Just when I thought I‘d be sitting still for a while, I always find myself on a plane. My ’travel wish-list’ as you may call it seems to constantly be filling itself up with new destinations as fast as I can check them off.
A lot of you have been asking recently how I decide where to travel. Between visiting Asia, Europe and Central America all in the last few months, it seems like I’ve been bouncing back and forth all over the map with no rhyme or reason.
I get messages from people telling me that I “need to visit Turkey”, asking me if I'll “ever make it to South Africa”, and questioning me on why I “haven’t been to India yet?”
All legitimate questions.
I usually reply with something along the lines of how I‘d like to visit there (because let’s face it, is there anywhere I don’t want to travel to?) and that hopefully I’ll make it there in the next year or so.
But really, how do I decide where to travel?
Honestly, most of my travel decisions are based on four factors:
1. Countries I’m passionate about – Everyone has favorite countries or places they’re just naturally drawn to that they want to visit. So if given the opportunity to visit such places, of course, I'd choose to go.
2. Specific events or festivals – I’m a huge culture nerd and there are so many festivals and holidays I want to experience around the world. If possible, I will try to plan my travels around these types of events.
3. Places for work – I try to keep up with what’s going on in the travel, tech and blogging world, and that often entails traveling for conferences, trade shows and meetings. If I can extend that work trip to visit nearby places, I'd certainly take the opportunity!
4. The money to time ratio – A dilemma many people face, especially in the US. Often I may only have a few days that I can spend somewhere, so I look at what’s most cost effective. In other words, if I only have five days, I’m obviously not going to be buying an expensive flight from Chicago to Singapore, which would have me wasting two of those days in travel time.
How I wish that I could just throw a dart at a map and go wherever it lands, but sometimes that just isn’t practical for matters involving interest… or safety. But recently, I’ve learned about the next best option– momondo’s “Trip Finder”!
It’s like throwing your dart on a digital map curated by your interests, time constraints, and budget.
You simply input your departure destination, followed by your vacation preferences and hit search. Voila! Your travel destination is decided.
Well, it’s at least narrowed down to a few super awesome choices.
I’ve actually had a lot of fun playing around with this feature. I love being able to simply select that I prefer destinations filled with culture, located in Asia, and that I don’t want to spend more than $1,000 on airfare. I was then shown some great options such as travel to India in January for only $830, or that I could return to Hong Kong for a visit in November for only $700.
Seeing all these great suggestions with enticing photos and prices laid out made me get really excited at the possibility to travel. Plus that fact that it’s only a few more quick clicks to actually purchase those trips on site, made it even more convenient and worth my time.
So don’t worry if you don’t know where you should travel or have trouble picking destinations. Just sit down and think of what really matters to you when it comes to travel…or perhaps give momondo’s Trip Finder a try! But be warned, it’s addicting!
Copyright © 2014 by BesuDesu Abroad. This article was written by Beth Williams and originally published on BesuDesu Abroad
