Planning for my next 3 travel destinations
Imagining where to travel to within the next three to five years is a fun exercise that allows me to dream up new travel adventures and also helps me narrow down my short, medium, and long term travel goals so that I can save enough money for each trip. Here are my top three bucket list destinations that I would like to visit within the next couple of years:
1. Ski the Austrian Alps
Skiing Norway in February gave me my first taste of alpine skiing in Europe and I yearn to go to the Alps to ski the massive peaks. I’m visiting St. Anton am Arlberg this summer solo to hike and also scope out the best place to ski with my partner this coming February 2024. According to the photos I gaze at online when I need a “this is what it’s all about” moment and through conversations with all of the welcoming Austrian folks I’ve already connected with while planning this summer’s journey, the country promises to live up to its reputation as a fantastic place to visit no matter the season. Although while I love to hike mountains à la the Sound of Music, skiing the Alps will truly be a dream come true.
2. Sleep in a yurt in Kyrgyzstan
I recently discovered a travel company called GEEO that plans adventure trips for teachers. I am not usually a tour group kind of traveler (with exceptions including the Galapagos adventure that Kate and I went on last summer – more later!) but their Central Asia trip to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan sounds too good to pass up. Friends of my parents have visited and said that the central Asian countries are wonderful places to visit, most especially for the landscapes and affable people. It’s not a place I am comfortable navigating completely solo (at least not yet) but traveling with a group of curious and adventurous teachers sounds like a great way to explore a new-to-me region during the summer of 2024.
3. Hike the shepherd settlement of Slovenia’s Velika Planina
Image by TejaPodgorsek from Pixabay
My first solo trip was to Slovenia and the Czech Republic in the summer of 2017. I chose Slovenia because my dad said that the people have a reputation for being quite friendly and it turns out the reputation was spot on (they do have LOVE in their name). I spent many nights sharing wine with hostel hosts in the countryside around Lake Bled and encountered many welcoming people as I explored the charming capital city of Lujbliana. However, as a cautionary planning mishap, I forgot to bring my license so I was unable to rent a car to hike the Julian Alps as hoped. Therefore, the country still calls my name and this time, with my eye on summer of 2025, I will go with my passport and license in hand. I’ve since heard that one of Europe’s largest shepherding settlements is hikeable and I intend to go back to find out for myself what the wonderment is all about.
Saving for Trips
Ally Bank, my bank of choice for the past three years, offers customers the ability to put savings account money into buckets and you can set up regular transfers to each bucket as often as you’d like. I have buckets for a number of things including emergency savings, tax and insurance payments, and travel. I’m sometimes saving for two or three trips at a time and creating a bucket for each trip makes it incredibly easy to track how much is saved for each goal. I create automatic transfers into each bucket that are timed with my paycheck deposits. I’m continually surprised by how easy it is to save for short and long term goals when I put money aside in small chunks at a time. Other banks probably offer similar saving strategies but Ally works for me.
Note: I did not receive an affiliate commission from this post nor am I a financial advisor; I just enjoy spreading the joy of tools that help saving money for specific goals easier!
What sort of travel plans do you make and how do you financially prepare for them? Share below!
