Your Traveler's Persona is SBEC!

You live in the moment and love it. You love waking up in the morning because you are excited at what the day might bring. You enjoy traveling in a group, but hate an all-day planned itinerary. You don’t mind it at all if you skip all the tourist spots and end up instead with a day at the beach, a string of engaging encounters with locals, or a side-excursion to a secret spot you’ve only ever heard a rumor of. You don’t tend to research too much ahead of time, because you don’t want to spoil it and you certainly don’t want to prejudge any place or situation.

When things don’t go as planned, you make the best of it anyway. You don’t want to get bogged down in regret, so you focus on the positives in each conversation – each little moment. You don’t even mind doing the same thing more than once, as long as it’s with different people.

When it comes to new experiences, the things you value most are the things that are surprisingly familiar. You absolutely love it when you encounter a situation that you can connect to your life in a way you wouldn’t have expected.

You don’t intend to let challenging situations prevent you from living out your dreams while you travel. You are willing to assume risks, both known and unknown, in order to stretch yourself and to step into the unknown. You put just enough trust into the universe to know that the universe is looking out for you. This frees you to blaze new trails as you venture out. You trust that many risks are worth taking, and that you’re going to end up loving the experience. When you played truth or dare as a kid, you were among the first to say “dare.” You think hitchhiking is a reasonable concept, even if you haven’t done it yourself.

You don’t necessarily depend on guidebooks, or even trust the first page of Google results or the top Yelp reviews. Those are often paid anyway. Instead, you look for experiences off the beaten path, and you trust in your own ability to navigate unforeseen issues that may arise. You can identify a good restaurant with a quick glance through its menu, even if it looks like a hole in the wall place. You’ll eat street food, even when you can’t identify what you’re ordering and don’t speak a word of the language.

While you travel, you have been known on occasion to end up out of money, out of contact, or not quite knowing how to get back to your hotel. You are comfortable improvising, asking for help from strangers, and otherwise winging it. Tricky situations always end up working out, and even if things don’t go well, you’re glad to get a good story out of it. You share your stories hoping to inspire others to also live boldly. You don’t really write home often – but you do call, or post pictures of your travels.

You are fascinated by the stars, by the knowledge of the vastness of time and space. Time spent contemplating big questions of meaning, of the origins of life, and in philosophy isn’t ever viewed as time wasted. You approach religions and cultures with a respect, assuming the best of each new tradition you encounter. You believe have found some answers, some simple, universal truths, and you look for evidence of these truths as expressed by others. When you see these signals, you feel as though you are observing from a place outside of time, as if you are tapped into the roots of the tree of life. You study history and as a lens to view humanity’s current struggles. You believe a lot can be learned from past mistakes, but you’re not necessarily optimistic. Sometimes you feel like an alien, as if you don’t belong here on earth. But then other times you take comfort in knowing you are not alone.

With regard to relationships, you are likely to seek deep connections, long conversations, and even to engage in debate.  Every opportunity to meet someone new is like opening a good book. There’s so much to learn. You give excellent advice, even if you’ve only known someone a short time.

You look for patterns in order to piece together the larger story. You are fascinated with the rise and fall of civilizations, societies and trends. You pay attention to politics and current events, but when that’s too depressing you dive into fashion, music and pop culture.

While you travel, you actively seek ways to experience life like a local. You study public transit routes, and you’re willing to give it a shot. You try to learn a few basic phrases in the local language. You might even be interested enough to watch a local newscast or pick up a local paper or magazine.

You feed off the energy of the masses. You love to spend an afternoon watching people at a park or in the town square. You can let loose on the dance floor. When you have a chance to interact with locals, you try to understand them by learning about their family, their favorite things, and their circumstances. You like to collect new friends everywhere you go.

You are generous with your time and your money, giving frequently in small amounts to a number of charitable causes.