# Goals
- freshairnocares
- Dec 16, 2016
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 30, 2021
Goal-setting is a necessary component in professional growth. How else do you move up the food chain of financial prosperity?
Setting goals has also been synonymous with getting / staying healthy. What else will motivate you (me) from putting down that 15th Oreo?
Which brings me to the focus of this blog entry: Goal-setting must also become a priority if you want to travel.
It is difficult, and of course there is a huge financial factor involved, but if you are serious about wanting to go out there and kiss the Blarney Stone, or stand gaping up the steps of the Taj Mahal, then you need to get serious with # goals.
Step 1 Go on Instragram, browse the travel section in Barnes (my pet name for Barnes and Noble), or simply open a new tab on Google and just type in what you are looking for:
scenery
waterfalls
green meadows
tall trees
scenic hikes
world's most impressive places to travel on a budget in [insert continent desired]
Step 2 Research the location you find most interesting until you feel like it was the place you were born, grew up in, and where you plan to raise your future children. See if there are any extreme negatives that would keep you from hoppin' on that plane.
(items that should never count as a negative, but often times are : it's cold, I don't know the language, the flight is too long)
Step 3 Make a list of 4-5 places / activities / experiences that you want to accomplish (this is assuming you have a week-ish to visit) at your location of choice.
Step 4 Find a way to arrange those places in the best sequential order
For example: When my dear college friend and I returned to the motherland (Ireland), we started on the west coast and literally went full circle around the country. Logical, thorough, and the ultimate road trip.
Step 5 Look into airlines. There are superior airlines. There are not-so-superior-airlines. There are overrated airlines. There are under-dog airlines. This is not a bash blog, so I will just leave it at: do the research.
Step 6 Book it! Book it all!
The plane. The trains. The automobiles! Any mode of transportation that you'll need. Do it ahead of time so that you have structure to your trip. If you need a train to get to the next stop on your itinerary, book it. It is better than running parallel to a moving train, trying to board via a leap of faith due to the fact that you couldn't read the instructions on the ticket dispenser because the language includes ü's and ß's that you did not anticipate*
Step 7 Book more!
I have done trips both ways: booking my lodging ahead of time and wingin' it.
Both were successful trips, but it truly depends on where you're going/ the time of year / your chill level
Step 8 Continue researching until the person behind the airline kiosk asks you for your passport.
Seriously. It makes the time fly (ha. get it? fly?) and the anticipation more bearable.
I live for the travel-prep/research
So much so that I have purchased 4 different instructional language pocket books in the last 5 years in hopes that I would become fluent in one of the languages.
Spoiler alert: I've barely mastered English.
So there you have it!
An 8-step process toward achieving the dream.
Of course, nowhere above did I mention how to come up with the money to finance this dream... but we'll save that for another time.
Until then,
Skål xx
* been there, done that, bought the t-shirt