HOW TO
TRAVEL HAPPIER
Whether it’s trying new things or
appreciating our surroundings,
we can all do more to connect with
the places we visit. Here, two
experts in happiness theory explain
how to craft meaningful
experiences and live your most
fulfilling travel life.Create
Better Travel
MemoriesMeik Wiking is an author and the
CEO of the Happiness Research
Institute, a think tank based in
Copenhagen. His newest book,
The Art of Making Memories: How
to Create and Remember Happy
Moments (HarperCollins), is due
out October 1. He shared his tips
for cultivating joy while on the
road and after you’ve returned
home.—Lyndsey Matthews- Go to a new place every year
“Travel is about being brought out
of your routine,” Wiking says. “It’s
experiencing new things, new cul-
ture, new food, new people. And
that’s the quick route to [making]
memories: novel experiences.
There’s nothing wrong with going
back to the same place over and
over again. But if we want a trip to
stand out and be memorable, we
have to seek out new experiences.” - Leave your comfort zone
The right kind of stress can help
cement details in our memo-
ries. As Wiking explains, “People
remember emotions. When they
do something that frightens them
a little bit, it gets the adrenaline
pumping.”
wander
- Engage all your senses
“Experiences that stimulate sev-
eral senses have a better chance
of making a memorable moment,”
Wiking says. “Listening to stuff,
smelling stuff, and tasting stuff—
they are crucial memory triggers.
Recording sound from a special
place can help us remember it.” - Go ahead, buy that souvenir
Objects that remind us of a time
and place relieve our brains from
having to remember everything.
“It’s good to ‘outsource’ some of
our memories—the photos, the
soundtrack,” Wiking says. “Sou-
venirs are an easy fix. And I don’t
mean a tacky Eiffel Tower; it can
be a really nice vase you bought
in Paris.” - End your trip on a high note
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman
developed the Peak-End Theory,
which posits that we remember
experiences by their most intense
moment and how they ended.
“So you might want to finish a
trip on a high,” Wiking says. “For
some, it might be [eating your
last meal] at a luxury Michelin
restaurant; for others, it might be
skydiving.”
40 AFAR SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019