Finding Your Next Destination
There are so many places to go in this world! Just when I cross one destination off of my list, another one gets added. When we visited Hoi An, it made me want to see more of Vietnam, especially Hanoi. When we visited Tokyo and spent most of our time in the hotel due to a typhoon, Tokyo only inched higher up my travel destination to get a proper do-over.
Most people are lucky to get a week, or two week vacation, each year. So how do you possibly choose where to go. I’m going to share our steps for finding our next destination to visit! If we were planning a trip (which we’re not right now - ugh, coronavirus), how do we narrow down our choices? Come on, let’s roll up our travel planning selves and dig in!
TAKE A PULSE ON YOUR (& YOUR FAMILY’S) NEEDS
How does that saying go? Vacation with children is called a trip. Before you start to looking a destinations, it’s time to get real about what kind of vacation, or trip, your family needs. When we were working long hours with little ones at home, we would beg the grandparents to take the kids for a few nights. Or, sometimes it meant that we wanted some slow days with our kids on vacation near a beach or pool.
Here are the questions that we ask ourselves to decide what type of adventure we’re up for:
How far are you willing to travel?
What budget are you working with?
What travel pace are you looking for? Fast, slow, or a mix?
Are you looking for a kid-friendly destination? Can you swing a kid-free vacation?
Is there a destination that your family loved that you would want to revisit? We love creating tradition through travel. And, yes, there are so many places to see! But there’s also a whole different kind of enjoyment that comes from visiting the same place when your kids are at different stages of their childhood.
WHAT IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE TO GO?
Alright, you’ve narrowed down what kind of trip you want. Now you’re ready to pick a destination. Or, maybe you’re not! What do you do if your mind comes up blank? Maybe you’re just thinking about traveling internationally for the first time, or the first time with kids. How do you start the destination hunt from scratch?
Here are our 5 favorite destination inspiration tips:
What type of foods do you like? - Food and travel are intertwined for us. Trying new foods is one of our favorite parts of travel. And re-creating meals is how we re-live past trips. So it’s obvious to us that your favorite takeout spot might inspire your favorite meal. As a kid, we celebrated milestones at a Moroccan restaurant. So when my mom wanted to visit us during our long term travels, we knew that Marrakech would be a special spot to visit together.
Dig into your family history - I love using Ancestry.com to uncover family history that I didn’t know about. I also love using it to find new places to visit. During our long term travels, I visited my great-great-grandfather’s birthplace, just minutes from our friend’s home in London! We were also set to visit Kilkenny, Ireland, an important place in my family’s history, before the coronavirus brought us home.
Make time scrolling work for you - Instagram and Pinterest are great sources of inspiration for me. Start following travel accounts and save posts that catch your eye. (You know that banner button on IG, it makes for a great way to organize your travel inspiration!) Then look back over what you’ve saved. See any themes or destinations that come up again and again? That might just be your next vacation!
Another source? Netflix! - There’s nothing better than sitting down after the kids have gone to bed to watch some travel shows. I list our favorite food-based travel shows in this post. We also love to be inspired by shows like the Amazing Race. I knew that we had to visit the Batu Temple and Caves in Kuala Lumper after seeing it on the show.
And, of course, there are so many dedicated travel websites to get inspiration from. We list our favorites in this post.
SO WHERE WOULD WE GO NEXT AND WHY?
Destination within 3 hours - Oregon Coast & Portland. We’re still new-ish to Oregon. While we visited Crater Lake and a few state parks this summer, we haven’t seen Portland or the Coast yet! I feel like we’re missing out on really getting a full grasp on our new state until we see both areas. They’re close by and easy to see without dropping a lot of cash. By the end of the year, I’m confident that we will visit both!
Destination without the kids - St. Lucia. Trent and I visited St. Lucia for our 5th wedding anniversary and we promised each other that we would return every 5 years. We’re celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary in a few months, so while we won’t go this year, we have a plan to visit ASAP!
Destination with the kids (splurge trip) - Walt Disney World. The kids are only little for so long. We want to visit Disney World during that sweet spot. Our goal: visit when Liv is big enough to ride all of the rides, but they’re both young enough to really soak up all that Disney magic.
Destination abroad - Spain & Portugal, Ireland, Mexico City. Spain, Portugal, and Ireland top our list simply because we had to skip all or most of these destinations because of the coronavirus. These were some of our last spots to wrap up our year of travel. Mexico City is a place that I’ve seen written about so much over the past 5 years. From my favorite blogs to IG, I have so many Mexico City tips saved on my phone. I even wrote a Weekend Wanderlust post on Mexico City here.
Destinations when the kids are older - New Zealand, Safari in Southern Africa, Peru. These destinations sit in the back of my head and come out in my wanderlust-filled daydreams! All are on hold until the kids are older because they are better suited for older kids. These destinations are filled with adventure and excursions that require patience, stamina, or, simply, height and age requirements! New Zealand and an African safari are also not cheap. So we’re happy to wait awhile and save up our cash!
Alright, always the favorite question for anyone who loves travel… what destination is next on your list?
