As one of the most indecisive people in the world, decisions like this can stop me in my tracks. So, making the choice of where to go next is rather difficult, but over the years I have picked up a few ways to make it easier.

Interests

What do you like? One of the easiest ways to decide upon the location of your next holiday is to pick somewhere based upon what interests you. For example, back in 2019 Harry and I went away for my birthday, so Harry left all of the decisions up to me, eventually I decided upon Edinburgh purely because of the castle (Ok, maybe also the Harry Potter elements too, but don’t tell Harry!). From this decision, we were able to research and find other attractions that appealed to the pair of us at the time of our trip. This method worked really well for me, and it seems to be one of the best ways of choosing a destination when planning your next holiday that I have found.

Events

Plan your next holiday destination based upon the events happening there at the time of your visit, or vice versa. Harry has a bucket list of celebrations around the world that he would love to attend, which is the reason that we decided to visit Dublin in 2016, so that we could see the St Patrick’s Day celebrations. But the events don’t just have to be to do with the festivals happing in that country, it could be for a friend or family member as well. For example, we are planning a trip to Florida for a friend’s wedding, and as I’ve never been before we will be spending at least a week over there exploring. Similarly, one of my colleagues was supposed to travel abroad for a destination wedding last year which was the perfect opportunity for a week away.

Who Are You Going With?

This question plays a fairly large role when planning your next holiday destination. If you are travelling alone, it is entirely up to you, however if you are travelling with other people then you’ll need to take their opinions and requirements into consideration. The location will depend on things like whether the person/people you are travelling with have a passport, what they are interested in and their budget (which could be completely different to yours). I know someone who can’t travel abroad anymore because she suffers from severe vertigo on boats and planes, so it is imperative to make these decisions as a group if all of you are going.

Budget

As with every stage of my planning process, budget is a key factor in our decision making. With the bills pilling up at home, it is important for us to look at what we can actually afford before agreeing to anything. Edinburgh in particular was planned at a time when we didn’t have much extra cash lying around (not that we have loads usually!). So, when I was looking at where to go, I was taking into account how much it was the travel and attractions would cost, so I would know if we could afford to do what we wanted at that point in time.

Timings

This method of choosing where to go next can have two different meanings; one being when you are going on holiday and the second is how long you have for your time away.

When

Now you may already have an event planned that is determining when you want to visit (like mentioned in the events paragraph), but sometimes the time of year that you have managed to get off work influences the location you chose. For example, certain places may work out cheaper at a certain time of year, or you want to avoid somewhere because it’s a time when they have natural disasters. Our trip to Disneyland Paris was based off the time that we were planning to visit Paris, because as it turned out, the year that we were visiting was their 25th anniversary which meant that there were plenty of offers making it affordable for us.

How Long is the Holiday

Getting time off work can be rather difficult to achieve at times, so the amount of time can influence where you travel. It is difficult to pack in as much as you’d like in a weekend visit sometimes, so for locations like that it is best to save them for a time when you can spend a lot longer visiting.

The Pace of the Holiday

The kind of holiday that you’re after really dictates the location as well. For me, beach holidays, like my family’s annual trip to Devon or Cornwall, are incredibly relaxing. This means that if I want a faster paced holiday, I will generally plan a city break, but if I want a slower pace where I can spend time just lazing around on the beach, I’ll make my way to the coast. This isn’t the case for everyone though so when thinking about where to go next consider what you want out of the holiday and the pace that will be set via the location.

Conclusion

The location of your holiday is probably the first step that you will take towards planning your holiday, which can make it the most important. There’s no need to rush into a decision straight away but try not to overthink or it could never happen. Find the method that works best for you, experiment with them as well because it could be that it’s a mix that you prefer, like for us.