• Home
  • About
    • Who We are
    • Affiliates
    • Disclosures & Guidelines
    • FAQs
    • Privacy Notice
  • Funding Your Travels
    • Banking on the Road
    • Credit Cards in Our Wallet
    • Spending
  • Contact
    • Media
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Partnership Opportunities

i should log off

log off and live!

  • Travel & Planning
    • Travel Reflections
      • Good, Bad & Ugly
      • Re-Entry
    • Travel Resources
      • Travel Tips
      • Travel Bloggers
    • Reviews
      • Gear
      • Operators
      • Travel Clothing
    • Travel Gear
      • Cameras
      • Danny’s Clothes
      • Electronics
      • Health & Hygiene
      • Jillian’s Clothes
      • General Gear
  • Destinations
    • Travel Guides
    • Africa
      • Egypt
      • Ethiopia
      • Lesotho
      • Kenya
      • Malawi
      • Morocco
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Sudan
      • Swaziland
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Zimbabwe
    • Asia & Oceania
      • Armenia
      • Cambodia
      • China
      • Georgia
      • India
      • Kazakhstan
      • Laos
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • Uzbekistan
      • Vietnam
    • Caribbean
      • Antigua
      • Cuba
      • Jamaica
    • Central America
      • Belize
      • Costa Rica
      • Guatemala
      • Honduras
      • Nicaragua
      • Panama
    • Europe
      • Armenia
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Czech Republic
      • France
      • Georgia
      • Germany
      • Hungary
      • Italy
      • Spain
      • Turkey
    • North America
      • Canada
      • Mexico
      • USA
    • Middle East
      • Egypt
      • Israel
      • Jordan
      • Oman
      • Turkey
    • South America
      • Argentina
      • Brazil
      • Bolivia
      • Chile
      • Colombia
      • Ecuador
      • Peru
      • Uruguay
  • Weekend Adventures
    • Cycle
      • Pastimes
        • Beer & Wine
        • Books
        • Cooking
        • History & Culture
    • Dive & Snorkel
    • Hike
    • Trek
    • Whitewater
  • Photos
    • Photo of the Day
  • Family Travel
You are here: Home / Journey / What Animals Can Teach Us about Traveling?

What Animals Can Teach Us about Traveling?

March 15, 2012 By Katherine

We humans love to give each other advice; advice on how to raise children, how to invest money, how to dress and how to travel. You know if I were you have become some of the most dreaded words to hear, especially when they’re coming from your boss or mother.  While it is a good idea to learn from others, it’s not just humans who have something to teach you. Animals know a thing or two about traveling, too. In fact some of the best travel advice you might ever get could come from your furry, feathered and scaly friends.

What Animals Teach Us about Traveling?

Travel Light – When was the last time you saw a bear in high heels? That’s right; you haven’t (although that would be pretty cool). That’s because animals understand better than us humans that if you can’t carry it on your back, you don’t need it to travel. Even the savviest human packers end a day of traveling with their lower back aching from an overstuffed bag. All those extra pairs of socks and spare set of sheets you brought “just in case” wind up taking up space without ever being used. Take notes from the animals you encounter. Instead of being weighted down by unnecessary baggage, animals are free to run, jump and squeeze into tiny caves.

A fish in the rocks

Listen to Your Instincts – There’s a reason your gut is telling you not to get into that cab. There’s a reason something doesn’t feel quite right about that dodgy hotel at the end of the road. If your instincts are telling you to run, then run. Animals trust their instincts. Maybe that’s why they seem to know tsunamis and forest fires are coming long before humans do. They understand that instincts are there for a reason and shouldn’t be ignored for the sake of being polite. Follow their lead – and follow your instincts to avoid sticky situations when traveling.

Be Yourself – It’s tempting to try and fit in, especially when you’re meeting new people and trying to get along with new travel companions. But compromising who you are means you compromise a piece of the whole traveling experience. The reason you are traveling is so you can experience new places and ways of life. Learn from your friends in the animal kingdom. A cheetah rarely worries what others think of him. He’s a cheetah whether he’s in Africa, Asia or Antarctica. An elephant is an elephant and a warthog is a warthog. No need for pretending to be interested in pottery when you’re not, or worrying about sounding witty at dinner. Animals are unapologetically themselves. No matter where you travel, remember to be you.

Pelicans at the beach

Adapt – Being yourself doesn’t mean you being difficult or overly stubborn. Traveling requires you to adapt to new ways of life and take the unknown in stride. You are bound to meet suspicious foods, beds and trains along your journey. As long as your instincts tell you everything’s ok, learn to adapt to these foreign encounters. Animals are great at this. Bears adapt to food shortages by hibernating when it’s cold and chowing down when it’s warm. Chameleons adapt to the surrounding palettes by changing color to blend in. Horses adapt to the seasons with thickened fur for winter and shedding like a mad thing when summer comes. Animals don’t compromise who they are fundamentally, but they do make allowances for the circumstances around them.

Have Fun – Traveling should be eye opening, memorable but mostly just plain fun. Yet sometimes in the flurry of following maps and hopping planes, we humans push fun aside. Animals know better. They find fun in the simple things around them and don’t need elaborate clubs or shows to keep them entertained. A dog is happy to dig a hole in the sand or play with a piece of seaweed. Cows are content with just a few blades of grass. Pigs find joy in a deliciously cool spot of mud and zebras savor the freedom of running uninhibitedly. Take a cue from animals and have fun when you travel.

What have you learned from animals?

Filed Under: Journey, Travel & Planning, Travel Reflections Tagged With: animal travel, animals, travel instincts, travel tips

About Katherine

Katherine McKeon is the writer for Beyond Disney Travel Tips, a travel blog that offers advice and inspiration for travelers of all ages and aspirations. Kathy’s travels began as a young child with her family and quickly escalated to overseas adventures on her own and with her boyfriend. Kathy set a university record for the number of study abroad programs she participated in while studying and has since gone on to live and work on four continents. She believes traveling is what you make of it and should first and foremost be fun. Check her out on Facebook and Twitter.

Comments

  1. Lisa says

    March 15, 2012 at 12:20 pm

    I love the reminder that animals trust their instincts and stay safe from danger that way. We really can adapt amazingly well in many situations when we just let go of some of our preconceived ideas.

  2. Sean says

    March 15, 2012 at 7:22 pm

    Great post Kathy! I love the philosophy and I definitely loving coming across animals in my travels! (elephants <3)

  3. Katherine McKeon says

    March 16, 2012 at 2:00 am

    Thanks Danny and Jillian for posting this (and thanks to Lisa and Sean for the comments!). I’ve always been inspired by how animals adapt to new environments and wish I could be a bit more like them when I travel. Happy travels!

  4. Olivia says

    March 16, 2012 at 10:09 am

    What a great piece! Who’d have thought that there were so many fun and interesting comparisons between dumb animals (us) and the more enlightened kind. I especially loved the photos used to illustrate. Question: what is that cute yellow thing in the first photo?

  5. Katherine McKeon says

    March 19, 2012 at 8:36 am

    Thanks Olivia! Haha! That’s a little puffer fish (not sure if that’s actually what it’s called) from Costa Rica. Glad you liked the post. Thanks again to Danny and Jillian for sharing space on their awesome blog to post it!

Connect With Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Featured Posts

Our Bucket List
How We Travel For Free
$ Travel Tips

Recent Comments

  • Barbara on Kayaking Kauai’s Na Pali Coast
  • Lori Hubbard on Review: Eneloop Batteries and Charger
  • TK on The Trouble with Philadelphia

Banking on the Road

It can be very hard to keep track of your finances while you're on the road long-term. Be sure to check out how we took care of our finances while traveling and feel free to email us any questions you have.

Adventure Guides

Torres Del Paine
China Adventure
Uzbekistan Overland
Egyptian Odyssey
Malaria
Argentina Adventure
DIY African Safari
South Africa Guide
Bolivia by Bus
How-To African Visas

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright 2008-2015 · All Rights Reserved · Contact I Should Log Off · RSS · Partner With Us · Privacy