Lifetime Travel Goals

My main goal for 2016 is to continue working towards my Lifetime Travel Goals that I have set for myself. Last year I came up with some milestones I need to reach each year in order to achieve these goals in the time I estimate I have left to travel (29 years now), and I’m going to continue to stick to these milestones.

They are as follows:

Visit three new countries towards my Visit 100 Countries goal.

In 2015 I exceeded this goal by visiting four countires, but I still think three is enough of a challenge each year. Currently I have one new country booked (Ireland in March) but the rest of the year is still up in the air.

Visit 16 UNESCO sites towards my Visit 500 UNESCO Sites goal.

Looking ahead to the year, 16 sites is going to be a stretch for sure, but then again this time last year I was only looking at five sites on the “probably” list yet I still achieved this goal. This is a perfect example of setting travel goals to help you get out travelling more. In addition to that I’d suggest sharing your goals with others and I bet they’ll do what they can to help make them happen.

Visit three landmarks towards my 100 Landmarks of the World goal.

I knocked this one out of the park in 2015 by visiting seven instead of three, but looking ahead to this year I only see a possible two so far so this goal might be a bit more of a stretch than last year.

Read ten books towards my Read Around the World goal.

OK last year was a dismal failure on the reading goal front but I may have gone a wee bit too far by aiming for 30 in one year. Plus what was I thinking of trying to do this whole goal in 5 years? Goals are good, killing yourself needlessly for them is silly. So ten it is for this year. A stretch, but hopefully achievable. I’ve also decided to move my book reviews and progress towards this goal to Goodreads instead as that seemed like a better place for a reading goal. If you’d like to join me or see my progress you can visit my profile here.

Global Eats

Last year the kiddo and I started off really well but things dwindled in the last quarter and I didn’t end up reaching this goal. We still really love trying new foods though so we’re going to give it a shot again this year but with a twist.

This year we’re going to make our own foods from around the world every month with most recipes and menus likely coming from this new cookbook I bought- International Night: A Father and Daughter Cook Their Way Around the World. Except in our case it’ll be mother and son. We can so do this.

Mission Travel Stuff Organization

Between thousands of photos and hundreds of pamphlets, ticket stubs, etc. I have a lot of travel souvenirs to organize so I’m on a mission in 2016 to get it all done once and for all. If anyone has any ideas for either of these things I’m definitely open to suggestions.

I’m aiming to:

• Organize Photos by establishing the system to save, organize and back them all up.
• Organize travel paraphernalia so that it is properly labeled, sorted, and accessible when I want to use it. Right now I have several bags and boxes and nothing is in any sort of order. The madness stops in 2016!

Life Bucket List

Cross one adventure item and one location off my life bucket list.

In 2004 I created a life bucket list and much of it included destinations or adventure items such as riding in a hot air balloon, skydiving, or visiting a volcano. I recently dusted off that old list and checked off the things I’ve accomplished in the past 11 years (more by good luck than good management). This year I’ll be intentionally looking for an opportunity to cross at least one adventure and one location item off my list.

Online Travel Course

Create an online travel course.

I debated whether I should list this one or not but decided to go for it. It’s an idea I’ve had mulling around in my head for a little while and if 2015 is anything to go by, well putting it out there as an official 2016 travel (ish) goal is one way to accomplish it.

Lots of friends and colleagues ask me how we manage to travel as much as we do and then see as much as we see when we visit each place and I tell them all about it. I figure it can’t be just the people I know that are looking for this information so I’d like to put together a comprehensive course to help anyone who wishes to plan their own travels. I aim to include all the tips and tricks we’ve picked up along the way in one place with an easy to follow plan to put together a great trip!

Progress Tracking for 2016

Instead of checking in monthly this year I’ve decided to check in quarterly instead. Last year monthly updates just seemed like a bit much and they seemed to be a little repetitive, especially in quiet months, so fewer updates are in store with more information in each update this year.

So have I bitten off more than I can chew this year in the goals department? Well there is only one way to find out and that is to get going at working towards my goals and see where the year takes me!

Thanks for reading!

Do you have any travel or travel-ish goals this year? I’d love to hear all about them!