5 Ways To Make Your Travel New Years Resolution Become A Reality
5 Ways To Make Your Travel New Years Resolution Become A Reality
Yeah, don’t even bother doing it. You know you are not going to accomplish this year’s New Year’s resolution. 92% of New Years resolutions fail. That’s right, that means that trip to Dubai for $3,000 a night, it’s not happening. At least not this year!
So why is it that you will not get to Dubai this year? There are a lot of contributing factors to why resolutions fail. One of the contributing factors is that people tend to set unrealistic goals for themselves. Another is that no one really plans out their resolutions. Lastly, they lose momentum due to not being able to measure their success.
Dubai can actually be a reality if by taking some simple steps, 5 steps to be more specific. These five steps can be breaking down to an an acronym known as SMART.
What is SMART? Depending on the resource you read it from, SMART stands for, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relative, Time. Here they are broken down in English in no specific order at all.
Be Specific
A lot of people will make a New Years resolution to just travel more, or travel through Europe. The problem with these is they are very vague with their statements. Getting down to a specific location makes the resolution more real. It makes it more likely that it will happen. Instead of saying I want to travel to South America, say that you want to visit Cartagena, Colombia or Buenos Aires, Argentina. This gives a more attainable goal for you to shoot for rather than just shooting blindly.
Never Thought I would Visit Bali Until I set it as a destination I wanted to go to.
Make your destination realistic
Nothing like saying I am going to visit Buenos Aires, Rio, Quito, Panama City, Rome, Tokyo all in one trip. Now if you can do that, let me know how you did it.
When planing a trip being very realistic about what you want to do. Do not over reach the amount of destinations or the length of stay. If you can only get 4 days of vacation, make the trip limited to one place closer to home. If you can get 30 days. Still only make the trip limited to 1-3 cities and plan for longer travel times. When you make realistic goals it makes them more attainable. It becomes something you KNOW you can do.
Set a Date
“I want to travel to to Thailand sometime this year” is a great statement, but it also is a statement that will hurt you. If you are not specific by a date of when you want to go, you will keep putting off the plans for a different time. The year seems long at first, but as it starts nearing towards the end, you will wonder where all the time went and at that point it is time to give up on the resolution.
Set a specific date on when you want to go. If you need help, here are some tips on the best times of the year to travel.
Make it You
Partying in Ibiza all night long sounds amazingly fun. But if partying is not something you do at all, then maybe that plan may not be the best for you. Set at travel that caters to who you are. If you are a calm mellow person, try a remote location. If you like the posh life, try an upbeat city location. Just be true to you style rather than doing the bucket list of things that “have to be done”
Sometimes I just want to enjoy the simplicity of the beach.
Research and Measure it out
Okay, so you have an idea of where you want to go and when you want to go. To make it all a reality requires research to be done. Research like crazy, including pricing, places of interest and where to stay and the daily break down. Here some tips on how to do the research.
Once the research is all done set out small goals to help yourself attain the trip. For example, make a white board with how much you need to save and how much you saved so far. Perhaps add to the white board how many cups of coffee you skipped trying to save for the trip.
Having place to see you progress helps the momentum going. Losing that momentum will be catastrophic to the resolution becoming a reality.
Conclusion
Let SMART work for you, or at least this travel version of it. This way you can have that travel plan that you have always wanted. You will also not fall into that 92% of people who fail. Remember to be specific on your destination and time, be realistic of where to go and how long, and plan it out and measure your progress.
What do you think? Have you ever actually fulfilled your New Year’s Resolution before? Are you an 8%? What tips do you have? Where would you like to go this year? Let me know. Leave a comment below, send me a tweet on twitter or post on my Facebook.
Heck even send us a message. Let me know so I can help. Subscribe to our newsletter to gain even more tips on beer or travel. Happy travels 
Erick Redcloud
A partially blind Graphic Designer, Freelance Travel Photographer, Artist, Buddhist and Vegetarian who loves to travel. Erick loves traveling by being with the locals and going off the beaten path. He is the founder and owner of Pathlesstravels and loves inspiring others to follow their dreams, whether it is to travel or something completely different. He started Pathlesstravels to hone is photography skills and to meet amazing people, and to help a friend break into journalism. Check out his photography at his link.
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10 comments on “5 Ways To Make Your Travel New Years Resolution Become A Reality”
Some very honest and realistic tips here. We’ve already mapped out the year in terms of destinations and rough dates. We know we’ll end up doing something that’s very “us”, leaving a wee bit of room for the unexpected (We learnt last year in Melbourne that throwing away plans can be just as rewarding sometimes) A very happy new year to you, and here’s hoping you accomplish your 2015 bucket list!
Yes, sometimes throwing away the plans and going eith the flow just makes sense, actually, a lot of times it does. Enjoy your New Year and may your plans come true.
I haven´t made my travel New Year´s Resolution yet but when I do I will follow your tips definitely. My fear is actually the opposite - I always travel longer than planned and to much more places than expected. That´s why my friends are afraid to “host” my stuff when I leave coz when I said 1 year last time, it extended to almost 3…this time is only 3,4 months but who knows, there is so much to see…Happy New Year!
Haha! Yes the same happens to me everytome I go back to Colombia. A month becomes 3 months or six months. Good luck with your plans whatever and how ever long they are.
I love the idea of incorporating SMART goals into NYE resolutions. As a high-school teacher we use the method of SMART goals for students to set learning achievement, but it can definitely be used in all aspects of life. Great article!
I think that SMART can be used for just any aspect in life. I just made it relatable to travel. Glad you enjoyed the article.
Great article Erick! I fulfilled my very first new years resolution last year when I decided I wanted to visit Australia. My resolution this year is to go to New Zealand! I done pretty much what you’ve suggested in the article, I set realistic goals, done a heck of a lot of research and kept tabs on my savings. By seeing how much progress I was making it made me all the more determined to keep going. Next stop New Zealand!
Loving proof yhat it works! Awesome! Can not wait to hear the stories of New Zealand next.
Great tips. I actually havent really set any plans in stone this year as I am renewing my passport this month and not sure how long it will take but once that is sorted I will be on Ryanair and EasyJet faster than you can catch me
Great tips, and not only for travel. If you follow closely these will help make plans for anything. Thanks for the article.