The Key to Enjoyable Travel

Disclaimer: this is my opinion - what is enjoyable is subjective

I have been on many different trips in my life and I have worked in tourism & travel, this makes me believe that I have a good understanding on what makes a trip enjoyable. The first thing I encourage you to think about is: what do you enjoy. I want you to think about this because if you are not interested in (for example) history and you spend your trip at history museums, you likely won’t enjoy your trip.

Step 1:

Define what you enjoy

For me, that differs per place and type of trip, but my key enjoyment categories are: coffee & food, art, nature

Some other options could be: history, museums, bars (distilleries, etc), adventure, activities, relaxation

Once you have this figured out, it is much easier to plan a trip. Your next step is to think about your purpose of your trip. This plays hand in hand with your enjoyment but is slightly different. Are you wanting to relax? Are you wanting to learn? Are you wanting to explore? Do you want a combination of all of those things?

Step 2:

Define your trip purpose

If your trip purpose is to relax, you don’t want to have a full and tight schedule of activities.

Now into what I think makes a trip enjoyable = balance

Balance is key because you don’t want to feel stressed on your trip or the opposite and feel like you have missed out. My perfect equation for a enjoyable trip is this:

(per day) pick at least one restaurant + pick one activity + room for wandering

Why? I think you should pick one restaurant per day or pick your dinner. Picking restaurants can be difficult and reservations can be tricky, so I recommend have your dinner planned before hand. Next, pick an activity. This doesn’t necessarily mean a literal activity, but instead a general plan for the day. Pick one activity and then leave room to explore that area post activity.

An example of this could be:

A day in New York city

Jojo’s in Upper East side (dinner) + the met museum (activity) + wander around central park & upper east side

This equation gives your trip structure but also freedom. If you function better with a full plan, then plan it all. This also works well for groups because people feel like they can have more say in the matter.

If you need help planning your next trip, please reach out!

alex.duckworth@fora.travel