Your Traveler's Persona is SDEC!

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.

While you travel for the same reasons as most – to learn something new, to grow and to change, you prefer to minimize risk while doing so. This means you will tend to stick to well established routes, guides and experiences. This doesn’t mean you won’t try new things – far from it! It does mean you don’t intend to be the first person to climb that mountain, or to find that scenic overlook. You read guidebooks or blogs and have a keen sense of what your own limits are before you set out on a new activity. You pay close attention to movie trailers because you don’t want to risk losing those two hours and never getting them back.

When you encounter a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable, you are typically prepared for it. You keep your phone charged, you study maps, timetables, and you always have a phone number to call in an emergency. You’re happy for your friends who seem to live off the adrenaline from thrill-seeking activities, but you’re just as happy to watch and cheer from the sidelines.

When you’re traveling, you write home often. You feel comfortable writing about your experiences in detail. You often reflect back on an adventure with a deep sense of gratitude. You learn intently, paying a deep respect to every culture you encounter.

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.