People often ask me how we plan travel, it's hard for me to answer that question because I grew up in a house that prioritized traveling and I simply cannot imagine not traveling. So, it's easy for me to be like, 'I just do!' but I'm sure you want something a little more tactical, so here goes...
CHOSING A DESTINATION
This is the hard part for me. I have a list of hundreds of places I want to see, so picking just a couple for the year is hard! Anytime I hear about a vacation someone went on a recommends I add it to the list. Sometimes I add it because of a certain hotel, or restaurant. Seriously guys, my list is loooong! I will say, I rarely go back to a place more than once -- there are just too many places to see! If I go back to a destination it's because 1-it's for work 2-it's a group trip {for example, my parents took me to Gulf Shores/Orange Beach Alabama around the time I graduated, but all of Adam's family is going there next summer, so we're going again. I wouldn't skip a family trip even though if I got to pick, we would go somewhere else}
SCHEDULING THE TIME
In an ideal world I would have unlimited vacation and funds to travel, but that isn't reality. When I took the position I'm in, I negotiated PTO instead of salary. It's all about what's important to you! ;) So, now that the kids are in school, we try to take a family trip every summer and an adult vacation another time throughout the year. Typically the family trip is somewhere in the United States as it's my wish to take our kids to all 50 states. The adult trip is usually an all-inclusive vacation, but not always. Additionally we usually take a 'big family' {a trip with parents, siblings, & nieces/nephews} about every year {one year with 'my' family, the next year with 'Adams'} In between there we have FOMO, so if we're invited on a trip we try to make it happen. That's how we went to the British Virgin Islands, South Padre, etc. Adam's old job took us on trips {St. Lucia, Turks & Caicos, etc.} but that isn't common for his current job {they did take us to Las Vegas at the beginning of this year}. My old job took me {usually with my mom} to a conference once a year {Chicago, San Francisco, Grapevine, Dallas, etc.} but my current job doesn't require travel. After all that, if we have a free weekend we might add a long weekend somewhere close {Chicago for a Cubs game, Minneapolis for a Vikings game, Iowa City for an Iowa game, St. Louis, Kansas City, Tulsa to see family, etc.} Also, now that we kind of have everything we need, Adam and I like to gift travel for our birthdays {New York City, Florida Keys, etc.} We have talked with the kids about taking a vacation instead of getting gifts for Christmas. Unfortunately my coworker already requested that time off for this year, so maybe next Christmas?
FINANCING A VACATION
We plan our 7-10+ day vacations about a year in advance. That allows us to pay for our our hotel/lodging when we book. About six months before we leave {or sooner if I find a steal} we buy our flight tickets {if needed}. That way when we go on the vacation we only need spending money. If you're a budgeter you can plan out how many dollars you want each day and divide what to pull back each month.
Because I'm nosey and always like to hear where people are going, here is my travel destination shortlist {haha!} ...
