Creating a travel bucket list is a fun way to pursue your travel dreams in these difficult times. As the world starts to open up again, there is a renewed enthusiasm about travelling once more. What this last year seems to have given us, is some time to reflect on spending more time with family, enjoying MORE vacations, and for some, viewing travel itself in a different light…we are having more conversations about sustainable travel now, more than ever.
I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on the list!
Whilst there has been more time to reflect, more conversations being had, we are also hearing is that there is a desire and a thirst to create bucket lists. We had one request to help plan ’30 destinations before I die!’. For the younger generation this is easier to achieve than the Baby Boomers of X Gens. We frequently hear people say ‘I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on the list!’…the real question is – when is the right time to get working on this?
#18Summers
This desire to tick destinations off a bucket list has led us to work with some clients on a 5 or 10 year travel plan. Bearing in mind, that we mostly work with families, and that you only have #18Summers with your kids, that doesn’t leave you a lot of time to visit all these places. According to the UN, there are approximately 195 countries in the world. This means that you will either be planning approximately 10 vacations a year, or some serious prioritising needs to be done.
Prioritisation
I think it’s safe to say that most families will be looking to vacation once a year. So that means a normal family will only be looking at 18 destinations to visit with their kids before they head off to college. Some families can manage five to six vacations per year (equating to 90 to 108 countries), and the most fortunate of us (but in the minority) are able to give up work completely in order to travel the world, either by tapping into huge savings or changing their lifestyle and becoming travel bloggers (where they derive their income through sponsored travel). Honestly, if you fall into the first two categories, it is unlikely that you will get to visit every country in the world. So what are the priorities?
Tools to assist
When planning a 5 to 10 year travel bucket list with clients we are ask them to look at, the time of year that is best to visit that destination, and the ages of the kids – climbing the Matterhorn or trekking through the Amazon, with a toddler, is not ideal! We have interactive tools at our disposal that assist us in putting your travel dreams into a lifelong travel plan. We create a travel portfolio that allows you, on your own, to explore destinations and experiences found there, that match your interests, age and allow you to prioritise what matters most. 75% of people’s lists are made up of two things – places they want to go and experiences they want to have. Our tool allows us to build a system to help clients (and us) to create a better framework for the travel bucket or wish list. This tool gives our clients focus.
The process
How we work with our clients in focusing the mind, and creating the plan, is as follows:
- Curation: you give each destination and experience a rating, and we organise your responses (and those of your family), producing a curated list of potential trips.
- Exploration: we explore each of the destinations and experiences in more depth, giving you access to articles, books, music, and videos of each destination. This will either reinforce your desire to go, or make you realise that it’s not as important, or as much of a priority, as you first thought.
- Creation: working with a travel advisor you can create your travel portfolio. A travel advisor should be able to take your curated list and create a travel plan for this, for multiple destinations. Taking into consideration your schedule; seasonality; families likes; needs and wants; budgets…and any upcoming family milestones.
- Planning: now you can start booking your trips. The travel industry has changed, and so, you should be able to book a lot of what you have chosen without paying out vast sums of money up front. Sure, some destinations won’t have the price list available 5 to 10 years in advance, but your travel advisor will be able to set up reminders, over the coming months and years, to put these bookings in place.
Top destinations on our bucket lists
For many, choosing the destinations that should appear on your bucket list will be an arduous task. For some, white sandy beaches will be the key criteria; for others, it will be vibrant cities. Top ten request we get are for:
- Rome, Italy
- Paris, France
- London, UK
- Marrakech, Morocco
- Bali, Indonesia
- Dubai, UAE
- The Highlands, Scotland
- Amalfi coast, Italy
- Santorini Greece
- Machu Picchu, Peru
…not a bad list, if that’s all you see in your lifetime! We have reason to believe that most people have an average bucket list of a 11 places and hope to visit, at least, seven of these during their lifetime.
Need Assistance?
If you need some help planning your bucket list, and maybe want to focus on the the next 5 to 10 years, then let’s put a framework together now, and see what that looks like on paper (… and what it might mean to your pocket!) Don’t suffer from’ choice overload’ or’ analysis paralysis’ – let a qualified travel advisor point you in the right direction! Just drop us a line and we’ll set up a time to call you and let you know how we might help.
