How to choose the right holiday destination?

Make the right choice

In front of the window of the ice cream parlor, we hesitate between the 48 flavors on offer: vanilla from the islands, passion fruit, wild strawberry or Kinder-nutella? For the destination of his next vacation, it’s the same! fear of being wrong, desire to innovate without taking any risks, impressing those around you, giving in to (un)reasonable temptation or get back on track from previous years. So we listen to each other’s opinions. We dwell. We think. Then we hesitate. In short, we don’t know! Prices are rising, and a decision has to be made.

Relaxation destination: like last year

Head to the apartment rented every summer on the Costa Brava or the grandparents house in the Creuse, it’s the ideal solution when you’re exhausted after a long year of hard work. Easy, convenient and inexpensive, it avoids spending whole days thinking about and looking for the destination of the next vacation. Then on the spot, we find with joy the summer habits, the friends and the familiar places. A 100% reassuring and 100% relaxing holiday destination for young and old alike.

Dream destination: guaranteed happiness

We dreamed of it since our adolescence of this distant country with the smells of hot sand and vanilla, and now it reaches out to us. All the conditions are finally met to leave: budget ok, validated holidays, cheap tickets! Whether it’s the trip of a lifetime or a summer, it’s the Graal. The dream holiday destination is guaranteed happiness. On condition of not having idealized the country, of know where to step and where you put your suitcases. I have also long postponed the departure for the country of my heart: Vietnam. As a tourism professional, the opportunity had presented itself a thousand times. I just had a scared to be wrong all along the line like Lucie from Voyagesetvagabondages. I circled around, visited neighboring countries, landed for a short stopover in the capital. Ten years later, I took the leap. And I started again the following year with the mad hope of maybe living there one day!

Destination change of scenery: the search for the unknown

Boarding a canoe in the Amazon, visiting the palaces of the Maharajas, climbing the steps of the Great Wall of China…we all feel the need toto be homesick to break with our daily environment. This loss of bearings through new landscapes, a different culture, another language plunges us into an unknown world. The adventure begins. Exhilarating, scary and haunting. Be careful not to get carried away by enthusiasm. All parameters must be taken into account, and not just the desire for exoticism. I am thinking in particular of the level of comfort, health and the age of the participants etc. Adventure is like bungee jumping. Better to be psychologically prepared for it.

Choosing your holiday destination: where to start?

• Ask the right questions

Define what you expect from your vacation, it’s essential. It sounds obvious and yet! If you go to multiple attendeesyou will find that everyone has different desires. This is the case of a family with children. The youngest will prefer the beach and fun activities. As for teenagers, they will seek friends and thrills (parasailing, quad, amusement park, etc.). Parents will like to rest in the shade of a palm tree without spending their time cooking. Club holidays seem to be the best compromise in this specific case.

And it’s not because we decide, this year, to plan a quiet vacation that next year, we will not want to try the adventure. In the same way, it is not a question of reproducing identically the trip to Nepal of his neighbor overtrained at altitude. Just listen andorganize the trip you need at a specific time.

Before leaving, it is necessary to find out about your holiday destination (climate, cost of living, vaccinations, customs, visits) in order toavoid a mistake. Indiafor example, is a country that requires a true preparation because of the length of his journeys and the Culture shock.

On the forums, I read more and more often opinions of people disappointed by their trip. Costa Rica, Thailand, Vietnam, Bali… so many enchanting names that become synonymous with heartbreak. Of the destination research before departure would have prevented unavoidable exits from the roads.

This is why I invite travelers to buy a guide to the country before taking their plane ticket. Lonely Planet, Guide du Routard, Petit Futé…for around twenty euros, you get a quick overview of interests, budget and culture.

Visit travel forums is also a possibility. The big drawback is that opinions differ so much that you can’t find your way around. Instead of being confirmed in one’s choice, one begins to doubt. It became a tote or a potpourri between disguised advertisements and latent aggressiveness.

• Call a professional

Organize your trip or choosing your holiday destination alone is not easy. At the time of the omnipotence of the internet, nothing beats the contact with a real professional. He will be able to guide you according to your personality, your wishes and your budget. More and more travel agencies offer tailor-made formulas, individually. Of course, this constitutes a non-negligible cost: that of peace of mind. For my part, I help people who wish to set up their a la carte itineraries for a very reasonable price. I include transport, accommodation, activities and a program of visits, but this requires autonomy on site.

My “advicesending” tips

A few years ago, I would have told you to dare, dear reader. I would have advocated the easy adventure: How to go far cheaply? How to be understood with three and a half words of English? How to transform a stopover of a few hours into a magic stopover of 2 nights in three clicks? How to avoid an anthology tourista thanks to 4 golden rules? I had bright holiday ideas, opinions on everything and incredible tricks for my loved ones and myself. What could be more normal, I was a travel agent.

But now, like everyone else, I made mistakes. I sinned by exaltation, by envy, by optimism. My first week in India took on the appearance of planetary disaster as I told it here. Fortunately, I was able to pull myself together and open my eyelids wide after a chaotic acclimatization.

So, just like you, I don’t want to take the wrong destination. It’s not just a question of money, it’s a question of well-being and feelings. I haven’t found a miracle recipe: I just take time for reflection. With my husband, we do the point on the budget, the duration, the type of trip. Two years ago, our vacation in Sri Lanka turned into a Road Trip in Florida. Because we felt it suited our family setup better, especially with a toddler.

Above all, I believe in having fun, that a successful trip is one that resembles us and that there is a moment for every adventure. There is no point skipping the steps, the main thing is to leave at the right time!