Five Steps to Accomplishing Your Travel Goals

Anastasia is the owner of Travel Goals Club, a blog, store, and community for frequent travelers and wanderlust adventure seekers. She herself is on a mission to visit all 50 states and has reached 44 at the time of this posting.

When I was in college, I made a list of all the U.S. states I had been to – New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida…I counted to 15. Most of the states I had been to were on the east coast. I had all these crazy dreams about road tripping through Europe, going on safari, and more but I hardly even knew what was out there in my own country! 

In response, I set a goal to spend time in all 50 states by age 25. I knew it would be difficult. I wasn’t making much money, and I still had school and a blossoming career to focus on – but I did it by taking a few simple but highly effective steps.  

Step One: Choose Your Travel Goals

Have you heard of the S.M.A.R.T goal strategy? It’s often applied in things like business and weight-loss, but it’s applicable here, too. Your travel goal needs to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. 

It’s nice to dream, but if your goals aren’t “smart,” you’ll likely end up missing out. For example, if you’re sitting on $20 in your bank account and have a job to report to five days a week, don’t set a goal to visit a far-away country every year. Start small with something like taking a weekend road trip every four months. Or, plan for the future. Set a goal to save enough money to be able to go to Europe in two years. It’s okay if you have to plan far ahead – use your travel goal to fuel yourself to work hard!

Most importantly, don’t set vague goals, like, “visit new places.” Choose something specific, like “Experience a new country four times this year” or “try mountain climbing before December.” You’re much more likely to accomplish a specific goal!

Step Two: Cut the excuses

With travel, it’s SO easy to make excuses. There’s always going to be a reason NOT to go somewhere. I’ll debunk a few for you right now.

Instead of, “It’s just too last minute,” say, “I’ll need to find a dog sitter/insert whatever is holding you back here first.” 

Instead of, “It’ll be cold this time of year,” say, “The mountains will be beautiful covered in snow.”

Instead of, “I don’t speak the language,” say, “Let’s learn some basic phrases, first!”

Instead of, “what is there to do there?” say, “I can’t wait to find out what there is to do there.”

Instead of, “that sounds expensive,” say, “I’ll start saving.” 

Step Three: Plan, at least a little

Spontaneity can be one of the most fun parts of travel – but if you wait for a great trip to come to you, you’ll never hit the travel goals you set for yourself. You don’t necessarily have to plan every minute of your trips, but you should at least get yourself started by blocking out dates that would make sense. 

Even if you’re giving yourself more than a year to complete your goal, look at your calendar for the next year only, and mark out a few weeks that would be easiest for travel. Go ahead and request time off from work NOW for those weeks. Then, consider booking at least one part of each of those trips ahead of time (a hotel room, a flight, a rental car, etc.). That way, it’ll be much harder for you to forget about it or walk away. 

Step Four: Prioritize

If you’re as wanderlust as I am, you probably have more than one travel goal. That’s ok, as long as you can efficiently prioritize your goals. This is where it will be incredibly helpful to write down your goals in order of preference and time. Here are mine, as an example:

1. Visit all 50 states by my 25th birthday
2. Visit Europe by age 28
3. Visit Australia before age 30
4. Go on an African safari before I have kids
5. Visit at least country in South America before I’m 35

I’d love to visit every country in the world, but by picking my top five and assigning at least a general deadline, I know I’m much more likely to accomplish my goals (and have a blast doing it).

Step Five: Goal Accountability

I was able to keep myself accountable by spreading the word about my goal. I literally started a blog called “50 States by 25,” which has since transformed into “Travel Goals Club,” but still stands. How could I miss my goal now? My family, friends, and some strangers are all following me on social media, knowing that my clock is ticking. I’ll be embarrassed if I miss my goal.

My accountability method may not work for you. That’s fine – there are PLENTY of ways to build accountability for yourself. You can take a note from my book and start telling everyone you know about your goal, you can get a tattoo if that’s what you’re into, or you can put post-it notes all over your home, reminding you of your task at hand. Use whatever works to get you moving on your goals!

Step Six: Get Excited About Your Travel Goal!

I noticed that the more trips I took, the more it started to feel like part of my regular routine – and regular is not exciting. I allow myself to get more excited about vacations by reading blogs from people who have been to (and loved) those places, watching great YouTube videos that show those places, and thinking about the endless possibilities of my trip (sometimes out loud, if anyone is willing to listen). 

Go out and do it.

At the end of the day, travel goals are supposed to be fun. So just go out and do it! You’ll be so glad that you did.