How To Find Your Travel Mojo
How To Find The Travel Style That Suits You Best
Travel is a highly personal event. Like birthdays, it happens for everyone but we all feel differently about them, celebrate differently and have vastly differing expectations for others regarding them. If you are not a travel addict/lover/dreamer, at some point in your lives I am convinced that you will either be forced to travel or will eventually have a desire to. This post is for both of those people. The dreamers and the dragged along. The goal of this is to not give you a specific plan perfect for you, you must find that yourself. The goal is to help you find the right questions to ask and thoughts to ponder as you begin making your plans to ensure you have the best trip possible.1. The first question that you always have to ask is: What is my budget?Budgets are so personal. We are totally cheapscapes. Our good friends are big spenders. They want to do every big attraction and believe in paying for an experience. (we will talk about this more in the group question, but obviously they are not our travel buddies) This completely depends on your personality, your bank account, your willingness to plan/wing it/adventure, and your expectations. The first thing you should do is either say 'I have x amount in the bank to spend' or 'this is what I want to do and it requires 'x amount and I will save that amount over my planning time'. The answer to this question will determine and direct the next few steps as it is the reality check you need to get off Pinterest and into your own real world.2. Where do I want to go?This is assuming you do not have a dream destination in mind or the above questioned just knocked your super expensive dream location out of the running. First, answer international or within your own country? Then narrow it down further: within driving distance? Multiple places in one country/continent? This will be highly determined by your budget. Now, evaluate this location realistically with the next question concerning time.3. How much time will I be able to spend?Be honest about how long you have and, more importantly, what you can do in that time frame. If you are going to have to fly more than a few hours and face a huge time difference (and there's almost always a commute to exactly where you are going from the airport), then a quick, less than a week trip is not, generally, worth it to spend big money. Find a time when you can travel over an ocean and spend at least a week really exploring. You must factor in how much of your time, travel+jet lag/time changes eat up. So be honest about this! Don't try to cram too much in as you will regret it. But! This does not at all apply to layovers! If you just happen to have a lay over in a cool city and can extend it past a few hours, by all means! Go out and see a whirlwind of a tour! That's essentially a free + not really a choice to be made trip! So choose your travel destination based on how much time you have start to finish, from your house and back again, and what your expectations are as evaluated in the next question.
4. What are your expectations for the trip?Maybe you have two whole weeks and a huge budget. You can take Europe by storm! But, let's be honest. You are tired, like really tired. The reason you have all that money and time off is because you just worked non stop for 7 months or a year or 5 years and actually are taking a vacation for the first time in all those years. Maybe it's time you check into a fully inclusive resort/spa because face it: you need to relax. Just because your friend says she would TOTALLY see Europe if she were you, she's not you. So go where you want to go and do the things you want to do. But maybe you are one of those 'big spenders'. If you expect to see and do EVERYTHING, then don't pick a remote island that doesn't even have roads. Go somewhere that never sleeps and is oozing with tourists traps. Spend your money the way that makes you happy and invigorates you and will bring you home full of excitement and balance.Here are your questions to help determine your expectations for your trip: Do you want to relax? Party? See/do everything? Do you want to cook your own meals or eat out? Do you want to go somewhere that you don't speak the language? Do you want to go somewhere that is very easy to navigate or that is a challenge and an adventure to figure out? Do you want to choose what to do each day or would you rather have it planned for you?Ok, now hopefully you have chosen your destination. You are going to London for 2 weeks and you are going to see EVERYTHING. Or you are going to Bora Bora for 10 days and you are doing nothing but drinking on the beach and getting a tan. Maybe you are headed to Seattle for the week to wander through coffee shops and local handmade stores and are splurging your extra money you are saving by staying semi-local on a fancy dinner or a nice night in a fancy hotel. With the budget, location and goals of the trip decided, you have to actually plan your trip.
5. Are you a 'go with the flow' or a detailed itinerary maker?Are you someone who likes to just show up and see where you end up? Great! Then just book your ticket and go. Best of luck to you! You will come home with a suitcase full of crazy adventures, new friends and an amazing new take on life. Does just thinking about that send you into an anxiety attack? Then let's do some planning. You need to know yourself to determine where you can go. Under developed countries may be beautiful and cheap, but they do not have very reliable systems. The bus to your city/hotel may be there or may not. If not, what will you do? (I promise you WILL figure it out) But you have to be aware of the possibility of this and determine if that is true, will you want to spend your vacation 'figuring it out'. If not, book everything ahead of time and leave nothing to chance. Have a detailed itinerary, emergency numbers, translations, etc.6. To group or not to group?Ok, this is one of the hardest questions to answer because we all love our friends and want to share in adventure and experience, but this can also lead to disaster and the end of a frienship. Traveling with your own family is hard enough, so adding others into the mix can make for some serious chaos and also the most fun you've ever had. Choosing travel buddies is up next to choosing someone to marry on my list. Don't be afraid to say no if you feel like these people travel in a different style than you or you just cant imagine being stuck in a tent during a hurricane with them for 9 days straight. Seriously that is the test you need to run through in your mind when deciding. If you do feel that you could all survive the hurricane, then have some really honest discussions about time, finances and activity expectations. You will need to all sit down, separately, answer the questions above so everyone has honest answers and not crowd pleasing answers, then come back together and go through them as a group. Go in with a clear plan of we split everything 50/50, we get separate rooms, we split up during some days, etc. No surprises, no hurt feelings, no pouting, no unbalanced bills. Be honest. And then be totally flexible. Then state what you want to do exactly. Then find a way to either split up for some activities or find a compromise to make everyone happy. So goes life....7. Leave home well.My mom always made us clean like maniacs before a trip because "there's nothing like coming home to a clean house" and oh man, she was so right. Take care of everything. Leave nothing to hang over your head while on your trip and this also means letting go of a few things that just wont get done and being ok with that.
Ok, you have picked your trip, planned every (or no) detail and you're ready to go. Now you just have to follow the adventure and let your travel mojo flow this will happen as you have set yourself up well on the trip that is right for you. Our Best Travel Mojo:The time that we felt the most like we were in our travel element was on our USA road trip. We had planned well (for a whole year), we had left well and we had an unquenchable spirit for adventure and flexibility. We set out to drive to the grand canyon and back, camping along the way, stopping when we felt like it. We quickly realized that we had actually planned our route terribly. What I thought was a two month trip, was only about two weeks....so we improvised! We rerouted our trip to be coast to coast. We drove from Georgia to California to New York and then back down the east coast to home sweet home. But that wasn't our mojo, our mojo was the actual sitting in the car and driving through Nowhereville America. We were at peace, having fun, enjoying each other, listening to the audiobooks, planning our next stop, eating sandwhiches, taking photos, making pit stops, laughing, dreaming that we could do this the rest of our life. We had found our mojo. It was somewhere in between napping all afternoon and seeing the coolest monument/attraction etc. We need downtime and driving in the car, just hanging out, was exactly that for us. We like adventure, not knowing where we are going or are camping that night or what cool roadside attraction we might run into, but having our car and credit card and being in a place that spoke our language was the perfect balance of adventure and security for us. We are both also constantly at odds with whether we are city or country lovers and this trip was 50/50 of both. It was also the perfect balance of 'alone' time and 'group' time. About every other stop we made was to see friends (who graciously feed us, let us sleep on their couch and washed our clothes) and this was always exactly what we needed. We found a happy balance, but we had 2 months to find it.Our Worst Travel Mojo:The time we felt farthest our travel mojo: Thailand. Between a broken phone, deathly food poisoning, a missed flight, no where taking credit card, no ATMs and different expectations between us of exploring/relaxing. We were totally out of sync with everything. This was due to a lack of planning and communication. This trip was meant to be the Thailand version of our USA road trip. We were visiting 4 very different cities over our Christmas break in quick succession. But, I did not plan well because everyone said 'you can just figure it out' and we did, but not as fast as I would have liked. We were also exhausted from work and needed to relax and have a break from the city, but I felt like we were missing out by just sitting in our room. We should have arranged our itinerary to be beach time first, city exploring last. We should have brought enough cash with us and actually had estimated out a budget to avoid stress and ATM hunting. I should have printed out all our tickets, itinerary's, etc. Now I always do all of those things when traveling to a foreign country, especially one that doesn't speak english.From these trips though we learned what we liked and didn't and what our best travel mojo is. We use these learning experiences to continually plan our trips now to ensure we have the best time, get the most from our money and choose locations that our best for our desires.You don't have to have a great and terrible trip to compare and contrast to determine what the best means of travel is for you. If you will just take the time, be thoughtful and honest and do a bit of research to choose the location and type of adventure that best suits your travel mojo you can find it without the stress of learning the hard way. Here are a few more questions to ask yourself when trying to determine your travel mojo/personality:How much downtime do I need?City or beach/mountains or mix?Up early or up all night?Local cuisine or fast food?Cash or credit card?Slow moving or fast paced?Do I have to see everything in a city or is just wandering around a beautiful park enough?Do I care more about having a good story to tell or do I want a deeply personal experience?Do I want to feel/look/act/eat/shop like one of the locals?Do I want to be in charge of my own transportation or is public transit ok?Do I want the option to cook for myself?Is taking a guided tour worth the money to truly explore something?Do I want to be continually on the go by moving locations or do I like a home base?Do I need internet on my phone to help me navigate/plan or am I willing to use maps and ask for directions?Do I like to linger and peruse or am I a 'stop, see it, snap the pic and move on' kind of person?Do I want the option to stay longer or move on in the moment?Do I want to truly experience a place or just get a quick taste?Am I willing to camp/hostel/sleep in the car/etc to be cheap?Am I willing to learn the language (a bit) or be totally clueless?Think about how you will have to carry your luggage in this country. Would it be better to have backpacks or rolling suitcases?A few tips for choosing your ideal location:If you live in the city, don't always vacation in the city.If you love to shop, go somewhere known for shopping, etc.If you have lots of food issues, go somewhere where you speak the language and they have similar foods that you can eat.Plan to double your money/expensive and always cut your luggage in half.Play to your strengths. Choose somewhere you can thrive.
So tell me, what is your travel mojo?
For even more help planning your next trip, use my printable travel planning itineraries. The pack includes a Printable Trip Itinerary Planner, Go. See. Do Bucket List, Packing List, To Do List and a Vacation Art Print.To learn more about how to use these planners and to purchase your reprintable bundle to help guide you through all your trips, click here.