2017 Travel Resolutions

Like everyone else, I love starting the new year with goals–and traveling is not exempt! Last year, I made a Travel Wishlist for 2016, and several months ago, I told you all where I still want to go.

My goals always include lists. Lists about where I want to go, and various bucket lists (such as my Life To-Do List, my Prague Bucket List, and even an Anti-Bucket List).

Since traveling is my obsession (obvs) it won’t surprise you that I also make tons of goals about how I want to approach traveling.

Here are some of my goals for 2017, when it comes to travel, although a lot of these are applicable in other areas of my life…

Travel more responsibly

This is a huge one. I’m researching ways to be a more sustainable tourist–by staying at local inns, eating local and in-season food, paying attention to the activities and causes I’m contributing to, donating to offset my carbon footprint, especially from those long-haul flights (I like carbonfund.org). This post was so helpful to me, but I’d love to hear more ways to travel responsibly! I think this is especially important given what might be happening in America when it comes to the environment. Travel and exploring the outside world around me has shown me how glorious our planet is, but it’s not something we can take for granted any longer. The clean air, clean water, beautiful creatures, open spaces won’t be around forever if we destroy them in the name of the almighty dollar. Here’s another post about 15 more ways to travel sustainably.

Travel outside of my comfort zone

After living in Europe for over two years, I’m certainly not tired of exploring it–but I’m ready to travel to places unlike any I’ve ever been. I want to see Africa, or the Middle East, and maybe even make my way to parts of Asia I haven’t seen (or haven’t seen in too long). It’s a big world and I’m only living in a tiny little corner of it!

Re-visit beloved places

I get a little tunnel vision when I discover a new place I want to visit, but this year I also want to re-visit a few places I’ve loved–and even visit places I didn’t love to give them another chance.

Explore closer to home

I feel like I’ve barely touched the surface of Budapest or Hungary.

Meet more locals

Through home stays, farm stays, tour guides, and just by striking up a conversation with strangers. The last one, especially, is tricky for me (#awkward), but I know that doing this will only enrich my travels.

Up my photography game

I’ve finally been able to upgrade my photography system this year and I can’t believe how better my images are already. I’m looking forward to taking better pictures!

Write better stories

Just like I want to take better pictures, I want to write more–and better–as well. My blog is not a big money-maker, and I certainly don’t have a lot of followers. I blog because I love to write, and because I have a story to tell. Everyone does. I think travel writing these days, especially travel blogging, is moving away from storytelling, which is a shame. When I think about posts by bloggers and writers that I really loved or connected with, most of them are not the SEO-driven “ten things to do in Bermuda.” While I understand the appeal and usefulness of those posts (and have used them myself) that’s not why I write a blog or read other blogs.

Do you make resolutions related to travel? 

Linking up with Emma, Angie & Polly!