The learning curve of being well-traveled

My family likely would not have been for the world-travelers club during my childhood. While we explored enjoyable destinations like East Coast beaches and historical monuments, it wasn't until 18 that I saw the west coast and 21 that I went abroad. Between the ages of 4 and 14, vacations typically consisted of brief stays at IHG-brand hotels in coastal South Carolina or day trips around East Texas. Don't get me wrong — those experiences were wonderful. We relished in popcorn shrimp, played competitive rounds of mini golf, embarked on ghost tours and delighted in ordering extra cherries in our Shirley Temples at dinner. However, these excursions didn't demand the strategic approach that, let's say, a journey across Chile would. We rarely took flights to our destinations, so we has no need to research plane ticket or rental car costs. Based on my experience, I understood travel planning to be a simple process: pick a destination, secure a well-rated hotel and set off on the designated date.

In my late teen years, the travel bug started itching again, and I began to crave more diverse experiences. The destinations I scrolled past on social media haunted me and captured my attention — everything from pasta making classes in Rome to hiking around cerulean lakes in Banff National Park. While I grew more fascinated with trips like these, I confronted the reality that I had no clue how to make any of them happen. The logistics were daunting: I couldn't simply drive to Italy, and I had no idea how to rent a car or decide which area of a city was the best fit. Making all of these decisions seemed impossible. Beyond of my inexperience as a planner, the financial impact of embarking on these journeys would be significant. My earnings from waiting tables sufficed for dining out and building college savings, but they hardly covered a flight to Europe, let alone my growing bucket list.

As I perused the internet to learn the skills of an experienced jet-setter, one common thread stuck out to me: traveling to cool places is a choice. I would hear it all the time in adventurous young women's YouTube videos or Instagram Reels. Hunter S. Thompson’s famous line resounded in my mind: “Buy the ticket. Take the ride.” Yet, executing these trips depended on both the skills and the money.

The cost of travel is one of the biggest deciding factors for most of us. In 2023, the average solo traveler might spend $1400 on a three-day trip (assuming they fly domestically, stay in a hotel and eat at restaurants). Based on my experience, even a two-night girls' trip to Asheville cost a group of six about $350 each. Several times in college, after feeling inspired by travel influencers to "just book the trip," I looked into flights to Madrid. They were, as expected, more than my entire budget for a weeklong vacation. Travel doesn't necessarily have to be that expensive, and there are ways to strategize a budget that stretch money further. Stay in hostels, eat PB&Js and make it a road trip instead of heading to the airport. This impacts the experience you might have, but making these decisions is a part of choosing what to prioritize in a vacation. Having the money — whether it's enough for van-camping or the Four Seasons — is the first step, and then deciding how to spend that money.

A significant part of a successful trip is knowing how to plan it. This doesn't mean that a minute-by-minute itinerary is required, you just need to know what your priorities are. Someone who wants to focus on rest and relaxation won't care about which hikes and all-day excursions are popular nearby. Alternatively, a traveler who wants to fit as much adventure as possible into a weekend will feel like they wasted their time by sitting around a pool with panoramic views only a short hike away. I've been both a relaxer and an adventurer, and the key to enjoying a vacation is to decide which one is important for that particular trip and stick to it. In Cozumel, I drank mango margaritas and read on the beach. In Washington, I hiked 26 miles in a week.

I've made a few big mistakes in the last few years of traveling (or failing to) that I've learned from:

First mistake: Prioritizing price too much.

In 2018, my mom, sister and I went to Seattle for a senior trip (my senior year of high school, hers of college). As a lover of planning ready to try my hand at being the family's travel guru, I found what I thought were the best restaurants and places to stay around the city. The accommodations in Seattle proper were a bit out of our price range, but we found a lovely house just across the that water was cute, spacious and within our budget.

We soon learned the best restaurants had the priciest oysters and the quick ferry ride to our lodging was anything but. For the amount of time and money it took to take the ferry and rent a car in Port Orchard each day, we could have just stayed in a swanky downtown hotel. For the same price, we could've also gotten larger portions at a less fancy restaurant. Forgetting to tally up multiple smaller costs in hopes of saving on one big expense ended up being a major misstep for my first trip out west.

Next: Not doing the research.

In early 2022, my now-fiancé and I planned a weeklong hiking trip in the Pacific Northwest. We'd fly into Seattle, rent a car, hike around Mount Rainier and Olympic National Park and drive back to Seattle to catch the flight home. From my previous trip, I remembered it was a little cooler in Washington, so we would wait until May to head out. We booked AirBNBs and flights and began scouting hiking trails when we realized that all our desired paths would be covered in deep snow during the trip. We could rent snowshoes and avalanche kits, but we knew that wouldn't be the trip we wanted. After all, the car we reserved was only a two-wheel drive. We might have spent a day on the side of the road, stuck in a snow bank.

We wasted hundreds of dollars canceling the trip and reservations, but at least by the end of the process, we were much more prepared for the next time. We ended up going on an almost identical itinerary just a few weeks ago, and now we know to carry out some thorough research before committing any additional time or money.

Finally: Not having a bucket list

It's hard to budget for travel when you don't know how much to save or what you're saving for. When I first started making money as a fine dining server, I tried my best to save for a future trip. Without a solid plan or specific trip in mind, it was a lot easier to use the money for something else. By setting a concrete goal and destination, it's more likely that you’ll achieve your goal and make that trip a reality.

Here's a list of my top travel tips for your next trip:

1. Pick the location first. From there, you'll get an idea of how much it will cost and how long it will be until you're able to book it.

2. Be realistic with your budget. If saving for a dream week in Paris next year means sacrificing too many of the things you love, there's nothing wrong with pushing the trip back a season... or a few years!

3. Complete your before booking ANYTHING. Do you need a passport? What type of activities does the area offer? What parts of the city are safe for tourists? What season is the least crowded? Does the hotel with great Instagram photos also have great reviews?

4. Be safe about it. Let family or friends know where you'll be and for how long. Know the laws about taxis, rideshares and rental cars before arriving. Don't carry too much cash in unfamiliar areas.

5. Set expectations. If you're looking forward to relaxing afternoons but end up traversing a city, or if you want to explore the town's history but can't quite make it out of the hotel in time, you might be disappointed with the experience.

I still worry that the trips I plan are going to be the best value and experience. With aspirations of visiting Madrid within a year, I acknowledge that there's a lot to learn before finalizing any arrangements. It's important for me to remember that every trip, regardless of its outcome, still offers me a fresh encounter and new perspectives. Ideally, I'll eat delicious food and meet wonderful people, and there's a chance I'll learn something new about how to make the next experience even better. Looking ahead to the next 10 years, I'm sure I'll learn a dozen more travel tips — maybe even the hard way. And that's just fine. At least I bought the ticket and took the ride.