HOW TO FEEL INSPIRED ABOUT TRAVEL WHEN YOU ARE FEELING UNINSPIRED* | QUEENBEADY

I’ve written posts in the past about how you can help decide where you should go on holiday next & I’ve also wrote countless posts about the destinations I’ve travelled to (most recently with Thomson Holidays to Ibiza)all of which I’m sure are very useful to holiday makers and those who travel (or at least I hope!) and I’m always still looking for inspiration for my next holiday. Reading other blogger’s reviews to flicking through endless holiday brochures has given me plenty of food for thought on many occasions when I’m feeling at a loss. And even after taking all my advice I’m now stuck in a rut. I don’t know exactly where I want to go next?

Over the last ten years I’ve ticked off some bucket list destinations but yet I still realise I haven’t even tapped in to half of it. The world is such a vast place that sometimes it can all get a bit too much trying to close in on one particular destination to travel to and sometimes it’s equally as hard when you leave your heart somewhere else that you can be afraid to try new experiences.

Travel is a huge part of my blog but I’ve felt that this year, despite many trips in the UK and a couple of trips abroad, that my travel content has just not been up to scratch. Purely because I’m not living a life sitting on the back of yachts sipping champagne, or doing fancy things or jetting off to far-flung destinations as much as I’d hoped – and after 2016’s mammoth travel year, it felt like a bit of a let down.

Seeing so many other bloggers heading off on their jollies nearly every month is a bitter pill to swallow when you kinda feel like you’ve been left behind. And like myself, being a blogger that focusses quite heavily on travel is pretty hard to do when one isn’t travelling that much. You start to wonder if you really cut the mustard? (is that the right saying?)

It’s easy to feel inferior in comparison to some of the glossier travel bloggers out there. It really is. You constantly question whether you’re good enough, wonder if it’s really the right path to take. Especially now that darker nights are setting in and the days cooler, it’s easy to find yourself in a slump.

But, I’m one of those people who after wallowing for a little while, I have to decide that enough is enough and I start to roll up my socks off.

I have plans, I have dreams. It’s time to start making them more of a reality.

So, what do you do? Do you just sit back? Accept defeat? Believe you won’t see the world in time?

No. You make those plans, even when you are feeling uninspired.

1. NO PLANS – WHERE DO I START?
   Lists are always a great place to start. You need to write a list of places you’d really like to visit that you’ve not yet been to. Still don’t have any idea, why not head to Flight Centre’s* Travel Name Game simply type in your name and the website will ping back the top 3 destinations that people with your name have booked with them. A pretty nifty way to get more inspiration. I got Kuala Lumper in Malaysia, Toronto in Canada and Victoria in Australia. Canada is somewhere I have always longed to travel to, so maybe 2018 is the year that I finally get there?
2. SEARCH, SEARCH, SEARCH
   Once you’ve come to a bona fide conclusion of where you want to travel to why not try price up your options with various suppliers – sometimes it’s nice to call up a tour operator or pop in to a travel agent so they can do all the leg work for you. But, if you are more independent head online and start searching for rough dates to get a good idea of what is available both in your budget and time scale. Head to other bloggers posts, and use tripadvisor to get a good idea of locations and accommodation of where you wish to travel to.
3. PLAN YOUR BUDGET
   Have an idea of what you want to spend once you’ve had a search. This will give you a good sign of whether you need to stay in hostels or can afford a fancy five star hotel. Something worth noting is that some tour operators/airlines expect payment of flights in full if you are travelling on a scheduled airline. There are “deposit fares” but this does not guarantee the price will not fluctuate with tax rates, so if you can try lock them down as soon as you can by paying in full. I always make a budget list each month of my outgoings and what I have available after I’ve paid all the mundane things like bills, food shopping and petrol. This will definitely help you come to a conclusion on what you can afford each month.
4. STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT
   I’m not telling you to book something on a whim or bankrupt yourself, but if you find a good deal that fits all your criteria don’t let anything stop you from booking it. Chances are it will change in price, the availability will go or you will drastically change your mind. There is nothing more satisfying than spending money on travel plans so let yourself go and click “book now” – you won’t regret it.
5. THE FUN BEGINS
   Set up yourself a countdown! There’s something so exciting about counting down the days to your next break away. You can start getting your teeth in to the best brunch spots, the monuments you need to see and which rooftop bar you just have to have a cocktail at now. After all the hard slog, it’s time to start looking forward to something!

Where are you heading on holiday next? Did you try the travel name game? What did you get?

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*this post was in collaboration with The Flight Centre. All words & views are my own.