Your Personality Type Affects Your Travel

While many things can annoy us when we travel, there are actually some things that only annoy certain people depending on their personality type. Introverts can sometimes find all the people around particularly stressful while extroverts might find travel to sometimes be lonely.

Last week, we talked all about introverts and strategies to help them recharge on the road. In this episode, we’re going to cover the characteristics of extroverts and strategies to help them stay connected with people so they can grow their energy throughout their trip.

Are You an Introvert or Extrovert?

There are many different ways to determine whether you are an introvert or extrovert, but I think the easiest way is to look at how you prefer recharge at the end of a long day. While Introverts recharge by being alone, Extroverts recharge by being around other people.

It’s also important to keep in mind that we’re all somewhere along a spectrum between these personality types. No one is entirely introverted or entirely extroverted. We all have some elements of both introverts and extroverts, but most of us fall a little more towards one or the other.

And when you determine your personality type, then you can use it to your advantage to help you recharge faster.

Extroverts Are…

• Recharged by time spent with others
• Take pleasure in large social gatherings
• Find less reward in time spent alone
• More prone to boredom when alone
• Love networking
• Nemesis is Being Alone

Extroverted Television Characters:

Another way that can help you determine if you’re an extrovert is to look at some extroverted TV characters.

Joey from Friends: There were several episodes where Joey was extremely bored when he was alone and the rest of the time it seemed like he always enjoyed being around other people. Kind of like a Labrador Retriever, one of the most extroverted types of dogs.

Kramer from Seinfeld: He was constantly coming over to Jerry’s apartment to hang our or talk a classic sign of an extrovert.

Extroverted Theme Song:

Or do the lyrics of this song,  One Love by Bob Marley resonate with you at all?

Let’s Get Together and Feel Alright.

What can be more extroverted than wanting to get together so that you can feel better?

Problems Facing Extroverted Travelers

On the surface, it may seem like extroverts are always happy traveling because people are always around which provide them with lots of opportunities to connect with others. But the truth is that travel can be isolating even if there are people around you. If you’re an extrovert and you’re traveling alone it can also be difficult to find meaningful interactions with people which can also be draining. In short, extroverts want to connect in meaningful ways frequently so lets talk about some strategies that extroverts can use to help them do this on the road.

10 Easy Ways for Extroverts to Connect on the Road

1. Plane Talk

While it may seem like most people on the plane want to simply watch a movie and chill out, the truth is there are often tons of extroverts on your flight that are also wanting to connect in some way.

On my flight back from Denver last week, two people were sitting behind me that didn’t know each other but decided to strike up a conversation between them. And these obvious extroverts talked the entire flight! Now while that might sound miserable to introverts, you could tell these guys absolutely loved it!

2. Use Uber or Lyft

Another easy way to connect with others on the road is taking Uber or Lyft. It seems like most of the drivers are also extroverts which is probably why they chose this gig to begin with and that interaction during can also help recharge you.

3. Stay in Local Housing

Hotels can sometimes feel kind of sterile with few opportunities to really get to know anybody, but if you find a way to stay somewhere more local then you have a much better opportunity to meet and get to know the people in the area.

Rent a Local Apartment: If you find yourself returning to the same city week after week, you might just want to crunch the numbers and see if it makes sense to rent a local apartment instead of staying in a hotel every trip. Now you truly have a home away from home.

AirBnB: Another option is to rent local apartment through Air BnB where it has never been easier to stay where locals stay.

4. Hang Out in the Lobby

As simple as this sounds, it can actually be a great strategy for extroverts. Instead of going back to your room, why not have a seat in the lobby and get some work done there? It gives you a chance to meet your colleagues when they check or meet other travelers .

5. Stay Connected to your Family Back Home

Traveling can sometimes be lonely so staying in touch with those you love back home can go a long way to refuel your tank. And with Apple’s Facetime, Skype and Zoom it’s never been easier.

And instead of just doing the obligatory check in phone call that nobody likes, why not do a virtual dinner with your family? You can order room services and have your family join you with a video call and they can setup a laptop wherever you normally sit at the table at home. And now you can all sort of feel like you’re actually there together.

6. Eat With Other People

Most extroverts are probably doing this already, but just as a reminder if you’re an extrovert it’s a good idea to book lunches and dinners with other people during your trip to give you that much needed connection and conversation.

7. Eat at the Bar

If you don’t know anybody in the area, then eating at the bar can be a much better option that sitting by yourself at an isolated table. The is going to offer a lot more opportunities to meet and talk with other people than some private table.

8. Connect with Friends in the City

Another great way to make traveling more engaging for extroverts is to meet up with old friend you may have in the city your traveling to. And the easiest way to do this is simply post something on social media saying you’ll be in Los Angeles next week, anybody want to meet up?

9. Plan Something Fun with Friends or Colleagues in that Area

Back in Episode 17: Mixing Business and Pleasure, we talked about the importance of having some fun on your business trips to avoid travel burnout. Planning something fun for you and your colleagues to do instead of the usual obligatory business dinner, can actually go a long way to building better relationships with your co-workers and have some fun doing it.

A few years ago a colleague of mine was flying out to LA to meet me for a meeting and I mentioned that I was trying to learn how to surf and he suggested we take the afternoon off and go surfing. And even though he’d never surfed before and was instantly better than me, we had a great afternoon that went a long way to building a meaningful working relationship and friendship.

10. Find a Local Meetup

And finally, you can always look up a local cooking class or meetup group on whatever topic you find interesting. There are so many different groups in just about every city that you’re sure to find some group where you can connect with others.

Go Ahead Reconnect!

So go ahead and intentionally try out some of these strategies so that on your next trip you return home more energized than when you left.

And now that you know all about Extroverts, check out Episode 21: Introverts Travel Survival Guide so that you can get up to speed on their type and how best to recharge on the road.