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Average Americans, says the U.S. Travel Association,  "get the least amount of vacation time among countries in the industrialized world… (and work) one more month per year today than in 1976."  If you’re too busy to tear yourself away from your psychology studies or practice, you’re missing out on many Benefits of Travel for your health, productivity, and relationships.

Travel can provide rich personal insights. "Being cut loose from the habitual is the essential gift of travel, as uncomfortable as it may be psychologically fruitful," says Alain de Botton in The Guardian piece "Ideas for modern living: the benefits of travel." "As much as any destination, it is isolated periods in untried hotel rooms, in Paleozoic canyons, in disintegrating palaces and empty service station restaurants that facilitate an underlying psychological or spiritual point to our journeys."

What Justin Francis calls "deep" travel can broaden horizons. His Geographical article "The Future of Travel" talks about "getting under the skin of a place… about appreciating local distinctiveness—as much about the smell of fresh spices in Kerala in India and the colourful tailors of Hoi An in Vietnam as about rediscovering the exotic and locally distinct we closer to home."

Sharon McDonnell’s New York Times piece "Finding New Inspiration on Business Trips" tells how traveling can "spur inspiration." McDonnell quotes Jeannine McGlade, co-author of Stimulated! Habits to Spark Your Creative Genius at Work, who says "in a new environment, you have what we call ‘eyes wide open.’ It’s not the ’same old, same old’ where you tend to get into a rut and aren’t alert to having a ’spark moment.’ Things are different and fresh during travel. You’re seeing things from a different perspective and you’re really paying attention."

All ages can benefit from travel. In Childhood Education’s "Let’s Take a Trip!," Rita Newman says that children need "experience thinking, planning, analyzing and building toward goals… While on vacation, families can help build these skills by being aware of how much the trip could extend a child’s education and of the role they can play."  And people "on the wise side of 55" who combine global travel with learning via Elderhostel programs, says Gary Turbak in VFW Veterans of Foreign Wars Magazine’s "Learn While You Travel," enjoy "lectures, discussions, demonstrations, field trips, performances, films, hands-on involvement and other instructional activities and discover "ongoing friendships."

Strong observational skills, says Bruce Garrison, are essential to good travel writing. And they can be developed, he notes in his book Professional Feature Writing (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004), 279, "through discipline and practice."

Keeping "an eye or ear open for new possibilities" can help you discover unexpected stories and exciting new angles, says Garrison, who explains these observational approaches used by professional writers:

A good observer will use the senses to the fullest and convey this to the reader. Consider colors, sounds, and smells. Notice textures and tastes. All of these, if written with the right adjectives and adverbs in your story, will take the reader to that special place that you write about each time. Veteran Washington Post travel writer L. Peat O’Neil has written freelance travel features for major magazines in addition to her own newspaper. She has also authored a book, Travel Writing: A Guide to Research, Writing and Selling. O’Neil (1996) argued that the best tool of a travel writer is a journal kept during a trip:

Whether you call it a diary, log, notebook or journal, the written record of immediate impressions is the travel writer’s most valuable tool. Sentences and phrases reported as they happen or a few hours later are vigorous with the energy of the experience, full of fresh detail. With his or her senses alert to surroundings, the observant writer jots down colors, sounds, smells, word sketches of people and scenes. At this notebook stage, the writer’s eye is like a magpie collecting elements that shine, cramming the journal page with description. (p. 30)

O’Neil uses a small spiral notebook. However, writers can use a wide range of devices—such as pocketsize notepads, hand-held tape recorders, and

We’ll all likely get "lots of criticism in our lifetime," says Hunter Nuttall, so we should know how to deal with it. Writing for motivation and self-improvement site PickTheBrain.com, Nuttall explores "The Art of Taking Criticism" and suggests starting by checking "the critic’s motives" and not taking the bait if critics "just want to provoke a reaction." Respond to vague complaints by asking "what you can do better." To be truly helpful, he notes, critics "need to come up with specifics."  

And "If the critic doesn’t know the whole story, talk to them about it."  Nuttall recommends saying something like, "You know, I hear what you’re saying, and I’d really like to be able to do it that way. But the last time I tried something like that, it didn’t work because _________. How can I get around that?" Finally, don’t get defensive. "If someone tells you something you can improve, they’ve done you a favor." So thank them.

While "all criticism hurts," acknowledges Judith Sills in the Psychology Today article "Criticism: Taking the Hit," the first rule – especially when you’re on the receiving end of negative feedback in the professional world – is to "sit back and take it in." Use the active listening tactic of "rephrasing the criticism. Mirroring under the fire of critical assault requires calm focus, but it works like magic to make the boss stop browbeating you."  This also lets you move "on to what you think and how you can use the negative information to your own advantage."

Then give "yourself a maximum of 72 hours to sulk" and ask "yourself three key questions: What part of this is true? Have I ever heard this before? What would I have to give up if I changed?" She notes, "The answers won’t necessarily come easily, but your thinking will be directed toward professional development…" And Sills suggests remembering "criticism’s secret compliment: It comes most readily when you are moving up."

In his College Student Journal piece "Constructive Criticism: A Tool for Improvement," Ken Petress emphasizes, "All suggestions do not have to be followed; however, when the critic is a thoughtful, representative member of your eventual audience, it is wise to give added weight to implicit messages that your premise, intention, or strategy may be flawed." And he adds, "If one asks for criticism, that request needs to be honestly sought and graciously received."

Whether people simply value your feedback or you’re "a manager reviewing your staff’s work," chances are you’ve been asked to review and evaluate another person’s writing, says James Bell. In the T&D article "Talkin’ ‘Bout Writing: How to Discuss a Colleague’s Writing While Preserving Your Working Relationship and Career" (T&D. Volume: 56. Issue: 12. Publication Date: December 2002. Page Number: 57+. © 2002 American Society for Training & Development, Inc.; © 2004 Gale Group), he notes that it is possible "to offer effective feedback without stepping too hard on the writer’s toes."

Here are a few of Bell’s useful guidelines:

Clarify the goal. A request to review writing can come in many forms. Some examples: Would you take a look at this? What should I put in this section? Is this what you wanted? Before you offer feedback, you must determine your purpose. In all cases, you probably want the writing to communicate effectively, adhere to company standards, and uphold a positive image of the company. But which goal do you want to emphasize: editing the text or improving the writer?

If you focus on correcting the text, the document will improve but the writer probably won’t. He may not understand the corrections, be overwhelmed by the number and variety of errors, and learn, above all else, that you’re a good writer and should do all future editing. If, however, your objective is to help the person become a better writer, then you have a much more interesting but difficult job to do. We’ll assume the latter purpose.