Where Are You Going?

After telling your friends and family the news about leaving on your RTW trip and letting them absorb it, you will be faced with questions such as Where are you going? or Where do you want to visit first? amongst several arguments to try to persuade you to stay. It’s okay if you don’t know, but in order to make people feel more comfortable with your departure, try to come up with a better answer than wherever the wind blows me. 

Having been asked those questions long before I ever decided to venture around the world, my answer remains the same: EVERYWHERE. While I currently don’t have any specific plans set in stone, I know I’d like to start off somewhere in Asia or Australia and follow my heart’s desire from there. My top priority is to visit those places we rarely ever hear about through American media otherwise known as the underdogs of the world, if you will (i.e. Morocco, Jordan, Israel, UAE, Ukraine, and many more). I want to delve into the unknown, explore the places that aren’t on top of people’s list of places to see, and bring my acquired knowledge to the forefront.

It is far too early to determine whether or not I’ll be up for the challenge of visiting every place on Earth, but I sure am going to give it my best for as long as that goal is relevant to my big picture dreams. I mean if Chris Guillebeau can do it then so can anyone.

At the end of the day, there isn’t any place that I don’t want to visit. Every city, country, island, or province is fair game. I could buy a seat on a bus to Chicago or a plane ticket to the Sahara, and I’d be equally excited for both because each trip to a different place, no matter if I’ve vistited before, promises a different experience full of new activities, new food, and new people, so how could I not be excited?

Here are some tips to help you figure out where you’re going:

• Create your dream itinerary by writing down some ideas of where you’d like to go and what you want to do while you’re there. No matter how vague your plans seem at first, keep brainstorming and give some real thought to where you might go instead of winging it the whole way.
• Read though guide books to get a feel for where you might like to start off.
• Read through articles written by travel bloggers who have traveled around the world before you to places that you want to go. If you’re a female solo traveler, I suggest finding some female bloggers, and there are plenty of them out there.
• Ask friends who have visited the places you want to go for recommendations and suggestions.
• Stay up to date on the latest news for where you think you’re headed like safety concerns, changes in visa requirements, prices for lodging, food, and shopping amongst other things that could affect your trip.
• Go where YOU want to go, and encourage your friends and family to visit while you’re on the road.
• Finally, if you’re feeling really daring and financially unlimited, close your eyes and throw a dart at a map. Wherever it lands, immediately buy a ticket to that destination and start planning your trip

So where are you going? Where would you like to go in the next 3-5 years and why?