We all have them. Those shiny dreams of what we want to achieve one day. The books we’ll read, the cottage in the mountains to get away from the hustle-bustle of our city lives and the languages we’ll learn. Probably the most shining dream is of the places we’ll travel to across the world; that’ll we’ll just hop on a plane one day and see the world we’ve always wanted to see. One perfect day….when the puzzle of life falls into place.
But when is that perfect day going to arrive? Is it when you’ve secured your next promotion at the job or when you get married? Or is it when your young kids grow up…or maybe when your bank account is full?
The first thing you need to realise is….it’s none of these that’s holding you back. It’s not money, it’s not your job, nor your friends or your family. And it’s definitely not your family friend’s neighbours.
It’s you. You are so caught up in life’s day to day distractions that your travel dreams have been tucked away for THAT one day.
But there is no perfect day…no right time….to travel.
If you want to make your travel dreams come true it’s about time you wake up and take some action.
It’s all about priorities
Turning up at the airport with a packed suitcase and no idea of where you’ll be going is a much romanticised idea that also has a close to zero percent change of being followed through.
Just like any other achievement, if you want to make your travel dreams come true you need to make it a priority.
And no, that doesn’t mean scrolling through your Instagram feed and planning a hypothetical trip every weekend.
It means understanding what travel means to you….why do you want to travel? Is it to see the beauty the world has to offer or to understand local cultures? Or maybe to discover yourself or is it just a way to spend some undisturbed time with your loved ones? It could even be just to jazz up your Instagram profile.
There are no rights or wrongs….but knowing what is that one thing that drives you the most to travel will help you set in action a travel-scapade from where there is no looking back.
What’s holding you back
Now that you understand why you want to travel you’re well on your way to making travel a real priority.
Next up, you need to identify what’s holding you back….what challenges will you face along the way?
Is money a constraint? If so, how much do you need and by when? You can’t budget if you don’t know.
Are you time-poor? So much to see, so little time. Many of us are part of this club.This is where your priorities kick-in.
Once you are determined to travel you need to figure out a way to find more time. The only way to do that is to plan in advance.
When you plan ahead of time its surprising how simple it becomes to make a schedule that balances your travel with all your other priorities and necessities like your job.
Your friends and family have other distractions? Don’t wait….plan a solo trip! The adventure will be life changing.
How do you get the maximum out of your budget?
First you need to need to figure out how much you need and for that you need to know where you want to go.
Sure, you would have a bucket list that runs into multiple pages. Identify the top one (maybe two) places that you want to start with….you can’t plan without a destination in mind.
It may help to make a rough plan based on what you think you’ll enjoy at various of your life. For instance, a backpacking trip with friends across Asia in your 20s, the Northern Lights or a North America road trip in your 30s and an African Safari in 40s. Expensive destinations like the Scandinavian countries could be kept for much later when your job affords you the ability to travel there.
Narrowing down your choices makes your trip more realistic and helps you commit.
Once you’ve identified your destination you need to get an estimate of your trip’s overall costs, including flights, accommodation, transportation and food.
Once you understand the costs involved start comparing it to your income and your fixed commitments. See how much you can keep aside every week, are there any expenses you can do without?
You may need to iterate on your destination and budget a few times…maybe you need to do a shorter duration….don’t worry about it…do what works….just don’t put it off!
Splitfare from Mihuru may come handy here. Splitfare is a smart travel solution that lets you book your travel in advance by paying just a small deposit. The balance is to be paid in instalments prior to your trip.
Planning in advance also helps you get so much more out of your budget!
Most of all, remember that trips don’t have to be long or expensive to be a beautiful experience. There are 104 days off every year only counting weekends, add a couple of weeks of leave and that gives you almost four months of potential travel days in a year. And that’s not including public holidays.
That’s all the time you need.
And the only thing that makes it possible is planning ahead. So plan away!
