Travel Wish Lists

Tick tock. It is the beginning of March and I still haven’t figured out the destination of my spring trip. I realize that this is a fantastic problem to have and I’m certainly not complaining, just waiting for some travel inspiration to arrive.

Unfortunately, there is no method to my madness or surefire process that I use. Typically I have a few destinations in mind and I will start with some high-level investigation of the chosen places. I have been known to devour guidebooks as though they were some fast-paced crime novel and then supplement my findings with more in-depth online research until I cobble together the perfect combination. Some trips come together in a matter of days. The detail falling into place with such ease and grace that I know it is meant to be. Other trip planning sessions start down one path only to evolve into something entirely different.

Just last year, I chose Egypt for my spring trip and had completed my research to such a degree that I was ready to book my flights. It was at this particular stage that I realized that I was craving nature and the great outdoors; not chaotic city life or the dusty desert. I suddenly longed to escape somewhere where I could ramble up a mountainside. So Egypt was put back into the “places I want to go, just not now” bucket.

Days later I stumbled on an enticing article about Norway and it clicked. I must go to Norway immediately! Never mind that up until that moment I hadn’t ever thought much about Norway and in fact knew very little about the country. Turns out Norway met all my needs and was even more amazing in the flesh than I could have hoped for.

Right now my destination queue is empty or at the very least greatly unorganized. Sure I have my prerequisite list of must go to places, such as Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Africa. But each are places I want to spend a fair amount of time exploring and don’t fit the timetable for this particular trip.

This leads me back to my latest quandary. Where to go? The last few weeks my travel companion KJ and I have been grappling with this exact question. The conversation has looked a little like this.

KJ: Should we do warm, humid, and beachy?

KJ: Or cold, crisp, and city life?

KJ: What about Prague and then someplace else in Eastern Europe?

JO: Eastern Europe would be good. How about Croatia or Poland?

KJ: Or what about St. Petersburg and Helsinki?

JO: What about Morocco?

KJ: Morocco and Southern Spain?

KJ: Or Portugal?

JO: Honduras could be interesting.

KJ: Romania or Turkey?

JO: What about Peru?

It quickly became clear that we needed to narrow our focus. Or resort to throwing a dart at a map of the world (which actually isn’t that bad of an idea…). After much back and forth, we agreed on a solution. We each will produce a Top Five list of where we want to go. Our only conditions are that it has to be a destination that neither of us have been and is someplace that can easily be accomplished over nine days. Our deadline is a week from today.

So here I am trying to work on my list of Top Five destinations. I currently only have two. I keep adding and removing places as I flip through travel magazines, poke around online, and graze through guidebooks. This is harder than I thought it would be. Have no fear though; I am more than up for the challenge!

Stay tuned for the results of this very scientific travel planning experiment!