There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a vacation that consists of a lounge chair, a good book and someone occasionally appearing to ask whether you’d like another drink.
Sometimes that’s exactly what we need.
But what if your next trip gave you something else?
A new skill. A little courage. A different perspective. A story you’ll still be telling 10 years from now.
Maybe it’s finally learning to surf, spending three days hiking somewhere spectacular or taking a cooking class in another country. Maybe it’s going on a silent retreat even though the thought of not talking for 48 hours sounds completely impossible.
Maybe it’s learning to sail, taking your first solo trip or finally doing something you’ve spent years saying, “I’ve always wanted to try that.”
Vacations don’t always have to be escapes from our lives.
Sometimes they can expand them.
Here are a few ways to plan a getaway that sends you home with more than a souvenir.
1. Learn Something You’ve Always Wanted to Know
When was the last time you were a complete beginner?
That’s harder to answer than it should be.
As we move further into our careers, we become accustomed to knowing things. People come to us for answers.
There’s something wonderfully freeing about going somewhere and having absolutely no idea what you’re doing.
Take the cooking class. Learn photography. Try pottery. Study wine. Learn to sail. Spend a weekend painting. Take tennis lessons. Go somewhere to practice a language you’ve been learning.
Choose something because it fascinates you, not because it will improve your résumé.
Being a beginner reminds you that you’re still capable of surprising yourself.
2. Do Something That Scares You a Little
We’re not suggesting you jump out of an airplane if heights make you want to cry.
Unless you’ve always wanted to jump out of an airplane.
Then maybe we’re suggesting exactly that.
Adventure is personal.
For one woman, it’s skydiving. For another, it’s hiking into the Grand Canyon. For someone else, it’s traveling alone for the first time.
Maybe you try surfing, go whitewater rafting, learn to scuba dive, climb something, sleep under the stars or take the trip where you don’t know anyone.
The point isn’t danger.
It’s stretching the boundaries of what you think you’re capable of.
There’s something satisfying about returning home and thinking:
I can’t believe I did that.
3. Take the Solo Trip
Waiting for someone to travel with you?
You could be waiting a long time.
Calendars don’t match. Budgets don’t match. Partners don’t want to go. Friends have children, jobs and commitments.
Meanwhile, the place you desperately want to visit remains a tab open on your laptop.
Consider going anyway.
Your first solo trip doesn’t have to be three weeks in Southeast Asia. Spend a weekend in a city you’ve always wanted to explore. Book the spa resort. Take yourself to the museum. Eat dinner alone. Read in the hotel bar.
Go exactly where you want, when you want, because nobody else gets a vote.
Traveling alone can teach you something surprisingly valuable:
You enjoy your own company.
4. Go Somewhere That Makes You Feel Small
In the best possible way.
Stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Walk through a redwood forest. Look up at a sky without city lights. Watch the sun rise over the ocean. Hike through mountains. See wildlife somewhere it actually lives.
We spend so much of our lives surrounded by things that feel urgent.
Emails. Deadlines. Traffic. Meetings. Notifications.
Then nature has a remarkable way of reminding us that most of those things aren’t quite as enormous as they seemed yesterday.
Sometimes perspective doesn’t come from thinking harder about your problems.
It comes from standing next to something much bigger than they are.
5. Travel for Wellness, but Define Wellness Yourself
A wellness retreat doesn’t have to mean green juice and 6 a.m. yoga.
Maybe it does.
Maybe you’d love meditation, hiking, massage and three glorious days when nobody needs anything from you.
Wonderful.
But wellness could also mean a tennis weekend, a walking vacation, horseback riding, a writing retreat, a quiet cabin with no schedule, a spiritual retreat or a weekend dedicated almost entirely to sleep.
Choose the kind of restoration you need, rather than the kind Instagram says you’re supposed to want.
And remember that wellness doesn’t need to become another achievement.
You do not need to win the retreat.
6. Explore Something You Believe, or Something You Don’t
Travel has always been one of the best ways to encounter people, traditions and ideas different from our own.
Visit a place of spiritual significance. Attend a meditation retreat. Explore historic churches, temples, mosques or synagogues where visitors are welcomed. Learn about an Indigenous culture. Visit a civil rights landmark. Take a trip centered around art, history or architecture.
The goal doesn’t have to be changing what you believe.
It can simply be understanding something you didn’t understand before.
Curiosity is a pretty good reason to travel.
7. Build a Trip Around Something You Love
Love books? Visit the places where your favorite writers lived and wrote.
Love food? Build an itinerary around markets, restaurants and cooking classes.
If music is your thing, go to the festival. If it’s golf, play the course you’ve always wanted to play. Tour gardens, spend an entire weekend wandering through galleries and museums or go somewhere simply because you’ve always wanted to stare at the architecture in person.
You don’t need to justify your obsession to anyone.
The wonderful thing about being a grown woman is that you’re allowed to spend your time and money doing something simply because you love it.
8. Give Something Back While You’re There
If you’re considering volunteering while traveling, approach it thoughtfully.
Good intentions aren’t always the same thing as meaningful impact.
Look for opportunities led by reputable local organizations that have identified what their communities actually need. Be particularly cautious about short-term programs involving vulnerable children, medical services or work that should be performed by trained local professionals.
Sometimes the most responsible way to support a community isn’t to spend an afternoon “helping.”
It might be hiring local guides, eating at locally owned restaurants, buying from local artisans, supporting conservation efforts, learning about the place and being a respectful guest.
9. Don’t Turn Transformation Into Another Assignment
Here’s the irony.
We can turn absolutely anything into work.
Even vacation.
Suddenly your “transformational journey” has a 14-item itinerary, three goals, a sunrise meditation and measurable outcomes.
Stop.
You don’t have to return from vacation with a new business idea, five pounds lighter and fluent in Italian.
Sometimes transformation is quieter.
You realize you can travel alone. You discover you love hiking. You finally learn to cook something your grandmother used to make. You spend three days without opening your laptop. You have a conversation with someone whose life looks nothing like yours.
You remember you’re curious.
That’s enough.
Go Because You’ve Always Wanted To
There are places we’ve been meaning to visit.
Things we’ve been meaning to learn.
Adventures we’ve been meaning to try.
And somehow we keep assuming there will be another year. Another summer. Another birthday. Another time when the schedule is easier.
Maybe there will be.
But there’s something to be said for occasionally turning someday into a reservation.
You don’t have to climb a mountain. You don’t have to jump out of an airplane. You don’t even have to leave the country.
Just go somewhere that interrupts your routine long enough to remind you that your life can still contain firsts.
Pink POV
Take the vacation where absolutely nothing happens. We fully support it.
But every once in a while?
Take the other one.
The trip where you learn something. Try something. Go somewhere alone. Get lost. Get dirty. Get quiet. Get a little scared.
Stand somewhere so beautiful you forget to check your phone.
You spend enough of your life going places because you’re supposed to be there.
The office. The airport. The meeting. The grocery store. The school pickup. The conference room.
Every once in a while, go somewhere simply because you’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be there.
And don’t worry about coming home transformed.
Just come home with a slightly bigger idea of who you might still become.
