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10 travel memberships that are worth the money

November 11, 2021 // By Leila Najafi

By Leila Najafi November 11, 2021

We live in a subscription-obsessed world and there’s a subscription for everything you can imagine, from razors to clothing and even hot sauces. Travel memberships are on the rise, providing new ways to ease some of the stress that comes with traveling these days and help make the journey more seamless.

Whether you’re willing to pay a premium for exclusive travel experiences that provide a little more privacy or you're more budget-conscious and want to find the best travel deals, there’s a membership for every type of traveler. Here are 10 travel memberships that are worth considering.

Wheels Up offers private jet charter memberships so travelers can access a fleet of aircrafts, including a King Air 350i, an 8-passenger Citation Excel/XLS, and one of the fastest aircrafts, the Citation X. Wheels Up uses a dynamic pricing model offering competitive rates, so members can book flights on-demand with the flexibility to pay as they go.

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Additional m embership benefits include invites to signature events, President’s Circle status with Hertz, a complimentary trial of Inspirato Club subscription for 12 months (Core members only), certain perks at select Waldorf Astoria hotels across North America, a partnership with Delta SkyMiles, dedicated partnership rates with Porsche and more.

Membership cost: Three membership options are available – Connect, Core and Business. The Connect membership requires a one-time initiation fee of $2,995 and annual dues of $2,495 which begin on year two. The Core membership has an initiation fee of $17,500 and annual dues of $8,500 which begin on year two. The Business membership requires an initiation fee of $29,500 and $14,500 for subsequent years and includes up to six lead passengers.

Getting through airport security lines can be a drag, especially during holiday weekends and a pandemic that has increased the demand for more seclusion when traveling. PS (formerly known as Private Suite) is designed for first and business class travelers who are seeking privacy and convenience, allowing them to bypass LAX altogether.

Travelers check into a private terminal where they can relax in a fully-stocked luxury private suite that includes complimentary in-suite meals catered by h.wood Group , as well as additional services upon request such as in-suite massages, manicures and detailing services for personal cars. PS also provides a designated on-site TSA and Customs agent for expedited screening.

Upon boarding, travelers are transported across the tarmac directly to their aircraft in a BMW 7 Series sedan. Earlier this year, the Salon at PS launched, which features a new full-service lounge at the terminal for travelers who want the same benefits of PS but seek a more social experience.

Membership cost: Annual membership costs $4,500, which gives members access to a preferred rate of $3,250 for a one-way Suite experience for up to four travelers. The Salon is available to members and non-members for $695 per use per person.

Inspirato is a subscription-based luxury travel service that gives members exclusive access to over 150,000 luxury vacation homes and resorts around the world that are staffed by Inspirato. There are two membership types: Inspirato Club and Inspirato Pass. The former gives you access to the luxury residences and hotels around the world, on-site concierge and daily housekeeping with additional benefits such as late check-in and check-out, room upgrades, spa credits and more. However, members also pay nightly room rates.

With the Inspirato Pass, you automatically get the benefits of Inspirato Club plus nightly rates are already factored into the price of membership, so you can book as many vacations as possible in one month with one active reservation at a time. There is also no long-term commitment, so you can cancel the membership at any time.

Membership cost: Inspirato Club membership is $600/month plus a $600 enrollment fee and you pay nightly rates as you go. Inspirato Pass is a flat rate of $2,500/month which includes all hotel stays.

Scott’s Cheap Flights

A membership to Scott’s Cheap Flights includes flight deals and “Mistake Fares” accidentally published by airlines sent straight to your inbox. The team scours the internet for the lowest published airfare rates to popular destinations and shares them with members.

Subscribers can also track deals from a specific airport close to home or destinations of interest. A membership to Scott’s Cheap Flights is best for travelers who have flexibility on the destination and dates and are willing to fly based on low airfare rates. Flight deals don’t last long so you’ll have to act fast.

Membership cost: There are three membership tiers including Limited which is free, Premium costs $49/year and Elite $199/year.

PRIOR was started by a former travel editor who saw a gap in the market for travelers wanting a more immersive experience during their vacation. A team of experienced travel editors and local tastemakers on the ground design itineraries for curious travelers.

A PRIOR WORLD membership includes access to curated destination guides, unique local experiences in cities around the world, pre-planned group trips led by experts and for an additional fee, the team can create a custom itinerary based on your interests.

If you're a frequent traveler, PRIOR BESPOKE might be the membership better suited for you. For a flat fee per year, members get unlimited trip planning by their expert team of travel editors and membership managers.

Membership cost: PRIOR WORLD membership costs $249 per annum. PRIOR BESPOKE is $5,000 per annum.

Priority Pass

Airport terminals may have come a long way in the last decade, but killing time for a three-hour layover in a crowded airport isn’t exactly on anyone’s list of things to do, especially on vacation. Trade the busy terminals for private lounge access with Priority Pass and enjoy guaranteed Wi-Fi and snacks.

Members of Priority Pass receive access to over 1,300 airport lounges globally, including several airline lounges such as Virgin Atlantic, Air France and Turkish Airlines. Several credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express Platinum and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express offer free Priority Pass memberships as part of their member benefits.

Membership cost: Choose from three membership tiers which start at $99/year for the Standard membership plus $32 per visit and go up to $429/year for the Prestige membership which includes unlimited lounge visits.

TSA Pre-Check and Global Entry are services that allow travelers to expedite the security screening process upon departure and arrival. With CLEAR Plus, enrolled members get escorted to the front of the security line once they’ve been verified using facial recognition or fingerprint scans, so they no longer have to verify identification at security. However, for expedited clearance through security screenings, TSA Pre-Check or Global Entry are still required.

CLEAR uses biometric identifiers to create a unique ID assigned to each member that is used for verification at stations across airports, stadiums and other major venues nationwide.

Membership cost: A CLEAR Plus membership is $179 per year. American Express Platinum Card Members receive a $179 statement credit and United MileagePlus members receive a discounted membership rate.

Well Traveled

Well Traveled is a members-only social and booking platform that allows members to connect with friends to find and share travel recommendations. The community-driven platform is intended to make travel planning easier by allowing you to follow people in your network that you trust, in addition to other like-minded travelers who share similar budgets and travel preferences.

Members can also take advantage of the personalized booking service that includes perks like exclusive rates, room upgrades, food & beverage credits, complimentary breakfast and more. Currently, membership is invite-only but you can also apply to be considered.

Membership cost: $150 per year.

Travel + Leisure Club

Travel + Leisure Club is a new travel subscription service offered by Travel + Leisure Group. Members can pay a monthly fee for access to preferred pricing on curated itineraries and an average of 25% savings on hotels, resorts, car rentals and activities that are listed on Travel + Leisure GO, the online travel booking site. Plus, members get a subscription to the glossy print magazine.

Members also get access to a personal concierge that can assist with travel planning, scoring tickets to sold-out events, making dinner reservations and more.

Membership cost: Travel + Leisure Club is currently offering an introductory rate of $9.95/month.

Exclusive Resorts

Designed for families who value privacy, Exclusive Resorts is a small community of members (only 150 new members accepted each year) that get access to over 350 luxury residences around the world including the Amalfi Coast, Barcelona, Deer Valley, Kaua’i, Los Cabos, St. Barts and more.

Guests enjoy a more personalized experience with a dedicated on-site team who can assist with pre-trip planning details such as stocking the fridge with your favorite snacks, booking a massage or private chef, and housekeeping services.

Membership cost: There is a one-time, non-refundable initiation fee of $150,000 for a 10-year membership. Annual dues are $1,395/night and members travel 15-30 nights per year.

About Leila Najafi

Leila Najafi is a luxury travel writer based in LA who is a member of more subscription services than she'd like to admit.

Read more about Leila Najafi here.

Connect with Leila via: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok

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What is a Travel Club? Exploring the Benefits, Types and Tips for Choosing the Right One

By Happy Sharer

Introduction

Travel clubs are an increasingly popular way for people to explore the world. With a travel club membership, you can access special deals and discounts on flights, hotels, and vacation packages, take advantage of unique experiences, and receive expert advice and support. But what exactly is a travel club and how do you choose the right one? In this article, we’ll explore the history of travel clubs, the benefits of joining one, types of travel clubs and what they offer, tips for choosing the right one, and frequently asked questions.

History of Travel Clubs – How it All Began

The concept of a travel club began in the late 19th century when a group of wealthy individuals formed a social organization to share their love of travel. Since then, the concept has evolved and now there are a variety of travel clubs available to suit different needs and budgets.

The Origin of Travel Clubs

The first travel clubs were exclusive organizations that catered to wealthy travelers. These clubs provided members with access to luxurious accommodations, private transportation, and other VIP benefits. Over time, these clubs grew in popularity and eventually opened up to the public. Today, there is a wide range of travel clubs available to suit different budgets and interests.

The Evolution of Travel Clubs

As travel clubs have evolved, so have their offerings. Many of today’s travel clubs offer members access to exclusive discounts and deals on flights, hotels, and vacation packages, as well as unique experiences such as cooking classes, wine tastings, and spa treatments. Additionally, many clubs provide members with expert advice and support to make their travel experience even more enjoyable.

The Benefits of Joining a Travel Club

Joining a travel club offers a variety of benefits. Here are some of the most common:

• Access to Special Deals and Discounts: Travel clubs often offer members exclusive access to deals and discounts on flights, hotels, and vacation packages. This can help you save money on your next trip.
• Variety of Destinations and Experiences: Most travel clubs offer access to a wide range of destinations and experiences. Whether you’re looking for a beach getaway or a cultural adventure, there’s something for everyone.
• Receive Expert Advice and Support: Travel clubs often provide members with access to expert advice and support. This can be invaluable when planning a trip, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the destination.

Types of Travel Clubs and What They Offer

There are a variety of travel clubs available to meet different needs and interests. Here are some of the most common:

• Luxury Travel Clubs: Luxury travel clubs offer members access to exclusive discounts and deals on luxury accommodations, private transportation, gourmet meals, and more. These clubs also often provide access to unique experiences, such as cooking classes, wine tastings, and spa treatments.
• Group Travel Clubs: Group travel clubs are ideal for those who prefer to travel in groups. These clubs often offer discounts on group trips, as well as access to exclusive events and activities.
• Adventure Travel Clubs: Adventure travel clubs provide members with access to thrilling experiences, such as white water rafting, skydiving, and mountaineering. These clubs also often provide access to expert guides and instructors.
• Cruise Travel Clubs: Cruise travel clubs offer members exclusive discounts and deals on cruises, as well as access to unique experiences, such as onboard entertainment and shore excursions.

Tips for Choosing the Right Travel Club

Choosing the right travel club can be overwhelming. Here are some tips to help you make the best decision:

• Consider Your Budget: Before you join a travel club, consider your budget. Some travel clubs require an upfront fee while others may offer monthly or annual payments. Make sure you choose a club that fits within your budget.
• Check for Reviews: It’s always a good idea to read reviews before joining a travel club. Look for reviews from members who have used the club to get an idea of what the experience is like.
• Look for Flexible Payment Options: Many travel clubs offer flexible payment options, such as monthly or annual payments. This can be helpful if you’re on a tight budget but still want to take advantage of the benefits of a travel club.
• Find Out What’s Included in Membership: Make sure you find out what’s included in the membership before you join. Some clubs may include access to exclusive discounts and deals, while others may offer access to unique experiences or expert advice.

Exploring the World with a Travel Club

Once you’ve joined a travel club, you can start exploring the world. Here are some tips to make the most out of your experience:

• Making the Most Out of Your Experience: Take advantage of the discounts and deals offered by your travel club. You can also look for special offers and promotions, such as free upgrades and complimentary meals.
• Taking Advantage of Special Offers: Many travel clubs offer members access to exclusive events and activities, such as cooking classes, wine tastings, and spa treatments. Take advantage of these offers to get the most out of your experience.
• Taking Care of Your Safety and Security: Make sure you take care of your safety and security when traveling. Research your destination, register with your embassy, and follow local laws and customs.

Frequently Asked Questions About Travel Clubs

Here are some of the most common questions about travel clubs:

• What is the Cost of Joining a Travel Club? The cost of joining a travel club varies depending on the type of club and the benefits included. Some clubs may require an upfront fee while others may offer monthly or annual payments.
• Are There Age Restrictions? Generally, there are no age restrictions for joining a travel club. However, some clubs may require members to be 18 or over.
• Are Membership Fees Refundable? Depending on the club, membership fees may be refundable. Check with the club before joining to find out their refund policy.
• Are There Any Hidden Costs? Some clubs may charge additional fees for certain services, such as booking flights or hotels. Make sure you read the fine print and ask any questions before joining.

Travel clubs offer a variety of benefits, from access to special deals and discounts to unique experiences and expert advice and support. When choosing a travel club, consider your budget, check for reviews, look for flexible payment options, and find out what’s included in membership. With a travel club membership, you can explore the world and make the most out of your experience.

(Note: Is this article not meeting your expectations? Do you have knowledge or insights to share? Unlock new opportunities and expand your reach by joining our authors team. Click Registration to join us and share your expertise with our readers.)

Hi, I'm Happy Sharer and I love sharing interesting and useful knowledge with others. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way.

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While I go around I dream about a group of men and women from all over the world that would constitute archipelago of humans with wider understandings. Wandering and extravagant, in search of new configurations, distant from usual cultural field. New mental energies. Fresh air would blow through the world.

— Kenneth White

The Travel Club is a community of travelers, explorers and creators, founded on the ideas of free sharing, free movement, and personal exploration of the world.

The Travel Club was founded at the turn of the millennium, when great poverty in the countries of former Yugoslavia, together with the prohibitive visa regimes of surrounding countries, made traveling almost impossible for the people in this part of the Balkans, leaving us isolated in our own geographical and cultural space. The mission of the Club was to teach people how to penetrate this barrier and personally reconnect with the world in spite of all the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, relying heavily on hitchhiking, hospitality, loopholes in visa procedures and so on. Over time, our focus shifted from travel to exploration and creative work.

To travel means to move. In and of itself, traveling means nothing, but it can serve as a starting point for something. We see traveling as a tool for building a culture of solidarity and understanding, for developing attitude and sensibility, for forging personal, intimate bonds with the world; an antidote to prejudice, stupidity and hatred, helping us to become immune to borders without and within; the creative drive of an artist, the joy of an explorer, the passion of a cartographer who draws her own unique map – as each and every one of us must do.

The world belongs to all of us. We all have the right to live in it, as well as the responsibility to leave it in a better state than it was when we came into it. For that to be possible, we first need to get to know it. We can learn about the world from the comfort of our armchairs, through what others are saying and writing about it, but that kind of knowledge is problematic on many levels. It has been said that we are living in the time of post-truth; today more than ever before, each of us is responsible for our own education. That education requires us to get out of our house, out of the concentric circles of our family, village, town, nation, religion, ideology.

The Travel Club is centered around the concepts of understanding, connecting, and creating value . We try to understand the world, as best we can, and help those who inhabit it to understand each other – as best they can. We try to connect the world, but not in the way it is done by the corporate logic and the interests of the capital. We are connecting the world individually, intimately, by our own movement from point to point, from place to place and from person to person, and building personal connections.  The Travel Club logo, a white arrow on a black circle, stands for the concept of Brownian motion: as it moves around, a particle collides with other particles, thus changing their trajectories as well as its own. A person moves around the planet, changing everything they touch, and being changed by every touch. Mankind is the sum of feelings, thoughts and actions of all its people: a grand civilizational project we all participate in, creating value for ourselves and others along the way.

So far, most of our activities have been tied to the Balkan cultural and linguistic area – our public lectures, books, community projects, travel-writing competitions and so on. This is something we are hoping to change in the future. Here are some of the international projects we have carried out:

• As an independent publishing house, we have so far published three books, one of which, Bantustan , is available in English;
• We have organized six Travel Houses/Schools (Turkey, Spain, Greece, Georgia, Portugal and Latvia), providing free accommodation to a total of 1,000+ travelers from 80+ countries;
• We have completed two short documentaries: No life (Mauritania, 2018) and See you all in Shenzhen (China, 2022);
• We have been maintaining this website for almost two decades, publishing travel-and-culture-related content, and providing free advice for independent travelers;
• We have carried out dozens of expeditions around the world, collecting materials for our articles, books and films.

Our goal is not a hyperproduction of contents, likeability, clickability, or amassing a large following. We may not create much, but what we do create is done carefully, thoughtfully and meticulously, with great attention to purpose and detail.

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The Travel Club is a non-profit. There is no hierarchy nor official membership; we are a group of loosely connected people scattered around the planet. All our projects are funded through crowdfunding and carried out through volunteering. Any money that comes our way is donated to charity or reinvested into the Club.

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• If you like to travel, explore, communicate, share and create, and if you believe that we could do something together – feel free to contact us and tell us all about it. All our projects are collaborative, and there is nothing we enjoy more than exploring and creating in good company. We are looking forward to growing into a more international community – hopefully with your help!
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How Can You Tell If a ‘Travel Club’ Is a Scam?

A nationally recognized reporter, writer, and consumer advocate, Ed Perkins focuses on how travelers can find the best deals and avoid scams.

He is the author of "Online Travel" (2000) and "Business Travel: When It's Your Money" (2004), the first step-by-step guide specifically written for small business and self-employed professional travelers. He was also the co-author of the annual "Best Travel Deals" series from Consumers Union.

Perkins' advice for business travelers is featured on MyBusinessTravel.com , a website devoted to helping small business and self-employed professional travelers find the best value for their travel dollars.

Perkins was founding editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, one of the country's most influential travel publications, from which he retired in 1998. He has also written for Business Traveller magazine (London).

Perkins' travel expertise has led to frequent television appearances, including ABC's "Good Morning America" and "This Week with David Brinkley," "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," CNN, and numerous local TV and radio stations.

Before editing Consumer Reports Travel Letter, Perkins spent 25 years in travel research and consulting with assignments ranging from national tourism development strategies to the design of computer-based tourism models.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Perkins lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife.

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The idea of a “travel club” covers a wide range of organizations and activities, from scam-like timeshares to legitimate memberships that can save you money. All are certainly not equal.

Many are legitimate low-risk operations, such as AARP , AAA , and other independent travel promoters. The most reliable ones are those you’ll recognize the names of. Some resort chains call themselves “clubs,” like Club Med’s all-inclusive resorts . Membership to these is mostly harmless marketing hype, but can offer real discounts: The more exclusive organizations may be exempt from agreements that prohibit third-party agencies from slashing their rates.

Membership fees, if any, are usually nominal—often under $50 a year—and you can easily opt out if the club doesn’t deliver real value. All you have to lose is the minimal initial fee. The discounts they claim may be no better than you could get through other sources, but they’re usually not worse, either. For well-known travel brands like these ones, the scam risk is minimal.

How to Spot a Travel Club That’s a Scam

Others, however, pose a big financial risk. Some require stiff membership fees up front—usually several hundred up to thousands of dollars—and they may commit you to big annual fees indefinitely. They can certainly be honest in that they deliver what they promise; many travelers are happy with their memberships despite the risks and limitations. Others, however, ask you to pay big up front for some promised future benefit. These may or may not be honest; some are clearly outright scams, and others simply inflate the benefits and disguise the drawbacks.

According to law enforcement officials, oftentimes the promised “discount” and “savings” never materialize: The promoters provide prices that are no better than travelers can buy openly, through a wide range of discount sources, and the promised “dream” vacations never seem to become available. They’re selling pie in the sky, and Marie Callender is better at making pies.

The big-dollar travel clubs are the ones should be subject to your scam scrutiny. Although no approach is foolproof, you can usually find out what you need by asking and fact-checking a few specific questions. Here’s what you need to consider:

The Timeshare-Based Travel Club 

Many large travel “clubs” are nothing more than conventional timeshare operations, operating as clubs to avoid the unsavory reputation of timeshares. What they sell is guaranteed annual occupancy, in multiples of weeks, at a vacation area—typically a beach destination, maybe with rights to vacations in a string of different areas. And the questions you need to ask about them are the same as for a timeshare:

What Do I Actually Get?

Examine the offer in detail to find out exactly what it promises, in specific terms. Does it promise a guaranteed specific interval at a specific location? Does it promise enrollment in a recognized exchange system? Check the fine print on the exchange, especially for limitations on how you can use your exchange “points.”

Is There a Switch to the Bait?

Is the asking price the full price? Does the featured buy-in include everything you have to pay up front, or are you subject to additional fees and charges? Does the promotion say or hint that you’d be better off with a higher-level membership?  

What Is My Ongoing Obligation?

In most property-based clubs, your buy-in is only the start. You’re also on the hook for various monthly/yearly “maintenance” payments and assessments. And the operator typically reserves the right to increase these payments without your approval or right of refusal.

Is There Any Asset Value?

Some very high-end vacation clubs actually own a string of vacation properties; members share in the ownership of these properties, and the club operator agrees to repurchase for a reasonable price. But most mass-market vacation clubs offer no asset value to back up your initial “investment.” At best, you own your “membership” and can sell it or pass it along to your heirs. However, some deals are for the term of your life only and revert to the owner on your death.

Is There an Escape Clause or Resell Limitation?

Club promoters may not accept a return, even for a reduced price, and some timeshare-based clubs may limit your ability to resell. The travel literature is full of horror stories of people who just want to get rid of ongoing payments, even if it means giving the interest back to the promoter with no return.

The “Big-Discount” Travel Club

Other clubs promise they have access to large discounts on airfares, hotels, cruises, rental cars, tours, and just about any other travel service you can name. The ones that charge minimal fees are no more than a nuisance; if they don’t work out, you won’t have to refinance your house. But some ask for big membership fees, and those can be a big risk. As with timeshare clones, you have to ask some questions before you buy into one of them:

What’s My Exposure to Risk?

As with a timeshare, you have to check what you actually get, your future ongoing obligations, and, perhaps most importantly, your cancellation options. Check the fine print to make sure that the discounts are guaranteed. “Subject to availability” doesn’t cut it.  

Are the Claimed Discounts Real?

Challenge—and verify—all claimed “discount” deals. Don’t be gullible: Ask to see a list of currently-available deals, and check them through conventional search systems before you accept any broad claim that it will save you money.

Are the Posted Discount Prices Honest?

One hotel-discount membership organization I recently checked out posted some really attractive original prices. But when I went through to the final buy-it page, I found the initial prices did not include mandatory resort fees, taxes, and fees imposed by the travel club. The all-up total prices were about the same as I could get through Tripadvisor (SmarterTravel’s parent company) search links.

What Do Others Say?

The club’s promotional materials probably highlight gushing testimonials. Don’t take them at face value—promoters can easily satisfy enough travelers to elicit a few genuine rave reviews, which the company will then highlight. Instead, check with review and complaint sites like the Better Business Bureau , Yelp , Google reviews (which usually now appear simply by Googling a business), and any other online review source you like. Also, Google the club to see if it has generated any serious complaints—or, even worse, law enforcement actions.

Scam Rules to Know for Any Kind of Travel Club

Make sure any club you’re considering can pass an easy scam test. Often, you can answer the scam-or-not question before you even see the details of a club promotion. Initial claims often can offer some early scam clues:

Scam Clue 1: The promotion is claiming that you’re getting something “free.” No travel service of real value is ever free. The club promoter is making a profit somewhere along the process. Nothing is free. Repeat this to yourself as often as is necessary.

Scam Clue 2: A promotion claiming you’ve “won” something. If you didn’t knowingly sign up for a sweepstakes run by some outfit that had terms and conditions you agreed to, any out-of-the-blue “winner” notification is almost surely a scam.

Scam Clue 3 : A promotion claiming you’ve been “specially selected” for membership. A lot of robocalls are currently making this pitch. The only outcome you’ve been selected for is a fleecing.

Scam Clue 4 : A promotion demanding that you “act now” or lose the deal. If a deal is actually honest, it will still be there after you take a day or so to check it.

Scam Clue 5 : A promotion that poses as an investment. Some property-based clubs claim, or at least imply, that your membership is an investment. That’s just false for anything that’s not outright property ownership. Fractional ownership such as timeshare may be a good way to vacation to the same place every year—but it’s a lousy overall investment.

I can’t guarantee that following these guidelines can totally shield you from a scam (no one can). But they’re a good start to protecting yourself.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2015. It had been updated to reflect the most current information. Prior reporting by Calvin Hennick contributed to this story.

More from SmarterTravel:

• How  to  Avoid  Counterfeit  Money  While  Traveling
• 6  Cruise  Scams  You  Should  Never  Fall  For
• Europe  Travel  Scams  to  Watch  Out  For

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Hey, i’m nabila.

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Travel Life lessons learnt from a life of travel

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Travel has been my life since I was 18 years old. It has left an indelible mark on my soul and forever altered how I live.

I was hooked from the first mildly chaotic solo trip to Paris at 18. Being alone in a busy city scared, thrilled and challenged me in utterly intoxicating ways.

Since then, I have built my life around travel. I have solo backpacked worldwide, worked, studied, and volunteered abroad.

Travel life lessons

Some of my many travel experiences include living in a hammock in the Australian outback, working as an activity instructor in America , running volunteer youth programmes in Europe and studying in Denmark.

I’ve also had many travel adventures over the years. I’ve hiked through remote national parks in Cape Verde and travelled by train across Russia in the winter.

Along with Scuba-diving off Thai islands, road-tripping across Canada, getting lost in rural Bosnia and sipping cocktails on a rooftop bar in Palestine.

what do you learn from travelling

Through my many years of travel, I think I have accumulated a few life lessons along the way.

Admittedly, travel has always had a certain naval-gazing quality to it. There’s nothing more self-indulgent than ‘finding yourself’ in a beach bar in Goa.

If you can gently put aside all the boxed-wine-fulled, ‘what does it all mean?’ musings, there are still a few genuine lessons to be had from a life on the road.

Here are some more tangible and life-altering lessons I have learnt from travel.

Kindness is a universal language

One of the most important travel lessons for me is that the world is not as uncaring and scary as you might imagine.

I have experienced countless acts of kindness from strangers whilst on the road.

Everything from people sharing food in hostels to giving me a ride when I was stranded or providing shelter during a cyclone.

Time and time again, I have been humbled by the generosity and friendship I have experienced while traveling.

I now strongly believe that the world is as you see it. If you view it as a place of possibility and kindness, it will be reflected back to you.

Travel is the best education

Travel education comes in many forms. Sometimes, we learn about a new culture, and sometimes, we learn that floating on a bamboo raft on the Mekong River while intoxicated is a terrible idea.

I believe that travel expands your mind in so many ways. It exposes you to new cultures, faiths and cuisines. It also teaches you to think on your feet and adapt to new situations.

Whilst ‘the world is a classroom’ is the sort of gaudy wall sticker I’d expect to see alongside ‘Live, Love, Laugh’ paraphernalia, there is still validity to the statement.

That’s because travel can help put the world into context and deepen understanding of history, art and culture.

It’s one thing to read about the Siege of Sarajevo; it’s quite another actually to touch the bullet holes that still scar the city.

No one wants to hear you play the ukulele

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that in every ‘chill-out area’ in hostels around the world, there’s a travel bro dressed in elephant trousers who needs you to listen to him play the ukulele.

Using a hand-painted guitar as a replacement for a personality can be tempting when we are ‘finding ourselves’ on the road.

It is vitally important, however, to resist that urge when travelling and, indeed, in life.

I appreciate that strumming Jack Johnson while wearing a rainbow headband might seem like a shortcut to friendship.

Honestly, though, everyone thinks you are a douche trying desperately to establish hostel dominance.

Instead of picking up a ukulele, bongo, or harmonica, try conversing with the other humans around you. It can be nerve-wracking, but cheap wine will help with this process, I promise you.

You can create lifelong friendships

The people you meet when travelling will become an inherent part of your experience.

Incredible sights, horrendous bus journeys, and drunken nights in beach bars all become part of a shared experience and unique bond with your travel companions.

I have been fortunate to meet some exceptional people during my travels.

They are the sort of fascinating individuals who build blanket forts in hostel dorms and invent ‘golf ball Olympics’ in a dusty bar in Australia.

To form an unbreakable bond, there’s nothing quite like childish, drunken antics in a 28-bed dorm room in Queenstown, New Zealand.

And in the case of my Kiwi experience travel buddies, all get banned from the Nomad hostel in Queenstown.

Many of the people I met on my travels are still my friends to this day. I’ve had them at my wedding, visited them, travelled with them, and talked to them regularly.

It’s honestly pretty awesome to have people who share my love of travel and who don’t get bored of me droning on about my travel experiences.

Travel helps you to become a problem solver

If you are a millennial, chances are that your problem-solving skills have been somewhat hampered by helicopter parenting.

Many people from my generation have become reliant on parental help and advice on a range of everyday things due to a lack of challenge and parental wild overindulgence.

Everything from how to change a lightbulb, [no idea], and when to get the car serviced. [the 12th of never]. How do you make gravy without lumps [some kind of voodoo] and have to have a variable rate mortgage explained? [Still no idea].

Travel forces you to think on your feet and problem-solve on the fly. When things go wrong on the road, it’s harder to seek parental help from 2000 miles away.

It can be hard to convince yourself that boarding a bus to the wrong side of Cambodia is character-building at the time, though.

I promise you that overcoming challenges on the road will help you in the long run.

Figuring out how to budget when travelling, how to get from one destination to the next, how to negotiate a different culture and language.

These are all ways of inadvertently building your life skills and problem-solving abilities.

Love on the road should probably stay on the road

Dating while travelling is one of the bigger learning curves. When we are in the zen of travel, our emotions can be heightened. Sunsets seem dreamier, food tastes fresher, and possibilities seem endless.

So enraptured with travel vibes [and cheap wine], my friend Siwan once became convinced that she had ‘met Jesus’ on Khaosan Road in Bangkok. She hadn’t; he was just an unkempt man in sandals.

With your feelings dialled way up, it can become easy to convince yourself that a scruffy German called Wolfgang, with a mere $12 to his name, is “the one”.

High on cheap cocktails and moonlit walks on the beach, it is a surefire way to get swept up in the moment and make starry-eyed plans to “meet in Paris.”

Travel romance

The problem with travel romances is that when you actually meet up away from the beaches, the mountains, or the frenetic energy of a busy city, it can all seem a bit beige.

There’s even a study that explains the science of holiday romance that looks at the “interpersonal closeness” that happens when we travel.

Researchers believe that may be the key to forming meaningful connections with strangers.

So see, your burning love is not ‘one in a million’. It’s the inevitable outcome of sharing a cramped hostel dorm room with other human beings.

Sure, there are success stories. I worked with two people in a kids’ camp in Florida who had a holiday romance and are now married with a kid. They are very much the exception, though, not the rule.

The rest of us should probably leave that travel romance as a delicious, rainy Tuesday memory rather than trying to pursue it away from the palm trees and sunsets.

You learn to manage your expectations

It’s important to manage your expectations when you travel. If you aim to have a perfect vacation with the most Instagrammable experiences, you might end up disappointed.

This is especially true if you go the ‘budget backpacker’ route. You have to accept that hostels will be noisy, bus journeys will be long, other travellers can sometimes be tedious, and there are a lot of travel scams out there.

It’s also important to remember that most travel websites, bloggers, Instagrammers, magazines and videos will always show you the best parts of a destination.

You must book your trip with this in mind, manage your expectations accordingly, and try to find joy in the small things.

Travel fails

I have been to many places I disliked, had disappointing food, experienced typhoon-like conditions on a hiking trip, been sunburnt, and met insufferable people in hostels.

Do I regret any of these trips? Not in the slightest. By discovering what I don’t like, I now know what I do like in a destination and travel experience.

All the little travel fails and misadventures add to the rich tapestry of our adventures, and they all have meaning for various reasons.

The minute you let manage your expectations properly and let go of the idea of the perfect trip, the better your travel experience will be.

You’ll find that you can easily shrug off cramped hotel rooms, rubbish swimming pools and sad buffets and find the joy elsewhere in the trip.

You start to appreciate experiences over material items

Once the travel bug has bitten, it can become all-consuming. For career wanderlusters, chasing the next trip becomes your new normal.

I was, fortunately, not brought up to endlessly consume and crave expensive items. This has allowed me to save money for travel over the years and pursue incredible experiences instead of things.

Research has repeatedly proven that a new car, a new house, a designer handbag, or an expensive watch will ultimately not make us happy.

Experiences not things

Once you have slummed in a dingy hostel in Vietnam, sipped chai in a third-class train carriage in Sri Lanka, and slept under the stars in the Australian outback, you start to realise that you treasure these moments more than a £300 pair of shoes.

If you go down the backpacker route, you have to carry what you need on your back. This is a great exercise for realising just how little you need.

It turns out that you can, in fact, live without 17 pairs of ripped jeans, a £400 Apple watch and designer trainers.

No one will care about the things you own on the road; they will only be interested in you, where you came from and where you are headed.

Recognising that travel is a privilege

You can spot a newbie traveller by the amount of “ We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us. type quotes that they share on social media .

No matter how many beaded bracelets you wear, you cannot escape the fact that travel is a luxury, consumable item largely enjoyed by people with wealth and privilege.

Airing this opinion on social media is perilous. It’s just asking for an overconfident white bro to come swinging in with big d*** energy about how “anyone can travel”. They are apparently just too lazy/ignorant/stupid to do so.

The problem with this statement is that it ignores many people’s advantageous starting point.

This can include class, education, ethnicity, healthcare and, importantly, where their passport was issued.

Not everyone can travel

Privilege and travel are touchy subjects for most. No one likes to feel like they don’t deserve the things they achieve, including travel.

Acknowledging your privilege and an advantageous starting block in life doesn’t take away from your achievements.

No one says you didn’t work hard to get to where you are or have ticked off your travel goals. It’s just about being aware that you might have had certain advantages over others.

Having self-awareness can help us keep our egos in check and make us think before making sweeping statements like “anyone can travel”

That’s before you even begin to think about how someone’s sexuality and/or gender identity might affect their ability to travel.

Many countries are simply not safe for LGBTQ people to travel to. The tiny yet vicious kingdom of Brunei is known for its widespread homophobia and discrimination. 

There are plenty of reasons why travelling might be problematic for someone. Maybe they are a struggling, single parent, a carer for a relative, or have a disability that makes it harder to travel.

Perhaps it’s just really difficult for them to obtain a visa to the country they want to visit.

By asserting the “anyone can travel” rhetoric, we brush aside these people’s real-life issues because they inconvenience our “Explore. Dream. Discover” mantra.

No one is interested in your travel stories

This is a particularly hard one for travel enthusiasts to swallow. It’s almost as if the world went on without you whilst you were trekking the Hindu Kush.

Does this sound at all familiar? You come home from backpacking [read boozing], your way around the Thai Islands, only to discover that people glaze over as soon as you start talking about “this one time in Phuket.”

This is because your adventures are simply unrelatable to the people who weren’t involved.

Talking about travel experiences

The main issue is that even if you are the most verbose storyteller, Some experiences simply can’t be conveyed properly using words.

When we try to bring our extraordinary travel experiences to life by simply recounting them to other people, we often don’t do a very good job.

If you find yourself saying, “You just had to be there, ” trust me, it’s not a great story to listen to.

A study on this topic concluded that most people are more interested in talking about familiar things rather than the new things you want to introduce to the conversation.

The most important thing to remember is that your life is not more interesting, meaningful, or important than your friend’s life just because you went to ‘find yourself’ in Bali.

Sure, you may have had a ‘spiritual awakening’ at Angkor Wat, but your friend might also have an interesting career development or life experience to share.

Not everyone can or wants to travel, so it’s important to listen to others’ stories and not dominate the conversation with your take on how ‘mainstream’ Bali has become.

You start to embrace the unknown

Travel can push us out of our comfort zone in many ways. Sometimes, it’s with a traditional challenge such as climbing a mountain, hitchhiking in Mongolia, or overcoming our fear of heights to do a bungee jump.

More often than not, it’s the small steps that can really shape us. Eating kimchi for the first time, getting lost in Venice or figuring out a Russian train timetable.

You are pushing the boundaries of the familiar when you experience new things.

This can also extend to wondering whether or not to make out with the Kiwi Experience bus driver after nine jager bombs. [Narrator, it was not a good idea].

Visiting a new destination in itself is embracing the unknown. You can imagine what The Sahara Desert might be like, but you need to actually go there to experience the velvet-soft sand and captivating sunset

Challenging ourselves

Solo travel can also be scary, especially the first time we do it. Booking a one-way ticket, strapping on a gigantic backpack and venturing out alone into the world is a transformative experience.

Mostly because you have no idea what will happen. As you board the plane, you have no idea what kind of people you will meet and how you will adjust to new cultures, and endlessly moving around will exhaust you.

Let go of the fear and worry and get on the goddamn plane. If you don’t enjoy the experience, you can always come home. There ain’t no shame in giving travel a test drive.

Travel won’t solve all your problems

It’s easy to cling to an ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ ideal when embarking on a big trip, but the truth is that travel isn’t going to save you.

A rich lady’s version of ‘self-discovery’ via pasta and chanting is a lot easier when you have already secured a $200,000 advance to write a book about it, to be fair.

Literary naval-gazing aside, it’s important to recognise that travel is not a quick fix for all your problems. Largely because no matter where you go, you take yourself with you. You can’t outrun yourself darlings.

Finding yourself is not the answer

Travel is not the answer to enlightenment, to the question of why you insist on dating douchebags, your uncontrollable anxiety around glitter, or your burning career worries.

Yes, it can be a transformative experience, the chance to start anew to expand your mind, but don’t burden travel with the responsibility of fixing yourself. Because it can’t.

Travel can offer the space for perspective, reflection, and taking stock of what you want to work on in your life.

Use the time you spend travelling to work on personal growth and development. This way, when you eventually return home, you won’t be right back at square one.

Beware of poverty porn travel

When we take ‘the road less travelled,’ it can be easy to develop a Bono complex.

Before you start picking up African children for your woke Instagram posts, maybe take a brief pause from being a white saviour to question your motives.

Slum tourism has become a sort of performative wokeness, whereby people signal their good intentions by posing for pictures in slums, villages in developing countries, and favelas.

Bizarrely, there’s a growing demand for slum tours to impoverished areas. On these morally questionable tours, you can gawp at the locals and take arty ‘street photography’ shots for Instagram.

Slum tourism

There’s an argument to be made that perhaps exposing yourself to those less fortunate will make you appreciate everything you have as a privileged traveller.

Whilst our intentions may be pure, we’re essentially saying here that people in improvised communities should be used as a yardstick to measure our own affluence and well-being.

Educating ourselves about communities around the world is absolutely worthwhile. We just need to be mindful of how and why we do it. The intention is everything.

Lessons learnt on the road

So, those are some of the life lessons I have picked up over my many years of travel. Some may resonate with you, and others may not apply.

I guess the important thing is to take away your own lessons, musings and observations from your travels.

The more we reflect on our experiences, the more we can grow. At least, that’s what I read on a glittery mug once.

What are the most important lessons you have learnt on the road? Let me know in the comments below.

Recommended travel resources

Flights : To find flight deals, check out sites such as Skyscanner and Google Flights to compare flight costs and book. Accommodation:  I use Booking.com for hotel bookings as they have fantastic flexibility and cancellation.

Airport Parking and Lounges : With Holiday Extras , you can save money on airport and travel extras, including airport parking, airport hotels, and airport lounges. Travel Insurance:  I highly recommend you always get travel insurance – I use the Post Office Travel Insurance for single trip coverage and Safety Wing for comprehensive travel medical insurance. Car Hire: I use Discover Cars to hire cars abroad as they have free cancellation, free mileage and no card fees. Travel Money: I recommend Post Office Travel Money as you can get competitive rates and 0% commission for your holiday cash.

E-sim Cards: Use Airalo’s eSIM app to buy an eSIM for 200+ countries and stay connected when you travel abroad. For more travel tools, head to my bumper travel resources page now!

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Portia Jones has spent years traversing the globe and having many misadventures. She now works as a freelance travel journalist and is a Lonely Planet guidebook author and hosts the Travel Goals Podcast. She specialises in adventure travel, destination guides and city breaks. Her work has appeared in The Times, National Geographic, Wanderlust Magazine and the Independent. She can normally be found hiking, swimming outdoors in icy waters, or drinking coffee in bougie cafes.

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Before the world abruptly stopped and travel was put on hold, I had been travelling for the last eight years. My lessons from travel span an entire memoir.

I started a blog back in 2012 as a way to document my journey and before I knew it, writing about my travels has become my career.

I’m from a normal upbringing but my life these past eight years has been anything but normal. I’ve been climbing mountains in Pakistan , learning how to make pastries in the basement of The Ritz in Paris, staying with Buddhist monks in Japan and too many more experiences to count.

These experiences have taught me more than I ever realised.

That is, until now.

Home is wherever feels good

After eight years of living out of a suitcase, I finally decided last year that it was time to “move home”. But where exactly is home, when you’ve spent so much time away from it?

I bought a house, renovated it, and promptly realised the childhood town I grew up in did not feel like home anymore. Firstly, because I’d met a man in the Okavango Delta who I would later move to South Africa with. Secondly, because I had grown and changed so much since my departure, that my normal wasn’t so normal anymore .

The truth is, home is wherever feels good.

It is easier now than ever to live in a new country. If you feel up for it, give it a try. Nothing is stopping you but yourself.

Experiences are better investments than things

Has anyone ever told you not to buy a new car because of devaluation? The same could be said about new handbags, designer clothes, and keeping up with interior design trends.

Experiences are investments that pay more in life gains than possessions ever will.

Sometimes you need a trip to grow, find yourself, or find answers you’ve been looking for. Why not take one of these life-changing trips .

Some trips that shaped who I am include: renting a van and driving around New Zealand , 10 days in Pakistan and every single solo trip of self-discovery .

Money does not equal happiness

Growing up in a privileged country, I was conditioned to believe that money = happiness. How wrong I was. Having met people from all over the world who have much less than the average westerner locked into a mortgage, suffice it to say they are much happier than their counterparts.

What is it then, that warrants happiness?

Acceptance of your reality. Simplicity in all things. The gift of giving.

Quality trumps quantity

So the old saying goes; quality trumps quantity. The same is true in light of travel. The more you travel, the more you start to realise those snippets of a new city, country or culture aren’t quite enough.

The further you travel, the less you want to.

You realise it is better to know a place – like really know a place – instead of just know how to ride the metro. The more I explore, the deeper I want to get to know a place.

Gone are the days of my late teens country-hopping around Europe. I’d rather move into an apartment in Berlin for a few months or pack up my life and move to Cape Town.

Learning a new language

Growing up in an English speaking nation, learning a new language was not a necessity nor was it easy. Living in Australia leaves you isolated from foreign languages, cultures and traditions.

Travel is an easy way to break that cycle.

From German to French and a hint of Afrikaans, over the years it has become easier to learn the basics to communicate in foreign languages.

If you are eager to learn, try these language courses .

You learn to stop caring what people think of you

What is it about travel that forces you to leave your inhibitions at home? I can hardly remember my pre-travel self who was insecure, shy, and fearful of what others would think of me.

The woman I have become would not have been possible without travel. Without encountering strangers, meeting local heroes and discovering that everyone has a story to be told.

I care less now about what anyone thinks of me, despite having created a career where I live online. I’m susceptible to criticism on a daily basis but I’ve learned that if you don’t stand for something, you believe anything.

Own up to your mistakes

Another one of my life lessons from travel has been to admit my wrongs. Granted, I’m still working on this as we are often the last to admit our wrongs.

But who was responsible for catching a train from Munich that was westbound instead of heading East toward Budapest? Me. Whose job is it to fix the mistake? Mine.

Travel forces you to make mistakes and this makes it easier to own up to them. Especially travelling alone – no one is responsible for your mistakes but yourself.

You learn how to problem solve

Not only do you learn to own up to your mistakes, but you learn how to problem-solve as a knee jerk reaction.

Wrong train? Get off at the next stop and start again.

Booked a plane ticket for the wrong date? You’ll need to talk your way out of those change fees.

Mugged on the streets and suddenly your cash flow is halved? Time to start budgeting and cutting your expenses in half, too.

What is important in your life

After spending so much time alone exploring foreign lands, I’ve learned to value human connection and community more than anything else in my life.

As a Virgo who loves her alone time, I’m more than comfortable being on my own. I have however learned that too much time alone is not good for me – because what is life without human connection, interaction, and mutual dependence?

The more you learn, the less you know

The further I travel, the more I learn – or so I used to believe. The truth is, with all my prejudices and a Western mentality, the more I travel the less I actually know for sure.

The more I travel, the more I learn. But the more I learn, the less I know for sure.

I’ve been forced to question what the media tells us, how stories are spun for traction, and just face straight out lies.

Vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness

I used to think being vulnerable was a weakness.

However being vulnerable is being yourself. After years of travel and meeting so many people the world over, I’ve come to realise that there is no greater power than just being yourself .

Being your most authentic self is a weight off your shoulders as you never have to try prove anything, you just are. This gives you all the time and power back to work on what really matters to you.

Books are just as much of an escape

Sometimes you just can’t escape. Whether you’re stuck in the office or have used your holidays for the year, often we have the urge to go somewhere but we just can’t yet.

I have found over the years that books provide just as much of an escape. Hence, launching my book club for travellers .

You don’t have to know someone a long time for a deep connection

Some of my greatest connections with people have been accomplished in a day – some even less.

You don’t need to know someone for a long time to have a deep connection with them. You can connect in such a life-changing way with someone who tells you just what you need to hear at the right time you need to hear it.

You can travel without leaving home

Now more than ever, I’m learning there are some great ways to travel and fulfil my wanderlust without leaving home. Whether it be trying a new recipe from a foreign cuisine you love or virtually visiting a museum, there are some great ways to travel without leaving home. Here are my favourites .

You learn to invest in yourself

While we’ve already learned that experiences are a better investment than things, only in recent years did I learn to invest in myself.

Whether it be learning how to make French pastries in a kitchen basement in Paris or investing in life-changing books on entrepreneurship , the greatest investment is yourself. If you never stop learning, you never stop growing.

Long-distance works if you want it to

I’ve had a few different experiences with long distance relationships after 8 years living out of a suitcase. Some have worked and some haven’t.

The truth is, long-distance works if you want to. It’s like any other relationship – you make sacrifices, you make it work. This is one of the lessons from travel I’d rather not admit to – but we can only learn from our mistakes.

Silence speaks as loud as words

Travel has a way of bringing out the best and worst in people. Unfortunately, the good comes with the bad and we have to learn to deal with it.

In travelling with my partner more recently, I’ve learned that silence speaks as loud as words. Sometimes not saying anything really says it all.

Travel is really just about perception

The old saying goes: you see what you want to see.

Travel and your experience abroad really come down to perception. Had a bad day? It could be worse. Life on the road will throw you many curveballs but is all about how you deal with them. Choose to be positive. Opt to be optimistic. If you want to have a great experience, you will.

Your twenties are practically made for travel

I used to be scared by that window of time between living with my family I grew up with and creating my own. But the truth is, this window of time is the perfect opportunity to go out on our own and discover ourselves for the better.

I used to be scared by that window of time between living with my family I grew up with and creating my own.

I never would have shaped my own world view without taking this time to go out on my own. Just because my parents taught me a certain way of living, doesn’t mean I need to follow it. Sure, I will always hold dear the way I was brought up to see the world – but I had to go out and add my own flavour to it.

You won’t always be alone so enjoy the solitude

After spending a lot of time alone, human connection becomes more and more desirable. But the truth is, you won’t always have this time to yourself. You won’t always be able to be selfish. To choose yourself. And to do all the things you want to do and skip all the things you do not. Enjoy the time in your life where you can be alone. It won’t always be this way.

Brooke Saward founded World of Wanderlust as a place to share inspiration from her travels and to inspire others to see our world. She now divides her time between adventures abroad and adventures in the kitchen, with a particular weakness for French pastries.

Find me on: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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Japanese kendo experience gives taste of samurai life, sportsmanship

(Shoji Kudaka)

Growing up in Okinawa in the 1980s, kendo was not a sport I was familiar with. Despite its status as a traditional martial art and the kendo club at school, I don’t recall it having mainstream sport status.

I remember kids in the club at my school walking down the street in their kendogi (kimono-style garment for kendo) heading to keiko training after school.

Perhaps kendo did not look “casual” enough for the westernized (or spoiled) kid that I was. Compared with some other sports like baseball and soccer, kendo seemed a bit too rigid and solemn. 

I never expected I’d ever be picking up a bamboo sword myself until I recently caught several episodes of the new hit FX show Shōgun.

Remembering that kendo means “the way of the sword” and that it is deeply rooted in bushido (the way of samurai), I wanted to don armor and a sword to pose coolly like Lord Toranaga or Lord Ishido.

This desire led me to discover Samurai Trip, a kendo experience for tourists in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Okinawa, and other cities.

After booking my session online, I headed to a dojo in Naha City with my expectations mounting a few days later. Taiji Yamakawa, the host and coach in Okinawa, welcomed me at the gate. Yamakawa holds an all-Okinawa championship win and the roku (six) dan level, and is arguably one of the best kendo coaches you can meet on the island.

Before I could start the kendo experience, I had to go put on a kendogi in the dojo locker room. A kendogi is similar to a kimono but has several laces and belts to tie, plus bellbottom-like coordinating pants. I was not sure if I could do this alone. Luckily, Yamakawa helped me every step of the way.

Once I was dressed for the part, I went to the main floor where I was joined by two other participants, Charlie Brown IV and V, a father and son from Colorado. Just like I was inspired by Shōgun, the Browns said they decided to try kendo because of Japanese anime shows such as Blue Eye Samurai, Shangri-La Frontier, and Attack on Titan.

On the wooden floor, we put on bōgu armor. There was a short skirt type to defend the lower abdomen and a cuirie cover for the torso.

With armor on, we grabbed our bamboo swords and were ready to fight. However, our first lesson was not how to strike, but how to bow correctly.

“‘Kendo spirit is to respect each other,” emphasized Yamakawa. Standing upright, we bowed, holding the sword under our left arms, just like we would do in a kendo match.

The next step was how to move. As soon as Yamakawa said “go,” “back,” “right,” or “left,” we moved accordingly. This may sound easy enough, but with our armor and swords, was not. I had a hard time following the instructions without looking down at my precarious steps. We also learned sonkyo, a ducking posture, which shows respect to opponents.

After we had gotten the hang of the moves and the bowing, our next step was to learn how to strike. First, Coach Yamakawa demonstrated the four parts of the opponent’s body to aim: men (head), kote (wrist), dō (torso), and tsuki (poke at the throat). To strike an opponent, only a specific edge and top portion of the bamboo sword can be used, much like it would in a spar in fencing or sword fighting.

Interestingly, in a kendo bout, a strike must be verbally declared before physically attempting the strike. For example, if we were trying to hit an opponent’s head with a sword, we would say “Yaah, men!” as we took a swing.

To get us used to the manner of striking, Yamakawa put on a kendo helmet and let us hit him on the head for a “men” shot and practice our “Yaah, men!” shout. We did the same with kote and dō strikes.

Next, we moved on to combos like kote-men (wrist-head) and kote-dō (wrist-torso) strikes. Although this was just practice, Coach Yamakawa encouraged us to hit him pretty hard and shout really loud.

At this point in our training I was drenched in sweat, and we still had more to cover in the two-hour class. We took a break before moving onto more intense training. While I caught my breath and rested, we watched video clips from top kendo tournaments. The incredibly fast strikes by the kendo fighters and the skilled umpires able to discern strikes of 0.01 seconds were impressive.

In the second part of the tour, it was time to put on a helmet and try some actual bouts. The kendo helmet is a unique shape, which looks like a mixture of a fencing mask and catcher’s mask for baseball. It was a little heavier than a baseball helmet, but light enough to easily move around with it.

 To spice up the bout, the instructor attached a small balloon on the top of our helmets and our wrist to mark the targets. We would get a point if we could hit and broke the balloon. 

First up, it was Brown IV vs. Brown V on the main floor. Although it was just an hour of training that they went through, the father and the son maneuvered their swords very well, striking each other very hard. Swashbuckling reverberated as their shouts of “Yaah men” echoed in the dojo. The bursting sound of a balloon came suddenly when they had a clean hit.  

As my turn came up, Yamakawa volunteered to be my opponent.

Facing a champion made me a bit nervous. Plus, I was a little puzzled by the field of view I had through the kendo helmet. Shouting as loud as possible, I swung my sword with all my might. Coach Yamakawa was always one or even a few steps ahead, however. My effort often ended up a swing and a miss. After moving, swinging, and shouting for several minutes, I was out of breath and had to give up the match.  

To close the tour, Yamakawa even took on the Browns at the same time. It was amazing to see him move quickly and avoid attacks from multiple directions. 

Without knowing it, their shout and swashbuckling came to be mixed with laughs as well.

“(It was) harder than we imagined,” Brown IV said.

“I was not expecting to sweat this much. But it was amazing. It’s amazing how the teacher controls his sword versus our sword movement.”

Though maneuvering the sword was a challenge, Brown IV said maneuvering his body in the kendo armor was not.

“Honestly it fit pretty well. I didn’t think about [the armor] while I was doing the motions and so forth. It really becomes part of you,” said the father, noting that he would do better next time. “Even when we were sparring, it’s not like I was worried about getting hurt or anything. Even the helmet doesn’t really get in the way. It actually protects you.”

Coach Yamakawa said having fun is the key to improving kendo skills. He also dispelled my initial impression about kendo being a serious and rigid activity.

“Kendo lets you have the fun of striking with a sword. Striking an opponent with a shout or letting yourself be struck is something unique to kendo that you would not experience in any other sport,” he said. “It is a sport you can have great fun with as long as you can care about your opponents and thank them when you strike them.”

The two hours I spent at the dojo not only turned out to be an opportunity to pose like the characters from Shōgun or the samurais in the movies I watched as a kid, but it also ended up being great physical training. I left the dojo with the knowledge of the role good manners and technique play into being an excellent kendo fighter.

The kendo experience is a great cultural activity to try with your friends and family while you’re in mainland Japan and Okinawa.

Kendo Experience Tour (Samurai Trip)

Fee: 18,000 yen plus tax per person

*To book a tour, there needs to be two or more participants. 

*The venue (dojo) of the tour can be different depending on the number of participants. Yamakawa says, there are typically seven to eight participants in Okinawa, whereas his company sometimes hosts 40 to 50 at a time in Tokyo and Osaka. Kids as young as elementary school age can participate with no problem. Samurai Trip’s website notes that the company can host up to 200 participants.

*The fee covers coaching by a professional instructor, rental of kendo armor and equipment, Japanese hand towel, and a bottle of water (if the number of participants is 10 or less).

*The tour runs for about two hours.

*The fee is negotiable if there are more than 10 participants.

Book through the web at ( https://www.samuraitrip07.com/ ) On the website, you can book for other cities as well.

related stories

• VIDEO: Battle like a samurai at kendo experience in Japan, Okinawa

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San Francisco's Biscuits and Blues to reopen after 5-year closure

F ive years after a pipe burst and flooded out San Francisco’s venerable Biscuits and Blues nightclub, its stage will come to life Thursday for the club’s grand reopening. 

The reopening of the famed blues club stands against a backdrop of rampant store closures in the Union Square neighborhood that have cast a pall on San Francisco’s shopping hub. But Biscuits and Blues owner Steven Suen is optimistic about the future, believing that the neighborhood is ready for a rebirth. It just needs the blues. 

“Part of the blues is you express your sorrow,” Suen said, sitting in the newly revamped nightclub. "But you have hope tomorrow.” 

The nightclub shuttered five years back after a water pipe burst in an upper floor inside the neighboring Jack in the Box restaurant. The dispute over responsibility thrust Suen into a four-year court battle that eventually ended in a settlement. 

“There’s a whole lot of lawyers on the other end and we’re just independent,” Suen said. “It took a long time.” 

The club is scheduled to reopen on Thursday night with a weekend run of shows. Suen said he’ll see how it goes before plunging back into the regular booking. For nearly three decades, Biscuits and Blues has been a mainstay on the Bay Area blues circuit with touring acts and Bay Area bands gracing its funky stage. Suen has not only focused the booking on veteran acts but also up-and-comers. 

“No one will give them a chance and I will give them a chance,” Suen said. "Even if they flop the first time I said come back, and then since then they proliferated.” 

News of the reopening was music to the ears of Bay Area musicians, especially since numerous other live music clubs have closed in the city in recent years. Veteran bandleader Mitch Woods said the club is badly needed for both audiences and musicians alike. 

“It means a lot, especially for local Bay Area musicians like myself,” said Woods, who leads his band Rocket 88s. “I tour all over the world, but when I’m home I play all the clubs in the Bay Area, and that was always one of the best spots, if not the best spot.” 

As reopening day neared, the club on Mason and Geary was abuzz as Suen and his wife Tina — along with an armada of workers — were making last-minute tweaks. Suen said he was dealing with city inspectors and trying to navigate a myriad of red tape on the way to reopening. He’d discovered than in the five years the club was closed, fees and other prices had skyrocketed. 

“The insurance premium shot up five times even though we never have any claim," he said.

Inside the main room, tables were each illuminated by a silver lamp. The stage was cast in a deep blue hue and filled with amplifiers and a drum set ready for the first batch of musicians. Suen upgraded the sound system and audio visuals. The club’s stage, which is flanked by wooden barn doors, has hosted the royalty of the blues genre, from Charlie Musselwhite to Joe Louis Walker to Chris Cain. 

Suen, who began working at the club more than two decades back before taking over, was looking forward to seeing his stage back in action. 

“When the music flows you really forget about life for a while,” Suen said. “I’m definitely waiting for that to happen.” 

Woods was hopeful the reopening of the club would give a shot in the arm to the struggling Union Square neighborhood, which has lost numerous major department stores, including the pending closure of Macy’s. 

“I hope it revitalizes that area. It’s a shame to see the businesses go out as the center of San Francisco,” said Woods. “I think it’ll be a good flagship to have a good nightclub there.” 

Although returning from a five-year layoff might seem daunting, Suen reasoned he’s already survived a recession and a pandemic. He said he believes the area has hit bottom and is on the verge of a rebound. The blues, he figures, is the kind of powerful medicine it needs. 

“I have hope and I have faith the city will do whatever it takes to bring the city back to life,” Suen said. “So me at this club, I believe that I’m part of it.”  

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• Celebrity News

May 30, 2024

Snoop Dogg’s Wife Opens ‘The Players Club’ In Downtown Los Angeles

Snoop Dogg's wife, Shante Broadus, has launched a real-life Players Club experience in Downtown Los Angeles.

Snoop Dogg’s wife, Shante Broadus, has launched a new adults-only business that brings a real-life “Players Club” experience to Downtown Los Angeles.

Named after the 1998 film created and directed by Snoop’s longtime West Coast rap comrade Ice Cube, the certified “Boss Lady” is introducing a new strip club to the City of Angels. Snoop and his wife announced the new venture on Instagram on Monday, May 27, in posts that collaborated with the strip joint.

“THE PLAYERS CLUB💰DTLA📍NOW OPEN: 5PM – 2AM 🍾✨ PROUDLY OWNED BY @bosslady_ent,” the strip club captioned its post.

It was appropriately accompanied by music from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s 1992 hip-hop classic “Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by By @BossLady_ent ✨ (@playersclubdtla)

Snoop followed up with a video post that included photos and video clips from what appeared to be an opening night event. Mrs. Broadus was seen hyping up her dancers and showering them with dollar bills. The “Gin and Juice” rapper posed alongside his wife and a few dancers, expressing his pride and support for her new business endeavor.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg)

Sources say Shante’s Boss Lady Entertainment is hosting a private star-studded party at the club this week to celebrate further and market the new hot spot, TMZ reports. Attendees include Tiffany Haddish, Too $hort, Big Boy, and Cedric the Entertainer with DJ Drama and DJ Sky High Baby keeping the good vibes flowing.

The launch follows auditions for dancers that took place over the Memorial Day weekend. Broadus has plans for The Players Club to be a celebratory place for entrepreneurs, professionals, and beautiful people to come together for a good time.

Described as the “newest and most exclusive” gentleman’s club in the area, according to a press release , The Players Club “is poised to redefine luxury and liberation in the city’s nightlife scene.”

“I am thrilled to introduce The Players Club to Los Angeles,” Shante said. “This club is more than just a venue; it’s a celebration of empowerment, beauty, and entrepreneurship, providing a space where everyone can feel like a boss.”

The Boss Lady also plans to stay true to the essence Ice Cube brought to “The Players Club” movie 26 years ago.

RELATED CONTENT:  Dr. Dre Feels Snoop Dogg ‘Does Too Much’

• Shante Broadus
• The Players Club

Millennials and Gen Zers want human connection, so they're choosing travel tours with strangers to cure their loneliness

• Intrepid Travel said young people are seeking immersive, non-traditional vacation experiences. 
• Millennials share more travel similarities with Gen Z travelers than previous generations.
• Young travelers are prioritizing interest-based travel over destination-based travel.

Young people are seeking more human connection in the post-lockdown era, so they're embracing small-group travel.

Modern technology and social media apps have created a hyper-connected world, but many millennials and Gen Zers say the focus on screens has caused an epidemic of loneliness .

While New apps and local community groups are trying to address this "social distance" problem, some young people are choosing to book their vacations with strangers to find more face-to-face camaraderie.

Intrepid Travel, which organizes small-group experiences in over 100 countries, including Morocco and Sri Lanka, says it's seen a growing interest from young people in these kinds of group tours.

"They're prioritizing travel over buying houses, mortgages, and other expenses," Matt Berna, Intrepid Travel's president of the Americas, told Business Insider.

Group travel can be hit-or-miss with people. They can conjure an image of 40-plus tourists being led off a bus to an overcrowded attraction by their shouting tour guide.

But Berna said Intrepid Travel's focus on small group experiences is the opposite. The average Intrepid Travel group has 10 people.

"It allows us to travel like locals," Berna said. "We eat in small local restaurants. We stay in family-owned hotels. We typically avoid mass market tourism, hotels, or experiences."

It also allows people to form new bonds in a tight-knit setting, which young travelers crave, after the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Camaraderie in a group is so special because you make great friendships and share laughs and stories," Berna said.

Related stories

Berna said these unique experiences are popular with 18 to 29-year-olds — Intrepid Travel's core audience. Experiences are designed with young travelers in mind, offering more free time to explore on their own and more active outings.

Berna said Intrepid Travel began receiving requests from people in their 30s looking for adventures off the beaten path. Millennials traditionally valued experience-driven opportunities , and that desire hasn't waned with time.

"It became clear that millennials are aging, but the style they want to travel is immersive," Berna said. "If anything, they resonated more with Gen Z than the generations above them."

American Express Travel's 2023 Global Travel Trends Report found nearly 80% of millennials and Gen Zers respondents said they want to "partake in a day in the life of locals in the destination they are visiting," pointing toward activities like visiting local cultural sites and "hole-in-the-wall" attractions.

Airbnb, owned by millennial billionaire Brian Chesky , reported in 2020 that it also found that "immersive encounters" were becoming more popular with this generation, with interest up 102% year-to-year.

Older generations, Berna said, book vacations based on destination. Older travelers tend to plan vacations around conventional tourist spots — think the Eiffel Tower in Paris — because it's popular.

However, younger travelers don't have the same sense of FOMO — or "the fear of missing out" — that their parents do. Instead, they book vacations by interest.

At Intrepid Travel, that includes cycling enthusiasts traveling to Vietnam to peddle through the local sites. Experiences based on camping, festivals, and food are also options travelers can explore.

"They want to be a trendsetter going to the next cool place," Berna said. "It will be something new you can share with your friends, so you get the bragging rights. It's a bit more adventurous instead of following the crowd."

After conducting consumer research among its more than 300,000 travelers, Intrepid Travel formally expanded the young trip age range to 35 in February.

"Intrepid identified an opportunity to better cater for an expanded age range after experiencing a rise in inquiries from travelers in their early 30s wanting to join Intrepid's young adult trips," a press release said. "The company conducted extensive consumer research which showed that most travelers aged 18 to 35 prefer to travel with those of a similar age."

As for where travelers are going, Berna said South America has emerged as a top contender, with Peru gaining traction. The country closed its tourist attractions amid political unrest from late 2022 to early 2023, but they reopened in February 2023, according to Travel Weekly .

Another top spot is South Korea, which Berna said is typically more affordable than Japan. Intrepid Travel said they saw 172% increase globally in bookings to South Korea from 2022 to 2023.

"People want to go away and have these stories. They've settled back post-pandemic into feeling life, wanting to travel again, and seeking connection," Berna said. "Not just with other travelers in groups but with destinations."

Watch: Marriott International's Tina Edmundson tells Insider that the travel mindset has changed since the pandemic

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Meditation as architecture at a Shizuoka teahouse turned villa

The quietude at Numazu Club is its biggest selling point. Even when the sliding doors of a guest room at the villa are wide open, there’s only the faint rustle of pine trees in the breeze and the odd splash of a few birds enjoying the spring water of a shallow garden pool.

If meditation were to manifest itself as architecture, then Numazu Club would be it.

There is, however, another alluring attraction, one in tune with the resort’s serene environment and the inspiration behind Watanabe’s tranquil design. Commissioned in 2006, the Numazu Club villa was built as an annex to the restoration of a vast 1913 chatei (traditional Japanese teahouse) originally owned by Zembei Miwa, an accomplished tea master and the second-generation president of the manufacturer of then-popular Mitsuwa Soap. To Miwa, Numazu Club’s 10,000-square-meter grounds, hidden away within a pine grove, was the perfect spot to host refined tea ceremonies for friends, family and important guests.

“We envisioned a historic salon space where the history of Japan’s tea culture, which can be considered a prototype of the classical style, is interwoven with the modernity of the villa, and the two blend together in a lively manner,” Watanabe said in a 2008 interview for Shinkenchiku magazine. “I wanted to respond to the ‘classic’ with the most natural elements of wood and earth against the sky and sea glimpsed beyond the pine forest.”

Today, the chatei is a designated Tangible Cultural Property and open to Numazu Club villa guests like a luxuriously extensive parlor. With the few distractions on Numazu Club’s grounds, guests can’t help but pore over the details of its immaculately restored architecture.

The chatei, which was constructed by Yuzaburo Kashiwagi, a master carpenter and descendent of a family who served the Tokugawa government, features all the elements of nature that sukiya-zukuri (refined Japanese residential architecture) is renowned for: earthen walls, wooden battens, log beams, intricate bamboo wicker ceilings, rustic bark ornamentation and more. Kashiwagi’s early 20th-century additions, including rare, hand-blown glass windows and an unusual Western-style conservatory, add to its charm.

A wander through the teahouse is like a trip back in time. Original furniture remains in many of the rooms that each bear their own subtle but exquisite architectural details. In the north wing’s main hall, where villa guests dine, delicate air bubbles within windows show the inevitable and beautiful imperfection of handmade glass. Two adjoined rooms feature doorways of descending height that enhance the perspective of the building and draw the eye to paneled glass sliding doors that look out on Numazu Club’s Japanese garden. Another room has its own tiny veranda made with small logs textured by the small indents of naguri hand-carved patterns.

Zembei’s large parties of visitors would have been hosted in the main tea ceremony room in the south wing, where the polished burls and knots of tree-trunk beams embellish a dignified tokonoma (display alcove). Perhaps the visitors then retired in the lounge next door, a spacious, Western-style conservatory featuring bay windows beneath two unusual styles of ajiro wickerwork that stretch across its vaulted ceiling. Here, guests of the Numazu Club are welcome to relax on contemporary mid-century-inspired furniture before the view of the resort’s verdant garden.

In the far corner of the south wing, just beyond what was once Zembei’s mother’s room, lies an intimate, three-tatami-mat tearoom believed to have been relocated from Kyoto. Even this tiny space has its own unique characteristics of Japanese artisanship: Shoji screens filter light through windows of different sizes, the ceiling showcases three types of bamboo and barked log craftsmanship, and, in the corners of the room’s entryway ceiling, circular air vents are hand-carved in the shape of chrysanthemums.

To take in such details of Japanese architecture enhances the appreciation of Watanabe’s modern interpretation of sukiya-zukuri for the villa annex. In the reception lobby, the cool gray striations of its walls are in fact layers of compacted sand and soil collected from the Fuji River some 25 kilometers to the east. Above, the planked Yoshino cedar ceiling appears untreated, showcasing the timber’s natural color, grain and texture.

The materials of the villa’s eight guest rooms, in both tatami-matted Japanese and Western style, also echo that of the chatei. Some rooms have earthen-esque entryway floors similar to traditional Japanese houses. All of them feature furniture and latticed shutters that highlight the natural patterns of wood or wicker, and most include bathtubs made from fragrant hinoki (Japanese cypress).

Only the Numazu Suite seems to veer slightly from the overall aesthetic. Here, the recent addition of sumptuous textiles in deep, earthy colors — as sofa and chair covers — and abstract fabric artworks elevates a sense of luxury. Designed by Hosoo , a manufacturer of traditional nishijin (brocade) fabrics, even these embellishments allude to traditional Japanese craftsmanship.

When the surroundings offer so much contemplative and visual interest, who needs the distractions of local entertainment, nightlife or even a TV? Whether you choose to meditate by the crystal-clear pool, enjoy a dip in a hinoki bath, relax in the facility’s shared sauna and spa, or lounge in the chatei, you are bound to appreciate Zembei’s original vision: a sanctuary from modern life.

Numazu Club: A teahouse of history

1913: It is believed that a personal love of tempura led Zembei Miwa, the Tokyo-born president of Mitsuwa Soap, to choose Numazu for his teahouse. He hoped to serve his guests tempura made with fresh catches from Suruga Bay.

1943: Though the chatei (traditional Japanese teahouse) was requisitioned by the War Ministry to become a rest house for officers during World War II, it miraculously survived air raids of Numazu unscathed.

1946: As one of few functioning traditional buildings left in the city, the estate was acquired by the mayor of Numazu and other locals who formed the Numazu Club association. Since it was also the only establishment left with a traditional restaurant large enough to entertain guests, Numazu Club flourished as a meeting place for politicians discussing Numazu’s postwar reconstruction. Rumor has it that Japan’s then-incipient Constitution may even have been discussed within the chatei.

1980s: By the mid-Showa Era (1926-1989), Numazu Club’s buildings had begun to decline. In need of extensive repair, the establishment was finally forced to shutter its doors and leave the structure abandoned.

2006-2008: The teahouse was restored as faithfully as possible and Akira Watanabe was commissioned to design a private villa for visiting guests.

2015: Numazu Club’s teahouse was registered as Tangible Cultural Property of Japan.

2023: Now operated by Greening Co. Ltd., Numazu Club opened its doors to the general public.

All rooms at Numazu Club can accommodate two guests or more with stays including breakfast and dinner. Prices vary depending on the number of guests and day of the week. For more information, visit numazu-club.com .

Accommodation for this story was provided by Numazu Club. No portion of this story was provided to any third party prior to publication.

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