Where to go?
One man’s dream is another man’s nightmare.” I just coined this phrase, and I think it works pretty well when discussing travel. It’s no fun spending time and money to get to a place only to find you don’t like it. A classic example: I love India, but I’ve met other travelers who absolutely hated the place. Conversely, I’ve met folks who talked glowingly of Spain, but once there I couldn’t get out fast enough.
So how do you figure out whether a place is for you? It’s not easy! Here are some suggestions:
- First look at photos and videos of your intended destination, to see whether the attractions look compelling to you. For photos, look at places like Patrick Syder Images and flickr; for videos search on Youtube.
- Check-out Globetrekkertv, which produces TV shows about travel that tend to give a good idea of what places are like. See if your destination is available in their video-on-demand library.
- Another excellent source is to read the travel journals of other travelers who have been to your destination, as these can capture how it really feels to be there, and the types of experiences you’re in for. I've posted a few of mine, and there’s a good selection of journals online at Realtravel.
- Read a travel guidebook that gives an honest assessment. Lonely Planet and Rough Guide books, available at
Amazon
or your local bookstore, are about the best for this, though even they often fail to really set expectations as to what a place is like.
- Talk with someone who's been there. If you don't know of anyone, then it's perhaps worth a try to find others via a site like Virtualtourist .
Once you’ve figured out where you want to go, it’s critical to consider weather patterns to determine when to go.