Last year one of my goals was to have a travel adventure a month. When I first said this to my husband he looked at me like I was nuts because travel is expensive and not easy with kids.
But I was determined and managed to pretty much meet my goal of having a travel adventure each month and here is how I did it.
Last years adventures:
- January: Ice Skating in Philly at the River Rink
- February: Paddleboarding in Marco Island
- March: Work retreat to NorCal
- April: Girls Weekend in Sea Isle
- June: Brooklyn for work
- July: Ireland
- August: OCMD
- November: Disney Cruise
- December: Philadelphia
I often get asked how my family manages to travel so much throughout the year, so I wanted to share my tips for planning a year of “travel” adventures.
How to Plan a Year of Travel Adventures
Redefine Travel
When I started to think about planning a year of travel adventures I decided I needed to redefine travel. Basically for me travel means doing something out of the ordinary. Whether that was doing something local like checking out a new casino or something bigger like traveling to a different country. Through out the year I had a variety of adventures.
Embrace Mini Adventures
I used to think that if I was going to travel somewhere that I had to go big or go home. I used to try to make every trip as long as possible and if I couldn’t go for more than a few days what was the point? But in recent years I’ve changed that mindset and embraced shorter but fuller trips. And long weekend trips have been some of my favorites in the past few years.
Think Locally
There are plenty of adventures and experiences to be found in your own backyard. This past year we made a point to try to explore new places near our home. Whether it was visiting a favorite beach bar or enjoying a new boardwalk or dinner at a new restaurant, we tried to make the most of our area. In December we visited Philadephia a few times and wondered why we didn’t spend more time there. The city is less than an hour away and offers so many places to explore.
Get Creative with Accomodations
When planning travel this year I thought of ways to save money. So when I knew I wanted to plan a girls weekend, we planned it for a weekend at my parent’s house near the beach so that we didn’t have the added cost of a hotel. Same thing with visiting Marco Island we went there to see my parents and stayed with them. Consider who you know that you can easily travel to visit. Often times friends, family or AirBNB are cheaper than staying at a hotel or resort.
Say Yes
Sometimes opportunities come up and while it might seem impossible the best thing to do is to say “yes”. If a friend in another state invites you to visit, go. If work wants to fly you to California for a retreat, go. Family going to Ireland see if you can join them. By keeping an open mind and having someone who supports my love of adventures I was able to travel a lot last year.
Make Work Play
Last year a few of the times I got to go on an adventure it was due to work. I went to Brooklyn to assist in a work event. I went to California for a company retreat. Some of these required a lot of work but there was also lots of fun and I got to experience a new place. Maybe there is a convention or conference that you can attend that be part work and part play. Next month I’m going with my husband to a work even in Vegas, we tacked on an extra day on each end of the trip to get the most out of it.
Make it a Priority
We don’t order take out much or go out to dinner a lot. Our kids aren’t in a ton of activities. We don’t have fancy cars or expensive toys and I’m not a jewelry person. For me travel is where I try to spend any extra money we have. For us it’s a priority. And while there is nothing wrong with kids activites or going out to eat that’s just not our priority.
Plan Ahead
We try to plan our big trips as far out as we can so that we can budget and plan our smaller trips around them. We already have most of our 2019 travel plans figured out and are starting to plan 2020 travel and even 2021 travel.
Adults Only
For us travel and adventures aren’t just limited to things we do with our kids. Throughout the year we have traveled as a couple or on our own, I went to Ireland with my cousins while John stayed home with the kids. And we had monthly plans with our friends to do something each month. This kept our year fun, our friendships strong and gave us a much needed break from our kids.
What adventures do you have planned this year?
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