Can Travel Experiences Make You Happier Than a Free Car?

The Psychology of Experiences

If you could choose between a free month-long trip to the destination of your choice or a brand new car, which would you choose?

Let’s sweeten the deal a little more. If you could choose between four free week-long trips to the destination of your choice or a brand new house, which would you choose?

If you chose the car or the house, what would you say if I told you that you’d be way less happier than a person who chose the trip? Don’t believe me? Let me explain.

Investing In Things vs. Travel

At first thought, investing in “awesome stuff” like cars and houses might seem like a better deal. They’re worth more, they last longer, and they raise your “status” with other people. You *think* you’ll be happier when you have all the stuff money can buy. Whether you have the most awesome stuff of all your friends and neighbors or if you just have all the awesome stuff you have ever wanted, you assume that money really can buy happiness.

While that last statement might not be entirely false, “things” don’t buy happiness. Want to know why?

_{Would you rather have a free house or four free week-long trips anywhere in the world?}

Investing in “awesome stuff” gets boring. It’s exciting at first, but there are studies to show that your excitement levels are on an incline leading up to getting new things, but the excitement declines with time at the same rate. As quickly as you get excited for getting that awesome enew car or big new house is the same rate at which you get unexcited after you have them.

Not only do you get unexcited about your new awesome stuff, but these things then stick around to remind you of how much they’re disappointing you. Stuff doesn’t change over time, and we get used to it. It becomes commonplace.

So if you don’t want something that sticks around to disappoint you, does that mean you want something that evaporates and disappears?

_{I was only in Monaco for a day. But I yearn to go back and have more!}

Actually, YES!

Instead of investing in things that you’ll have for a while, invest in things that don’t stick around, like experiences. Like going to Europe to enjoy an art gallery or going out to eat. It’s way more fun to tell people about your amazing travel stories than to tell people about the new stuff you just bought. People would rather hear about the local who took you through the rainforest to the highest waterfall in the country and the crazy monkeys you encountered along the way than the new car you just bought. Talking about your experiences helps people resonate with you.

_{Would you rather hear about my new car or this waterfall high up in the Colombian jungle?}

Experiences are dynamic and never the same. Even if you go to the same places, the experiences will be different. Because of this, experiences are less susceptible to social comparison. It’s hard to compare ski trips, but it’s easy to compare cars. You will feel better about experiences that don’t have to compete with others’ experiences. It won’t make you feel less good about what you have or what you’re doing.

People tend to see those who talk about “things” as high maintenance, insecure, self-centered, and concerned with appearance. People see those who talk about experiences as humorous, friendly, open-minded, intelligent, caring, outgoing, adventurous, optimistic, easygoing, and open to new things. Generally, people tend to like you better if you’re the kind of person who invests in experiences.

_{Comparing an ice cave trek in Iceland to a ski trip in Spain is too difficult to result in envy. Experiences keep everyone happy!}

What to Remember While Traveling

We have established that investing in experiences make us happier than investing in things. Now, let’s talk about the varying degrees of happiness while traveling. We all want to get the most happiness from these experiences, right?

Savor the Experience

Live in the moment. Notice things more. Focus on the experience. Look for someone to share it with to enhance the experience. Talk to people around you who are experiencing it with you. Think about how lucky you are to be there. Show physical expressions of energy. Be in the present, absorbed in the moment. Don’t think about the future or what will happen when the experience is over. Try not to find the parts of the experience that aren’t as good as you hoped. And don’t think of ways it could be better. Remember, you deserve it!

_{Savoring the moment with some swirly slushies on the South Beach strip}

Take Photos of Your Experiences

This is a tricky tip. Photos can do just as much damage as they do good. Take photos and enjoy the experience as long as you are using your photos to see a different aspect. Don’t worry about taking that awesome Instagram-worthy photo, but use the camera as another lens through which to see things. Just remember not to let the act of taking photos interfere with the experience.

_{Pictures can be distracting, or help you see something with a new lens. Use photos wisely.}

Increase the Variety of Experiences

Variety is the spice of life, as they say! So keep this in mind while creating these amazing experiences. Don’t always go to a beach. Don’t always go to a big city. Try to mix up the time of year you travel. Space things out. Mix up routines. Variety is harder to adapt to and get used to, and keeps excitement levels up.

_{Beaches and mountains are great, but how often do you get to ride a camel and drink tea in Africa?}

Keep the Moments Fleeting

We all want good things to last forever. But having a good thing that ends while it’s still making you so happy will actually help you appreciate your travels more. Studies show that if you stop a good thing for a while and come back, you’ll get a reboot in excitement and happiness. When you take a break and then re-experience what you liked before, you will enjoy it more than if you were to continue straight through. For example, believe it or not, people stay happier when watching a tv show with commercials because the break of a commercial brings happiness levels back up when the tv show comes back on. The same goes with traveling: if the experience ends but you can restart it, your happiness levels will rise back up higher than if you travel straight through.

It doesn't get much more fleeting than a 9-minute helicopter ride over Myrtle Beach, but this is a picture I Coe back to often to relive happy memories! — _{It doesn’t get much more fleeting than a 9-minute helicopter ride over Myrtle Beach, but this is a picture I come back to often to relive happy memories!}

Consider How Little Time You Have Left

There is a little word that needs to be changed when you think about how much time left you have on your trip. Can you guess which word needs changing?

Think about the difference between these two sentences:
I have 10 more days to climb the mountain, go to the brewery, snorkel, and go for a carriage ride through town.
vs.
I only have 10 more days to climb that mountain, go to the brewery, snorkel, and go for a carriage ride through town.

_{When you only have three days in Iceland, you make the most out of it by snorkeling between continents in 32 degree water}

Thinking about how little time you have left versus how much time you have left makes all the difference in savoring an experience. It’s just a small viewpoint change that helps you accomplish what you want to accomplish and make every moment count. Thinking about how much time you have left might make you take something for granted. Thinking about how little time you have left helps you remember every little detail so you can come back to that moment.

Look For People to Share the Experience With

Whether you’re a solo traveler, group traveler, or traveling with a partner, always look for someone to share the experience with, either during or right after. Traveling in a group or with a partner makes this easy. But what if you’re a solo traveler?

Solo travelers can join groups for excursions. Even if you don’t know anyone in the group, experiencing something exciting with other people helps make the experience more memorable. If there are no tour groups for your solo adventure, pop into a restaurant or bar after and meet someone new. Talk about the adventure you just had and relive it.

Enjoying a Wisin y Yandel reggaeton concert with new friends in Chia, Colombia. Sharing the experience with them made it so much more memorable and exciting! — _{Enjoying a Wisin y Yandel reggaeton concert with new friends in Chia, Colombia. Sharing the experience with them made it so memorable and exciting!}

Reliving the experience doesn’t have to be immediate either. You can continue reliving the experience for months, and even years. Each time you retell your story to someone, whether it’s someone hearing it for the first time or someone who already knows the story, helps you go back to that happy moment in traveling.

Be Grateful

Finally, be grateful for everything that is happening in that moment. Sometimes it can be hard. When I was in Brussels, my car got broken into in a parking garage and all my things were stolen, including my ID. It was really hard to be grateful in that moment. But looking back on it, it was part of the experience and presented a challenge I overcame. And the people who helped pick up the pieces after made my heart grow as big as the grinch’s on Christmas.

Remember to make gratitude a conscious effort. Don’t let it passively come and go, quietly thinking you’re happy but not knowing why. When you’re sitting at that delicious Italian cafe watching people walk by chattering in Italian, remind yourself that you are grateful to have the opportunity to be sitting there experiencing this. It will create a focus point for you to come back to and remember forever.

Consciously remembering to be grateful as we sit in this outdoor Italian cafe. — _{Consciously remembering to be grateful as we sit in this outdoor Italian cafe}

So now that you know the psychology between investing in awesome stuff and experiences, let’s circle back to that question I asked in the beginning of this post. Which would you choose now?

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