Biggest Hurdles that keep you from traveling (and how to overcome them)

You see all the Instagram picts, the Pinterest destinations, and the travel videos all over YouTube. You see the beautiful beaches, the majestic mountains, and the super fun road trips that others take and you say to yourself: “I wish I could do that!”

The big question is, what’s stopping you?

Many people think that travel is unattainable for a variety of reasons, when in reality, it’s just their own mindset that is stopping them.

I want to help point out a few of the big reasons why people think they can’t travel and give you some ideas of how you can overcome these hurdles no matter your situation.

1. Finances

This is probably the biggest one and I won’t lie, we fell into this mindset for a long time too.

You often probably think of the fancy resorts or the super exclusive lodges that cost a small fortune to reserve. And yes, that is not always attainable for everyone, but guess what? That isn’t the case everywhere that you would travel!

Think of it this way, people have to live their normal day to day lives in these other places, so why can’t it be affordable to you too?

There are some destinations that may not be in your budget right now, and that’s ok! There are still some really amazing destinations right at home that you can visit on almost any budget!

Take a road trip to a National Park. It’s very affordable to visit one of these and if you stay in an inexpensive AirBnb and try to prepare your own food. You can still get a great trip, see some beautiful (and sometimes instagram worthy) views and experiences for much less than you would expect!

You can also use several flight and hotel comparison sights like Expedia or Google Flights to be on the lookout for inexpensive domestic and international flights! You have to be a little more flexible on where to go, but this can also be fun because you may discover a place you never thought you would visit.

The biggest thing is to know what you want to budget and decide what you can afford and go from there. If you start there, you will have a much better starting place to start narrowing down and researching where you want to go.

The next is to start saving! You don’t have to save huge chunks of money at a time, but if you can set aside a little bit of money every week, you’ll be saved up and ready for your trip before you know it!

2. Getting the time off

Depending on the type of job you have, it can sometimes be tricky to find enough time off to go the places that you want.

Monument Rocks Chalk Pyramids, Kansas

The best thing is to start planning EARLY and to notify your place of work as soon as you can so that they have plenty of time to make preparations.

Maybe you are only able to take a few days off at a time. Don’t let that stop you! There are TONS of places that you can make a great extended weekend out of! You can use the same tip mentioned earlier to check for domestic cheap flights and then see what all the surrounding city has to offer!

You can even look into doing some day trips! I recently started googling landmarks and attractions around my hometown (Wichita, Kansas) and I was so surprised at how many fun things there were to do within a couple hours of my city!

Living in Kansas, you definitely wouldn’t expect it, but there are several state parks, museums, and other attractions to visit that I didn’t even know existed (even though I’ve lived here my entire life).

These are great options as well as they are SUPER cheap and you don’t necessarily have to pay an arm and a leg for hotel accommodations unless you choose to do an overnight trip, which would still be pretty inexpensive.

3. Family

This is one that you wouldn’t always think of, but this can be a big inhibitor when it comes to planning travel for a few big reasons.

If you have little ones, you may be trying to hold off on trips until they’re older so that they ‘remember it’. I hate to break it to you, but it doesn’t matter how old your kiddos are, they probably won’t remember every detail of any trip you take.

This being said, you as a parent WILL remember the experience and if you document through pictures or videos, you will be able to share those memories with them as they grow. Don’t feel like you have to sacrifice your experiences just to make sure that they will remember it.

Besides, it can be ALOT cheaper to travel with a baby or toddler than it is with an older child as many experiences, tickets, and more could be free for kiddos under a certain age.

Now, obviously you aren’t going to want to try and go skiing or something overly adventurous as little ones can’t usually do those things. But let’s say you want to go on a Disney Trip. Disney is a SUPER expensive trip in general, but Children under the age of 3 can get into the theme parks for Free! If you take them around the time right before they turn 3 they will still be able to experience much of what they have to offer without the expensive price of park tickets, full meals, and more. Plus, you will have so much more fun as a parent watching the magic through your child’s eyes. (This can save you literally hundreds-thousands of dollars on a trip).

That is just one example, but there are places like that all over the world that you can use this trick.

Now maybe you don’t have kids, but your family lives far away from you end up using all your time off from work to see them.

This is a reality for alot of people and it can be very hard to sacrifice that time with them to say yes to a trip for yourself.

It is so important to take care of yourself and when you take time off, you need to make sure you are taking time for yourself to recharge and refresh. There is nothing wrong with wanting to see your family, but if you use all of your available time off to see them, you can sometimes start to build up resentment because you haven’t taken any time for yourself.

Don’t worry! You don’t have to totally sacrifice seeing your family to ‘treat yourself’. Take at least one trip or mini trip that is all for yourself once a year and then try to arrange time around holidays to spend with your family. You may have to split the time between the two which can mean shorter trips for each, but trust me, you will be much more excited for both trips because you are being intentional with YOUR time.

You could also try to see if your family would come and visit you! This could be fun as it’s a trip for them and you get to show them more about what your hometown has to offer! Maybe have it rotate every other year so that you can take turns on who needs to travel to visit as well as take the time off to do so.

4. Unexpected Circumstances (AKA Coivd, illness, and family emergencies)

Lets be honest, life happens. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that it’s important to be flexible and it’s important to take care of yourself.

We had several experiences last year of having to cancel and reschedule trips as well as get creative of places that we could go while still being safe and respectful to the communities that we were visiting.

Always do your part by following local guidelines and getting tested to make sure that you are not traveling while sick. Remember, you are going to someone else’s community and the last thing you want to do is make the situation worse by not following the rules.

We have found that outdoor trips are great because you are away from most people and honestly it’s great for your body to get some exercise and fresh air. (And they can often be much cheaper!)

Of course a pandemic isn’t always going to be a normal thing that happens, but sometimes you may get sick, your pet might get sick, or a family emergency happens right before your trip.

This is where we highly recommend looking into getting travel insurance. It is often pretty inexpensive, but you will be so happy you have it if you end up needing it. Of course, you always want to make sure you read the fine print so you know exactly what is and is not included in your insurance.

Don’t worry, if you end up having to cancel your trip, you can always save it for a future trip! It is always important to take care of yourself first before forcing yourself to go on a trip that you will be miserable because you are unwell or you are stressed about something going on at home.

The biggest thing to remember is that you can do anything you put your mind to. You are in control of your life and travel is something that is important for people to experience to learn about the different cultures and people who may be different than you. It is also a time of refreshing that will keep you going forward and avoiding burnout from your day to day life.

Have fun on your adventures and remember to Go Create Your Ever After!