chapter 14: how traveling makes you lucky
are we lucky to get to travel, or do we get lucky through traveling?
Thank you for the positive feedback and welcome reception to the re-launch of this newsletter! I am excited to share personal travel anecdotes and dive into topics related to travel in a (hopefully) thought-provoking way – please never hesitate to hit the reply button and share with me any thoughts you have after reading. It makes my day to hear from readers like you! :)
If you ask most people, a well-traveled person is a lucky person. But, is being lucky a prerequisite to being well-traveled? Or do you become lucky by traveling often? In other words, is luck something that just happens to you, or do we play a role in creating our own luck?
14 is my lucky number (it’s my birth date, and the house number of my childhood home’s address) so for this 14th installment of my newsletter, I had a spark of inspiration to ponder in writing the luck and serendipity of being in the right place at the right time, particularly as it relates to travel.
pondering ways to increase luck
A few days ago, I stumbled upon a newsletter that discussed how to “increase your luck surface area”, which basically means how to increase your odds of positive outcomes. The piece talked about how creating content increases your luck surface area because you have more artifacts out there in the world that convey your passions, and those artifacts are more likely to attract attention and create opportunities for you to connect with people who can help you, support you, and work with you.
However, my brain cared less about content and business and more about travel (as usual) and immediately extrapolated this theory into the idea that traveling increases your “luck surface area” because you’re physically stepping into a brand new place filled with diverse people, cultural norms, habits, gadgets, food, scenery, and ideas that can expand your mind and spark inspiration, connection, and lucky positive outcomes.
positive outcomes of learning from strangers abroad
The more you travel, the more diverse people you meet. Sure, you could make a proactive effort to meet new people in the vicinity of your own home as well, but traveling to a foreign land guarantees that you will meet new people whose perspectives and way of life are by default different than yours. Whether you’re chatting with a tour guide or a waiter or an Airbnb host or your roommate at a hostel abroad, even the most brief exchanges can become interactions that linger in your mind and influence your worldview long after you return home from a trip.
For example, I often think about a couple who hosted me at their Airbnb in the Norwegian island of Lofoten, and how their luscious organic farm called Polarhagen in the Arctic Circle defied all odds, just like how their family of four thrived despite their latitude’s challenging winter days void of sunlight.
Likewise, I think of a woman named Suly who guided me on a two-day river boat tour in Laos and told me her inspiring life story of being raised in the rural countryside, having near death experiences with forgotten bombs laid throughout the land, yet finding a way to teach herself the skills she needed to move to the city, and eventually marry and move to America to a vastly different life.
I also often recall the story of my scuba dive guide in Egypt named Mo, who was raised in hectic Cairo and got swept up into the hustle and stress of a business venture to the extent that he was put on life-saving medications. However, upon moving to Dahab on the coast of the Red Sea, he found his natural savior in the peacefulness of the ocean and a new job dedicated to diving, which lowered his stress so much that his formerly critical medications became unnecessary.
I probably think of these stories on a weekly basis. These people, and more whom I’ve met while traveling, are my Roman empire. Their stories of resilience, following their dreams, and finding solace and healing in nature stick with me. I consider myself lucky to have heard these perspectives firsthand, as poignant examples of how lives can be lived outside the norm of American city life that I can so easily get caught up in.
meeting strangers, becoming friends, traveling more often
Beyond one-time encounters with locals, travel can bring positive lucky outcomes in the form of facilitating future travels. When you connect in person and bond over a shared experience with others on a trip, you’re more likely to want to re-create that experience of awe and wonder with these types of people again. And, if the person you connected with on a trip is from a different country or city, you’ll likely gain the opportunity to travel again to visit them in their home. Thus, one trip full of meeting new people can turn into multiple additional trips down the line.
If you’ve ever taken a solo trip and became friends with a brand new crew at your hostel, or if you studied abroad in an exchange program with students from around the world like I did, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. In case you don’t check those boxes, let me give you a few illustrative examples:
My roommates from my semester abroad in Singapore were originally from Bulgaria and Italy, and we might have never met if not for being exchange students together – but I made plans to met up with them multiple times in multiple different countries they’ve lived in during the past 5 years since we all first lived together then dispersed back to our different corners of the world.
My friend recently went on a first big solo trip to Puerto Rico this past spring, and ended up making such good friends at his hostel that he visited these hostel friends and stayed at their homes in multiple different cities this past summer.
two types of luck in travel
Stemming from these little anecdotes above that wandered into my mind after reading about the idea of increasing your luck surface area, I think travel-induced good fortune can be broken down into two different types:
Planned serendipity by placing yourself in situations where you’re going to meet new people who will likely influence your life in a positive way.
Unplanned serendipity by doing things (often outside your comfort zone) that don’t guarantee, but have potential for extremely lucky outcomes.
planned serendipity
By joining a group tour, or staying in a hostel, or signing up for events and meetups, or even going to parties with friends of friends, you are saying ‘yes’ to the prospect of meeting new people. You are planning the serendipity of making new friends by injecting your life with a guarantee of meeting new people in this new place. The more foreign the environment, the more likely you will meet someone whose ideas or lifestyle might change the way you think. The greater number of people you expose yourself to, the more likely you’ll be able to find that diamond in the rough who turns out to be your soulmate type of friend who was previously hidden somewhere across the world.
For example, on my first 2-week long solo trip in Norway, I went out for dinner with an eclectic mix of people from my hostel and ended up talking to a guy named Dan, who happened to be roommates back in Southern California with a guy named Jason, who I had met in Bali five years ago. We bonded over that random coincidence, talked about how we both enjoyed snowboarding, and about 6 months later, we went on a memorable ski trip together back home in California along with six other friends of friends. As a result of that complete chance encounter in Norway – the planned serendipity I created by saying ‘yes’ to an opportunity to meet new people abroad – I gained a new friend and a core memory of a picturesque weekend in the Sierra Mountains.
With this first type of luck found in travel, which involves planning to meet new people, you are in control of opting in to potentially pivotal situations and you are further in control of the follow-up that can turn these chance encounters into future trips, lifelong friends, and deepened cultural exchanges.
unplanned serendipity
With the second type of travel-induced luck, it’s actually a bit more out of your control past first saying ‘yes’ to a brand new experience. You’re giving yourself the potential to have an extremely unique and memorable moment, but it is not something you can personally guarantee.
Examples in this category mostly relate to stepping outside of your comfort zone for a chance at experiencing those unpredictable awe-inspiring moments in nature that leave an afterglow of wonder long after you arrive back home. Whether you’re traveling to Iceland for the chance to witness the northern lights, or heading out into the savannah on the prowl for a glimpse of an elusive lion or leopard, or jumping into the deep ocean for the opportunity to get face to face with the marine life of your dreams, these encounters are never guaranteed. But, you increase your chances of a positive outcome by being open-minded and optimistic to opt in.
One instance of unplanned serendipity in my travels stands out as one of the most unpredictable yet magical moments of my life. When I did my first blue water dive in the open ocean, about 8 miles away from the shores of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, I was scared of being hundreds if not thousands of feet away from any sort of sandy bottom or coral reef for reference. The thought of seemingly endless drop-offs into the depths of the ocean caused my stomach to churn with anxiety as out boat ventured out to the deep-sea pinnacle called Gordo Banks. Despite my hesitations, I knew that risk and luck went hand in hand when it came to diving and potentially seeing hammerhead sharks for my first time.
Right before we dove into the deep blue, we saw some dolphins at the surface, playing in the waves near our boat. As we assembled our scuba gear and half-jokingly discussed how cool it would be to swim with the dolphins rather than just observe them from the boat, one of the dive guides commented, “I’ve never seen dolphins at depth while diving here before… but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible.” That remark ended up being a manifestation.
As I conquered my fears and jumped into the open ocean to follow my two friends and the divemaster down to the depths of 80-100 feet below sea level, we heard the chirps of dolphins in the background amidst seeing hammerhead sharks thrashing side-to-side like ocean-inhabiting aliens in the foreground. Although the sharks were exciting, the potential of seeing dolphins was somehow even more exciting. Sound travels quickly underwater, so at first we dismissed the chirps, thinking the dolphins must be quite far away.
But suddenly, the chirping grew louder, and an entire pod of about a dozen dolphins emerged from the murky deep blue waters a mere few feet away from us. I watched them glide effortlessly above, below, and around us for a few full minutes, in complete disbelief – the dive guide, who did this nearly every day, said this had never happened to him before, yet it was happening right in front of us that day. Being fully submerged alongside such graceful creatures up close, I could barely tell if the water in my mask was ocean saltwater or my own tears of joy.
Doing the thing that scared me positioned me for one of the most memorable experiences of my entire life. I could never have specifically planned to get this lucky, but by traveling, stepping outside my comfort zone, and putting myself in a place where serendipity might occur, I helped myself create one of the luckiest experiences of my life.
Whether planned or unplanned, traveling helps us create serendipity and good fortune in our lives by placing ourselves in new environments where we’re more likely to stumble upon new, impactful perspectives and lucky, memorable experiences.
By creating the opportunity to have strangers and acquaintances join trips around the world with me, I aspire to help others create their own luck and experience both planned and unplanned serendipity through travel.
Two people who didn’t know each other until meeting earlier this year on one of my group trips currently live together in an apartment in NYC, and that is one of the greatest examples of travel creating good luck through just being in the right place and meeting the right people.
I hope to help form more unexpected friendships and unpredictable core memory type of experiences through travel in the upcoming year, and I hope you’ll join me – whether on a trip with me, or by adopting this mindset in your own life.
Next time you board a flight, or join a group of new people, or generally do something that scares you – be ready for the unexpected and know that you can turn risk into luck by leaning into the prospect of new friends and unforgettable experiences from chance encounters.
Notes from the author:
Stay tuned – I hope to be sending out itineraries and sign up details for group trips to Baja California and Brazil in Jan/Feb 2024 by the end of this month!
Also, I tested sending this out mid-week instead of on Sunday, to see if it’s a better time for people to be checking email and reading. Let me know your thoughts:
And please give me your feedback on this style of writing & topic!
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That’s all for now…
Remember, you are where you go – never stop exploring the world and yourself! 🌎 🌍 🌏
If you enjoy my writing in this newsletter, you’d love my book called You Are Where You Go: A Traveler’s Coming of Age Journey Through 70 Countries and 7 Continents During College. Feel free to pick up a copy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or reply if you’re interested in me sending you a signed hardcover copy :)