Travel with Gratitude: Stories, Science & Simple Practices

Travel with Gratitude · Gratitude Travel Tips · Gratitude and Travel Stories

In this special episode, I explore how gratitude transforms our travel experiences and our lives. I share personal stories from Costa Rica, practical tools , and science-backed benefits of gratitude that can help you navigate both holiday travel stress and life’s bigger challenges.

Episode Highlights:

• How gratitude can reframe even the hardest travel moments.
• Simple, science-backed practices you can use before, during, and after travel.
• The surprising ways gratitude improves health, relationships, and resilience.
• Insights from Costa Rica’s culture of Pura Vida and everyday gratitude.

Next Step:
Try shifting one I have to into an I get to every day this week.

Reflection:
“The root of joy is gratefulness...It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” -- Brother David Steindl-Rast

Links & Resources:

Trip Scholars Post: Cultivating a Heart of Gratitude for Better Travel

The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley: The Science of Gratitude

Gratitude increases empathy and reduces aggression 

Gratitude helps build connections

Gratitude enhances health, brings happiness — and may even lengthen lives

Costa Rica Happy Planet Index

Costa Rica Happier Lives Institute

Costa Rica Reforestation

Costa Rica Renewable Energy

"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."--   Will

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Transcript

 Why Gratitude Matters for Travelers

[00:00:00] ERica: Welcome to Conversations for Curious Travelers, a Trip Scholars podcast. I'm your host, Erica Forrest. In each episode, we explore how travel helps us learn more about the world and ourselves. If you travel, not just to escape, but to grow, connect and understand you are in the right place.

[00:00:23] Erica: since we're in November, heading into Thanksgiving here in the United States, it just feels like the perfect time to explore the connection between. In travel and gratitude. I want to start by saying how grateful I am that you are here, Thank you. 

Finding Gratitude in Uncertainty

Some years back, I was diagnosed with a cyst in the middle of my brain. We didn't know if it would mean brain surgery or something more manageable, and I spent years getting MRIs to see if it was growing. And they were frightening times for me and for my family. Between those first two MRIs when we were really waiting to see initially if there was any change.

We booked a trip to Costa Rica. we had a delayed flight and so we had this long layover. I was so tired and achy and, you know, we didn't have enough room to spread out, and yet I was so grateful. I was grateful to be alive. I was grateful to be with my husband I was grateful to be traveling. on this adventure.

We weren't sure how many more we were going to get at that time, and that gratitude totally reframed my experience. What could have been, a frustrating day became one of those. Beautiful, profound travel memories that still reminds me of what's important many years later, and I am sharing that story because I know many of you listening right now are coming up on some of the busiest travel days of the year

And they are crowded and stressful and overwhelming, and often flights are delayed But gratitude has the power to change how we experience even those challenging travel moments.

Tip for Building Gratitude

So, uh. tool that I use, that I encourage you to think about is shifting from I have to, to, I get to, I have to stand in this long TSA line becomes I get to travel and see people I love or I have to sit in traffic becomes I get to live in a time where I can safely travel these huge distances. And it sounds small, but it is. A simple way to reframe that is backed by science.

Science-Backed Benefits of Gratitude

So there has actually been a lot of research, uh, especially recently into the study of gratitude.

 the Greater Good Science Center at uc, Berkeley. They've been doing all kinds of great work and they have found that gratitude can Improve sleep and strengthen our immune systems. gratitude can act like a buffer and it can help us recover from stress and setbacks more quickly.

Other studies even show that gratitude increases empathy and reduces aggression and makes us more likely to help others. It's been shown that people who keep gratitude journals report being more optimistic and physically healthier.

And in travel terms, gratitude not only helps. You survive the stresses of travel or holiday flights or any of these things. It can also help you connect more deeply with strangers and loved ones along the way.

So as you're listening, maybe you're in the airport or you're driving your car or doing chores at home. It's important to know that gratitude isn't just a nice idea. It's a proven and powerful tool that makes us healthier, happier, and more resilient travelers.

Lessons from Costa Rica

So I'd like to go back to Costa Rica for a moment in Costa Rica, when you say thank you.

People often reply mucho gusto, which means with great pleasure instead of de nada, or it is nothing. Think about how that feels. The response is about joy. It's gratitude embedded into the daily language. And then of course, there's the. Beautiful phrase, Pura Vida You hear it everywhere. It means pure life, but it's really about, uh, living joyfully and gratefully and simply.

And when we carry that Pura Vida lens into the way that we see the world, it can transform all kinds of challenging moments.

Staying Present: Gratitude and Mindful Noticing 

Gratitude is often,very intertwined with practices of mindfulness, and I know that because of practicing mindfulness before traveling to Costa Rica, I was able to notice wildlife that otherwise probably would have escaped me, . Being able to see monkeys and bats you know, hidden in the trees that. Without being able to be more attentive otherwise probably would've been missed opportunities. So

gratitude can make us more present and more alive.

Uh, you know, another memory I have of Costa Rica is being up on. Mount Verde and standing on the Continental divide, I was in absolute awe. On one side. Plants were stunted and small from the harsh winds, and on the other they towered into giants and they were lush and magnificent.

And being in this state of gratitude really allowed me to stay grounded in that awe and to take it in all fully. 

Gratitude in Difficult Travel Moments

But, you know, travel obviously is not all easy and happy and filled with wonderful things. On that same trip, my husband came down with e coli and poor guy at first I thought it was allergies, he was just not feeling well at all.

So I was getting an allergy medication and it just got worse. And because we were there during, them trying to figure out my neurological condition. I had these restrictions so I wasn't cleared to drive. And so he was still needing to do the driving even though he wasn't feeling well. And you know, by that point in the trip we were uncomfortable and, and worried, and yet gratitude really helped us reframe it.

 And so to me that's kind of the essence of grateful travel. Not ignoring the challenges, but finding ways to stay open and appreciative through them.

William Arthur Ward once wrote, gratitude can transform common days into Thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. 

I want to invite you to join me in a little experiment if you are at home or sitting in an airport.

If you're driving, don't close your eyes, but, I encourage you, if you can close your eyes, take a deep breath, and think about one travel moment from this year that you are really grateful for. It doesn't need to be a big one. Maybe it was the smell of an ocean, a smile from a stranger or a loved one.

Something delicious that you ate or music that you enjoyed, and hold onto that memory for a moment. And notice what's changing in your body when you focus on gratitude. That's one of the gifts of this practice. Alright? You can open your eyes and come backbut 

Why Costa Rica Ranks High in Happiness and Life Satisfaction

you know, Costa Rica also reminded me that gratitude isn't tied to material wealth or some of the things that we're conditioned to think, we need to be happy 

 Costa Rica consistently ranks high in literacy and life satisfaction and happiness. They invest in education and ecology and health, and they have gratitude woven into their culture. And so it's a reminder that we don't necessarily need luxury travel, or perfect circumstances to experience joy.

Gratitude itself is often what makes our journeys feel rich. I think it's very interesting that people can spend such significant amounts of money and invest so much of their time on taking trips and still come back not feeling like they got what they wanted to have out of it or feeling replenished.

And, so much of what we bring into travel is our own mindset. That really is what's going to make the difference in the kind of trip that we have.

Practical Gratitude Practices for Travelers

there are some. Techniques created by people who study this that I'd love to share with you. one is creating a gratitude journal.

It can be a simple, you know, writing down one thing or three things at the end of each day. If you're not into journaling, perhaps just thinking of those as you're falling asleep each night. You know? Today I am grateful for you, listening to this podcast. I am grateful for the crisp autum air and my delicious cup of coffee.

And I am. Grateful to be with the people that I love.

Another thing that we can do before we go is to practice that I get to reframing in our daily life so that it is second nature when stress hits. And a third thing we can do is to spend a few moments noticing our everyday environment, the smells and sounds and textures around us.

This really strengthens our gratitude muscles. This strengthens our mindfulness, and again, makes our lives richer right now in this present moment that we're in. And then it also helps us have these richer travel experiences.

While we're traveling, there are also things that we can do to nurture gratitude.

One is simply to thank the people who help us while we're traveling, the service workers and all of the people who make our lives and our trips better. Heartfelt thank you goes a long way. It's the one phrase I encourage people to learn first when they're visiting a country where they don't speak the language.

Another is to savor the sensory details. Again, that focusing on the taste of the food that you're enjoying, the sounds of the market around you, the colors of the sunset really let yourself be fully present. A third thing we can do is give back. If we can, we can volunteer or donate or simply be kind.

Um, and a fourth thing is to say yes to awe and wonder. when you are feeling that sense of gratitude, linger, stay there cherish it

when we return, there are also things that we can do. we can come up with a list of things that we are grateful for about the trip. Uh, you can do it with numbers, you could do A to Z, everything from architecture to zip lining, or you can just do it in conversation.

But fill it up with memories from your trip. You could write thank you notes to people that you traveled with or locals who made a difference. just tagging different establishments, and calling them out on social media, letting them know that you appreciated what they did, and then also helping to amplify their voice

a third thing we can do is reflect on the good things that came out of a trip. Even the parts that go sideways. Uh, as a travel storyteller, I will share that it's often the more challenging parts of a trip that make for the best stories afterwards. So being able to reframe things that are challenging into things that you are grateful for.

 Gratitude does not erase hardships. but it is something can use when we are moving through challenging times. And travel is the same. I often say the only thing guaranteed in your trip is that things are not going to go according to plan. So flights will be delayed,

People will. Get sick and things can sometimes go, wrong, but gratitude can help us stay open to the joy and the meaning that can still exist in those imperfect moments.

So gratitude doesn't mean pretending everything is fine. In Costa Rica, my husband was sick, I was dealing with my own health limitations. So I obviously was not thankful for the illness itself, but I was thankful for the kind pharmacist who helped us for all the natural beauty that we got to see.

And for the. Sheer fact that we were there. That is what gratitude really is. It's a choice. It's a way of responding. It does not erase difficulty, but it does keep us from being defined by it. Psychologists tell us that our brains evolved to notice threats and dangers. First, it's obviously how our ancestors survived, but it also meansthat we're wired to focus on the negative to and think about travel.

If one thing goes wrong, one misconnection, one lost bag, it can overshadow the whole trip. I like to think of my mind as a garden. This is an ancient concept that philosophers and spiritual teachers for thousands of years have compared the mind to a garden. Negative thoughts are like weeds. They sprout up on their own. They can take over the whole field. Gratitude is one of the ways that I tend the soil that I tend my thoughts, and every time I pause to say thank you or notice what's good, I am planting the seeds that grow into something.

Beautiful.

 And in Costa Rica surrounded by those incredibly beautiful rainforest, the metaphor.

It was so real. You know, every tree, every vine, every flower grew because of what was nurtured. And gratitude works in the same way. If we nurture it, it flourishes.

Another way that gratitude shows up in travel is. Through giving back. Costa Rica is famous for its ecological leadership. They have re forested huge areas. They protected national parks and they have committed to renewable energy.

And as a traveler, one way to practice gratitude is to respect. And contribute to those efforts by choosing eco-friendly tours, supporting local guides, or volunteering in small ways. So, you know, gratitude isn't just about feeling, it's also about acting, and it's about how we show appreciation for the places and people who welcome us.

One Travel Moment You’re Grateful For

We like to leave you with a reflection every episode. And as brother David Stein Laro reminds us, it is not joy that makes us grateful. It is gratitude that makes us joyful.

A Reflection on Travel With Gratitude

Every week we like to suggest one small thing that you can do I want to encourage you, try once a day to shift any I have tos into an I get to you can try it in line at the grocery store while loading your dishwasher or waiting for a delayed flight.

And just notice how it changes your perspective, changes the way your body feels and changes your mindset.

Today is actually my birthday,and one of the things I'm grateful for this year is you. This podcast would not exist without curious travelers like you, who listen, reflect, and share your own stories.

So Thank you. Uh, if this episode or this show resonates with you, the best gift you could give me is to share it with a friend who loves travel or to leave a rating or a review. It helps more people discover the show and it means so much to me personally. Until next time, make gratitude.

[00:16:07] Speaker: Fill your days and your journeys Thanks so much for joining me. I know your time is valuable and I'm truly grateful that you spent some of it here together. Please come visit me@tripscholars.com for free travel resources, workshops and travel coaching. And if you enjoyed today's show, please follow, review or share. It really helps other curious travelers find us.

Until next time, curious Travelers.