Where To Next – How Do You Decide?

How does one chose where their next travel adventure will be? No definitive answer there. The process is as varied and unique as each person who travels. Many have bucket lists that are short and concise. Others have lists that grow faster than they can type. I once read a post on a Facebook travel group of which I am a member. The young woman was with her mother and they passed a billboard for the Olive Garden restaurant chain. The billboard stated something to the effect of ‘next stop: Italy’. So she pulls out her phone to begin the search for flights to Italy. Her mother just shakes her head while driving, asking her daughter why can’t she plan trips the way people normally do. That post made me smile. 

For myself it is can be any number of reasons. I once went to a small town in Scotland (Birnam and Dunkeld) for the sole reason of visiting a local pub that played traditional music on Thursdays. Recently I added Uruguay to my list just to see the La Mano statue. Seeing many landmarks in Western Europe was inspired by a course on western civilization that I took in college. The instructor was passionate about history and the architecture and art of the previous millennium. His classes intrigued me. Seeing France, Italy, Germany, and more from that perspective has left an indelible mark upon me. Sometimes it can be my taste buds that drive me. My recent trip to Malaysia was mainly food driven (and seeing the Petronas towers). It did not disappoint and I can confidently say that nasi lemak is now a favourite dish. The other reason I went to SE Asia was because as much as I love Europe I need to see other ‘new to me’ places on another continent. Adventure, nature, arts, culture, rest and relaxation, partying, reflection, sports, or wanderlust – whatever the reason, just go. Keep and open mind and heart, to know that doing things differently is a way to learn and understand this complicated world we live in. Perhaps then we will realize we make it much more complicated by lack of understanding or not wanting to understand. Travel can, if we allow it, teach us amazing things about others and see all that this world has to offer. And sometimes there simply is no reason other than to just go.