How to Choose Your First Travel Destination

Ok, let’s start this by the very basic. How to choose your first travel destination? Where to go? Well, that’s a very relative question, if you dream about traveling, you probably have an idea of where you want to go, which is great, but in case you still don’t, or you are in doubt because let’s be honest, there are so many cool places on this planet that sometimes we just don’t know where we want to go next.

If you want to get some hints, I have made a list of the best countries for first-time travelers, in any case, check below some ideas of where to search for inspiration!

Choosing your first destination – Finding Inspiration

Pinterest

Pinterest is one of my favorite apps to look for some inspiration, you can find amazing pictures of places that will feed your wanderlust and help you find a location that will fit you the better. Pinterest is more like a visual search engineer than a social media platform.

Imagine a Google Images that gives you many more results and access to different blogs that you probably wouldn’t easily find elsewhere, which is great because besides the beautiful photos you can find from different places, you also get information, itineraries an, tips from people who have already visited these places before, so you can have an idea of what to expect from the place.

Lonely Planet

There is one reason for Lonely Planet is so often quoted and considered one of the best guides available, it is because they really are! Both in their guides or on their website you can find valuable information about any place you can imagine.

Lonely Planet always offers detailed information, like cultural and historical spots to visit, tips of where to go, how to move around, etc. On their website, you can also find posts written by other travelers which many time gives inside tips and not so mainstream information.

Travel Agency Magazine

That’s one I do very often. Every time I pass near a travel agency, I get in to take one of their magazines or pamphlets. They are great to help you making your travel plan and building your route through.

Just looks for their travel tours, the ones that interested you the most, check the cities and countries that the tour includes and what is the route they use, what kind of transportation, what local tours it includes, etc.

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With this you can have an idea of interesting cities and important locations to see, plus what kind of transport you can use and what route seems easier.

And checking the price you can have an idea of how much money you would need for this trip, but of course, taking the trip without a travel agency, you will be able to spend even less than the price of the package.

Choosing your first destination – What to Consider

Your budget

Well, because not everything is free in this life. Make the math and check a location that will fit your budget, check the price of the flight, how many days you would stay there and how much the hotels would be for this. Look for different kinds of accommodation to see which one fits your budget better.

There are locations that are far cheaper than others, just like that are cheap and expensive options for accommodation.

If you need a super cheap one you can try a hostel. In general, countries that have a weaker economy than yours will be relatively cheaper for you. And independently of the place, there are always ways to save money!

What kind of vacation do you want

What are you up to? You want a vacation on the beach having some coconut water looking at the white sand and blue water? Or you dream about playing in the snow, trying to snowboard perhaps? Or you are a more urban person, looking for cosmopolite cities with different architecture and some historical buildings?

You should take into consideration what you really want to see and what kind of experience you really expect to have especially on your very first trip. And of course, it is always possible to find travels that fit your budget, if you don’t mind being less specific.

Check about the Visa

Don’t forget that the world, unfortunately, is not a huge open area where anybody can easily come and go. There are laws and regulations so you need to check the condition of your passport before going on a trip, sometimes you can’t just buy a flight and show up at the airport.

In some cases Visa is necessary to be able to get out of the airport, some visa is easy to get and cheap, in some cases you take your visa in the airport itself, in other cases you need to apply month earlier and pray that you are approved.

It is also possible that the country will ask you for travel proof, like your airfare tickets or hotel booking in order to see the dates of your travel.  It might sound risky, after all, I just told you that not every Visa is easy to get. But don’t worry, there are ways to avoid the excessive cost of flight before making sure you got your Visa, with flight reservation, you can apply to your Visa without paying for the flight ticket.

So all this must be checked before you take the action of buying your flight. Visa regulation will depend on your own passport so I’m not able to give you an easy recipe for this, but do check online which requirements apply to your passport specifically.

But check online and in doubt, you can call or send a message to the embassy of the country you are interested in visiting and they will give you all the instructions you need to proceed with your travel!

Look for information about the country and routes

Once you get your flight, you should try to gather as much information as you can about the country you will visit.

It is better than arriving there clueless. Look for basic information of the country, their currency and language, try to learn some few sentences that might help you, every local love when you try to speak something in their language even if it is just a thank you.

Try to learn a bit about their history, the historical places that are a must and some cultural aspects of the locals.

Be open to new places

When looking for places to visit and information about the country take a look in other cities besides the one you are planning to stay, check if there is another city that interested you and if it is possible to go there.

If you are not up to or able to spend more days in another city, see if there is any day trip to an interesting city nearby this one you will stay in.

Sometimes we just can’t see it all

Sometimes we have just a small period of time to spend in one city yet our list is so full of cool places to visit there.

Bear in mind that not always we are able to visit everything, there are cities that are so big that you would need weeks to be able to see everything without rush, so try to focus on what is the most important to you, pick the spots that you simply can’t leave the country without seeing it and make sure they are the first ones that you visit.

But don’t feel frustrated if you go back home without seeing that specific place. Unfortunately, this happens, but you can always go back there one more time in the future!

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*Uffs* Ok, this was long, but get used to it! Next Friday we will see how to buy your flight, find cheap flights, and how to prepare your documents for your vacation!