Better to travel in hope than to arrive? (To quote or misquote R L Stevenson.) Better to travel hopefully, arrive happily and stay happy. But travellers have lots of mishaps.
My Tokyo Train Setback and Success
I remember I could not get a seat on the last overnight train back from Hiroshima to Tokyo to meet a boyfriend. I sat disconsolately, looking at my list of youth hostels and hotels, contemplating the price of youth hostel and hotel. Then the ticket seller beckoned me over and offered me a couchette - whilst much pricer than a seat, it was a fifth the price of a hotel, or taxi, plus youth hostel plus taxi back. Much better than sitting in a seat all night.
UK Train Problem Solved
Once I was reading on the UK train and missed my stop, ending up at a deserted station with no train back. Devastation. Panic. I phoned my son. Luckily he was already in his car driving home and agreed to divert to collect me.
Then a taxi stopped to ask if I needed a taxi. The local company probably always drove to the station after the last trains in both directions, to see whether anybody incoming was tired and wanted a lift home nearby, or outgoing, needed a longer ride to another area.
So I had two solutions to my problem. Both drivers would have got me home, and probably reassured me that I wasn't the first person to have got stuck at a station.
Staying Happy
How do people stay happy? Today I read the key. This system reinforces what I had read earlier, about thinking positive, count your blessings, and gratitude, start as you mean to go on, but brings it into focus, with and makes it easy to manage.
Focus On Solutions
When you have a problem to solve, it helps to focus on the problem, rather than being 'in denial'. If you have missed the last bus home, you don't want to sit in a deserted ally, a target for who knows what. You are better off looking for alternative transport, or a safe place for the night.
But one way to find help not to focus on the problem but to focus on finding help. (Thinking positively as you run through positive solutions: wouldn't it be nice if I could - find a police station; find a list of hotels; find a hotel/restaurant/bar/pub/disco/coffee shop that's open late; find a phone box ... walk back towards the city; find a list showing the next train.)
Re-Telling Troubles With a Happy Spin
Imagine telling others this story later. "I didn't panic. I kept calm. I looked for / called for / phoned ...."
I am a survivor. What have I survived? Car crashes. (Two.) Being knocked down by a car. (Once.)
Passport lost/stolen (once).
Helpful Positive Phrases
You tell yourself and tell others what you did:
Bounced back.
Help/ed along life's highway.
Support/ed.
Survivor/survived.
Useful Strategies - New Local Friends
Make friends with the local police. Make friends with the hotel receptionist. Make friends with other hotel guests. Then when you have a problem, you are not approaching as first impression is you have a problem, but as first impression you are a friend, second impression you are a friend who needs help.
Make friends with your neighbours. Make friends with your colleagues.
Make friends with fellow travellers. (Especially with those likely to be helpful, or knowledgeable, and unlikely to cause you trouble.)
Note exits of transport and public places when you arrive and you have light to see. Stay near exits or plan your route to exits.
Have backup plans for problems. Divide your valuables.
Appeals For Help
Phrases to potential helpers:
Could you help me?
You may know the answer.
Thank you so much.
If somebody can't help, ask them who could help.
Here's a book about being happy, reviewed in the Daily Mail online.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3116340/Have-finally-unlocked-secret-happiness-Scientists-reveal-four-simple-steps-banish-blues.html
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, English teacher and speech trainer, public speaker.
If you want to read more by me, look at my other blogs and follow me on this one, like me on Facebook. If you want to see me talking about English restaurant etiquette worldwide, go to YouTube and type in Angela Lansbury Author (the actress of the same name comes up first so you need to add author or poet). You can also see me speak about grammar and spelling, and performing comic poetry.
If you would like a speaker at a workshop or event, link to me on LinkedIn or through Toastmasters International.
My Tokyo Train Setback and Success
I remember I could not get a seat on the last overnight train back from Hiroshima to Tokyo to meet a boyfriend. I sat disconsolately, looking at my list of youth hostels and hotels, contemplating the price of youth hostel and hotel. Then the ticket seller beckoned me over and offered me a couchette - whilst much pricer than a seat, it was a fifth the price of a hotel, or taxi, plus youth hostel plus taxi back. Much better than sitting in a seat all night.
UK Train Problem Solved
Once I was reading on the UK train and missed my stop, ending up at a deserted station with no train back. Devastation. Panic. I phoned my son. Luckily he was already in his car driving home and agreed to divert to collect me.
Then a taxi stopped to ask if I needed a taxi. The local company probably always drove to the station after the last trains in both directions, to see whether anybody incoming was tired and wanted a lift home nearby, or outgoing, needed a longer ride to another area.
So I had two solutions to my problem. Both drivers would have got me home, and probably reassured me that I wasn't the first person to have got stuck at a station.
Staying Happy
How do people stay happy? Today I read the key. This system reinforces what I had read earlier, about thinking positive, count your blessings, and gratitude, start as you mean to go on, but brings it into focus, with and makes it easy to manage.
Focus On Solutions
When you have a problem to solve, it helps to focus on the problem, rather than being 'in denial'. If you have missed the last bus home, you don't want to sit in a deserted ally, a target for who knows what. You are better off looking for alternative transport, or a safe place for the night.
But one way to find help not to focus on the problem but to focus on finding help. (Thinking positively as you run through positive solutions: wouldn't it be nice if I could - find a police station; find a list of hotels; find a hotel/restaurant/bar/pub/disco/coffee shop that's open late; find a phone box ... walk back towards the city; find a list showing the next train.)
Re-Telling Troubles With a Happy Spin
Imagine telling others this story later. "I didn't panic. I kept calm. I looked for / called for / phoned ...."
I am a survivor. What have I survived? Car crashes. (Two.) Being knocked down by a car. (Once.)
Passport lost/stolen (once).
Helpful Positive Phrases
You tell yourself and tell others what you did:
Bounced back.
Help/ed along life's highway.
Support/ed.
Survivor/survived.
Useful Strategies - New Local Friends
Make friends with the local police. Make friends with the hotel receptionist. Make friends with other hotel guests. Then when you have a problem, you are not approaching as first impression is you have a problem, but as first impression you are a friend, second impression you are a friend who needs help.
Make friends with your neighbours. Make friends with your colleagues.
Make friends with fellow travellers. (Especially with those likely to be helpful, or knowledgeable, and unlikely to cause you trouble.)
Note exits of transport and public places when you arrive and you have light to see. Stay near exits or plan your route to exits.
Have backup plans for problems. Divide your valuables.
Appeals For Help
Phrases to potential helpers:
Could you help me?
You may know the answer.
Thank you so much.
If somebody can't help, ask them who could help.
Here's a book about being happy, reviewed in the Daily Mail online.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3116340/Have-finally-unlocked-secret-happiness-Scientists-reveal-four-simple-steps-banish-blues.html
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, English teacher and speech trainer, public speaker.
If you want to read more by me, look at my other blogs and follow me on this one, like me on Facebook. If you want to see me talking about English restaurant etiquette worldwide, go to YouTube and type in Angela Lansbury Author (the actress of the same name comes up first so you need to add author or poet). You can also see me speak about grammar and spelling, and performing comic poetry.
If you would like a speaker at a workshop or event, link to me on LinkedIn or through Toastmasters International.
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