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Weekly Travel Question – How Do You Choose Where You Travel To Next?

Posted by on May 27, 2010 .

We received a question from Jenna last week asking us: how do you choose where you travel to next? That really is an interesting question, because to be honest we have never really had a ‘dream’ trip – apart from THE trip which includes basically every country in the world…

We realized that some people have a set goal and a very specific dream trip of where they want to go, what they want to see and for how long. Other people have that urge to just travel around Africa over and over again, but nowhere else – some have no interest in Africa what-so-ever but feel a strong attraction to Asia. Other people just want to go wherever everyone else goes, and some only want to go where nobody goes.

And some are like us… want to SEE IT ALL but have no clue where to begin. There are so many countries to choose between we feel it’s almost impossible to choose exactly where to go – that’s why we let something else decide it for us: Google Images.

As weird as it may seem Google Images is one of our primary tools for making a decision on where we should go for our next trip.

Sometimes we catch a glimpse of a trailer for an upcoming TV show on the travel channel – Google Image Time! – and then we are off – someone talks about a certain place – Google Image It! – someone says don’t go there – we Google Image It! – and go anyways :)

This is how we have ended up in pretty much every place me and Sofia have traveled to. This way we end up in the most random places we never thought we would visit, with the mind set of ‘oh, this looks like fun, let’s go there! and often these places have been the best ones – maybe it’s because we don’t know what to expect and therefore are open to whatever it turns out to be, I don’t know but whatever it is, it works for us!

We have ended up in countries we didn’t even know existed until just shortly (1 week) before arriving there (i.e. Vanuatu) and yes, we have had to deal with some unexpected challenges (airport customs not letting us through because we had nowhere planned to stay) but who doesn’t?

No matter how much you research a place you will still have to face challenges – so why not take away the stress, expect nothing and let our eyes decide where to take our bodies – one picture at a time, as we travel around the world.

Another way we sometimes pick a location is simply grabbing a world globe, spinning it – eyes closed – and putting our finger on a random spot – let’s go there! We find this makes traveling for us more fun, more spontaneous and keeps us excited for seeing more and more and more.

How do YOU choose where you will travel to next?

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  • http://www.thejetpacker.com/ The Jetpacker

    There are very few places in the world we don't want to go to. So we usually decide on where to travel based on deals.

    We went to Buenos Aires because we found flights below $200 round trip with taxes included. Same for Europe… twice!

    If the deal is good, we have a higher chance at going.

  • http://twitter.com/backpackingmatt Matthew Kyhnn

    Much of my decisions of where to travel centers on where I can get work visas. This was my reasoning for Ireland, Scotland, and now New Zealand. Outside of that, I'm always drawn to places that are friendly on the budget (so not New Zealand!).

  • http://twitter.com/FranciscoJenna Jenna Francisco

    These reasons are not adventurous like yours, but I usually choose where to travel based on these factors: first, I try to pick places that are near other places I'm going. For example, last summer we went to Indonesia, and Japan was on the way, so we decided to stop there, too. I sadly don't have all the time in the world to travel, so getting 2 stops in 1 trip is nice. Second, I go to places where I've always wanted to go for some reason, e.g. the Alhambra in Granada, Spain because I was interested in Moorish architecture as a college student. There are many places on my must-see list, and I'd rather try to hit those first before I start adding more.

  • http://no-onions-extra-pickles.blogspot.com Ashley

    I'm one of those who wants to go everywhere…but only takes one international trip a year. Our system is to rotate continents, and visit the location with the cheapest flight, as long as we already haven't been there. It works pretty well, and at least helps narrow down our choices, though sometimes a super cheap flight will changes things – we ended up visiting Europe two years in a row cause we found prices so cheap it would have been insane to pass it up.

  • http://budgettravelerssandbox.com Nancie (Ladyexpat)

    I'm living in Korea, but will be leaving next year. I want to see other countries in the region. This summer that means mainland China, and Japan. I've been to Japan before, but only for a couple of days at a time. This summer I'll get a rail pass and tour around for a few weeks. My thoughts are that if I don't get to China and Japan now, I might not get back. That would be a shame.

  • http://www.harleytourism.com/uzbekistan-visa/tourist_visa.html Uzbekistan Tourist Visa

    I have been traveling since last 30 years and have lawys choosen a new place. How I choose the place is very simple. I start studying the Countries of My Interest and bligs related with travel written by real Travelers like me. Then I start concentrating on The Objectives and then start the implementation stage. I plan to Travel to Russia and stay for one month in the villages of Russia. As I know Russian and am interested in Russian Culture so I feel confident that I will have the most wonderful time. I am myself a Tour Operator based in Uzbekistan Providing Tourist Visa to Uzbekistan and Other Travel Related Services.

  • http://uzbekistan.harleytourism.com/travel-news/ Uzbekistan_Travel

    Best way to Travel to Uzbekistan is Via Moscow, Delhi, Lahore Pakistan, Turkey Istanbul, or London. Uzbekistan Airways have connections with all the Continents.

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  • http://www.myspace.com/revo1886 Corinne

    Recently I just realized, that often music inspires my travel plans! Some examples that you can imagine how:

    Scotland: I had to take holidays from work and I didn't know what to do. Then I turned on MTV and saw the videoclip of “This Is The Life” by Amy Macdonald and thought: “Why not finally travelling to Scotland?!” – a few weeks I was up there and I spent a really great time in this amazing country!

    Mexico: My favourite bands (Hocico, Rabia Sorda) come from Mexico City. When I started listening to them a few years ago I got to know more about this country/city and I thought I could go there one day. Then somehow I forgot about it and planned a trip to Australia. But then I saw once again a videoclip (“We Are The people” by Empire Of The Sun) and changed my mind. In September I will travel Mexico/Central America and stay in Mexico City for three months – should be long enough to discover the (political/social) background of the songs… :)

    Croatia: When planning our last summer's holidays, my friends and me were discussing various destinations. In the background was the beautiful music of Beirut. The singer got the ideas for the album on a trip through the Balkan states. Inspired by the melodies we went there…. (one year earlier my friend went to Nantes because of a song with the same name;))

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  • http://www.jrconsumer.com/ travel trailers

    I am next travel ti India.It is beautiful country