When I tell people that I love to travel, one of the first questions I usually get is something along the lines of “Where do you want to travel to?” Problem is, I have A LOT of places I want to visit. Deciding where to travel can be quite the challenge. I’m sure many other people face the same struggle. So, how do you choose a travel destination?
1) Find Places to Go!
Before you can decide where to go next, you need to find places you want to go! There are numerous ways to do this, but the main ways I find travel inspiration is through social media, particularly Instagram and Pinterest.
What better way to get inspired to go somewhere than to see a stunning picture of it? Luckily, there are amazing photographers all around the world who share their wonderful photos. Below are some Instagram accounts and Pinterest boards you can follow to help you get inspired.
Remember! When you save or pin a photo, make sure it includes the location somewhere in the description, that way you don’t have to go searching for it later.
Bucketlisters
Bucketlisters features pictures taken by their various followers. The pictures are taken in locations all around the world and feature some truly breathtaking places. The pictures you see here will definitely make you think, “Wow! I want to go there!”
Weekend Wanderlust
Weekend Wanderlust is a group of travels who share their adventures, experiences, and travel hacks. Their official account features many pictures from their various members.
Crazy Travel Adventures
Travel bloggers of all sorts post their top travel stories here. This board contains posts from solo travelers, family travelers, budget travelers, and luxury travelers alike. Surely you will find something that matches your style here.
Footsteps of a Dreamer
Pinterest Account and Instagram Account
Of course, I can’t give you a list of Instagram and Pinterest accounts without listing my own. I post pictures from my trips around the world to my Instagram account and I use Pinterest for travel planning and inspiration.
2) Pay Attention to Frequent Occurrences
If you find yourself saving or pinning different images from the same location relatively frequently, that’s probably a place that you’ll want to start thinking about visiting.
As you start finding places that seem to pop up over and over again, start grouping those photos or pins together and make an overall list of the places you would like to visit.
I have different Pinterest boards for each of the different places that I think look interesting and worth visiting. Not surprisingly, my Japan Pinterest board has the most amount of pins.
3) Rank Your List
Start ranking items on your list by how much you would like to visit a particular place. If you can’t decide which locations should rank higher on your list, start by putting the places you have the most saved pictures or pins for at the very top.
Try putting the Pinterest boards of where you want to go most closer to the top of your profile. Once you have actually made the trip, move it to the bottom.
4) Do Your Research
Do some quick research to get an idea of how easy (or difficult) it would be to travel to the locations on your list. For various reasons, some places are easier to go to than others – whether it be because of distance, price, etc. The information you discover may influence how much you want to visit a particular place and ultimately your overall list ranking.
For example, my boyfriend wants to go to Easter Island, an island in the Pacific Ocean. It’s famous for its 900 statues called moai. However, this island isn’t exactly the easiest place in the world to get to, hence why we haven’t gone yet.
However, if there is a place that you REALLY want to go even though it might be a little more difficult to get to, leave it higher on your list. There is nothing wrong with having big dreams.
However, make sure to keep your research brief. Don’t take a step back from your research and find that you’ve planned an entire trip you’re not even sure you’re ready to go on.
5) Decide Where to Go Next
Now that your list is complete, it’s time to take a look at the top places on your list and start planning your next trip!
Further Reading
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Gosh you are very organised! Mind you, like you I have pinterest boards for the places I want to visit.
Yeah, I have a lot of friends and family that give me a hard time for how organized I am. I’ve never been real good with spur of the moment or go with the flow kind of stuff, and while people might say I need to just chill, for me getting organized is actually relaxing. I know I’ll never miss anything spectacular because it will be saved in some way, shape, or form.
I don’t think I will ever run out of places I want to visit! These are great tips for deciding which one is next, and I’m definitely going to check out some of those sites for even more ideas. The photos are gorgeous.
I know! The Pinterest and Instagram accounts I follow are always showing me new places that I’d never even heard of, but definitely would want to visit. It’s a hard decision, but I think my current strategy for tackling that question works rather well.
I have a habit of saving things to Flipboard, the only problem being that i then forget. Some great ideas though!
Flipboard is one of those things that I haven’t really gotten into, but I really haven’t spent much time on it. Maybe I’ll have to take a few more minutes and really check it out.
I save a lot through Pinterest. And I have one list to focus on that is of UNESCO sites.
So most of my travel routes are through these sites.
UNESCO sites are definitely something I want to make more of an effort to visit. I visited a few in Japan without realizing that was what they were, and now I’m itching to go see more. I might have to steal your idea of having a separate board just for UNESCO sites.
These are great tips! I think the pinning one is so true. I know I’m itching to visit a certain place when I’m pinning the crap out of it. I tend to make my list and then see where I can get the best deal. Great tip for IG as well!
It definitely doesn’t help that once you pin something for a certain place, Pinterest shows more pins from that area. It’s like its whispering, “come on, I know you want to visit here. Feed the addiction…”
I use trello to make lists of things i want to see by region/country/trip. The app is on my phone and desktop so I can quickly add things to it. It’s tough keeping so much information straight!
That’s a great idea! I use Trello for a lot of my to-do list needs, but I never thought about using it for my bucket list. Thanks for the suggestion! How do you organize everything? Do you have one board dedication to your bucket list? Do you have different lists for different countries?
Great tips! Instagram and Pinterest are great places to find new places you would like to visit. I will check out your accounts and the suggested accounts as it is always good to have new inspiration!
Thanks for checking out my accounts! There are a lot of inspirational accounts, way more than just a few I listed here. I love using them to find new places I’ve never even heard of!
Where to go next is always a good question. There are so many possibilities and we’ll never be able to see all before we are too old. I like your advice to look at pictures on Instagram accounts and to to the research after that. It’s likely I discover a place I’d never dreamed of before this way.
I can definitely say that I’ve learned of so many new and exciting destinations just by scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest. They’re definitely my favorite resources for getting inspiration.
You never know what will inspire you to travel, do you? I once saw a movie that made me want to see where it was filmed. When I went, it was just as good or better than it looked in the movie! There are so many good bucket lists out there, but the best place to go next is the place that touches your heart!
I have a lot of destinations that I want to visit simply because they were used as filming locations. Being able to stand in the same spots, it’s like you’re right there with the characters! Movies and TV shows are definitely a big source of inspiration for my travel destinations.
These are great tips! I really love all the instagram accounts you suggested. Choosing where to go next can be quite overwhelming at times!
Definitely is. People will suggest places to me or I’ll read a blog post about some place really cool, and I’ll write it down, but then I just end up with hundreds of scrap pieces of paper with places that I wanted to visit, but no memory of what about the place had made me want to visit it. This was my way of getting organized!
Great list. I have to admit I spend way to much time looking through Pinterest, Instagram and blogs planning my next trip.
I definitely do too! Just when I think I have an idea of what I want to do, I find something else cool that I want to add to my list!
Most of my vacation days are spent visiting my kids – who all live far from me – so the leftover days are used towards “bucket list” travel. I always have a hard time deciding where to use these days as my list is so long. Tough decisions – but I will probably not run out of places I want to go for a very long time!
I definitely won’t either! It’s the fact that my list is so long that I find myself running into the “where do I go next” problem, but I always end up happy with what I picked.
I like your lists and concepts. I also set-up comparison sheets to investigate airfare cost and weather patterns. There are so many places I want to go to that I don’t see the need to go to certain places in the dead of winter or during rainy seasons. I also check out the travel deals (if I have several places I want to go to, I may just pick the one that has a current airfare sale).
This is actually part of my next post! Once I’ve narrowed down to a few places I’m considering, I’ll go through the whole trip planning process – comparing deals, dates, transportation, etc – and then use that to help make my final decision.