, “Happiness and Public Policy”:

As happiness is the ultimate goal of human beings, development paradigm needs a rethinking. Development goal is not only an economic prosperity – which is only a material mean for happiness, but development should also be conceptualized as an instrumental goal of happiness. Higher levels of human happiness involve other factors such as physical, mental, social and spiritual happiness. Public policy, therefore, plays a key role to improve conditions of happiness at all levels of people in the society.

Looking ahead to the 3rd International Conference on Gross National Happiness scheduled for November 22 to 28, 2007 also in Bangok

The launching of the concept of Gross National Happiness in the global arena has induced a growing movement calling for transformation of conventional development policies and practices at all levels. By placing ‘happiness' at the center of development the current obsession by economic growth, measured by Gross National (or Domestic) Product, has been fundamentally challenged… Efforts are made to better understand and to monitor happiness. Well-being indexes serve public policy development, in order to counter wealth-dominated, unsustainable, globalization.

Reporting on these developments in Travel Impact Newswire, Imtiaz Muqbil, writes:

[This is] possibly the first time this subject [Happiness and Public Policy] has been covered in the travel trade media, it will quickly gain traction. Branding gurus will latch on to it, conferences will feature it and industry experts will seek to outdo each other with the perfect solutions and answers. If that happens, and the world becomes even a slightly better and more happy place, the purpose of this dispatch will have been well-served.

The full set of conference papers can be found at: http://www.ppdoconference.org

Let’s hope that the gurus of happiness study the sutras of Universal Design. Let the good times roll!

Meet Columnist Dr. Scott Rains, Senior Advisor, [with]tv

Dr. Scott Rains, Senior Advisor, [with]tv as well as Executive Producer, Catching the 9:05 [with]tv, is also editor of Rolling Rains Report, a website for dialogue on travel, disability, and universal design. Dr. Rains holds a B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Washington, an M.A. in Pastoral Ministry from Seattle University, and a D. Min. in Pastoral Ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation in South Bend, Indiana.

Travel Feeds the Experience Economy

Written by: Dr. Scott Rains, Rolling Rains Report

The travel industry knows that it is the quintessential purveyor of positive experience. Destination wedding travel sells the romantic experience. Adventure travel sells the adrenaline experience. Volunteer travel sells the engaged experience. Business travel sells the efficient experience.

What do you experience when the experience you paid for meets your expectations? Satisfaction? Happiness? A desire to do it again?

Good businesses pay attention to customer satisfaction. Focus groups, surveys, mystery shoppers, and common courtesy are all best practice aids to achieve customer satisfaction. Goals are set. Targets are achieved. Customer satisfaction is measured.

Why value customer satisfaction? Well, except for sand in your shoes, a couple extra inches around the waist, and a bunch of mementos, it is that sense of happiness attached to memories of a good trip that is the lasting “product”.

Thinking of experience as product is second nature to the travel and hospitality industry.

B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore wrote the book Experience Economy in 1999.

In it they classify businesses on a spectrum building on commodity markets and progressing through goods, services, experience, and on to transformation businesses. It’s not a big step for businesses in the travel sector to move from selling experience to selling transformation.

To the extent that the industry respects people with disabilities as valued customers, through the application of the seven principles of Universal Design, they will want the experience; they will buy the product. Research from the Open Doors Organization, among others, shows that people with disabilities have the desire, the means, and the time to travel. Given the scarcity of products tailored to people with disabilities the outcome of a well-executed itinerary is almost always transformative for travelers in a market segment hungry for quality travel experience.

Travel Programs at [with]tv

Written by: Dr. Scott Rains

Welcome to Travel Programs at [with]tv

Travel transforms.

The anticipation of adventure and discovery can make a simple change of place into a memory that lasts a lifetime. Good travel agents know that. As important as it is to flawlessly plan itineraries and to provide tickets they know that what they sell are dreams.

Photos, videos, postcards, and souvenirs outlive the experience. They can have an almost magical effect of reinvoking the memories and feelings of another place & time. At [with]tv we intend to produce written and visual materials that help you plan, take, and remember trips that change your life.

There is a saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, you won’t know when you arrive!”

Travel planning is key – and we will unlock some secrets of the experts. Destination previews ignite the imagination – and we will light a bonfire to get you dreaming. Reports from those who have been there make it real – and we will talk to both tourists and locals on site.

In the end, the transformation of travel may be the reinvigoration to head back home and live life more fully. It may be a new insight into the way the world works – or doesn’t. It may be an opening to a new culture or a new lifestyle.

We hope that [with]tv can be one tool for transformation that you keep coming back to!