While it's one thing to put off a trip when you are making steady progress toward actually taking that trip (e.g.-putting money in a savings account every month, waiting for a child to reach a certain age, etc.), it's quite another to say, year after year, "one day I'd love visit __________," without any sense of when you will finally put down money for the ticket to ___________.
Halving your dream vacation, or at least breaking it down into feasible and affordable segments, can finally get you out of the house, away from work, and on your way to experiencing the satisfaction of visiting a place you've held in your mind's eye for so long.
Take, for example, the Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James), a pilgrimage route in Spain that has become an extremely popular destination for soul-seekers, cultural tourists, and hiking enthusiasts alike. Though one can, in theory, start walking to Santiago de Compostela (the end point of the pilgrimage) from any point in Europe, the most popular route, and the one that many consider the "full" pilgrimage, runs from Saint Jean Pied de Port in France to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. On average, this journey takes five weeks, but who has five weeks to walk a pilgrimage route? Quite a few people, it seems.
Indeed, thousands of people make the five-week journey each year. But if you don't have time to be one of them, does your next vacation necessarily have to be a staycation? Absolutely not. After all, there is no rule that mandates your walking the entire pilgrimage route. You can walk half. Or a third. Or a quarter. And you will be in good company, because along with the myriad people that have walked the entire pilgrimage, many have also walked only a section or two.
Other factors to consider when making travel goals more attainable include food, lodging, and tourist attractions with admission fees. Perhaps you've always wanted to take a grand tour of Europe, stay in nice hotels, and see every historic icon ever featured in a movie. That sounds amazing! But is the trip ever going to happen?
If you have your doubts, get serious about planning. Do some research to gain a real sense of what such a trip would cost, and if the cost makes you cringe, start cutting back. Pick three countries instead of six. Pick one luxury hotel instead of three. Accept the fact that seeing an icon from the outside can be nearly as fun as visiting the expensive museum within. Perhaps these sound like obvious suggestions, but all too often they are overlooked in favor of clinging to unrealistic fantasies that actually become barriers to travel. And one more note: these suggestions aren't just for starving students. Traveling simply and frugally, even if you are a working adult, won't make your trip less legitimate and inherently less enjoyable.
It is certainly natural to want to "do it all" with the precious free time that work, family life, and other commitments afford us. Sometimes, though, we just can't do it all, and embracing a shorter, less expensive itinerary may mean the difference between seeing something new in real life and seeing another travel documentary on Netflix. Go ahead and call it copping out. As for me, I'll remain a firm believe that halving your adventure is just a different way to have it.
No comments:
Post a Comment