As a travel blogger and someone who travels frequently, I hear the term “dream trip” thrown around a lot. And while this may mean different things to different people, when I hear that term I think of trips that you’ve been waiting years to take or a destination that scares you a little bit, but you just take the leap and book it. A dream trip for me is that trip that takes extra planning, that takes you to a place you’ve dreamt of for a long time. And as someone who has a few dream trips under my belt at this point, here’s my best advice for 5 steps to make your dream trip a reality!
1. Start saving.
Travel costs money no matter how you look at it and dream trips are often bigger and more expensive than an average getaway. So start saving money, now! What you often don’t see here on Land of Marvels were all the years of working really hard and living in a tiny apartment to save money to start our travels all those years ago. Even now, we work really hard (and multiple jobs) to save our money to afford to travel as much as we do. Start saving on the little things and then see how much you can set aside for however long down the road you intend to travel.
2. Plan ahead.
We book our travels way out, like sometimes 6-8+ months in advance… the reason? Actually it’s a number of reasons, a) you get better airfare deals way out, b) it gives us a ton of time to pay off the trip before we even leave, and c) it gives us a lot of time to plan for time off of work and get our life situated for when we’ll be gone. Planning ahead is smart on a lot of levels but the thing I love about it, is that when we end up leaving all those months later, the trip is paid off and we don’t come home with a huge credit card bill!
3. Keep saving.
So you’ve booked your dream trip months ahead of time and you don’t know what to do next? Keep saving money. You’ll need money for while you’re there, so don’t stop saving once you’ve booked and paid off your flights and hotels. Keep putting money aside and then use that as your spending money on your trip!
4. Embrace the unknown.
Sometimes the hardest part of planning and taking your dream trip is embracing the unknown that will for sure come. But for me, that’s one of my favorite parts of travel! Embrace everything that comes your way and just take it in stride. Travel won’t always be easy but it will always be fulfilling no matter the circumstances!
5. Travel + Repeat.
So you made it on your dream trip to a fantastic destination and now you’re home and you’re hooked! Start at #1 and do it all over again!