How to choose where to go on vacation when you’re planning your first overseas trip can be difficult.
You may be a very experienced and widely traveled person, but how to choose where to go on vacation could be a difficult process. You may also know some friends or family who are looking to plan their first trip overseas, or maybe you are in the middle of planning your first trip overseas.
Either way, here’s some advice you can either take yourself or pass along to your friends or family to help decide which destination should be the first.
Oh, and don’t forget to take along your international cell phone from Mobal, so you can keep in contact with the folks back home.
1. Language
Visiting a country where they speak a different language can be both wonderful and terrible. It can be wonderful if you’re adventurous and happy to muddle along with misunderstandings and small victories when you get your point across, but it can be terrible if you get stressed when you cannot get your point across and things go wrong.
If you’re willing to try your best and see what happens with another language then go for it, if not, then for your first trip it is probably best if you choose somewhere that is English speaking, or at least the tourist centers have people who speak English.
2. Don’t be too ambitious with times and distances
If you only have a shorter length of time for your trip then flying halfway across the world might not be a good idea, no matter how much you wish to visit a certain place. Your flight times will eat into your available days and you will most likely not fully recover from the jet lag before you need to come home again. Perhaps it’s best to pick somewhere closer to home for your first trip.
3. Link the trip to personal interests
Yes, you can visit a place just because it’s a famous tourist destination and everyone goes there. But it doesn’t mean that you’re going to enjoy it too. Instead, you could try and build a trip around some personal interest of yours. That way your trip has a focus and you’re more likely to get more out of it than just wandering around some general tourist sites.
4. Keep budget and plans realistic
When it comes to first trips overseas some people feel that they have to treat it like they’ll never be able to travel again and so must try and see everything on one trip. And this means a massive budget. But this can be dangerous when traveling for the first time. You may not enjoy yourself as much as your thought but have to go through with the time and the expense simply because you have committed yourself. Instead, on a first trip it is more sensible to limit what you do so you can get a flavor of traveling. If you find you love it then by all means on your next trip you can push the boat completely out.
5. Beware of the weather
When it comes to your first trip overseas then it is probably better that you choose somewhere with a climate that you’re used to, or know you can handle. Going to a strange place with a strange language, food and culture can be challenging enough, but if you also struggle with the weather too then you’re going to have a tough time. Save the extreme weather for trips further down the line.
6. Book ahead if you want to be sure
For your first trip it can pay to have everything set up and ready booked in advance/ That way, assuming that there are no mistakes with the bookings, you know what you’re doing and where you’re going in advance. You can then get on with the business of enjoying yourself, rather than worrying about finding a hotel in the next destination. Sure, you will miss some of the spontaneity of travel, but you can save that for your next trip.
7. Don’t judge everything by one trip
So, you’re first trip overseas may turn out to be a disaster. It can happen. But that doesn’t mean that you should write off traveling overseas completely. Try assessing what aspect of your trip went wrong, and then try to eliminate that factor on your next trip.
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