You are the best person to know where you want to travel, when you want to travel, and how to make it uniquely your trip.
Sometimes, however, it can be daunting to figure out where to begin. The goal is by the time you have gone through the steps below, you will have identified where you want to go on your next adventure.
- Brainstorm places you would love to see.
- Research when is the best time to go to each place.
- Explore what there is to do once you have narrowed down your trip location to the top 2 or
Brainstorm
What does brainstorming mean?
A group discussion to produce ideas or solve problems.
Oxford Dictionary
To start, I created a table in Microsoft Excel (any application that will support a table will suffice) where I could capture places that I dreamed of going. Here is what my table looked like when I started:
I then started filling out the places I would love to see without any regard to cost, travel time to get there, etc. How did I come up with the places I wanted to see? This is where the above mentioned “group discussion” comes in. It first started with my husband and I just listing places we remembered talking about over the years. After the initial list was done, I then talked to friends about their vacations, and if it sounded fascinating, I wrote it down. If I saw a picture of an amazing waterfall, mountain, or ocean, I would find out where it was and then write it down.
There is no right or wrong answer. There is no limit as to how many places you can list. The intent is to just start capturing your “I would love to go to ….” places so you can refer to this when you get the “itch” and want to go somewhere.
Below is what my initial list looked like – it is constantly changing and being updated, so it will look different 1, 2, 3 months from now. You will notice I have not made any notes or comments in the months, yet. I add that information after I have researched when to go.
Research When to Go
Now that you have your initial list of locations, the next step is to start noting when the best months are to visit them. As you are doing your research, make sure to note if there are any months to avoid.
How do you go about finding this information? Google is your friend. Do a search for “best time to visit _____”, and see what information comes up.
For example, Amsterdam is on my list (based on a recommendation from a friend). When I type “best time to visit Amsterdam“, I received the following result:
“The best time to visit Amsterdam is typically from late April to early May, when the weather is mild and the tulips are in bloom. However, the city is busy with tourists during this time, so be prepared for crowds. If you’re looking for a quieter trip, consider visiting Amsterdam in late September or October.”
Based on what I find, I will shade months either green, yellow, or red to easily see which months are more favorable than others. Using the above example (and that I want to see the tulips), I would shade April and May in my spreadsheet. However, since I like to avoid crowds, I would make May “red” since it is a month which is busier than if I went in April.
Here is what my updated location table looks like after I have done my research and I shaded in the various months:
The reason why March for Amsterdam is also shaded “green”, although a little lighter in shade is because there are tulips in March, just not as many of them.
Another example is Switzerland. I have already visited Switzerland; however, I would love to go in the spring to see the waterfalls raging with the snow melts in the mountains. In doing my research, I discovered that April is when the farmers fertilize the fields to ensure it is complete before all of the tourists arrive. Visiting Switzerland with a strong manure stench in the air is not my idea of a vacation. So, now I do not need to keep remembering to avoid Switzerland in April – I have already noted it and will plan around it.
Just recently, my husband and I were trying to figure out where to go in September. We pulled out our table, saw what places were ideal for September, and planned a 2-week trip to Iceland.
I do not have a formal definition of what each of the colors mean other than dark green is “GREAT” and red is “AVOID”. What types of things should you think about when color-coding your table?
- Are there only certain times when things happen -seeing the fall foliage on the US East Coast is not going to occur in June. So only note the months when it will occur.
- Do you want to avoid cold? Going to Australia and New Zealand in June-August are some of the coldest months, so you may want to shade those as red.
- What months are rainy? Do you mind if it rains? What about monsoon or hurricane season?
Each place is different and there might be different reasons why a time is better or worse. Shade accordingly based on what resonates with you.
Explore What to do
You have your list and you now want to travel. What month(s) are you thinking about, and which places are best to go to during that time? You should (hopefully) have a few options shaded green for that time frame. Assuming you cannot visit them all at once, which one do you choose? This is time to figure out what you would/could do when you get there.
I find this the most interesting part of my trip planning. By researching various locations, you will start to learn about history, cultures, and activities you never knew about before. This will help you determine how much time you should plan for your trip, or if you limited on time, what you should prioritize in seeing. Your trip can be one location (Iceland) or multiple locations (England, France, and Switzerland). Normally, once I complete this step, I have a leaning as to where I would like to travel to next. But to start????
When I am exploring what to do at various locations, I leverage my friends, Google, and pre-defined tours.
Starting with Friends – do you know someone who has traveled to where you are interested in going?
- What did they do?
- What did they see?
- When did they go?
- How long were they there?
- What would they skip?
- Would they go back?
- What would they have done differently?
The last 2 questions are where you will unearth some nuggets on what to avoid or how to plan your trip better.
Google (or Bing, or….) search engine – I search on “Best things to see in ……”, and then go through the results. You can tailor your search to focus on your interests – sports, national parks, SCUBA Diving, history, food, etc. For example, if I type in “Best things to see in London“, below is one of the results:
By looking through the above results. you can see what other people and companies are doing. Look for patterns where something is recommended more than once – these are normally the highlights of the area.
Now for pre-defined tours – What?!?! I thought you didn’t like tours! In this situation, exploring pre-defined tours can be helpful. Why? When looking at multiple tour sites, I am looking for the following information:
- How much do they cost? Every once in a while a tour is cheaper than going solo. This normally happens if the tour company is able to obtain a group discount. Otherwise, the cost of the tour reinforces why it is worth doing a little extra leg work and going on your own.
- Where do the tours go? What do they see? How much time does the tour company spend there? Do multiple tour companies go to the same place? This will help your narrow down what to do and what to see.
- Does the tour company enable priority access to places that have long lines, include a place that is hard to book, is the place remote and hard to get to, etc.? For example, continuing with the London theme, Bletchley Park is not easily accessible if you do not have a car, and a day tour might be a better option.
Where can you find tour options? My primary source is Trip Advisor. There, I can search for “London” and if I select “Things to Do“, it shows me a varietal list of activities that can be done in and around London. I also like that it includes reviews and ratings from people that have chosen those tours so I have some idea as to how good they might be or what the experience is.
Take the time to gather this information; see it as an opportunity to learn about a place you may not be familiar with. Knowing what possible adventures await enables you to build a list of places you want to visit, activities you want to do, and how much time you should plan for. The biggest challenge I face is my list is longer than the time I have. I either need to start taking some items off my list (this is where priority comes in) or extend my planned travel time.
Once you have captured what you want to see for your travel destination options, take a step back and look at it. Does one itinerary look more appealing/interesting than the other? If so, then you have identified the next place you want to travel to!