How often are we eager to escape from our exhausting professional duties in order to get energized? How often do we wish we could take time to learn new skills that bring us better personal and professional outcomes? How many times have we tried without getting the results we hoped for?

As a professional who has spent several years working in the tourism and professional development fields, I know from experience that this often happens. We want to find ways to re-energize, be happier, or create better versions of ourselves, but we do not necessarily know how to go about it.

Science-based concepts from the field of positive psychology, experiential education, and studies of the effective use of leisure time can be intermingled to cultivate well-being in individuals through “positive travel” that leads to the active involvement of the senses (mind, body, and heart). Traveling is, most of the time, a pleasurable and enjoyable activity. Applying positive psychology principles to travel often delivers even better results.

In order to promote personal development, travel should be an exciting, enjoyable, and (moderately) challenging experience.

Drawing on a growing body of research, I came up with six goals to guide the development of travel experiences in order to enhance well-being. To illustrate each, I show how we brought each goal to life in 2014 when I put together a “positive travel experience” in the Mayan Rivera, Mexico, for some of my MAPP fellows and their relatives:

• 1) Recover from the stress of day-to-day lives – We detached psychologically from work stressors through activities such as floating down the lagoons of the gorgeous and isolated Biosphere Reserve of Sian K ́aan.

• 2) Gain more confidence – We challenged ourselves by trying out activities such as snorkeling and scuba diving in the open sea. We were guided by professionals in these domains, of course.

• 3) Create more meaning – We immersed ourselves in a Mayan community to learn about some of their ancient traditions (“gum making” for instance) and found an opportunity to observe turtle nesting.

• 4) Give back to the community you visit – We had “MAPP talks,” 10-minute presentations by each one of us to share our positive psychology knowledge with the local community.

• 5) Cultivate positive emotions – “MAPP Talks” took place in an amazing underground cave that served as our auditorium. The space heightened our senses and created a sense of awe.

I will share with you part of what Susan, mother of my dear MAPP friend, Sandra Adkins, wrote to me a few weeks after her positive travel experience:

Luis, I want to thank you for making our trip to Mexico something we will never forget. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to not only see but experience it. Words can’t describe how amazing it was to sit at the edge of a sea turtle’s nest and watch her lay her eggs then cover them with sand and head back out to sea. I smile every time I think of it or tell the story to family and friends.

I dearly love the ocean (especially turtles) but also have a great fear of drowning that goes back to my childhood. I have always wanted to snorkel, and the thought of snorkeling with sea turtles made me want it more. I knew my fear could stop me, and it just about did. Had it not been for our guide, I would have never made it. With my trusty life preserver and our guide I was able to see sea turtles swimming beside me and under me.

Eating traditional Mayan food, seeing how gum is made, visiting Mayan ruins, climbing to the top of the observation tower, floating down the lagoons, and listening to our guides explain Mayan traditions with such passion was fantastic!

This was by far the best vacation ever! I was so taken with Akumal, its culture and people that I am seriously considering the possibility of becoming a turtle conservationist when I retire.

Paraphrasing words from a poem by José Emilio Pacheco, an icon of Mexican literature, I would like to give you a final piece of advice: If you travel, do not go back home the way you were. It would be such a waste. Take it as an opportunity to create a better version of yourself!