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When Heath and I first began touring, we set a really clear aim:
Go to all 50 states in a 12 months for our honeymoon.
It was loopy particular—right down to the time-frame—however that’s what helped us make it occur.
(Okay “technically” we crossed into Alaska one 12 months and one week after our honeymoon began. However I name {that a} win!)
For the previous eight years, we’ve continued to journey however with much less concrete targets:
- RV on each New Zealand Islands
- RV in Europe
- See the autumn leaves within the northeast
- Zipline abroad (which we simply crossed off final month in Mexico!)
- Spend half of the 12 months overseas
These have been nice targets to information how we plan our journey every year, however Heath and I’ve craved one thing somewhat larger.
Setting Intentional Journey Objectives
I obtained main déjà vu beginning to write this weblog publish as a result of I noticed Heath and I discuss aim setting on a regular basis! Often on the finish of December after we write our year-end critiques. We’re very obsessed for not being productiveness gurus.
However we each love having large targets. They information our choices and assist us select the precise path after we are confronted with choices.
We’ve talked about journey targets typically with our pals Kara and Nate. We visited all 50 states; they visited 100 nations. And after we every achieved our targets, there was virtually an vacancy there. All of us felt the necessity to assume up a brand new aim to realize.
In a whole lot of methods, there’s strain that the following aim be even larger and higher.
After Heath labored a job in every state, so many individuals mentioned “Now work a job in every nation!”
Between Instagram and journey blogs and Youtubers, I feel it is a widespread feeling. It’s not sufficient to simply full-time RV or journey with your loved ones. That you must go to each nationwide park or go to each Disney park or accomplish some epic aim that can wow everybody.
I’m not a fan of that social strain, however I do see the attraction of getting a single, intentional aim to information journey.
Why Set Journey Objectives?
I hear the entire time from new RVers the identical, sort of foolish query: “How do you propose the place to go?”
I completely get it! Once you open your life as much as journey, you out of the blue notice the world is at your fingertips. Particularly with an RV. Wherever you possibly can drive, you possibly can go to! It may be arduous to decide on.
This is the reason I like setting a tangible aim. It may be easy like spending Christmas with my nieces and nephews or sophisticated like visiting 50 microbreweries in Colorado. No matter it’s, it helps information and anchor you as you journey so that you don’t really feel aimless as you wander, one thing I do know many vacationers have felt at one level or one other.
For Heath and I, our targets have regarded like this:
2014: Go to all 50 states
2015: ✅ Go to all 50 states (nonetheless had Hawaii and Alaska to go!) and dwell for reasonable within the RV to repay all our debt so we are able to preserve touring
2016: ✅ Re-visit the entire west coast + RV overseas for the primary time
2017: ✅ Re-visit the entire east coast
2018: ✅ Spend half of the 12 months RVing overseas
2019: ✅ Take our daughter on her first worldwide RVing journey (Italy)
2020: ✅ Full-time RV within the states as a household of three
2021: ❎ the primary 12 months we didn’t set a journey aim as a result of I knew I wished child #2 and we have been constructing a campground so we took little journeys as an alternative of any large journey. It was bizarre not having a journey aim, and we missed it.
Aside from not paying off our pupil debt till mid-2017 (why did we expect we might pay all of it off in a 12 months?), we achieved all of those loopy large targets and began every year with a powerful path.
Generally that path modified. In 2020, we rapidly switched from “Let’s see if we love full-time RVing with children as a lot as we cherished it as a pair” to “Let’s purchase a home, the world is in turmoil and we wish a secure place to land.” It was an enormous pivot on the time, however one which has allowed us to chase different targets, like having our son, constructing a campground, and dwelling in a home collectively for the primary time in our marriage. 100% was the proper determination for us.
And now that we do have a house base, we are able to begin trying overseas once more and chasing a aim I scribbled down with a query mark subsequent to it again in 2016: RVing the world over.
RVing Throughout the World
Heath and I (clearly) love RVing. I imply have a look at that listing above. Seven years of my life have been devoted to it! And it’s our absolute favourite approach to journey.
I also have a complete listing of all of the nations the place RVing is a factor so we are able to begin brainstorming the place to RV subsequent. Spoiler: we’re about to move to France to spend a month RVing throughout southern France which is thought for being probably the most RV-friendly elements of Europe.
With the youngsters becoming a member of us on adventures, we’re aiming to be much more intentional with our journey and set a brand new aim for a complete household. I knew I wished RVing world wide to be part of it, however I wasn’t actually positive the place to start out. So I requested myself a query:
How Many Nations Do I Need to Go to?
I pulled up Google Maps and a spreadsheet. I like an excellent spreadsheet—the extra organized, the higher.
I began making an inventory of all of the nations we’ve visited thus far:
I knew off the highest of my head the place we had visited with the youngsters, however actually didn’t know what number of nations Heath and I had visited. Heath and I’ve visited 9 nations collectively, Ellie 5, and Eli 4. (Sure, it’s going to trouble me till we make it again to Rome and go to Vatican Metropolis that Ellie and Eli haven’t visited the identical variety of nations!)
I had no thought what number of nations I wished to go to or what number of nations I wished to RV in. I do know many pals who’ve the aim to go to 100 nations and even each nation (presently 195), however these targets don’t attraction to me. They’re somewhat too large. Particularly whenever you’re taking a look at packing alongside a double-stroller on all these adventures!
I took to my spreadsheet and created a “Need to Go to” listing of locations we hadn’t but ventured. With Google Maps zoomed out far sufficient to learn the names of most nations, I began typing out each nation I knew I wished to go to. I got here up with an inventory of 39 nations.
This was purely primarily based on me saying “I noticed a fairly image of Albania as soon as” and “By no means heard of Saint Kitts and Nevis earlier than but it surely feels like they serve piña coladas, so let’s add that one to the listing.” I haven’t really accomplished any analysis into what nations to go to. That may all come later after we began making legit plans! This was simply enjoyable brainstorming the place I don’t have to fret about visas or which season is the perfect time to go to or if I can realistically afford ever visiting the Maldives.
Right here’s what I got here up with at first look:
Sure, I do know my South America and Africa lists want some severe boosting. I have to Google which nations Victoria Falls straddles and of all of the nations in Africa, I most wish to go to Morocco and I didn’t even listing it in my brainstorming! Additionally, what nations are technically in South America however appear to be they’re in Central America? Why is that so complicated? Oh and I forgot China! Disneyland Hong Kong is a should.
I’m going again and including to this listing as I write out this weblog 😂 However this listing was nearly getting a baseline for what number of nations I knew I wished to go to simply from fast brainstorming. If there’s something I’ve realized about journey, it’s that when you begin touring, your listing of “locations to go to” will get longer and longer the extra locations you go!
With this listing of 39 nations, plus what we’ve already visited collectively, I simply drew a conclusive journey aim:
go to 50 nations with Heath.
I’m simply now realizing the parallel between this aim and our honeymoon. Perhaps 50 is our magic quantity? 😂
Not all of those nations could be visited by RV, like Cuba or the Philippines. However an excellent portion of Europe undoubtedly may very well be. That’ll be one thing we are able to look into later, after we really begin planning and reserving journey.
Half-time touring, I estimate that it will take us a decade or two to deal with. I’m in no rush. We like spending a few weeks minimal in every nation we go to, and longer if we’re in a position to RV in that nation. We spent two months camper vanning round New Zealand and have traveled for 3 months throughout Italy, so in my thoughts, we’d like at least a month in every nation to completely recognize it… Though I simply did a Google Picture search of Saint Kitts and Nevis, so should you don’t hear from me for some time, it’s as a result of I moved to an island paradise. 🏝
Setting a Household Journey Purpose
One of many important causes Heath and I began speaking about setting an intentional aim was in order that we might have one thing to information us as we plan large journeys with our youngsters. Saying we wish to go to 50 nations with Ellie earlier than she turns into an grownup sounds somewhat too loopy. That’s 45 nations over the following 15 years, which may very well be potential, however like I mentioned, we prefer to journey slowly and revel in new nations.
So we set the aim of go to 20 nations with the youngsters earlier than they flip 18.
Since they have already got a number of below their belts, that works out to about one nation per 12 months till Ellie graduates highschool. Way more doable and fewer wild, however nonetheless an enormous aim.
It’s ridiculous to me as a result of this aim feels small. Shouldn’t my aim be 100 nations? Or higher but all of them? 20 is so few!
(This is likely one of the many issues with social media. I’ve been touring for my entire grownup life and I haven’t visited 20 nations but. It’s tricked me into pondering 20 is small, when it’s actually an enormous, wonderful aim.)
I don’t know which 20 nations we’ll find yourself visiting. Canada will most likely make the listing. Spain undoubtedly will, since we are going to begin RVing in France in a number of weeks and finish in Spain this October. However I’m excited to let the youngsters be part of this aim. Ellie has been speaking to me consistently recently about how she needs to return to “Ratatouille’s home” AKA Paris, and she or he needs to go to “Bluey’s home” too, AKA Australia. She could also be three, however she continues to wow me along with her understanding of journey.
I’m nervous-excited about this subsequent large journey with the youngsters. Like Heath shared final week, touring with children is so drastically completely different than touring alone and everybody has an opinion on it. Some households love soccer. Baseball. Gymnastics. Mountain climbing. The listing goes on. Heath and I like to journey, in order that’s what we’re sharing with our household. And now we’ve obtained clear targets to information us alongside the way in which. Our aim will most likely change and stretch with time as all targets ought to.
However I’m excited to have this subsequent one down in writing, inspiring us to maintain chasing after the issues we love.
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