How do I pick a travel destination? In order to know what's going to be a good place for you to visit, you need to define your goals and you need some level of self awareness about what sort of traveler you are.
People can love or hate the same place for the same reasons. The same things that make it wonderful for one can make a horrible for another. So, before you pay any heed to travel advice, one of the things I discuss in my books is how to go about researching destinations and figuring out which ones are going to be good for you. In order to know what's going to be a good place for you to visit, you need to define your goals and you need some level of self awareness about what sort of traveler you are. It's only in those terms that I or anybody else can give you meaningful or useful advice.
If you are asking someone else about their experience with a travel destination, their opinion is not going to be very useful to you unless you know something about them and their tastes and priorities. So the question is going to be why did you like it, what were you are looking for there?
I don't care much for the concept of a must-see list. The only thing about them is that they make a good list of things to avoid, especially during the peak season. The must-sees are going to involve interacting mostly with other tourists from whom you will learn the least about the place you are going to. The type of thing that interests me is a more authentic experience. Even if there are a lot of visitors they are local visitors rather than other foreign visitors and the local people are a little less burned out on talking to foreigners. The relationship is less that of staff at a tourist attraction and more that of host who is dealing with guests.
Another consideration when choosing a travel destination is the long term effect and education that international travel can provide. This is especially important for children and college age children. I think it's important as part of a general education. I think it is essential to have seen the different parts of the world in order to understand who we are and our place in it. It's also important as part of the college education for professional and career training.
On the one hand, the United States has the highest percentage of its population attending secondary education than any country in the world. On the other hand, we have one of the lowest percentages of population who knows a foreign language, has traveled abroad, or is familiar with the way things are done in other parts of the world. So that significantly constrains American businesses who are finding it essential to globalize their business practices. If you look at surveys of companies or recruiters, you will find that some of the most sought after skills include international experiences as well as language skills. And if you look at predictors of success in international business one of the biggest is international experience as a child and international experiences in general.
