Travel preferences tend to be very individual.  Are you traveling with young children?    Are you physically active and a person who enjoys adventure or would you rather relax with a good book on a beach?    What is a great trip for one person could be another person’s  worst nightmare.  That said, I am going to share a few ideas that have made travel more enjoyable for my husband and me.

In the past several years, we have taken cruises or booked escorted tours.   This has removed the burden of logistics from us.  Besides choosing the destination, we look carefully at the itinerary.  We prefer those that have a mix of structured activities while also building in time where we can choose to do things on our own, shop or just relax.  The picture above is of Salzburg, Austria.  During free time on a tour, we took a funicular to the Hohensalzburg Fortress where we saw beautiful views of the city and took this picture.

We also like to arrive a day before our cruise or tour will start in case of unforeseen travel issues.  This past summer, we were traveling to Iceland.  Unfortunately, the plane we were to take blew two tires upon its arrival to the airport.  The airline didn’t have spares and we ended up delayed 24 hours.   But because we were arriving a day before the tour, we didn’t miss any of the tour nor did we need to worry about getting to where our fellow travelers would have already gone.

I like to have all of our travel materials in one place.  While it is probably easiest to do that electronically, I am old school and compile paper copies of documents in a binder.  I have tabs for our travel documents, flight information, travel insurance, copies of passports, health information, ideas for free time, shopping ideas (I like to do some of my Christmas shopping while traveling) and an envelope to keep receipts for purchases.  I also keep any emergency numbers I may need – including our travel agent and tour company.  Those numbers came in very handy when we were dealing with our flight delays to Iceland!

I also like to learn about the places we will visit.  The destination may have historical, political, religious or cultural significance.  There are ­­­­some very readable history books, but if that is not your cup of tea, consider historical novels or movies/films set in the location you will be traveling or in a particular time period.  Having a knowledge and understanding of the history and culture can make your travel experience much more powerful.