Friday, December 11, 2009

When, Why, and Where of Travel--Follow Me

First let me say, I wish I could take credit for this fabulous picture; but I can't it's one of the sample pictures that came loaded on my computer. No doubt you've got one like it on yours. It seemed appropriate though, ever wonder how many places a butterfly has visited? How many things it's seen?

The when, why, and where of travel may not be something a butterfly thinks about you; but you should. Thinking and planning will make all who travel with you enjoy themselves more.

The when of travel maybe dictated to you based on your work load, or when the kids are out of school, but even within those restrictions you need to think about when. Is this window of travel time a high or low season? Meaning are you paying big bucks or getting a deal for travel during an off time. Naturally you can save money if you travel during non peak times, you can save further if you look at what days even to go. Are you staying at a hotel that gives deals on week days or the week ends? A hotel we've frequented in St. Louis (when our daughter was in school there), had great wk-end deals. Why? Isn't that when people travel? It was near a large computer center that had lots going on through the work week with business travelers, and so offered great deals on the wk-end to get people to stay there. If you fly, often the same thing is possible. In other words, check things out before you book.

Why? Why travel? Do you travel to relax, do you travel to see interesting things, do you travel because you like history, do you travel for recreation? Do you travel for family time, or adult time. These are very important questions to ask yourself before you book a vacation/adventure. If you have a hectic life and work schedule; you might not enjoy a hectic busy adventure style vacation like getting up early every morning to be the first in the lift line to ski. You might prefer a quiet relaxing vacation curled up with a book instead. If you're days are filled with children because you're a school teacher, you probably don't want a child filled resort like Disney on your vacation. If you sit at a computer day after day at work, you probably would really enjoy a hiking, skiing, more active vacation. Hubby and I in our early years were very different in this regard. He wanted the active vacation because he wasn't active at work. I was super active at work and wanted down time for vacation. He couldn't understand why I didn't want to get up at 6 am on vacation to hit the slopes and ski to the ski patrol pulled us off the mountain. I was on vacation, I didn't want a schedule. Through the years, we've found compromise; but it's important to discuss and understand what going on vacation means to each person you're traveling with. Otherwise things probably won't run smoothly.

Once you figure out the when and the why; then think about the where. Most people do this backward. As a result they come back from vacation tired, sad because they didn't get to do what they thought they were going to do, and in general...things just didn't measure up.

When? Our next vacation will be in early February. It's a slow time for hubby at work, an ugly time here at home, and it's low season which fits our budget.
Why? I want relaxation, he wants more active.
Where? We're heading to South Carolina where it will be warm enough for him to play golf. I can relax, go for walks, knit or crochet, and sleep in. Perfect! We'll get in some site seeing, because with it being low season things won't be crowded. We both love to do that, and both enjoy history. We'll both get to do what we enjoy; and because of good planning the vacation will be a success. We will spend time on the beach, but probably won't have to worry about getting too much sun.
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21 comments:

  1. Very good points to consider when deciding travel plans. We tend to figure out the place we want to go and then figure out the when part later. Because of my job I can't travel anywhere during tax season so dreaming of some destination during the off season gives me something to look forward to and helps me get through.

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  2. A vacation curled up with a book is fine with me. I think that a more relaxed vacation is what I need. Thanks for sharing this nice post.

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  3. Thoughtful post. I'm a pretty spontaneous person and like to live in the moment. I have found that the best things that happen to me on a trip are the unexpected things. One time when the kids were little we happened to be driving by a county fair...ox roast and all. We planned to stop for just a minute and ended up staying all day. It was the suff that memories are made from...

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  4. My moms and me, we go on our little vacations when Mother Nature starts pulling on our heart strings to become part of the Earth.
    Mother nature pulls us to the wonderous big ocean. We can do everything at the ocean.
    Dig in the sand, walk in tide pools, Sit on cliffs and just stare- or we can go watch for the migration of the whales. We can fly kites or watch a sunset.
    Moms drink coffee early in the morning as they sit on the cliffs and I chew on a dog bone.
    It can be restful or active- however we want it to be. And the moments can change quickly just as the second hand of a clock.
    It is wonderous.
    love
    tweedles

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  5. This really caught me!

    I could remember last July when I had a tour in our province and we came to Simply Butterflies Conservation Center in the town of Bilar, Bohol, Philippines. We had a great time learning about the butterfly's metamorphosis, the difference between a moth and a butterfly and see many kinds of butterflies in their garden! It was a truly worthwhile experience! ;D

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  6. I like to travel to see interesting things. Unfortunately, some travels are based on the schedule of an event so I have no control over the time. I would like to travel during low season, but the weather is kind of important to me to have an enjoyable vacation. Although, I have been to Boston when it was below 0 and Niagara Falls when it was partially frozen over.

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  7. good info to travel and i agree with our posting but dont forget if you want travel to bali visit me at http://thebali-paradise.blogspot.com/ info about travel bali

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  8. Beautiful photo! Green butterflies definitely don't get enough attention and publicity! Everyone is always going ga ga over the orange, purple and blue ones. ;) He's a pretty one!

    Great post on the best times/reasons to travel!

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  9. Beautiful and very clear picture.i just love butterflies specially because of their beautiful colors on their wings thanks for the post.

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  10. The points given here must be considered while planning for travel.I am planning to go to south India in this Christmas.Last but not the least i liked the green butterfly photo.I have never seen green butterflies in real.

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  11. hmm,you want a cheap but great vacation try Vietnam, Saigon is fairly hot but as you travel north it gets cooler. You can stay on the South China Sea beaches along the way. The water is clear blue and warm, white sands, lots of fresh seafoods and everything is cheap.Thank you

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  12. I always prefer an active holiday, and it's a must to be somewhere near the sea. Until now Italy has been the perfect destination for me: great food, nice people and a lot of sea :)

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  13. Great tips...as always. We're actually finalizing our summer vacation now. Decided to rent a house in Nags Head. It'll be more of a relaxing, spend time on the beach vacation. We're going the end of August which saves us a lot of money. We're also going with another family. We'll have a mix of family AND adult time.

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  14. Great post! These are definitely some good points to think about. I think the most important thing to decide is why we travel. Most of my family vacations are for the purpose of visiting family, but then they always end up as a marathon of visiting places and people, with not a lot of time to relax. It's important to be realistic about what you can do.

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  15. Thought provoking indeed. I don't have plans when and where to travel yet, but it is a good idea to start thinking now. Planning in advance is always the key to traveling.

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  16. Hello
    I like traveling very much.Its informative post about traveling and I do agree with you points about it.Thinking and planning are necessary and we can save money during non peak times.I must say that you have given me some ideas for traveling.Thank you..


    Konjugierte Linolsäure

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  17. Hubby and I used to travel like the butterfly, going whenever and where ever the urge hit, and then we got three new children, of the four-legged variety, and now we travel much less, and it has to be totally planned out and pet friendly, or scheduled way in advance to have kennel arrangements... I miss the way we used to travel.

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  18. Holiday is so critical to refresh our mind after the boredom in our daily lives. Besides, get to know other culture, people, foods seems to be a nice thing to try

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  19. I like low season too. You get more for your money, and even more important, it's more relaxed.

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  20. Why do people travel? Well, without getting too philosophical about it, people travel to get away from themselves, to redefine themselves, and to escape from daily routine.



    Scientists discovered that even a slight modification from everyday routine like taking a different route to work can help to better cope with stress and even stave off an Alzheimer's disease by reprogramming very complicated brain connections known as pathways. Traveling to faraway destinations is even a better way to get rid of stress and depression.

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  21. I'm VERY late to this conversation... but the travel bug is hitting me hard at the moment. When I was in the UK it was easy to travel quickly and cheaply to many different countries with totally different cultures and languages. Now that I'm back in NZ... well it costs a bomb to get anywhere! So until I get out on the road again I'm getting my fix reading travel blogs like yours. Thanks! :)

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