Your One Place
Here’s a fun game to play: think about one place in the world that you’d like to visit someday. You don’t have to make a long list, just think of one single place.
Even including people who don’t travel that much, most of us can think of somewhere we’d like to see before we die.
There are a couple of easy rules for this game:
1) You only get one place
2) It has to be somewhere you haven’t been yet
Those are the only rules; the rest is up to you. It can be a city, a country, an island, a continent, or just one big mountain.
You may already have an idea of where you’d like to go, but if not, there are plenty of options out there. Look at a globe or a good map if you need help deciding.
Once you have your one place, it’s time to bring it closer to you, and bring you closer to it. You didn’t think this would be strictly theoretical, did you?
The 3-Year Deadline
If your one place is on your “someday” list, let’s give it some kind of deadline, even if it’s far in the future. How about three years? Do you think that you could find a way to visit your one place sometime between tomorrow and three years from now?
Most of us can probably move that deadline up to two years, one year, or maybe even sooner. But to keep it fair, we’ll use three years as the outside limit.
I’ve been to a lot of places in the world, and I’ve found that even the furthest destinations on earth usually cost less than $2,500 to get to and back. Most of the time, it’s a lot less—there are many countries I’ve gone to for less than $100—but for planning purposes, we’ll use the high end.
Even using the most extreme example—a $2,500 destination and three years to save for it—you will only need to save about $2 a day to get the funds for your trip. You’ll even have enough left over for meals and duty-free shopping!
(By the way, I realize that many people in the world live on less than $2 a day, but most of them won’t be reading this essay. My writing is for those of us who are pretty well-off.)
I use this example to prove that money isn’t what prevents many of us from going somewhere we’ve always wanted to.
Instead, most of us stay where we are because of inertia more than anything else. Even if you’re not ready to quit your job and go off the grid, you can probably do one thing to prepare for the visit to your one place.
The Next Action
To start the preparation, take the first single action you need to take to plan your trip.
You don’t need to buy a ticket or anything else. Just go to the bookstore and check out the travel section. Read the travel guide for your place in the café. If you prefer, look for books about your one place at the library, or ask someone who has been there to tell you about it.
Just do something.
And then you can plan the next thing—set up your three year, $2 a day savings fund, mark off a block of time far in the future, look for a travel companion, or whatever you need to do.
Building it out step by step, one action at a time, will help you get to your one place. It won’t just be a dream anymore. You’ll make it real, and in three years or less (probably a lot less), you can be wherever in the world you’d like to be.
Help Wanted
If you did this exercise or at least thought about it, where is your one place? Feel free to share your answer with everyone else who is reading along. If you’re going to really plan for making it happen, post up your next action as well.
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147 Comments
Bhutan, please. I’ve already done the info-gathering and budgeting, just need to find the time …
Iceland. It’s an old dream. I already own a book about it. Gift from an ex-girlfriend four years ago. It’s definitaly an old dream. Three years? I have a lot of projects for those next three years. But why not? If I end not going, the money would already been saved. That in itself will be an achievement. I’ll thought about the timing after those three years.
@Guinness,
Bhutan is on my list too. Well, technically, everywhere is on my list, but I’m especially excited about Bhutan since it really is off-the-grid.
@Danny,
It would be interesting to visit Iceland during the unfortunate aftermath of the economy’s collapse. I’m not sure if it would be a good time or a bad time to be there now, but IcelandAir usually has good fares from the East Coast.
Ohhh, I’d so love to go to Asia and tour the Buddha statues and carvings, and visit the Buddhist monasteries there. I get such a feeling when I see these in photos…can’t imagine what it feel like to actually be there among them.
Just $2 a day, huh?
Antartica.
First step, to convince my husband.
Alaska. Definitely Alaska!
It isn’t really off the beaten track, but all my life I’ve wanted to see the monuments and artifacts of ancient Egypt. I’m now planning to go within the next three years. I’ve been researching educational tours (where you spend the evenings learning and the days putting that learning into practice) and I have my traveling companion (she’s been there before). Can’t wait. After that, Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Florence, Italy.
I have an envelope with that written on the front. I just put $2.00 in it.
I’m just preparing for a year of backpacking, so I chose a place that isn’t on my itinerary for next year. Socotra, an island belonging to Yemen that has the most amazing plant life. It looks weird and wonderful and I want to go so much.
@Crystal,
Yeah, that’s definitely possible — and most of those places are very affordable once you actually get there.
@Linnea,
That’s awesome! Now you just have to keep putting the $2 in. 🙂
@Mogs,
Socotra definitely wins the award (so far) for most distant and hard to reach place! Wow.
Has to be somewhere I haven’t been yet? Eh, I’m breaking that rule, sorry Chris.
Here’s why.
Two years ago, I studied abroad in Nepal for 4 months. The last week of my trip, I was told by our academic adviser that, statistically, only 10% of students return to the country that they studied abroad in. 10%!
At the time, I laughed at that statistic, knowing full-well that I would be back. Yet it’s been two years, and I still haven’t made an effort to return.
Following Linnea’s move, here’s $2 to getting back to the place that fueled my love for travel and other cultures – Kathmandu!
I love this challenge, Chris! And I was surprised to have IRELAND be the first country to flash in my mind. How inspiring to think that within the next three years, I’ll be there! In fact, I immediately opened a new Mozilla tab and downloaded the Ireland chapter off the the Lonely Planet for only $4! I’m half way there… 🙂
Lake Victoria, Africa. I have no idea why — that’s just what popped into my head right now.
Iceland … in 2 years. I would love to celebrate our 20th anniversary (December 27th) under Northern Lights.
I’ve always wanted to go to Mauritius and France, since I was taking French classes in middle school. It is a about time I made this happen. I’ve conquered most of Eastern Europe, should go western now, right? I can make it happen. It’s on Chris, it’s on!
Japan is my choice.
Two years ago, on our first anniversary, my wife and I sat down in a restaurant and made a list of all the things we’d like to see and do with our lives. One item on the list was “travel abroad, preferably in Africa”. This summer we spent two weeks in Tanzania. Sitting in the Zanzibar Coffee House in Stone Town (thanks for the recommendation, Chris), we made a new list. Next year’s goal: Turkey. The next step: email my friend who lives there now and see if we can crash on his couch.
Hi Chris
Just stumbled on your website and am lovng this first post! Consider yourself blogrolled.
Mine is Patagonia. Doing a spot of travelling from Jan but it’s not on the itinerary this time. Saving it for when I can really get stuck in. One day!
K
Thanks, everyone. I’ll check in after the weekend, but feel free to post in the meantime if you haven’t made it here until now.
Great Post! The Moon in 20-25 years, for my retirement present to myself.
Vegas!! I feel kinda silly throwing out somewhere so common after everyone shooting out these exotic locations, but there is ONE reason that I’ve been dying to go to Vegas… The Beatles Cirque show LOVE.
2$ a day is 14$ a week, hmm… and in three years I could be watching my show? Interesting 🙂
Australia- I plan to take my wife and get a free trip as a cruise speaker. Hopefully we can go down under on one ship and catch another on the way home. We will have to save up for the stay there. We joined a travel club that has one week stays in nice resorts for $399/week. We can use two per year. Plans are in gear.
Antarctica.
I took some first actions, years ago, by getting cruise brochures and reading the Lonely Planet guide. Then harsh reality hit me – there are no budget options to Antarctica, and the sort of trip I dream of costs at least US$15000. It felt hard to justify even trying for that sort of goal while in the early stages of paying off a significant home loan.
Instead I chose to pay extra money into the home loan, reducing the balance faster and saving a pile in interest. This has paid off, as redrawing some of the surplus has enabled me to study full time for a career change, something I couldn’t have afforded to do if I’d poured my money into a one-off trip.
It’s a matter of working out our own priorities. For me, being able to live where I live and have the freedom to study for a new career (and still travel to a lot of less pricey places) mattered more than a one-off trip to Antarctica.
The frozen continent remains a travel dream, but for me it might be a 10 or 20 year plan. I’m happy to wait, and there’s plenty of travel I want to do in Australia (my home) in the meantime.
Sorry for lack of originality .. but ANTARCTICA.
Just so I could be to all 7 continents. Western Africa is the runner-up, and if I could live anywhere, it would be northern South America (Colombia, perhaps Venezuela), Mexico, possibly Brazil, or maybe Thailand .. all for the ladies.
Kristian! TURKEY IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!! GO GO GO!!!!!
This is hard..I would love to return to everywhere I have been esp Hong Kong, Israel and Turkey (which I am in April 2015).
I think South America somewhere, or maybe the Trans Siberian Railroad….
Tuva
Tuscany.
Yeah, the typical female romantic dream, but I long for the Italian countryside experience–wandering around aimlessly from small village/town to another, gaining 20 pounds along the way, and breathing in air soaked with some of the finest soil to bless this great earth.
My husband is not necessarily jumping up and down on the idea of going there, but I read about a fall ‘mystery catacombs’ thing offered in Italy near Halloween each year, and that’s right up his alley, so maybe we can work toward a compromise.
My first action? Checking out a lonely planet guide, see if I can cull some info about the countryside scene.
My second action? Look more into the mystery catacombs for my partner in life and crime.
Chris, where’s YOUR place?
This is really tough for me to figure out – I want to go back to so many places I’ve already been to: Barcelona, Rome, the Greek Islands, Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, Vegas (it’s awesome, Jessica! I was there in September)… especially since my natural tendency is to go with what I know, what I feel is “safe” (as in “I know what to expect and I liked it before”)… but here are three:
England – to look up family records;
Tuscany – even though “there’s nothing available” or so says The Maestro (from Seinfeld);
Sitges, Spain – because it’s a beach town.
Chris what a brilliant idea to get people to think about and act on getting people who dream of travel to actually do something about it.
Myself, I can’t say anywhere. I’m one of those ones searching for some mystical Shangri-la, I can probably say it will be somewhere in Asia though, maybe southern China.
Oooh. Any of the northern fjords of Iceland are on the very top of my list.
AFRICA.
Specifically Kenya. Where my father grew up with loads of family, but they all had to leave, and got scattered.
8 months ago, my family set a date (next November). We figured a rough budget, and I set up an automatic savings account.
Now we are collecting guides, and talking to everyone we can think of! It’s a bit of a logistical nightmare to organise nine people in 4 cities to 1 place. Especially when we want to go to a few places that are way off the beaten track.
The main thing is to visit where my Dad grew up – but seeing as we’re already going, there will be a trip to a game park, and maybe the coast or kilimanjaro. At this stage, who knows?
But it will be an adventure.
Greece, on a Mediterranean cruise. You’ve got me dreaming!
Peru. Gotta see Macchu Pichu even if I don’t know how to spell it.
My goal is to be free enough to do the following in two years *if I choose to*
1) Quit my profession
2) Bicycle tour North America for a year
3) Settle in the town I like best
4) Get a part time job in a hardware store
Will I actually do this in two years? Probably not. But I live as if I were going to do it. It gives me an incentive to keep exercising and saving money. Regardless what I do in two years, I’ll be more free if I plan for my hypothetical journey.
The moon. Or would that be breaking the rules?
If it is, I’ve promised myself Ladakh (in northern India) since my first world trip 11 years ago. My wife and I returned to India recently, but we were too busy enjoying everywhere else…and the season/timing wasn’t quite right to return to Ladakh because the roads were still closed.
@Chris Nakafevo – went to Alaska this summer, it was amazing, if you like backpacking my friends run an awesome backpacking service complete with planes to fly you to the most remote locations – AMAZING!!
Island hopping on a sailboat, somewhere between Florida and South to Trinidad and Tobago.
I would love to go scuba-diving in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
Tasmania, Australia…years ago I was an exchange student in Norway and my good friend Jane was from Tasmania. I am from Alaska, so literally we were from opposite ends of the Earth…she no longer lives there, but my dream is to visit her on the mainland and then make it to Tazzie by myself! I have spent $2 a day on things a lot less valuable than a dream…thanks for helping me see that!
I’ve travelled a bit already and seen some amazing places, but mostly in North America. Couple trips to Australia and a way too brief visit to the UK, Amsterdam, and Paris. The top of my current places to see before I die is northern Italy, Tuscany, and Provence, the south of France. After that… I think the middle east would be so interesting if it wasn’t so messed up.
Budapest – to learn more about my paternal grandmother’s heritage.
Morocco…I even saved some little Moroccan shoes my mom got as a gift from a friend she wanted to trash. I would love to behold all the colors and fabrics along with architecture.
Easter Island. This has been a dream of mine since I was about 10 years old and wrote an essay about it.
Egypt
One of my dogs is named Ramses.
Lichtenstein. I know it’s tiny and unexciting. But my maiden name is Licht so I always wanted to go!
the Orkney Islands, Scotland. Ancient, windswept and they don’t quite speak English.
Moscow, Russia. I’ve always been enthralled by the architecture and the history of Russia. I have always wanted to see red square when it is all snowy. and also I saw a picture of a mcdonald’s with an onion dome on it and that really intrigued me.
Japan. I plan on going there as an English teacher after I graduate with my bachelors. It pays me to go, even better than saving so much! ^_^
Norway to the Fjords and Lappland in the winter to see the northern lights.
I apologize for the long post but your thoughts and dreams inspired me. I needed this site years ago! I put things off because I was so “practical.” I want to urge people not to wait. Life sometimes can sideline our dreams, even in a good way with kids and careers. There is always a way if you take action.
I’m Swedish-American and have family there. Went to Sweden in my youth, the last time was age 23. I wrote in my travel journal in 1975… “I’m definitely coming back here in 2 years!” I finally made it back in ’06 – yes, 31 years later! It was joyful because I spent a year planning it with my Swedish immigrant father who was terminally ill with cancer. Sent him a matching map and we pored over our maps for hours by phone, he in IL and me in CA. When I went with my daughter, my dad was with us every step of the way – living vicariously. We spent time with family members he knew he’d never see again. We celebrated his life when he passed away 5 months later — it was the finest thing we ever did “together”. I’m going this June with a different daughter and we have our maps and language tapes out, making our plans.
My next big goal is to work in Sweden for 2 years (hey, I’m only 55) 🙂
Maldives
I want to go in Australia, I have a friend living on Gold Coast…
Thailand!
Just because I have always wanted to go there and can never shake it from my mind 🙂
I have already been to USA but MUST get back there one day soon!
Oslo and St Peterburg.
More traveling in South America for sure. I have been to Peru and had a great time.
Now I’d love to go to Argentina and Ecuador.
Is a world cruise considered to be one place?
Japan. I’d like to travel to the far east (or a little ways west to make it easier for me) and see all the things I’m apparently into. I’ve been interested in their culture and media since I was just a boy and I’d try hard to get there. My other option would be New Zealand.
Hi Chris,
Brilliant idea, specially the 2USd/day, I really love this idea.
I have never gone out of my country ever(56years) but I do travel in my homeland, and still want to explore it before other places in the world.
India is my next choices, Himalayas, China, plus others but I do prefer the down south of my homeland-Philippines.
Thanks. more “thoughts” from you.
MORROCO – my ultimate destination
But for my 3 year plan, its THAILAND, CAMBODIA & LAOS
Costa Rica. Life-long dream. Easily attainable. Surf. Palm Trees.
Bring it, baby!
For ages I’ve wanted to go to Peru and in August my husband and I are going and we’re trekking the Inca Trail – any tips would be appreciated as we’re currently ‘in training’! 😉 That aside I’d love to go to Anuta, an isolated Polynesian island after watching a great programme about the South Pacific; we said it was perhaps the most perfect place on earth…
Egypt is the first place that comes to mind, but also Australia. Saving money can bea a bit of a challenge but finding a companion will be the hard part. I’ve travelled alone and enjoyed it but I really prefer being with someone.
definitely Namibia…Can’t wait!
Madrid. But I’ve already been there. Hmm… maybe San Fransisco. Or New York. Or Egypt? The Pyramids are definitely on my see-before-I-die list. Hmm…
This is a great habit for people who are put off by the seemingly large sums of money required to travel outside of our home base. I recommend a website I’ve been using called SmartyPig.com. It’s a virtual piggy bank that lets you specify a dollar goal and a date at which you want to achieve that goal. The website then deducts from your bank account the necessary amount each month to achieve that goal! Great for people who keep forgetting to put $2 in their jar.
Ireland is my goal, has been on my mind for more than the two years. Tonight I’m putting $2 in a jar and I’ll be there sooner than two years….Excellent, the power of thinking outside the box. Great motivator for all.
Peru and the Galapagos Islands… For 6 weeks I will need $15000 (aussie dollars) and to save that in 3 years is around $14/day. Problem is the closer places get visited first – off to China for 10 days next week. Now I live in Australia I have visited most of Asia relatively cheaply and when I lived in London I toured most of Europe and did Africa on my way back to Australia. South America is so far away but I have a goal to visit it by the end of 2011 (when my partner and I are taking a year off to travel around the world – and go to all the far away places!) Oh wait that means I have to $20/day for 2 years plus the rest…
New Zealand, New Zealand and New Zealand. And I blame the Lord of the Rings movies for it. I want to see the beauty of those places for myself. I am little afraid that I might it love it so much that I might stay back.
My goal is travel the Philippines first (my home country). Then I will see as much as I can of the whole world.
I caught the opportunities to go where I dreamt as soon as I could, and it’s been over 10 years I’m regularly travelling.
Now that I dangerously approach my thirties I realize I’ve already been to these places I really wanted to go to during my childhood, except those places that unfortunately no longer exist due to ‘globalisation’, or became a tad too dangerous (Iraq & Yemen for example).
So that’s a great exercise…I’ve been to India (north), but still I’d love to visit Kerala. Ayurveda, lakes, rivers, coconuts and wonderfull beaches in the indian state where there are the highest % of educated people.
I think for me it’s got to be London, England. Call me silly but I just want to be awash in very cool accents all day long. Then there are the pubs, soccer hooligans, big red busses and touristy things.
I’m hoping that in a few months I’ll be living in Spain, but that’s not what you’re getting at here. So….I’m hoping that I’ll be in Spain and that I’ll be able to meet my family in Ireland next Christmas. This works…a friend of mine told me to go to Italy before I turned 30. I saved up, found a great travel companion and had an amazing time in Florence and Rome a month before my 30th birthday. I think the goal motivated me to actual get to my dream country. Otherwise, who knows…I might still be daydreaming. Thank you for this article and more motivation for my travelling and working abroad aspirations!!!
Here are the top three places I NEED to visit!:
1) New Zealand – South Island
2) Tanzania
3) Istanbul, Turkey
Surely to God I could do this within the next ten years. Eh? I’m only 20!
Istanbul for me.
Adam from Atlantic Canada, all the best to you too!
Finland!
Definetley
I’d flip to hear the most awesome language spoken around me all day.
I have the money,
I’m not sure what’s stopping me, except I might want to stay.
Sweden (because I’m swedish) and Wales (coolest accents I’ve ever heard) are also on the top of my list.
Rome. I want to see all the fountains and statues and churches and the colloseum and oh, everything. 🙂
It’s interesting how one person’s dream destination is someone else’s normality, isn’t it? I live in New Zealand, and it IS beautiful here, but everything aside from the trees is less than 200 years old. I want to see ancient man-made architecture!
So, $2 USD a day? that’s $4 NZD x 4 people in my family = $16 per day. Not so easy, maybe it’ll be a 5 year goal.
The two places I have been obsessive about travelling to, for as long as I can remember, are Rwanda and Massachusetts. I’m Australian, so Massachusetts is kind of an oddly specific and rather strange choice, but… obsessions are supposed to be weird.
So many other places flashed through my brain at the beginning of this post… Alaska, Russia, Mongolia, Antarctica, Galapagos Islands, Madagascar… but when you mentioned having a three-year plan, it hit me that it has to be Rwanda. I’m going to do a program with Global Volunteer Network, an NZ-based organisation. I’ve been talking about it for so long, I think I should just kick this thing in the guts and get going already. Thanks for the inspiration.
Spain… funny, had you asked me two or three months ago, it would have been the last place on my list. I don’t really know where in Spain, though. I’m studying Spanish in school and it is such a fascinating language. I love it, even though I’m only in Spanish 1. Next year I’m taking the accelerated track.
The three year deadline is strangely auspicious, as in slightly more three years (thirty seven and a half months), I’ll be out of high school and free to do as I like. I think I’ll try. The only thing is, I don’t have any consistent income, and most of the money I get for Christmas/birthday is going to saving for a program my theatre teacher is applying for us to go to, where high school companies get to visit and perform at the Edinborough Fringe.
This will be interesting… I think the three year goal is a sign. I’m going to get more specific.
Another variation on this that I like to think about involves the following scenario: if you had to be exiled to another country (from your country(s) of citizenship) to spend the rest of your life and couldn’t travel beyond the boundaries of that country (though I suppose territories would be allowed) for the rest of your life, which country would it be? For me, I can’t decide between two countries: Japan and Italy. Oh, and like you, I’ve been planning to see every country in the world, though I include in my definition culturally unique territories or semi-autonomous states, etc. in my definition of “unique” places. On the top of the list of countries I want to visit (but not live out an exiled life) are: Djibouti, Somaliland, Moçambique, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, and every Pacific Island nation. Great site by the way.
Greece!
Ireland!!!!!
Galapogos Islands, followed by Antartica. Machu Picchu I think I can make happen too. Yeah!!!!!!!!!
And my research has corrected my spelling: Galapagos Islands, here I come!
The Maldives.
Alternate choice is Antarctica.
Both insanely expensive. Oi!
London, for me, I was there for small parts of 2 days, though, so did NO touristy stuff, just went to a play in the West End then off to Paris on the train for another 2 days. Then, back to my home away from home, where I will return, for sure, Castlegregory, Co Kerry, Ireland.
Anyway, next vacation abroad- London. Besides, I am an Eastenders junkie!
I paint, so I could write off a lot of this trip! Research & new clients!
I must say Spain is a close second for me
(the first being Finland)
it just seems like a fantastically awesome place (with gooood food) and I’ve always wanted to learn to flamenco dance.
mother-daughter trip to VietNam. Her choice of country but okay by me. It’s beautiful. Next steps: gather info and rough out an itinerary; choose dates and begin shopping flights.
Mine would be London. I am going in October of next year if everything works out. Your post is rather close to how I planned mine. I realized that I was putting off trips just because I did not want to travel alone. I decided that this was no excuse and started planning. Last year I went to Seattle Washington. Once I started planning everything just feel into place. I found someone to go with and we had a wonderful time. So now I am planning one big trip a year. This year was a week at the beach alone, next year is a week in London and a week in Scotland with my best friend.
LOVE this. When my husband I got married, we merged our bank accounts, but kept two separate savings accounts: the “responsibility account” (or long-term savings) and the travel fund. Every time we get a paycheck, we put a certain percentage in each account.* It amounts to $3 a day or so and it’s worked out great! In our first year, we went to Peru and are about to buy tickets to visit friends in Ireland.
*it’s the same percentage for both accounts. Lots of student loans to pay…
Sweden. I’ve always wanted to find a way to go and live there for a year. I’m not sure why, exactly, though I have some inkling that it’s a karmic project for me.
I love this plan and hope to start it today!
Bolivia, to see the beautiful Lake Uyuni!
I’ve have traveled to South Africa, Lesotho, Paris, and Southern France. Fell in love with each spot along the way!
Southern France was breath taking, but I want to return and take my time strolling through each piece of history in Paris to taste and see everything!
Returning to South Africa, I want to visit the beautiful CAPE TOWN (never made it that far south)
New ONE PLACE(s):
IRELAND, Dublin and countryside
NEW ZEALAND, countryside
ECUADOR
ENGLAND, countryside
ITALY, Rome
and someday the GRAND CANYON!!
Starting today on my fund for a first class trip to Monterey, CA with golf at Pebble Beach. I am sure it will take every bit of the $2,500, but I believe three years is too long to wait. I guess I will have to put aside more than $2 per day but I know it will be worth it.
Iceland is the first one.
You know, this post was first published just over 2 years ago … I would love to know how many people have been to the place they intended, or are nearly there 🙂
Well I know it’s an old post but I’m gonna add my 2 cents… Morocco. It’s fascinated me for a while.
French Polynesia; Moorea, Bora Bora to run the Tahiti Marathon. Lay on the beach, go snorkeling, drink umbrella drinks.
Just found this today and realize the three year period will be up this year for many.
I’m curious about a follow-up to see how many fulfilled their dream trip.
I’ve now opened a new savings account and will transfer $2 into it online each day.
Now where did I put the atlas????
My “one place,” would be Italy for three months with my growing family…
Whilst I have personally been blessed to travel to many parts of the world, my wife and two children have not. I would like to be in a position where I can live in Italy for three months with them. Visiting Venice for a few days, Rome, Vatican City, and spending the best part of the time somewhere in the rural south.
The key is, in part, automating our finances and building a passive income stream. As well of course as reducing our debts. I am working on those things (with my wife’s help, which I think is very important!) but it is early days yet.
Three years from now? You’re on. Let’s make it a date.
I’ve thought about going to Mount Shasta for over 15 years now. It’s not that far from San Francisco. Additionally, I owe my friends a visit to Northern Ireland. They moved there over 13 years ago and I’ve threatened to visit so many times they no longer believe me. I’ve been unemployed, off and on, for the past 4 years, and have spent most of the time going back and forth to Texas to see family, all of whom are getting older, or, dying. I love SF, but may move back to SA to take care of Mom. So, now, would be a good time to commit to a destination. I can think of so many good reasons to put Mount Shasta on my list, and to check it off before the end of March. Wish me luck. And, after Mt. Shasta, maybe, just maybe, Belfast, and, beyond.
Hawaii is my first one…
Chris, I live in Baton Rouge, LA. How much would I have to save a day to get to Hawaii in 3 years?
Thanks!
Love this article – you’re right, it’s not about the money (or the time, as I keep hearing) – it’s about wanting it badly enough and making the space for it.
My place? New Zealand 🙂
Jamaica (or any of the West Indies) for a cricket tour, reggae and the consumption of a lot of rum.
Greece…and I love the breakdown. I have been whining about not having enough to be able to travel…Guess I needed to see the bigger picture.
Will def attempt this in less than 3 years.
Italy, next year!!! My problem isn’t the money but sightseeing with 2 little kids (and husband who likes packaged Caribbean vacations)…
Won’t be easy but life is short and I’m not postponing my dreams anymore.
2 weeks; Rome, Venice and others that I can fit…
Great site and articles…
New Zealand….I would love to see both islands and perhaps hike the Milford Track.
i was beginning to feel sad & worried again if when will i ever get to my next big trip (europe or brazil or maldives next year) when i click on this link. thank you again Chris! this boosted me up to come back to my senses that heck, i can do this if i really want it so badly and everything will conspire to help me get there! =)
I choose Bratislava
Very nice game 🙂
Mine is an African safari. I love this philosophy. Having it all laid out in front of me, seeing that it only takes $2 per day, makes it seem much more realistic!
Dogsledding in Alaska. Too bad my husky is too old now to join me, but I’ve wanted to take one of those dogsledding tours where they teach you to drive your own team ever since I first adopted her a decade ago.
My one place right now is japan I’ve have a lot done over all there are a few things left to do before i find myself in japan. I just posted on my own blog about what i have done over all
I’d like to do a sweep of the Himalayan Kingdoms – Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim…
My place would be the country of Italy. I would love to tour Italy as an artist.
Great idea ..I am sure it will work for me ! I choose to go to Bhutan and my wife wants to go to Egypt…so that’s $4 per day for us 🙂
Riga, just curious about it.
My one place is Nepal. I have prayer flags and have a pamphlet about a “Tour of the Himalayas” trip package and have half the money saved already. I have not one, not two, but three friends who want to go with me. Why am I waiting? One thing you left off, however, is that for some of us we may have the time, money, and desire, but physically unable to travel where we want to go. Once I am more physically able to handle my dream trip, I hope to make it some day 🙂
Kyoto, Japan. I have always wanted to visit – and was even close to going before that disaster happened. I plan on making this my first solo trip 🙂 So now, when I do go, I won’t hold back because I may never know if I’ll get to have another chance quite like the first time on my own.
Japan! Definitely, absolutely, Japan!,!!
I’m starting right now with my €3 a day… Thank you Chris, great post!
I want to visit, New Zealand….I would love to see both islands and also hike the Milford Track.
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I found my way here intrigued by the $2/day travel plan. Somehow I thought it was how to travel on $2 a day!! My family of 6 often spends 6-10 weeks at a time traveling and the least we’ve been able to do it on is about $20 a day per person. (The coast of California from Salinas to Eureka to Lake Tahoe and then Yosemite in 7 weeks.) The bulk of our expenses are food (growing kids!) and transportation. (Our airfare is free.)
I’ll look around more to see if you address this but our fears of not speaking the language are holding us back from places we’d really like to see.
one-way ticket anywhere with my partner. I like the idea of saving $2/ day and then just emptying it one day 3 years from now and going anywhere. As a planning control-freak, I can’t wait to do a trip with minimal planning and many wrong-turns. Before I’m brave enough to do a one-way ticket to go away for a while, I need to train myself.
India…I’m reading, studying…I’m dreaming, definitely
Iceland….because it’s the furtherest place you can go from Australia and still be on planet Earth!
Sumba (Indonesia).. because this is one of the most exotic places still left untouched by mass tourism, also because of that girl from Sumba whom I met in Bali 🙂
Hopefully mid next year. http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/to?p0=763&iso=20160615T00&year=2016&month=6&day=15&hour=0&min=0&sec=0&msg=Sumba
Aruba !!!!
Chris
just came here slightly by mistake on a link, link from today’s side hustle…do you know if any of these previous commentators in basically 2008 – made the journey they desired?
Buenos Aires! I haven’t been yet because I’m scared to go to Argentina solo, which means I either need to find a travel partner or do what I’d do if I weren’t afraid, because publicizing here in writing that I’m going is my first action.
I want to travel like this regularly I want you too I can imagine if I can not go to places you share such visuals now because I do not have a chance but if one day I will be looking at your blog from everywhere I am aiming to go. Thank you, you open up your wrath.
St Helena and the Ascension Islands. Have you been there, Chris? The boat from Southampton (UK) to Cape Town via SH no longer runs unfortunately. It was my dream to take that boat there. It still runs runs from Cape Town to SH and back, so I will have to go from South Africa I guess.
Lake Como & the Amalfi Coast – Italy is calling out to me! Thanks for the great idea, Chris.
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Great ideea!
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Bible Lands tour in 2020
Washington State is my next plan… Eventually all 50 states – and maybe someday Venice.
Kyoto, Japan. An old dream of mine… And stay at a monastery!
I visited Romania. Besides the capital, Bucharest, other major tourist cities in the country include Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Brasov and Timisoara. Most of these cities have airports and are very well connected. Around them you will find lots of attractions and the best things to do in Romania!
We found the simplest local guides passionate about cities and their regions, eager to share the history of the city and the beauty of Romanian culture!
The most famous among Orthodox monasteries in Ukraine, Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, was founded by St. Anthony and St. Theodosy in the 11th century. The monastery quickly became a prominent spiritual center that gathered believers all over the country and far beyond its borders. Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is listed in UNESCO heritage site as an ensemble: it includes unique churches with the underground ones, built in the 11th-19th centuries, a complex of labyrinthine caves, as well as domestic and household buildings dated the 17th-19th centuries.
Bulgaria’s pleasingly laid-back capital is often overlooked by visitors heading to the coast or the ski resorts, but they’re missing something special. Sofia is no grand metropolis, but it’s a modern, youthful city, with a scattering of onion-domed churches, Ottoman mosques and stubborn Red Army monuments that lend an eclectic, exotic feel. Excavation work carried out during construction of the metro unveiled a treasure trove of Roman ruins from nearly 2000 years ago, when the city was called ‘Serdica’. Away from the buildings and boulevards, vast parks and manicured gardens offer a welcome respite, and the ski slopes and hiking trails of mighty Mt Vitosha are just a short bus ride from the centre. Home to many of Bulgaria’s finest museums, galleries, restaurants and clubs, Sofia may persuade you to stick around and explore further.
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I want to go to Italy. More specifically, Tuscany.
Thank you for writing! It is very easy to understand and detail. I find it interesting, I hope you continue to have such good posts.
Italy….Venice specifically!! Thanks for this article, it’s inspiring and helpful
Kristian! RUSSIA IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!! GO, GO, GO…!!!!!
This is hard..I would love to return to everywhere I have been esp Hong Kong, Israel and Turkey (which I am in April 2015). I think South America somewhere, or maybe the Trans Siberian Railroad….
Hy, If you’re planning a trip to Romania and you’re a first time visitor looking for travel tips and what to visit, then here’s a list of the most important things we locals think tourists should know about visiting Romania. There are many interesting things to do in our country and we’re going to tell you everything!
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