Travel Lotus: A Unique Resource for Travel and Holistic Health

We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate… And we travel, in essence, to become younger fools again — to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more. ~ Pico Iyer

Rapid urbanization has caused many of us to lose touch with ourselves. More than ever, we are time-poor and soul-hungry…craving real solutions for improving our wellbeing. To make matters worse, we are bombarded by ever growing new, improved, and ‘supposedly cheaper’ travel and health care options. It can be not only overwhelming, but confusing and time consuming to find what’s best for us.

In order to get relaxation and relief we find ourselves hunched over a computer researching what’s out there.  Or we find the need to spend a lot of time asking our friends about their experiences– comparing notes and considering our needs…all so we can hopefully make ‘the right decision.’  Rejuvenation has a high cost in front-end investigation — when you’re running on empty that can be an exhausting undertaking!

Our need for renewal is shown in current trends in spending. The future of holistic health and travel, are already and will continue to be some of the fastest-growing global businesses.  According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), travel and tourism is one of the largest industries in the World.  In 2009, the combined global revenue was reported at $1.87 trillion…By 2019, it is predicted to be a 3.39 trillion business.

Everyday, more and more people are growing dissatisfied with traditional medicine. Instead they are turning their attention to holistic forms of health care for long-term, cost-effective, preventive solutions.  We, as a society, need to move away from the costly, pathology-driven practices, to address our ever-increasing health issues. Many people now agree, it’s a fragmented, outdated, and disempowering systematic approach. In fact, “Americans spend over $27 billion on out-of-pocket expenses on holistic healthcare each year. More than a third of us use some form of holistic services, and total visits to alternative health care providers exceed the number of visits to medical doctors each year.”

Being that we as a society spend a lot of money on both travel and health, it is surprising that very little exists to support combining them both in a high quality way. We can no longer afford to compartmentalize our lives. Out of necessity, we will have to be more careful how we approach our resources in areas such as health and our limited leisure travel time. The ‘Travel Lotus’ blog, will be a seamless and unique resource for all. We want to be a big part of the solution towards health-travel integration.

Enjoy the Journey!

-Melinda London, Travel Lotus