This put up might comprise affiliate hyperlinks. See our affiliate disclaimer right here.
When Heath and I first began touring, we set a really clear purpose:
Go to all 50 states in a yr for our honeymoon.
It was loopy particular—right down to the timeframe—however that’s what helped us make it occur.
(Okay “technically” we crossed into Alaska one yr 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 out of the country (which we simply crossed off final month in Mexico!)
- Spend half of the yr overseas
These have been nice targets to information how we plan our journey annually, however Heath and I’ve craved one thing a bit of larger.
Setting Intentional Journey Targets
I obtained main déjà vu beginning to write this weblog put up as a result of I noticed Heath and I discuss purpose setting on a regular basis! Normally on the finish of December after we write our year-end opinions. We’re very obsessed for not being productiveness gurus.
However we each love having huge targets. They information our selections and assist us select the appropriate path after we are confronted with choices.
We’ve talked about journey targets usually with our pals Kara and Nate. We visited all 50 states; they visited 100 nations. And after we every achieved our targets, there was nearly an vacancy there. All of us felt the necessity to suppose up a brand new purpose to attain.
In lots of methods, there’s stress that the subsequent purpose be even larger and higher.
After Heath labored a job in every state, so many individuals stated “Now work a job in every nation!”
Between Instagram and journey blogs and Youtubers, I believe it is a widespread feeling. It’s not sufficient to only full-time RV or journey with your loved ones. It is advisable to go to each nationwide park or go to each Disney park or accomplish some epic purpose that can wow everybody.
I’m not a fan of that social stress, however I do see the attraction of getting a single, intentional purpose to information journey.
Why Set Journey Targets?
I hear all the time from new RVers the identical, type of foolish query: “How do you propose the place to go?”
I completely get it! While you open your life as much as journey, you instantly notice the world is at your fingertips. Particularly with an RV. Anyplace you possibly can drive, you possibly can go to! It may be exhausting to decide on.
For this reason I like setting a tangible purpose. It may be easy like spending Christmas with my nieces and nephews or difficult 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 seemed 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 will maintain touring
2016: ✅ Re-visit all the west coast + RV overseas for the primary time
2017: ✅ Re-visit all the east coast
2018: ✅ Spend half of the yr 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 yr we didn’t set a journey purpose as a result of I knew I needed child #2 and we had been constructing a campground so we took little journeys as an alternative of any huge journey. It was bizarre not having a journey purpose, and we missed it.
Apart from not paying off our scholar debt till mid-2017 (why did we expect we may pay all of it off in a yr?), we achieved all of those loopy huge targets and began annually with a powerful route.
Typically that route modified. In 2020, we shortly switched from “Let’s see if we love full-time RVing with youngsters as a lot as we beloved it as a pair” to “Let’s purchase a home, the world is in turmoil and we would like a secure place to land.” It was a giant 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 will begin wanting overseas once more and chasing a purpose I scribbled down with a query mark subsequent to it again in 2016: RVing internationally.
RVing Throughout the World
Heath and I (clearly) love RVing. I imply take a look at that checklist above. Seven years of my life had been devoted to it! And it’s our absolute favourite solution to journey.
I actually have a complete checklist of all of the nations the place RVing is a factor so we will begin brainstorming the place to RV subsequent. Spoiler: we’re about to go to France to spend a month RVing throughout southern France which is understood for being one of the vital RV-friendly components of Europe.
With the children becoming a member of us on adventures, we’re aiming to be much more intentional with our journey and set a brand new purpose for an entire household. I knew I needed 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 International locations Do I Need to Go to?
I pulled up Google Maps and a spreadsheet. I like spreadsheet—the extra organized, the higher.
I began making a listing 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 children, 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 hassle 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 concept what number of nations I needed to go to or what number of nations I needed to RV in. I do know many pals who’ve the purpose to go to 100 nations and even each nation (at present 195), however these targets don’t attraction to me. They’re a bit of too huge. Particularly while you’re packing alongside a double-stroller on all these adventures!
I took to my spreadsheet and created a “Need to Go to” checklist 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 needed to go to. I got here up with a listing of 39 nations.
This was purely based mostly 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 however it seems like they serve piña coladas, so let’s add that one to the checklist.” I haven’t truly carried out 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 very best 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 checklist it in my brainstorming! Additionally, what nations are technically in South America however appear like 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 checklist as I write out this weblog 😂 However this checklist was nearly getting a baseline for what number of nations I knew I needed to go to simply from fast brainstorming. If there’s something I’ve discovered about journey, it’s that after you begin touring, your checklist of “locations to go to” will get longer and longer the extra locations you go!
With this checklist of 39 nations, plus what we’ve already visited collectively, I simply drew a conclusive journey purpose:
go to 50 nations with Heath.
I’m simply now realizing the parallel between this purpose and our honeymoon. Possibly 50 is our magic quantity? 😂
Not all of those nations might be visited by RV, like Cuba or the Philippines. However portion of Europe positively could possibly be. That’ll be one thing we will look into later, after we truly 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 totally admire it… Though I simply did a Google Picture search of Saint Kitts and Nevis, so when 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 Objective
One of many foremost causes Heath and I began speaking about setting an intentional purpose was in order that we may have one thing to information us as we plan huge journeys with our children. Saying we wish to go to 50 nations with Ellie earlier than she turns into an grownup sounds a bit of too loopy. That’s 45 nations over the subsequent 15 years, which could possibly be attainable, however like I stated, we wish to journey slowly and revel in new nations.
So we set the purpose of go to 20 nations with the children earlier than they flip 18.
Since they have already got a couple of beneath their belts, that works out to about one nation per yr till Ellie graduates highschool. Far more doable and fewer wild, however nonetheless an enormous purpose.
It’s ridiculous to me as a result of this purpose feels small. Shouldn’t my purpose 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 complete 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, superb purpose.)
I don’t know which 20 nations we’ll find yourself visiting. Canada will in all probability make the checklist. Spain positively will, since we’ll begin RVing in France in a couple of weeks and finish in Spain this October. However I’m excited to let the children be part of this purpose. Ellie has been speaking to me consistently recently about how she desires to return to “Ratatouille’s home” AKA Paris, and he or she desires 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 huge journey with the children. Like Heath shared final week, touring with youngsters is so drastically completely different than touring alone and everybody has an opinion on it. Some households love soccer. Baseball. Gymnastics. Climbing. The checklist 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 purpose will in all probability 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.
We get pleasure from journey as a result of we’ve constructed companies we will work from anyplace. Get began with your individual enterprise concepts with our free e book:
