Everyone can have thoughts or dreams about that perfect dream vacation. Trust me I have been there plenty of times when it comes to this subject, and I have gone through the process and experienced what it was like.
I would like to share my experience and knowledge with you, so you can have fun and also dodge some bullets when it comes to preparing for your journey.
Step One – Decide Where You Want To Go
Believe it or not but deciding where to go may be harder than it looks. Setting a location will give you a goal to look forward to. Most say such things as “I am going to Japan one day”. While this may be a nice idea, saying something more detailed might help you gain some motivation, “I am going to Yokohama, Japan to see the world famous Nissin Ramen Museum”. Giving yourself a solid foundation like that will help you commit to the idea of going.
Great Resources for Destinations:
Step Two – Researching Costs
Figuring out your destination is only half the battle. Now to choose how you will explore it.
While there are many travel guides that can make this process easy for some of us. There is other ways going about this. By initially deciding on a living style, this may essentially provide you an idea for a total cost.
Whether you decide to travel by foot and stay at different hostels or decide to stay at luxury hotels, in the end it’s all about your research. Try to keep updated as you save for your trip and figure out how many days you will be staying to determine living expenses and to help estimate a total goal.
Step Three – Saving Tips
Here comes the hard part! Being able to write down your purchases and monthly total spends can help you determine where you may want to cut back a little. Usually this means you have to give up some of your habits like going out for a midnight snack or letting go of your favorite soda for a couple months. Every little cent counts and can accumulate pretty fast especially after adding up your monthly wages.
Let’s say you want to save up a good $1,000 USD and you really like to go out for that delicious Grand Slam from Denny’s every other morning before work. Just by cutting something as simple as that you save $75 a month. I’m not saying you need to starve yourself by any means, but maybe learn to cook something simple in the morning and save.
Step Four – Travel Technology
With society growing and technology become more and more addicting there’s just some things we can’t live without. That being said I would like to provide you with just a couple necessary items to help make your travels go smoother.
When leaving the country everyone has their phone in hand and ready to share the whole trip through Facebook and other social media sites. Wouldn’t it be a nightmare to finally realize you forgot your charger or the power outage doesn’t pump the same voltage for your US products? Make sure you get yourself a handy USB charger instead so you can easily get back to sharing your adventure.
You may find when you leave the country, your favorite websites don’t work. This is because websites such as, Pandora, Netflix, Hulu, and many others have country restrictions. With a quality VPN you can bypass that and get back to watching what you love while you’re out of the country. For those who don’t know, a VPN is a virtual private network that can secure your connection and get you around the geo-location restrictions, making those websites accessible again.
Step Five – Packing
This one is very simple. Take everything essential to your survival and check twice.
Step Six – Having Fun
The final step to having the vacation of a lifetime is to just enjoy every moment. Allowing yourself to get away from the everyday life that you are used to and become someone else even if it’s just for a weekend.
I really hope you enjoyed reading these short but helpful tips and I wish you the greatest on your travels wherever you may go.
