An introduction to the first crucial steps in creating your journey of a lifetime.
(Part 1 of 4)
So, you want to travel for an extended period of time. Hit the open road. Be carefree, seek adventure and have unique life memory experiences. As long as human beings have existed, there were those who sought that which was distant and foreign. Historically, extended, distant travel was a tough and dangerous bargain, available only to a select few.
Even today, despite the miraculous advances in travel technology and the amazing availability of means for people to travel, extended long term travel is still a dream that won’t come true for most. But for those determined enough to arrange their lives for such a project, the rewards can be immeasurable.
This section of thelastplacesonearth.com will feature a series of short articles to help you, as a prospective long term traveler, design and carry out a worthwhile travel experience. The articles were intended to be read in chronological order; but each article can stand alone and be read in any order if desired.
The first thing you should do when planning for long term travel is to clearly answer the question: “Why do I want to travel?” Honest, clear and precise answers to this simple question will help you create your primary Travel Objectives. Clear objectives will then make the other parts of travel planning much easier. These include the creation of a Master Plan and budgeting, research and preparation for your journeys, and finally, planning each individual destination. The importance of clear Travel Objectives is covered in the next article.
After identifying your Travel Objectives, the next step is to create a big picture plan, the “Master Plan” of your proposed journeys. As with having clear travel objectives, a rough “Master Plan” of your upcoming journeys will make it easier for all the other pieces to fall into place.
Crucial to your plan is budgeting and financing. Without at least a minimal amount of money, long term travel can be very difficult or impossible. You can rely on modern travel support networks like Couchsurfing to help with a shortage of money. Or you can creatively work your way around the world. But, however you do it, the amounts of money available and how you allocate in your plan will directly impact how fulfilling your travel experience will be. Budgeting is discussed in the Master Planning article, along with some personal suggestions and thoughts on this important step in the overall process of creating your travel experience.
Once your Master Plan is created, you then can start the important task of researching for each trip planned in your travel journey. Having some knowledge and understanding of your destination will do wonders to set you up for a worthwhile and rewarding experience. Finally, our last article to be posted in this series will focus on the challenge of staying healthy while on the road for a long time.
Read Part 2 http://thelastplacesonearth.blogspot.com/2014/02/travel-objectives-most-important-part.html