GET EXCITED FOR TRAVEL!
Your vacation is booked, but it’s months away and the anticipation is building. If you’re anything like me, you think about that vacation A LOT and dream about all of the fun things you are about to embark on. But time seems to move in slow motion.
Here are some fun ways to get excited for your vacation and make the time leading up to it a bit more bearable.
Make a Countdown Calendar
Nothing beats looking at a calendar and seeing that you’re only a few short days or weeks away from your next vacation. A regular ol’ calendar will work, but a countdown calendar is much more fun. There are many great ones you can find on sites like Etsy like this one I love. It’s stylish and functional!
A great way to get kids involved in the anticipation of travel is to create a paper chain. Each day they will get to tear off a link in the chain and watch it get shorter the closer you get. It will also help alleviate all of those “How many more days until vacation?” questions! Here’s a great template to use.
Guidebooks & Maps
Yes, everything is available online these days, but nothing beats holding a book in your hands and reading about a new location. Grab a highlighter and take notes of everywhere that is of interest to you. You can also pick up city maps at your local bookstore to plot out where everything is to give you a good lay of the land you are about to explore.
Books are also a great way to get the family involved in planning. Many guidebooks have versions for kids that include trivia questions and scavenger hunts to keep them engaged.
Here are some of my favorites:
Plan Your Adventures
You’ve gone through all your books and figured out what you want to do on your vacation, so now it’s time to plan that all out. A great way to keep track of where you want to go is to put everything into a Google Doc or to save things in Dropbox. This will allow you to access all of your notes from your phone while you are traveling. You can even download them to your device if you won’t have access to the internet.
Make lists and spreadsheets with links to various websites. Include links to Google Maps that you can easily pull up and plot out directions from your location. Also make sure to save all of your travel documents (reservations, tickets, etc…) in a folder so you don’t have to carry around paper documents with you. Include copies of your passport, birth certificates and travel visas in there as well.
As a Travel Advisor, I develop itineraries for my clients and give them access to an easy to use app while they are on vacation. It contains all of their travel documents, recommendations and city guides. There is even a feature to chat with me while on your vacation for any issues that may arise and it also provides real-time flight updates.
Here are a few sample itineraries to view:
Southern California Adventure: Web Version App Version
Dublin Long Weekend: Web Version App Version
Walt Disney World: Web Version App Version
Enjoy the Cuisine
Enjoying the native cuisine is the best way to experience a new location. It fully immerses your senses in the culture and allows you to converse with locals. Before your travels, seek out restaurants in your area that specialize in the cuisine of where you will be visiting or search for recipes that you can make at home. This will allow you to explore flavors you might not be familiar with to see what you enjoy in preparation for your trip.
This is also a great way to introduce new cuisines to kids, especially if they are picky eaters. The destination you are traveling might now have their usual favorite food, so this alleviates any surprises while you are traveling. Who knows, you may find something new you can add to their rotation!
I would love to hear from you and what you do to get excited for your next vacation. Send me an email and let me know!
Happy Travels!
*Disclosure: I only recommend products that I believe in and would use myself. All opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains affiliate links, which means I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
