Where to?
How on earth do you choose where to go?
Here is what I hope can be some inspirational guidance.
There are places you need to see. And there are places you need to find.
Sometimes you can combine the two in one trip. For example:
You need to see Rio de Janeiro.
You need to find the heart of Brazil in Bahia.
You get the idea.
Clip travel mags
Become a regular reader of travel magazines. There are the well-known Travel & Leisure and Traveler, as well as the more niche Afar and Budget Traveler, all great. Ski magazine, and I imagine some golf mags, would also feature great destinations. Anyhow, when reading said magazines, whenever you flip the page and something makes you gasp in awe, tear out that article and keep it. I keep files, organized by continent, of all the articles that made me start dreaming. Some places I’ve had on file for years. Whenever I need ideas for my next trip, I go flipping through them.
This works online as well. Archive your favorite online articles. Like these:
Look for excuses
Let friends be your excuse:
Never turn down an invitation.
Got a friend living somewhere interesting/exotic/far who wants you to come visit? GO. A friend with the local scoop is simply the best possible way to experience a place.
LET YOUR PASSIONS OR HOBBIES OR SPORTS BE YOUR EXCUSE:
Need a destination idea?
Look to your favorite things to do, and go do them somewhere foreign.
Food lovers:
Pick a foreign cuisine you love and bingo, you’ve got a destination. You can plan to simply go and eat your way around the region, or, do some online research for cooking classes. My friend Lisa took a one-week cooking class in Umbria, Italy, here Cucina Della Terra, which included daily excursions to local food artisans like cheesemakers and truffle hunters, followed by a cooking class every afternoon, during which the small group prepared that night’s dinner.
Wine lovers:
This is an easy excuse to take you to some of the world’s most beautiful places. In the US, Napa, Santa Ynez and Walla Walla are but a few.
In France, you can explore beyond the classics like Bordeaux and Champagne to find fantastic wines from vignerons off the beaten path, like the delicious Picpoules of Languedoc, to name but one.
The bonus of great wine regions is that they are populated by people who also appreciate great food. So you’ll get to amuse your bouche all day long.
Have you had a great wine trip you’d like to share?
Art lovers:
Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro
Check upcoming exhibitions around the world and find a show that will be your excuse to go somewhere new.
Music lovers:
My friend Nghia's trip to Primavera Music Fest, Barcelona
Choose a deeply musical country as your next destination (yes, I’m thinking Brazil here, but it could just as easily be Ireland, Spain, or Jamaica,) where you’ll hear a mind-blowing performance or discover the sounds of a new technique.
I’ve even had friends plan trips abroad to see their favorite band play. I’m thinking of my friend Elisa going to Scotland to see the elusive My Bloody Valentine. How cool is that?
Or what about music and wine and food? Bottle Rock festival combines all three in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, Napa Valley.
Architecture and design lovers:
Bangkok, Thailand
Choose an architect with a cool building you want to see; find a city where a designer thrived and go tour his or her projects. Brussels is littered with art nouveau; Glasgow is Rennie Mackintosh heaven.
Sports Lovers:
Think of your favorite sports. Now where you can go to improve your skills? Or watch a professional tournament? Surfing has brought me to amazing beaches and lodges all over the world. Tennis players can find academies to attend and tournaments to watch in many incredible places. Even boring golfers can find some pretty thrilling locales for their sport. As a huge bonus, practicing your sport or taking lessons somewhere will also expose you to locals and even other visitors from around the world, to further enrich your travels.
THESE IDEAS CAN ALSO BE PRACTICED IN REVERSE, OF COURSE:
If you’ve decided on a place to visit, find out which art shows will be showing there; which food specialties you should not miss; which designers helped create the buildings of the city; which sports events will overlap with your time there.
Let weddings be your excuse
A lot of weddings these days are being organized as getaway weddings. If you get an invite like that, GO. Wherever it is, just go. (I’m talking about interesting or beautiful places you’ve never been, of course. Feel free to decline suburban yawndom of America*. If you absolutely must attend a wedding in yawndom, then plan ahead and find one thing to see that will make your trip worthwhile. For example, while attending a wedding in Dallas, I made an afternoon trip to see the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, designed by architect Louis I. Kahn.)
If anybody invites you to a wedding abroad, don’t even blink: YOU’RE GOING. Weddings are some of the most fascinating foreign experiences there are. To varying degrees, everything is going to be different from weddings you’ve been to in your home country, from the ceremony to the fashions to the eating to the drinking.
Will everyone be wearing hats? Will the priest get drunk? Will Grandma? How many hours — or days — will the feasting last? You’re going.
*Note: if the wedding abroad is a family wedding, this does, in fact, constitute a vacation, and not simply a family visit.