20 Bloggers Advice on How to Make Travel a Reality

In this article, 20 travel bloggers share their advice on how to make travel a reality.

Today, I have the pleasure to share with you a special post.  I thought it was time to spice things up so I asked the travel community for help.  And let me tell you something, as expected, my dear blogging partners responded in a huge way!!!

A few weeks ago, I e-mailed several bloggers asking the following question:

What is your advice on making travel a reality?

I wanted to know how the travel community folks would motivate someone to finally make that travel decision.  I asked them to give me their boldest motivation line or the most practical advice on how to go from dreaming to acting.

The purpose of this post is to help YOU to make that travel dream a reality.  My hope is that the words of these wonderful bloggers resonate inside you and get you to act.

The responses I got ranged from beautiful to powerful, from inspiring to practical.  So go ahead!!! Read every answer carefully and get inspired!!!

Making travel a reality is actually quite simple. In life, you have two choices: Make Travel a Priority, or Don’t. There’s no in between. You either want it or you don’t. Once you realize what your two options are, it’s easy to make personal choices and sacrifices to travel on an ongoing basis.

Ben of Adventures with Ben

Take small steps at first toward your goal; if you can’t afford the time or money for a long trip plan a shorter one what will maybe give you some of the same experiences. I’d love to go trekking in Nepal, but my few days trekking in the French Alps on the Tour de Mont Blanc was just as exhilarating. If you’re planning a longer trip and feel paralyzed by all the decisions, just put the essentials in place; a flight and some travel insurance. Book the first flight and the first couple of night’s accommodation and then work the rest out as you go.

Heather of Heather on her Travels

The best advice I can give somebody who wants to travel is:

For those of you who didn’t take physics in high school (or those of you like me who did take physics, but didn’t understand any of it) that is Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion.  Essentially what it says is:

“An object that is at rest will stay at rest unless an unbalanced force acts upon it.”

You have to be that unbalanced force.

I know it’s comfortable to be the object at rest on the couch at home, but as Newton’s law says, if you don’t get yourself into motion, you’ll never go anywhere.  The good news is that you don’t have to push yourself all the way to some far off destination.  Travel is self-motivating, and if you really want to travel, one trip isn’t going to cure you of that desire.  The key is to get in motion.  Every trip you take, whether across the globe or across the city integrates travel into your lifestyle.  Like everything else in life, with enough repetition, traveling will become a part of your everyday life, as normal as eating, sleeping, or watching ESPN (hey, it’s normal in my life).  Once you start traveling, the second part of Newton’s law takes over:

“An object that is in motion will stay in motion unless an unbalanced force acts upon it”.

So if you want to go visit some exotic, far off destination, but you can’t quite pull it off right now, start by planning a trip somewhere local.  Be the unbalanced force that gets yourself in motion, then let Sir Isaac Newton take care of the rest.

Steve of More Kids Than Suitcases

Stop making excuses and start saving. Anyone who truly wants to travel can make it happen. Maybe you cannot go all out on a huge trip right away, but you can save up, plan, and make things happen. Most people just talk about how they would like to do something. Stop talking and take some actual steps such as making a travel savings budget and planning out routes. It might not be something you can do right away, but taking those steps will make your travel dreams feel reachable, which they are.

Rease of Travelated

I once read that fears are much smaller on the other side and I really believe that to be true. I was petrified to go but once I walked through airport security all my doubts washed away and I knew I was doing the right thing.

Ayngelina of Bacon is Magic

If you’ve always dreamed of visiting the village where your ancestors came from, or if you love history or architecture and would love to see medieval cathedrals or visit the pyramids, then make a firm commitment to yourself to make your dreams come true. Start saving money, looking at airfares, and different accommodation alternatives (Hostels? Couch surfing?), exchange rates, things to see and do. If you get excited about travel, you can visualize it and it becomes real.

Ana of Ana Travels

We find that most people have a hard time making travel a reality because they don’t know where to start. They get overwhelmed with all the decisions they need to make to plan their travels. Our advice to them would be to “set a date”! That’s the absolute FIRST step.

Determine the day that you are able to leave for your travel and the day that you must be back. Once you have those dates chosen, the next step is to determine where you want to go based on the number of days you have. After that, you’ll select the mode of transportation and so on. So what are you waiting for? Get going on your first step — set a date!

Shirlene of Idelish

Just go and do it. If you stop and think about it too much all you will discover are all the reasons why you can’t do it and what will go wrong. Just dream big, believe in it and every day take action steps towards making that dream a reality.

Caz and Craig from yTravelBlog

Take full advantage of the resources available. Largely due to the ever-expanding world of the internet, information and travel resources are endless. There are so many options for researching a destination and finding ways to do it. Take your time, researching can be tedious, but it’s worth it!

First of all, take advantage of Internet searches to find the best deals on flights. Use resources like couchsurfing.com to not only locate free places to stay but to get plugged in and connected with locals in the area quickly.

Stop buying things you don’t need and save money instead. When you have a bit saved up, head out with a minimal plan but with an unstoppable goal to travel and accomplish your goals.

Mark of Migrationology

Buy your first ticket right now. Truly, now. Calculate a reasonable timeline for saving up funds for your long-term trip, and then lock yourself into that date with a ticket. Once you have the tangible, the ticket purchased, you have a (relatively) firmly set date and goal to work toward.

Shannon of A Little Adrift

It really doesn’t take much to travel especially if you release all of the expectations of having to stay at a fancy hotel or even a hostel.  I would recommend to stop buying Starbucks lattes at $5 each and the big $1,000 TV and save all that money for travel.  It’s all about priorities.

Marcello of Wandering Trader Travels

I think a large part of motivation comes from within. If you’re the type of person who feels a burning desire to go new places, meet new people and see the world instead of sitting at a cubicle and dreaming about it, chances are you will make it happen.

I tend to gain assurance by imagining worst-case scenarios. If you take the leap and begin traveling, the worst that can happen is that you either don’t enjoy it or you run out of money. In which case you return home and find a new job. That’s hardly the end of the world!

If money is an issue, my biggest piece of advice is to sit down and research the cost of traveling. You may be surprised how easy it is to go almost anywhere on a budget, provided you’re not too picky about accommodations and mode of transportation.

Scott of Quirky Travel Guy

Spend time on your travel goal each day. Set aside at least half an hour to read, learn, plan, and talk to people in the travel community who are already out there. Make a list of the things that are holding you back. Then work each day on turning those obstacles into opportunities. If you spend time working on solving the problems that are keeping you off the road, I guarantee you will find a solution to making them a reality. Recognize that it might take time to plan, but the sooner you start working through your worries the sooner you can make a path to achieve your dream.

Andrea of Inspiring Travellers

Verbalize your goals to someone – anyone [or if you blog, to everyone!]. Once you start telling people you want to travel, your friends and family members will keep you accountable.  Make a bucket list of places you’d love to visit – or start small and have ONE place you’d want to visit before you died.  Keep your eyes out for special airfare deals…I’ve been lucky enough to get in on special fares to Japan because I kept my eye on the fares – fares that my travel agent didn’t even know about it!

Jen of Devour the World

My advice for making travel a reality is to create a special savings account, setting aside money from every paycheck specifically for traveling. Any amount will work—even as little as $10 a week. (Just remember not to dip into the fund under any circumstances.) You’ll be amazed at how fast it adds up! Then, when you’re traveling, keep a little spiral notepad and write down everything that you spend, making sure you stay on budget.

Michael of Strux Travel

Get your passport – now! Even if you can’t immediately use it, you’ll be thinking about the places you want to go and ways to make it happen. Travel doesn’t have to mean a far away, expensive, long-term experience. Explore your own city and region. There are often hidden treasures right in our own back yards. Take day trips and weekend getaways, and when you’re home, start planning the next adventure.

Cathy of Traveling with Sweeney

Don’t spend so much time planning, just get ready as quickly as you can and go for it. Change your habits right now to make it easier to start to travel. Instead of going on shopping trips to the mall, go on donation trips to Goodwill. Start saving, start getting rid of possession, start planning, and leave in a year!

Dina and Ryan of Vagabond Quest

First, figure out your travel goals.  Travel is different for everyone, so it is important to figure out what YOU want to get out of it.  Then you can make goals for how long you will travel, where you want to travel, and what your travel style will be.

Next, make an action plan with realistic mini-goals and timelines and follow it.  The action plan should be simple, only the things you absolutely have to do to make your travel goals a reality.  We tend to make a lot of excuses and throw up a lot of barriers that are not real.   Don’t over-complicate it.  And always continue pushing forward.  My profession is project management, so my action plan started out as a massive spreadsheet.  As I moved forward, I figured out what really mattered and cut out the rest.

It helps to vocalize your travel goals and your plan with close friends and family.  Once you put it out there, you feel more of
an obligation to stick with your plan.  Also, the support you get from your inner circle will continue to motivate you.

So, I think it is my time to respond the question.  After all, I am a blogger too.

When I was a kid, I dreamed of going to all these places.  Due to my age, I believed it was nearly impossible to visit those corners of the world.  As an adult, I have realized that nothing is as complicated as you think.  It is a matter of perspective and priorities.

Therefore, if you want to make travel a reality, just act.  It is beautiful to dream about all things travel but action is what really is going to take you there.  Plan, ask, execute, and leave your fears aside.

I want to give thanks and send a million blessings to all the bloggers who participate in this post.  Thank you my dear pals from the bottom of my heart.  If you like their responses, make sure to visit their websites and start to follow them (links are provided).

Last but not least, I want to thank Inka of Glamour Granny Travels for not responding my question.  Yes, you read right.  Read why she didn’t answer the question:

Inka said: I wouldn’t really know how to make travel a reality because that’s what I have done all my life. At an early age, my parents took me with them all over the world, and I haven’t stopped since. I have lived, gone to university, and worked in 5 countries, move home every so often, and tend to go off to a destination I fancy at the drop of a hat. In other words: travel IS my reality.

I included Inka’s thoughts because she expressed exactly what I had in mind when I was putting together this post.  I want to give you a push to make travel YOUR REALITY.  Hopefully, this post has helped you to get closer to that reality.

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