travel resolutions Archives - Mom's Guide To Travel

Where do you want to travel in 2015? Who made the cut for your New Year’s travel resolution?

USA.gov published a list of popular New Year’s resolutions, listing thirteen for the 2015 Resolutions list. Although not numbered, “Take a Trip” comes in as #11. Travel is often on a top resolutions list. According to Real Simple magazine, only eight percent of people actually keep their New Year’s resolutions.

Between December 28th and December 30th, I sit back and look at my calendar. I look at where I traveled for the year, comparing it to my list from the previous year. I look at who I missed and who I’d like to add for the new year. Then I map out how I can hit my travel resolution for the upcoming year. It’s a tricky mix of balancing destinations I want to visit primarily for work and destinations I’d like to visit as a family.

This is usually the first stage of my personal travel planning process.

If you’ve set your sites at being a more active traveler, looking at the Real Simple figure can be discouraging.

Scratch the Word Resolution

Fret not. As with any other resolution, my suggestion is to make your travel ~~resolution,~~ a goal. First of all, just go ahead and call it that! Say, “My 2015 travel goals are…..” This is the first step in making it more concrete.

Step 1

Create a really small goal first and then go from there. For people who have a hard time hitting those resolutions, tiny goal-setting can be invaluable.

What does this mean exactly?

Tiny goal-setting is the act of setting a really small and achievable goal that you can easily accomplish. It relieves pressure and quells disappointment because oftentimes you’ll not only hit your goal, but you will also surpass it.

Here’s how you can apply it to your travel goals. Say your resolution may be to travel “more” or travel “somewhere new.” This is a common resolution. To make it more achievable, make it a more specific and therefore, actionable goal by stating: “At the end of the month, I’m going to travel somewhere new that’s within driving distance.”

“New” can be to another city in your state that you’ve never been to before or a city in a neighboring state. Look at your calendar, pick a weekend that you’re free and plan a day trip. If money allows, do an overnight trip. Reserve your hotel room for January (outside of the holiday) – rates are fairly agreeable this time of year.

By the end of the month, you will have accomplished your travel resolution: traveling somewhere new.

Step 2

If you opted to set “travel more” as your goal, repeat the previous exercise for the month of February and March, picking two new locations that are easy to get to (if you’re just getting your travel legs wet) and add them to the calendar.

By the end of the first quarter of the year, you will have traveled to three new places and achieved two parts of your overall travel resolution: to travel more and to travel somewhere new.

Step 3

For those of you with more financial and time resources, pick a couple of international destinations that you’ve been wanting to visit and start tracking prices now. Your best rates are going to fall between January and April (before Spring Break) so now is a good time to actively get your travel planning underway.

If You Need Extra Help

If affording travel is a real challenge for you, then you should check out my webinar series on Saving Money on Travel. The first 60-minute webinar covered 12 Simple Solutions to Save Money on Air Travel. You can catch the replay here.

The second LIVE webinar ~~will be held tonight at 9pm EST and will cover solutions to save money while you travel~~ was great. I will share more money-saving strategies so that you can travel more. Registration is here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5103317613079135489

My goal is to see more people traveling, sharing their stories of adventure and enlightenment. The more of us that travel, the more we all understand one another and live peacefully amongst ourselves.

My 2015 resolution is to not only travel more for discovery, adventure, enjoyment and enlightenment but to also turn dreamers into travelers. Register for my webinar if you’d like to join me on that journey.

Happy New Year!

* As always, I appreciate you sharing my nuggets with your friends!”

Copyright (c) <a href="http://www.123rf.com/photo_123123.html#worldtravelmom">123RF Stock Photos</a> — What are your travel resolutions for 2013?

Most of us go into the New Year strapped with our menu of resolutions, many of them leftovers from the previous year. We shoot ourselves in the foot because we realize that several things are still unresolved. But, yet and still, we make new ones. Raising hand here… I’m guilty too. It’s an issue of semantics for me. I’ve decided: instead of approaching my year with travel resolutions, I’m making travel goals and travel action plans. I like the way that sounds much better.

So, here are my travel goals for 2013.

Save for a rainy day

As we tinker on the edge of this fiscal cliff, I have no clue where my family will land in the “excess funds” category. My son’s medical needs are an additional financial strain. That’s the honest truth.

Some of my travels are sponsored and some aren’t. In the second half of 2012, focused primarily on my son’s health, I wasn’t diligent with my travel savings. This cost me in the long run. Not having a concrete savings plan means I have to borrow money from other places not designated for travel. That’s poor behavior on my part. So, my goal and very definitive action plan, is to stow away my leisure travel loot in an account that I don’t have easy access to…meaning, an account I don’t have an App for. I’ve done this before and it works. It’s the out-of-sight, out-of-mind principle. Having a savings account at a bank that’s not your primary, allows you to trim money off the top, put it away, and “forget about it.” I paid CASH for my wedding this way. I did it once and I can do it again!

Get Lost

Basically, I need to step away from over-planning. Now let me just say, this is a goal I can only set for leisure travel. If I’m traveling professionally, this doesn’t fly. Unfortunately (and I guess this needs to be another goal), I don’t know when to turn it off. I always manage to turn leisure travel into some kind of work. I neurotically create lists. Hey, I like my To-Do lists! I talk about them all the time when I research a destination. It’s who I am and personally, I feel like it helps me get the most out of my trip. It annoys my husband but I don’t apologize for it. That is my travel personality. We all have one. Every one can’t be a wanderer or travel with a backpacker mentality. That would be boring.

But…
I was reflecting the other day. I thought about the days when we didn’t have all these sites and apps and other “travel-ready” conveniences, when we just traveled and got lost. It was fun and it was a more organic way to see the world. Now, I have “answers” at my finger tips.

Even New York Times’ Frugal Travel Writer Seth Kugel agrees, as he notes in a recent article about navigating Trip Advisor:

“Before there were online reviews, travelers like me could still arrive in strange places and manage just fine thanks to a combination of curiosity, instinct and local advice. It took a bit more courage, but was more fun and satisfying.”

There’s a certain spontaneity of travel that I miss – even with my kids. So, my second travel goal is to get lost for at least one or two days and be more flexible when I go.

Go Solo

The one time that I’ve traveled solo with my boys was on a flight to San Diego to meet up with my husband. That’s it! I LIKE those extra set of hands. No doubt! But….I need to challenge myself. The truth of the matter: he won’t always be able to travel with us. Mom’s Guide To Travel was born out of the spirit of traveling anywhere with kids, regardless.

Traveling solo with kids is a journey in and of itself. Now, here is where there may be overlaps with my goals. The over-planning self HAS to step in when I do a lone mama trip. My boys need to stay entertained and I need to be organized when I’m traveling by myself with them. The other part of this goal is to instill a spirit of adventure and independence in them, and what better way to exemplify that but travel solo with the boys? And there you have it – my third travel goal for the year.

My final goal is to take more risks. I haven’t completely defined this goal, so I’ll keep it open-ended for now.

Tell me, did you make any travel resolutions, plans, or goals for 2013? Can you share them with me? Let’s inspire each other to do bigger and more exciting things this year!

Happy Travels.

New Year’s Travel Resolution: How To Travel More in 2015