Whether you are newbie or a seasoned traveller, choosing a destination or deciding in between desired locations, can be a very difficult task.
It is, not only, challenging, because of the enormous amount of places to choose from, but also, because the last thing a tourist wants is to traveller to a disappointing destination. The aim is to reach and create unforgettable memories from your travels.
Whilst, an improvised and spontaneous trip can turn out great, usually, when travellers are undeceived in between destinations, it is crucial that they plan their travel in advanced.
One of the most common ways travellers pick their destinations is by relying on friends and family’s advise and recommendations or based on social media reviews. The truth is that the process of deciding where to travel next or choosing a location over another one, depends on a lot of important factors.
Some of those, range from the cost of living in a certain destination, safety, to the right season. These are, what can make for a successful or disastrous trip.
Where should I travel next? is definitely, the question that we get the most from people, even from experienced travellers.
If you are unsure of where to go next or you have a couple of awesome destinations in your head and you find it hard to make up your mind about them, you have come to the right place.
Also, if you have a couple of destinations in mind that have inspired you, do not disregard it right away, simply, go through the following process below and see if it could be the right choice.
Your travels can be about many other things, rather than, only visual, mouth to mouth information or even, trends. Understanding the reasons behind your motivation to travel, can help in making a decision about where to go next.
Typical motivations can include:
-Living an adventure (think of a safari in Africa, or trekking in Iceland)
-Fulfil a specific wish, like a break from stress, gap year or similar.
-Fulfil a particular experience, like a food trip, a beer trip, a volunteering position…
Please note, that travel is all about inspiration, about deep urges and these days, is really hard to ficus on those aspects, but all the social media bombarding and visual stimulus.
We are from the opinion that traveling to a place because it is trending, is often a mistake, it leads to disappointments, they tend to be quite expensive and ultimately, deceptive.
It is a way better and fulfilling experience to chose a travel plan and destination that suits your interests and needs.
We have put together this post to help you planning your next getaway and we will give you the recommendations on how to decide where to travel if feeling conflicted about a couple of places.
FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN PLANNING YOUR TRIP.
CURRENT SITUATION AND TYPE OF TRAVELLER.
Evaluating your current and personal situation before you dig in the possible destinations to travel next, is pretty crucial. Essentially, answering yourself the questions of why do you want to travel? What is the purpose of your trip?
Ask yourself, do you feel burn out from work and need a break? are you looking for an adventurous trip to break the daily routine? are you after a spiritual, self improvement retreat? or, perhaps, a romantic gateway? are you simply open to anything and only spend your holiday time off?
Depending upon the purpose of your travel, the choice of place and experience, will vary greatly. Your mindset and personal preferences will definitely influence which destination you will end up choosing.
Defining what type of traveler you are and what you are after and expect out of your vacation time, is what is going to make the decision process easier and ultimately, having the most awesome experience out of your travel.
Firstly, would you prefer visiting busy cities or would you prefer peaceful mountain landscape, or perhaps, a seaside destination?
Secondly, would you prefer just go to a travel location and stay for totally of your holiday time or would you prefer to hope around to close by cities/places?
Lastly, what about your travel conditions? Are you the kind of tourist, who enjoys a place within a budget or would you prefer to stay over in a more upscale resort?
Deciding which kind of traveller you are (Learner, photographer, adventurer, foodie, Relaxer, party- animal, etc) is really important to determine where to go.
TRAVEL BUDGET.
It is obviously known and pretty self explanatory, that money is the key factor, when it comes to choose a vacation destination. We all know that traveling costs money.
If you are still trying to nail down the destination you wish to go, establishing a budget, will definitely, help you narrowing down the bucket list. It is a reality check!
If, instead, you have your trip all planed, then, this factor will serve you as a guide and help you in making the right spending choice while on the road.
Whilst, being spontaneous, grabbing a backpack and just go, is such a bohemian idea and a freeing experience, most tourists, would plan all the possible scenarios for their trips. These include, tickets, travel and health insurances, emergency backups and food.
Having a pretty clear idea of what your financial situation is and setting up a budget, will determine and will accomodate the choice of your destination, your stay, how much time, activities to undertake, etc.
Not only, it is important to be aware of your current cash flow situation, but also, it is equally important to set up how much money you will be willing and wish to spend during your travels.
Sometimes, it can be overwhelming to sit down and try to organise your finances, when planing your trip, but you have to be honest with yourself/ves and understand what and how you can afford your trip.
It is important to note that not everyone will have the same budget and specific needs for their trips. Building a travel budget will be completely different, based on the kind of traveller you are, where you intend to go, time available, what you want to get out of your trip, etc.
Whether you are planning on travelling for two weeks or a more extended holiday, here is our multistep process, that we’ll help you to organise your budget:
Dig in your finances.
When having a look at your expenses and bills versus your saved money, the first to consider before setting up final numbers, is to know ball park, how much you are willing/allowed to spend. This will put you a step closer to pick your destination.
Setting up your goals and putting a first thought together for your travel, in things like, when you wish to travel, what type of destination you are after and similar topics, is the right way to start building your budgeting process.
Arrange and define your expenses.
After having a look at the bulk of the money that you have allocated for your trip, you will be in a better position to determine your desired location and you will be able to better exclude the ones that are out of the chart.
Define what your major expenses would be, such as, plane tickets, health and travel insurance and daily bills for food, transport and activities. This, will also determine the location that you will end up choosing.
Once you have defined the major expenses total cost, compare it to your initial allocated budget for this trip. This way, you have a pretty clear idea of the remainder of the budget money and can better think of the specific activities that you may want to get out of your trip. This way, you can already nail down your destination, what to do there without overspending.
Staying within your allocated budget.
This can be one of the hardest things to do. It is often the case, that tourists, get all excited once they reach their location and they get carried away by all the things that they want to do and forget about the money they have set as their limit.
This can be a problem, since you should always have a pile of money for emergency and unexpected situations, despite having insurance.
One of the most important things to do is to set a daily budget, in other words, what you expect to spend everyday during your trip and stick to it, as much as, you can. It sounds easier than it actually is, but with some discipline, you will shine in your trip.
If you have trouble managing your travel funds manually or you are simply, not interested, there are other more automated ways to do it, like using an app. The one we like a lot is called XpenseTracker, where you are able to enter every single spending that you do during your trip and we check it everyday to ensure we are tight to our budget.
Lastly, keeping it local and low key, as much as, you can, will help you achieve those budget goals, like cheaping out in meals, taking public transport and cheaper accomodations. But again, this will depend on the kind of traveller you are, perhaps, you are more of a foodie and therefore, there will be more money allocated to that purpose instead.
SAFETY.
Safety is by far one of the main factors that will drive tourists to choose one destination or another completely different. This is crucial, as it can not only change your travel plans for the worse, but your physical integrity can be at risk too.
Choosing a place where the political and social environment is calmed and not in conflict, should always win over countries where, there are internal civil wars, gang conflicts and similar, that could affect the security in the streets, etc.
You need to research about the safety of the place you are thinking of, safety, not only, socially, but also, the accomodation, where you plan on staying, the streets around it, the area, is there a lot of robbery happening? Is there a lot of snatching, rape or murder going on in that area? is it safe to walk at night?
Your safety, should always come first, allocating a little bit of time to figure these things out are, definitely, worthwhile.
AVAILABLE TIME.
Another big important factor in deciding where to travel and where to go, especially, when you are in between destinations, is time. How much time available you have for this trip.
Is it in your plans to travel for a weekend only or two weeks, perhaps, a month?
Depending upon the amount of time the range of travel destinations will narrow down meaningfully.
The amount of time of your travel, will also determine whether you will be visiting one single destination or close-by ones. Try to plan ahead, from day trips or excursions, to longer travels.
The amount of time for your travel and actual length of your trip in the chosen destination, is one of the most important factors to keep in mind in order to decide on a destination.
SEASONALITY.
When thinking of travelling, one of the questions to ask yourself is “when do I want to travel?” Depending on the season you travel in, your trip can turn out in a completely different experience.
Would you want to travel during the high season of a country or would you, rather do it, in the low one, where there are less tourist, although, the weather might be worse? often times, it is not so much your decision, as much as, when your time is available, due to your working holidays schedule.
Also, is the weather important to you? Not all countries can be visited all year round or even if you could, if you travelled during the winter versus the summer, the same place can look very different.
We like to travel when it is, what is called, the “shoulder season”. In our opinion, this is the best time to travel. If you don’t really have another option but to stick to the holidays allocated from your workplace, then this factor is essential to you, as you will have to choose your location carefully.
There you go! Now you know, that defining your personal preferences, when it comes to destinations in your bucket lists, costs, time weather and motivations, can help you decide where you should and can go next!
Also, remember that planning a realistic budget, is one of the most important factors when it comes to deciding where your trip will be.
Not only, that, but also, the weather, seasonality and overall travel goals are super important to research about, rather than, just picking a trendy place that might turn out frustrating.