How to Overcome the Paralysis of Too Many Destination Options
You know the feeling – you look at a map of the world and there are so many places you want to go. Opening travel sites like this one can almost make your predicament worse. Here we all are, telling you how fantastic places are and then you have to choose between them! Before you go crazy and end up booking a staycation in a local park, you have to narrow it down a little.
- What Destinations Are on Your Hit List?
Without thinking too much about it, sit down and write a list of between 5 and 10 destinations you’d like to visit soon. Make sure you stop when you get to 10, no matter how many times you glance back to the map you’ve probably got open on your screen.
This is the most challenging part of your task because it’s asking you to make the choices you’ve been avoiding. The difference is, you’re trying to do it as subconsciously as possible. Adding a time pressure might help – set a timer and list the destinations before the alarm goes off. What you’ll be left with is a list of places that you subconsciously want to visit. But, of course, you still need to narrow it down further because you can’t be in 10 places at once.
- What’s Your Flexibility?
If you’ve only got a small window to travel, that will almost certainly trim your list a little. Different locations are busy at different times of year so, if avoiding the crowd is your aim, you’ll need to check high season dates and special events for your destinations. For instance, you might want to avoid Thailand between November and January.
Climate also plays its part in choosing your destination. If you’re looking for heat, you need to consider whether the temperatures are high enough in your chosen destination. On the flip side, some people just don’t like the heat as much as others, so check it’s not too high as well.
- How Much Will You Be Able to See?
Some destinations lend themselves to epic exploration. For instance, there are so many stunning locations to visit in South Africa and surrounding countries, then it might make sense to do a lengthy tour rather than a short visit because you can save on flights and plan a more rounded trip. If this doesn’t fit with your timescale right now, park those destinations for a future trip.
- Factor in Flights
By now, hopefully you’ll have trimmed your list down to a few places. The easiest way of making that decision once and for all is to investigate the flight situation. You’ll probably already have experienced that sensation of flights making or breaking a vacation but, in this case, you’ve got several destinations you want to visit so it’s all good.
There are always things we can compromise on when it comes to flights. In fact, we talked about that in a recent post. So, find the destination with the best flight scenario for you and that’s your next trip off to a flyer.
Just think – when you get back, you can start all over again!
