Travel Objectives: The Most Important Part of Your Travel Plan
You You have decided you want to travel for an extended period of time. Now you start to consider what is involved. This might include deciding how long you will travel and how much money you might need, where you will go, what you will do when you visit the different destinations you have in mind and so forth. Before doing any of this though, the most important thing to determine is what you hope to achieve with your travels. What are your reasons, goals and hoped for final outcome from your travel project? In short, what are your Objectives?
Setting clear and identifiable objectives for your travel project is the single, most fundamental thing that one can do toward building a worthwhile experience. Too many travelers only have a vague idea of what they are trying to accomplish. Often the "plan" for many travelers, especially backpackers, is to go to the cheapest countries or regions and try to stretch their time on the road as long as possible. The idea of what to accomplish in each place they go is mostly what is obtained from a popular guide books and centers around the content in those books. The result can be a generic and bland experience, very similar to all the other backpackers and budget travelers following the same guide book(s).
Objectives can cover a whole range of things, depending on the traveler's interests. Valid objectives can be whatever it is you want to achieve in your travels, your "goals" in other words. Valid objectives can include seeking to experience different cultures first hand, seeing the most important historical ruins in the world, tracking various elusive and rare animals, trekking some of the great wilderness routes, seeing what it is like to be in societies very different from yours, or even just having a good time for a year and partying with people from other countries you meet along the way.
Whatever your objectives are, it is important to clearly identify them. My main objective for example, is to see, experience and know that in the world which will change irrevocably or be gone within the next generation due to globalization. It is not my only objective, but is my main focus and most of my travel activities tend to fall in line in some way with this overarching objective in mind. Whatever your objectives you choose, you will be most successful if you have clearly and succinctly identified them.
Without following well defined objectives, a traveler runs the risk of just aimlessly drifting along from locale to another, doing whatever the "popular activities" are in each one. Or, almost as bad, the traveler ends up aimlessly following someone else's idea of travel via a guidebook. The opposite of traveling by objective is just going somewhere and reacting spontaneously to the situation. There are indeed times during long term travel when this is a good idea. But to make this your main modus operandi is to set yourself for failure or a waste of time. Too many travelers feel that just by going somewhere, somehow the experience is going to be good, exciting or interesting. What happens though is that without a real reason, an objective in mind, the traveler falls back on the familiar things that the other long term travelers are doing?whatever is in the popular guidebook. So much for spontaneity.
A good thing to do once you have identified and clearly defined your objectives is to write them out. This way you have something to periodically refer to as you do other aspects of your travel planning. Of course, it is your set of objectives, so you can deviate from them from time to time. This is also part of the long term travel game. But at least, when you do deviate from your main objectives or goals, you are making a conscious decision to do so. This helps you allocate time, money and other resources appropriately to make sure that you still will ultimately achieve your primary objectives. Most important, by always keeping your objectives clearly in mind during your travels, you will prevent yourself from a long term aimless and over dependence on guidebooks.
In summary, the more succinct and clearly you identify your objectives, the more effective the rest of the travel planning, research, trip or destination planning, budgeting and time allocation will be. Most important, you'll have a higher chance of achieving your objectives and gain a more fulfilling travel experience.