Perspective, perspective and PERSPECTIVE! In my humble opinion, travel has opened my eyes to thoughts, feelings and perceptions that I would never be exposed to! I think that in many ways, ideas come from “out of the box” thinking. I recently traveled to Boca Chica which is right outside of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

This trip was awesome but a third world country has no middle class, meaning you have money or you do not! The work ethic of the locals in this country is amazing! I cannot help but feel blessed and humbled ito have the opportunity that I have here in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. We wake up each day with all the resources a human could ever dream of.

Running water from the tap, heat, air conditioning, food, produce are just a few of the basics that we have and do not pay any mind to. Walking around, smelling the air and talking to the dominicans in my “spanglish” in an effort to acknowledge their native language which is Spanish makes my mind think, heart pound and eyes stretch to see as much as I possibly can….to ensure that I never forget my experience but most of all show humanity to people who simply do not have what we have.

Business, marketing, what the heck does this have to do with being a better business and marketing person? One word that comes to mind is HUMILITY. The humility to always move forward, learn, poke and search. Human psychology is business and life.

Here are a few reasons why I think you should travel:

1. Touch, feel and see how others do business
2. Experience how technology or “lack of” impacts efficiency when it comes to business especially tourism and hotel sectors
3. Get out of the “Fish Bowl Syndrome” – I talk about this in my presentations ALOT! If you think your local city is the end all, be all, think again! Remember this world is multi dimensional with meany ways of thinking
4. Gain new ideas! Observe, close your mouth and just listen and take it all in

From this trip alone, I have two new ideas that I will implement into my daily life immediately!

I want to give a special shout out to Be Live Hamaca Resort in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic for showing us a fantastic stay! This hotel was great! If you go, eat at the “Gourmet” restaurant and get the salmon and beef tenderloin! Yum!

Also, Barb from Westjet is absolutely awesome, as I am writing this blog, she is telling me about some of her past travel stories with the airline. I told her that she should write a blog as people would love to hear these kinds of stories!

Oops! One more thing! One of the historical sites that we seen was the gravesite of Christopher Columbus, some say he is buried in Spain, but none the less, very cool and a great experience!

I am going to cut this blog short, but think about what I have said 🙂

Go on a trip or have one planned? I would love to know about it!

What has traveling done for you?