How do you choose your next destination for travel?

Quoting sandersmith

A guide to the best beaches, towns, rivers and mountain areas for lovers of wine, gardens, history, food, sunshine or simply doing nothing much, me and my friends often rely on travel sites.

Soooooo lame, haha.

Cheers,
Terry

Sanders.. hubby and I love checking out all of the things you mention Sounds like off the beaten path stuff which we love. Wine country.... I'm definitely interested

Oh and mountains and gardens we both love !

Scrambling to find alternatives for this summer's trip to Siberia. The London-based company that I had been dealing with cancelled all trips to Russia this year, citing logistical reasons. I called a company in Norway this morning to see if they still are offering a trip to the Kamchatka peninsula. I'd like to go this year as my three-year visa to Russia expires March 31, 2018.

I've noticed a lot of threads in travel forums by people who write something like, 'I just got a great deal on a flight/package vacation to X, tell me what there is to see/do there.' I find those hilarious. They don't actually choose a destination at all.

On a recent trip, I came across a young couple who had done just that. The price was just 'too good to turn down'. What was clear by their second day, was that where they were was not anywhere that actually interested them ,at all.

What was interesting was how they reacted to this. They complained the hotel was 'in the middle of nowhere'; the restaurant menu didn't suit their tastes; there was nothing to see or do nearby; the transportation was useless. I'm sure if they were to write a review it would read something like, 'don't ever visit this place.'

But not once would they have said, 'we were stupid to not research the place before we spent our money.' If they had done their research, they would have known what to expect and that unless they were avid hikers, for which the location was about as ideal as you could find, it wasn't the place for them. Instead, they no doubt went home and said their vacation was not a bargain, it was a disaster and a total waste of their money.

Since this type of thing seems to be quite common judging by such posts etc. it seems to me that quite a few people don't actually choose their destinations at all. It would be interesting to see just how many fit into that category.

I always remember the numerous tourists on a Greek island who when asked to point to where they were on a map of Europe, could not do so even though the island was clearly shown and named on the map. They didn't choose that island, they just bought a sun & sand package vacation. They had no idea where it was and no idea of what was there other than sun. They didn't even know if there was sand! Have you ever run across tourists who when confronted with a pebble beach complained about it being pebble rather than sand? I have and it never occurs to them that they should have checked before they booked if that was important to them. I always maintain that most package tourists do not 'pick' their destinations. The tour companies pick which destinations to offer them and the tourists take what they are offered. Usually, the lowest price offered.

My first post in a TP forum, so here goes.
As an alternative approach, we have often chosen holidays based on historical or art themes. For example, my husband's middle name (of which he has been somewhat embarrassed) is Tilman - after the master wood carver of the Gothic period, Tilman Riemenschneider. So our first trip through Germany together traced Riemenschneider's foorsteps ... mostly along the Romantic Road around Wurzburg, but focusing on the 'below the radar' little churches that are still lucky enough to have his altarpieces.
Another trip focused on Charlemagne's legacy in the area now covered by the border lands of Germany, Belgium and France (centred on beautiful Aachen).
We also visited the much underrated island of Ruegen (off the northern coast of Germany) just to see the location immortalised by a painting by Caspar David Friedrich.
And I will actively detour any itinerary to accommodate either a 'dance macabre' or a revolving restaurant.
On a lighter note, the family were not impressed when I did thorough research in advance of a package trip to Zanzibar and dragged them through the December heat and humidity around every single site with a Freddie Mercury link that I could find in Stonetown, starting with the Government hospital in which he was born ...

[ Edit: Edited on 18-Feb-2017, at 07:22 by harbinger ]

Themes are a great strategy!

I once decided to visit state fairs in the midwestern U.S.

Another theme was to visit Florida's numerous springs, such as Wakulla.

Simply, for me, i am interested in travel.
I read blogs, i read and watch travel reviews, even a picture is enough to spark an interest.
Also lucky enough to live somewhere where foreign and domestic travel can be insanely cheap, sometimes i'll take a couple of days or a long weekend somewhere just because it was a good deal, i'm very rarely disappointed.