2015 is here and with it a fresh start on a new year along with year-end inventory of our accomplishments and less-than-successful endeavours.  We learned from mistakes made in 2014 as we have in years past and should have accumulated enough knowledge ‘learned the hard way’ to write a book.  We’ll start with a list.

1. Caption Photos– I am the worst at this because it takes too long.  Still, my notion that readers should be able to figure out photos as they skip/dance/drudge through the text needs a bit of help.  Captioning photos should take care of that and if it does not, I am sure you will let me know.
2. Label Photos- I am also the worst at naming photos so I can recall them later.  As a result I have 278 versions of the iconic Carnival cruise ship funnel stored here and there around the Internet, none of which I can recall by name.  I know good and well that someday the hammer will drop on the generous places where I have images stored and “storage” will be as big of a budget line item as “food”.  That’s when these 278 versions of the Carnival funnel stored here and there will come back to haunt me.
3. Capture Images of My Luggage- Just to be prepared for the next time my luggage will be lost by airlines.  The first step in making a claim for lost luggage has been to pick the photo that most closely matches your luggage.  None of them do.  Now, I will show the lost luggage people a photo taken of my luggage just before it was given to them to handle.
4. Capture Images of the Contents of my Luggage- We already ‘pre-pack’ first to be sure all we want to take along will fit in the allowed luggage.  Taking that one step further, I will take photos of the contents of said luggage, all laid out nicely on the living room floor before it goes in the luggage.  Also helpful when making a claim.  OK, enough with photos and cameras, let’s move along.
5. Continue To Ignore Icky Travelers:  The loud mouthed guy who is commanding undue attention (to take control of a situation he has no control over), the angry man who scowls at children crying on airplanes (kids cry, get over it),  the moaning, complaining traveler who really does enjoy moaning and complaining as part of the process but can sour an experience for others before it starts….those sort of icky travelers.
6. Meet And Get To Know More People-  Let’s face it, they are the one true variable in travel that can make a dramatic difference in our experience.  Weather affects places, Economic elements can too; but those are mostly ‘when things go wrong’ parts of the experience. No one complains when the weather is perfect or if their favorite currency stacks up well to what is used locally when traveling.  People are consistently always a variable that usually equals nothing when we add up the overall travel experience.  When people get noticed along the way it can be a less than memorable experience too.  Making a concentrated effort to meet people and get to know people at destinations is a current focus we will continue in 2015.
7. Slow Down- In the rush to bring you information about everything we do when traveling, we often forget to experience it ourselves.  I know that sounds strange but seeing everything through the viewfinder of a camera is one way to travel.  Setting the camera down to drink it all in is quite another.  We just spent over 15,000 minutes in Europe visiting Christmas Markets with Viking River Cruises.  The best 30 or so of those 15,000 minutes were spent in a lovely cafe in Vienna having breakfast with Lisa.
8. Be Healthy- I wonder how many people have this on their list after a holiday season filled with consuming things that don’t exactly insure future health.  All the holiday cookies are gone, the wine too,  and now it’s time to do something about not paying attention to those Tips For A Healthy Holiday posts I glossed over in October. Lucky for me, I have a great amount of experience on quitting eating, almost as much as I have on quitting smoking.  Both have been done countless times.  Quitting smoking is easy compared to quitting eating.  Smoking will eventually kill anyone who does it, food is required to live.  So bye bye Gluhwein.  See you later brownies, cookies and cake.

Different this year, I added a note to my calendar to check on progress toward the accomplishment of these 2015 travel resolutions at the end of each month.  We’ll see how that goes.

Need a reason to have resolutions?  Here are a couple videos that can provide a bit of inspiration for that-