How to choose a place to travel?

Travel is a dream in itself, and dream travel is top notch!

Both novice and seasoned travelers are faced with choosing where to travel. From the season of the year, to the desired destinations. The choice is equally difficult for everyone. However, the seasoned ones handle the choice much faster and more often correctly because of their experience in this difficult business)

How to choose a place to travel? When there is such a question, everyone begins to look for an answer with trivial - the season, visa, prices ... But these stereotypes, below we'll look at everything in detail. The important rule is that all traveling is for your soul! That's why you should start with it!

How to choose a vacation destination?

1.     Signs of fate are the fastest way to help you decide on a destination.

This in general is always worth paying attention to, and when you're going on a trip, so especially! The main thing to ask yourself the question, where do I want to go? The answer will not keep you waiting, the main thing to see) What can it be? Here is just a list of sources of this information:

•     Advertising in the city - on billboards, stores and fences) If you suddenly set out to find a place of rest for the soul, and you are given a leaflet travel agency at the traffic light, do not rush to throw it away! This does not mean that you have to buy a tour in this agency, but come or call for advice is worth it. Maybe during a conversation you will hear the key that will reach your heart! For example, during a consultation a tour operator will offer you a banal Turkey and Egypt, and the second tour operator will be sitting people who talk about a trip to the Maldives, you should already think about whether it is a sign!
•     Verbal information from the outside - from passing people, radio, news on TV, etc. If you have decided to go to country X, and suddenly the radio broadcasts bad news about this country, then change your decision without hesitation! Sometimes canceled flights and delays save people's lives! But don't get hung up on it! As modern news resources are a treasure trove of negative news, which are sometimes twisted or even pure lies!
•     Numerology is an excellent assistant in your choice. If you already have a country in mind, ask yourself the question: should you go there? Look for the answer in the numbers: the same time on the clock, car numbers, house numbers and in general any numbers that will come across. Pay attention to repeating and mirror numbers. Next, everything is easy - Google to help. Google "XXXX what numerology means" and voila, the answer! The answer is read again on the site, which will attract your attention.

You shouldn't go back to the places where you were happy!

It sounds strange, but it's a proven fact. And the best part is, it's not about the place, it's about you - you're already different! Your life path has already changed you. Going back to your old place can be very disappointing! Not only will you not experience new positive emotions, but you will completely erase the bright old memories. This can be related to money, state of mind, health, the presence of other people around you (another company or lack thereof, children, animals, etc.). For example, having visited a place in your youth, most likely you did not have a lot of money, and here you are grown-up and rich to return there ... And the money is essentially there is not important, it was about something else. It was a nice little beach in a bay, which caused a flurry of emotions and a desire to move forward! And now for you it's a piece of stone beach and nothing else! Or you visited place X as a young man, where you spent a lot of time hiking. Returning now, from the burdens of care and laborious work, you already have a sore back and legs, long walks alas no longer for you ... Bright memories are the past, let it go! Let it go! It's the foundation of your future. Live in the present with dreams of the future! Except for the place to live) For example, when you travel a country fell in your heart and you go back there, but already with the goal to buy a house on the beach in that wonderful place of your dreams!

1.     How to choose a travel destination based on pictures? - Google "Goa" and "Goa real photos".

Again, this sounds ridiculous to some, but personal experience suggests that this is worth paying special attention! To begin with, many travel blogs advise choosing a place to travel by photo, but few show the intricacies and nuances of this choice.

If you type "Goa" and "Goa real photos" into Google, the output will be completely different. On the phrase "Goa" search engine will show you pictures of travel agencies, in other words, false photoshopped photos. Call them unrealistic is not right, they're all the same picture, that is, somewhere made for real) But photoshop can do wonders and light filters can transform even the usual photos. Why will Google show them? All prosaic - travel agency sites are much better promoted than any personal travel blog.

But the phrase "real photos of Goa" works wonders) You will see photos taken by tourists. These photos are posted by tourists in their blogs, carefully signing them that it is a "Real photo", "Photo of the Tourist", etc. This is where the maximum amount of truth would be. We give the example of Goa, because we ourselves have encountered "Expectations and Reality". The fact is that when we googled real photos in Goa, the output did not alert us much, but... bribed by the season, visa, cheap prices, etc. But what did it turn out to be? We decided to go, but for 3 weeks instead of 4 or more. We were really upset when we got to Goa! Week stay in Goa made us want to leave, but the return ticket said that there were still 2 weeks ahead)). So long stretched these two weeks ... Made it all worse with allergies to local dust( So, eventually checked - the real photos do not lie) Beaches in Goa dull, sad and dirty!!!

The truthfulness of photos from the Internet is under great question! Travel agencies and news blogs cite photos from completely different places in their articles!

For the query "Phuket" google offers the photos below. The output is totally untrue! In fact, the photos indicate Phang Nga Bay and Phi Phi Phi Island. Both places are not Phuket Island in any way! The map shows the locations of the islands where the photos are actually crossed out.

Thus, you should be guided by photos from personal travel blogs. Namely without color filters, and close to the type "made by an amateur".

Let's move on to the trivial parameters that can influence the choice of a travel destination. However, this is more of a MYTH, let's give in each case a pseudo-influence exposé.

1.     A visa can have an impact on the choice of place, but not a significant one

It is clear that if a country is closed to tourists at least partially or at all, it is a problem. But how many countries are there - 1, 2 - 5? The vast majority of countries are still open to free movement of tourists. It can be free and paid visas, visas electronic or on arrival, for 2 weeks or a month, but they are available one way or another. Clearly, if you wake up thinking tomorrow I want to be at sea, the list of countries is reduced by 10 times, exactly like airline tickets) A number of countries require a visa in advance, but if you have a month before departure, then obtaining even a visa, requiring confirmation through the embassy also will not be difficult. By the way, you can contact the tour operators and they will give you contacts of companies that are engaged in issuing visas that require personal presence through the embassy. Here it is important to apply to reliable people, because it will be necessary to send passports by mail. You can use Wikipedia "Visa for Ukrainians" for the review of visa regimes. Next, if a visa is required, you need to find the website of the visa center, the desired country and make a request. The payment can also be done online, if necessary.

Here is a list of countries and conditions of obtaining a visa from personal experience (2020):

4.     The weather and the tourist season only indirectly influence the choice of travel destinations

   The point is that nature has no bad weather! You can find something to do in a new place for any time of year. It would be silly to deny the impact of the weather, but let's look at the options. Among the weather conditions should be distinguished: air temperature, water temperature, windy, rainy and cloudy. You can explore the weather for tourists in real time on an interactive world map.

•     The rainy season in Asian countries is not as bad as it is described. In Thailand, April is considered the month of the beginning of the rainy season, in other words, not a tourist month... What is the reality? In fact, yes, there were very few people, but is that a minus? It rained almost every day, but at night or during the day "like from a bucket" for not more than 30 minutes. That is the rain in fact did not interfere. The humidity was another thing... The humidity was starting to be high and it was hard to imagine what would happen in the peak "off season" in May - June. On getting off the plane in Patai it felt like we were in a sauna! My first thought was we were going to live in that sauna for a month! What to do? But after half a day this state of affect is completely gone. You just have to realize that during the rainy season, you'll be sweating ten times over during your normal walk through the city because of the humidity. You need to get used to wet clothes and moldy things in the closet) But the main advantage is the temperature of the sea / ocean - up to 33 degrees! Staying in such water is a heavenly pleasure... Sunny days are enough, and overcast weather is even good for walking to new interesting places.
•     The windy season on islands (Sri Lanka, Cyprus) and deserts (Egypt, UAE) is a significant minus. But even here you can make adjustments. For example, during the windy season on the islands you can find mountain shelters where there is no wind all year round. In the deserts, the wind season falls in our December-January-February winter. Do not fear the rain in these places, but the sands can spoil the rest pretty good. Beach holidays in Egypt and the UAE is something specific... the wind blows freezing, the water is cold, the sun is burning during the day, and the temperature drops to 10 degrees in the evening! However, a trip for a week will do for a change, even in the windy season, the prices are much lower at that time. Going to a desert country in the summer of June-July-August is clearly not worth it, unless you like to get fried on a "griddle".
•     Sweltering heat season is only for beach lovers. In our summer time in the warm countries like Greece, Egypt and Israel is hot, dry weather. The air heats up to 40 degrees at lunchtime. Lunchtime is considered siesta time from 12/13 to 3/14 hours - time to sleep and nothing else. Being outside during this time is not possible. So if you want a beach vacation, even this season will be fine. On the beach in the morning and evening, lunch time - lunch, reading a book or afternoon nap in a cozy room under air conditioning).

In other words, seasonality is purely conditional and stereotypical, which is imposed by most. Everything should be considered individually! It is better to follow your heart. Especially in the low tourist season advantages are more - lower prices for everything: flights, accommodation and food, and most importantly there will be no crowds of tourists!

5.     The size of your wallet affects the choice of place to travel - this is a myth, which is carried to the masses by travel agencies!

   This is due to the fact that the tour operator can only offer you accommodation in hotels, the cost of which is initially higher from the hostels and campsites. Plus the seasonality, which also affects the cost of hotels and airfare. If you choose to travel independently, the size of your wallet will not significantly affect the choice of country. Let's compare vacations in France and Thailand from Ukraine. The cost of the flight to Thailand will be higher by 3 times compared to the airfare to France. And if you choose the car tour on your car, the cost of getting to France will be even lower. And if you take a companion cabin, the road to France will cost "as an intercity bus. And now the accommodation - here the situation is proportional to the opposite and the difference is 2-3 times. However, even here there are options. Do not necessarily settle at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, and you can settle in the suburbs, it will be cheaper in 4-5 times. And get a convenient, you have your own car and the European Autobahn). So in Thailand, housing is cheap if it is a shack made of bamboo. And if air conditioning, refrigerator and a comfortable bed, you'll have to pay as much as in France)))). If you are asked the question "Which monthly trip will cost more - Thailand or France?" Subjective feeling that most will answer in France will be more expensive)

A little quick math:

•     airfare to France (Marseille) - $100
•     Accommodation in France - $ 100 / day.

Total $3,100 for the month.

•     Air ticket to Thailand (but it will be Bangkok, will need another flight to one of the islands, such as Phuket) - $ 400
•     Accommodation in Phuket - $ 30 / day.

The total of 3400 dollars a month.

Meals are not taken into account. This is a purely individual component. You can take a mivina from home and eat it for 30 days, or you can buy old wines and moldy cheeses.

A cursory calculation shows that a 30-day vacation in Thailand is more expensive than in France. In fact, this is notional. This rather proves that the choice of destination can be influenced by the wallet only at the stage of having money a priori! Further, if you have free 3-5 thousand dollars, you can easily travel for a month in most countries.

How to travel on a budget?

Traveling on a budget is an acceptable reality. There are travelers who purposely travel as if they have no money - catch hitchhikers, live with the locals - an extreme experience for the explicit amateur) We are not talking about that! You only need to turn on your brain and already can save not to the detriment of rest and mood. The first article, which falls under the economy - is housing. More detailed article on how to rent cheap accommodation will be later, but now in brief. The cheapest option is to look for housing locally. Prices will be different almost 1.5-2 times. Apartment in Petrovac (Montenegro) rented through Bucking for 50 euros, and found a similar location for 30 euros. At Corfu (Greece) - 60 and 30 euros respectively! If you travel by car pay attention to camping sites. We are not talking about a tent, but lodging with minimal, but delivery conditions. This is very important in Italy and France, when in addition to housing you still have to pay for parking! Camping is lodging + overnight parking - about 30 euros per day (camping on Lake Garda in Italy). Overnight lodging will probably be like a van or a small room, but the car will be by the side and it will cost almost pennies. Lodging on Lake Garda so will cost from 60 euros minimum + about 10-20 euros per day.

Also you can save money by buying tickets on the stock beforehand. But it is not our specialty! Read how many people use, it's great! We have twice booked tickets 3-4 months in advance. In the first case, the flight was canceled completely (money refunded), so we had to buy 1 day in almost 1.5 times the price - it did not work to save money! The second time they even closed the country for the world-famous quarantine)) So the reservation is not for everyone))) We usually take tickets 2-3 weeks in advance. The price is not low, but the probability of flight cancellations is much lower than the reservation for six months...

Saving money on food in general is easy with a regular kettle! Eating right is easy and quite cheap. It is basically enough to take a kettle with you, which does not turn off or burn out on its own. On it you will be able to prepare everything you need). Standard tourist menu:

•     Morning - oatmeal with water (steaming dry porridge with boiling water) + dried fruit, tea.
•     Lunch - buckwheat porridge (it's better to take 3 kg of it from home for 2 months) + boiled eggs, everything is cooked in a kettle, tea.
•     Dinner - fruit, cottage cheese / yogurt, etc.

6.     Flight time - affects the choice of location, based on the length of stay in the desired country

   In other words, if you want to rest for 7 days, then fly to a faraway land is not komilfo) For example, a flight to Thailand takes a minimum of 11-13 hours, but often includes several transfers and waiting for connecting flights. To fly there is in principle normal - waiting for the miracle of rest! But back, a long flight can "blur" all the charm of the trip. That is, the farther away to fly, the longer should be your vacation - then the flight time will not affect the choice of travel destination!

    What does the soul want? - This is the most important factor in choosing a country.

It's time to remember your high school geography and outline maps) It is necessary, because it will give a direct answer - where the sea and where the lake, the mountains and the desert. Only you know what you want right now:

•     hiking in the mountains - northern lake Italy, Crimea, Montenegro
•     hiking in valleys - Cappadocia in Turkey, Albania
•     old cities - European cities Czech Republic, Poland, Netherlands
•     ancient cities and ruins - Greece, Egypt
•     Lush beaches with wild animals and vegetation from exotic Asia: Thailand, India, Sri Lanka.
•     European beaches and old streets - France.
•     ultramodern reality - the United Arab Emirates.

Your choice may also be influenced by the format of the trip - family idyll of spouses or travel with children / elderly parents. These are not limiting factors, you should only take into consideration the presence of people who depend on you.

Try also different ways of traveling: by plane, by car, on a cruise ship.