Bucket List, Out and About

Why My 2015 Travel Plans Aren’t Made Yet

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It’s only the 6th day of the new year. Why am I feeling a niggling sense of panic at the back of my mind?

May be it’s the dazzle everywhere – ‘Best Trips for 2015’,  ‘Best Places to Go: 2015′, ’16 Spectacular Places to Go in 2015’, ‘Top 10 Cities to Visit in 2015’ and other ‘must-achieve in 365 days’ on every travel website and forum; lucid 2015 travel calendars by fellow bloggers (I love you guys). Picture-perfect destinations from all corners of the world with their crisply-worded pitches, calling out to me from glossy magazine pages and equally glossy blog posts:

‘Come to Zermatt, Switzerland before the rest of the world does’.

‘Because Marrakesh is the new cool’.

‘Dive into Lithuania before tourism discovers it’.

Was there ever an uninteresting corner in the world? Next up could be the unloved slums near my neighbourhood – ‘Come see the World of Grime before it gets cleaned up’.

Don’t get me wrong – I love travel, I do. I can spend hours and days planning itineraries for trips that I know aren’t happening in the near future. I usually begin planning my trips at least 3 – 4 months in advance and enjoy spending my evenings scouring through travel websites and forums. It’s what gets me through those long weeks at the office – planning my short-lived escapes.

But just this once, all that gloss and all those must-visits are leaving me overwhelmed and making me wonder – ‘Why don’t I have a list yet?’, ‘Am I not a serious traveller anymore?’, ‘A travel blogger who doesn’t even know where she’s headed this year?’. Add to the equation, the limited time I get off work in an year (3 – 4 weeks) and a constrained budget, and I’ve got myself in the middle of more than a few tug-of-wars – ‘Northern Lights in Iceland or Torres del Paine in Chile?’, ‘Maybe, I could visit Australia this year… Or learn to dive in South-east Asia?’, ‘What about the Great Wall?’.

Maybe just this once, I’m going to take a deep breath and step off the non-stop treadmill of inspiration.

Only for a little bit.

10 thoughts on “Why My 2015 Travel Plans Aren’t Made Yet”

  1. My best friend, like you, only gets three weeks vacation per year. but instead of agonizing what to do with those 3 weeks she baiscally leaves it all up to me. As in, because I travel constantly her yearly vacations are spent meeting up with me wherever I happen to be. Thus 2014 was in Chile and 2013 in China… this year I’m going back to china and we are having a bit of a discussion because she doesn’t want to repeat the destination…

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  3. Oh, I know this feeling. We usually never plan ahead this far with one exception, namely when we do a big trip (1-1.5 weeks). I bought Lonely Planets book for the best trips in 2015, I already know we won’t be doing any of them this year. It’s more like inspiration for trips in the far future. Lean back, relax. Especially if you live in Europe, you probably have all the time in the world to discover the gems of eastern Europe one at a time. Traveling is way more intense for me with all the big ‘working breaks’ in between. 🙂 By the way, loving your blog so far! ❤

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    1. Thank you Suze, I’m glad you liked it! I’m happy to have found yours looking for something on Europe. The pictures are absolutely stunning and making me itch to travel to all these places.

      I think I was feeling the pressure of ‘so many places, such little time’ when I wrote this post. I’m already working on a couple of options for April as I write this. 🙂

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  4. I am familiar with those feelings! It is nice to know I am not the only one. I can’t wait to decide where you decide to adventure off to. I am following now. 🙂

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