CHOICE OF TRAVEL DESTINATION IS EXCITING AND EQUALLY CONFUSING

An Exciting boat cruise in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda Photo Credit; Mweya Safari Lodge

We travel for many reasons and everybody dreams of traveling to get wonderful experiences of life beyond our backyard. When it is travel for pleasure we want it to happen there and then, but quite often we get mixed reactions about the choice of our destinations. The travel magazines have amazing images and captions of ideal destinations (in general but you are traveling as you), the social media is awash with very attractive videos of what are “most” ideal destinations (often different from print media). We seek genuine answers from friends who have travelled to different destinations and each one is rating his destination as the best. We are at cross roads and with no compass of what choice to go for.  We are running out of time and patience. We feel like we are getting late and should travel now. What forms a basis for our choice of travel?

The choice of travel destination should be appealing to the traveler. The individual traveler is the final consumer of the travel experiences. He knows the quality of lifestyle he wants. Whereas some travelers’ dream activity could be mountaineering or spot hunting to others’ it could be hot air balloon safaris, urban travel, interacting with indigenous people to others could be interested in wildlife safari. Most likely a combination of these beautiful attractions may not be in the same destination. Therefore the choice of your destination should be a place that easily gets you to your interests. I have taken clients on many safaris, and even when we travel in the same car, see same attractions in the destination, each one has his particular item that excited him most. One time someone mentioned an olive baboon when the ranger guide excited him with interesting facts about their habits. No one has ever cited it amongst his interests after all one man’s meat may be another man’s poison!  

We choose travel destinations with unique attractionsthat take us out of the ordinary to breath a fresh air, make new discoveries and introduce us to life experiences beyond our everyday. We cast off a little bit of our everyday lifestyle and temporary move with the events in our destination.  The world is so big and unless otherwise we aspire to go different destinations and explore their wonderful attractions within. With the increasing travel costs, limited budget and time at our disposal travelers need to smartly select a destination that satisfies their interests. Unless a combination of other factors come in, most travelers rarely repeat their travel destinations and opt for new challenges.

We need to feel at home and appreciated more than ever before. Travelers should easily gel with indigenous people and get first hand experiences of their lifestyle.  Wisely make brief research about and make comparisons between different travel destinations, learn about the society norms and cultural beliefs to minimize cultural clash and embarrassing experiences that can stand in your to achieving your happiness.  Ideal destinations have caring indigenous people with experienced staff in strategic locations to easily share their wonderful lifestyles.  Indigenous communities need to be welcoming and sensitized that their everyday experiences are actually new to the travelers.  In a way what could be odd behavior by most travelers is generally not intentional but minor cultural clash and taken lightly.

Quite often we need to travel to places with very rich and appealing history, strategic locations and accompanying geographical features to spice up our travel. The outstanding scenic landscapes, terrain, wildlife, prominent natural features that were visited by prominent and inspiring personalities are some of the travel magnets that bring other travelers to walk in their footsteps and go through what their idols experienced. Every year millions of Roman Catholic Pilgrims travel to Holy lands to get live experiences of the Biblical times, the same way Moslems travels to Mecca. Places with rich history attract a very big share of travelers in need to get real experiences of their historical heroes.   

Much as we travel as individuals in one way our entire nuclear society at home, work places or hangout joints travel with us. Often they have us in their minds offering instant consolations anytime just in case something does not work according to travel plans. Likewise they offer encouragement and cerebrate with us when we have achieved our travel plans. They begin looking to the forthcoming reunion with great zeal in anticipation of listening to appealing stories of our achievements say life on top Mount Ruwenzori at 5109m.  With advanced science and improved technology an ideal travel destination must have easy access to record and share every event experiences with friends and nuclear family members. The faster the information flows, the easier it excites the recipients. We live in a global village with smooth information flow and though on travel we have to keep abreast with and monitor events at home.

Chobe Lodge, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda with majestic views of River Nile. Photo; Chobe Lodge

All initial home plans once complete, get a reliable travel partner based in the home country topolish up all plans and erase all your travel worries. They live in the destination country you intend to visit and trust me you can do everything on your own, but remember they have everyday experiences of what you are yet to begin on. You have someone to say thank you when your travel plan is gone smooth.  Some safaris go awfully wrong and you have someone to blame; where it goes wrong with a reliable travel agent due to unavoidable events I lack the right word to put it if you were on your own!  However, experience shows that a reliable travel partner performs to exceed travelers’ expectations to get business recommendations.  With use of their wonderful service quite often hours on your travel will seem shorter and time run faster because everything is running smoothly according to plan.