Why I Love Trip Wishlists For Travel Planning
- Updated: 07/11/2024
Part one of our ten-series “Our Amazeballs Guide To Better Family Travel.”
What is A Trip Wishlist?
A trip wishlist is the first thing I create when I kick off planning for any trip.
It is where I save all of the promising things I would like my family to see or do in a destination that I come across in my trip research – a convenient and ideally, mobile map-based repository to keep track of all of the fun stuff.
Even when the list grows unrealistically long, I am ok with it. I already know due to the sad reality of limited time and budget, we will never visit or do everything. Instead, I create the list to give me the option of choice on my travel.
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With my own customized collection of pre-selected activities and places, I know I’ll find the just-right thing for my family to do when I need it. In this way, the list also functions as an insurance policy.
How A Trip Wishlist Helps Us Travel Better
Because I like to leave lots of unscheduled time during trips, the list helps me meet my family’s needs at the moment – a safeguard for familial peace and harmony.
Cranky in Dingle? Let’s get ice cream at Murphy’s, which is two blocks away and known as the “best ice cream in Ireland.” Have an extra few hours in Charleston? Let’s buy tickets for a horse-drawn carriage tour around the historic district and browse the market stalls until it starts. Need to negotiate good behavior on a hot day in D.C.? Promise to take the kids to the Tidal Basin to go paddle boating – they will never misbehave.
With these well-researched suggestions on-hand, I ensure a fun, well-paced trip that avoids both copious complaining and also aimless walking around – sometimes lovely for an adult but potentially troublesome for kids.
The knowledge I gain about a destination when compiling my trip wishlist also helps me recognize two useful things.
First, it helps me identify what I need to book in advance – like in-demand activities. Doing the work and research to create the list provides me with a clearer picture of options, helping me see what we shouldn’t miss. Once reserved, these pre-bookings act as trip anchor points. They give structure to our visit, serving as a loose road map that still gives us ample opportunity to improvise and detour for unscheduled fun along the way.
By creating my wishlist, I can better recognize when it is ok to drop everything for something unexpected and unique.
And second, once familiarized with the highlights in an area by creating my wishlist, I can better recognize when it is ok to drop everything for something unexpected and unique.
For instance, when visiting Normandy in France, we had the flexibility to adjust plans and attend the nighttime Liberty Tree light show we saw advertised around Bayeux because we were not over-scheduled. The show was a beautiful tribute to peace and harmony displayed against a majestic backdrop – the gothic Bayeux Cathedral. It was an unforgettable impromptu experience for the whole family.
Tools To Create A Trip Wishlist
Google Maps is my favorite online tool for creating and storing my trip wishlists. I write more about why I prefer it and how I use it here. However, you can use anything you want to create and keep track of your trip wishlists – an old-school yellow legal pad, a word doc, or bookmarked web pages – to name a few.
Though, it is helpful to keep in mind mobility matters. After all of the time you spend finding and saving the good stuff, you will want to have easy access to it – ideally with links to addresses and websites – so you and your family can also find the just-right thing to do on your trips whenever you need it.
However much I love trip wishlists, they don’t capture or keep track of all things related to travel planning. I share my favorite travel tools and tips to keep things straight in “How To Organize All Your Travel Research,” part two of our ten-series “Amazeballs Guide To Better Family Travel.”
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Welcome to Gather and Go Travel, a blog inspiring families, adult friends, and couples to explore US and international destinations and to get outdoors. I am Janice, a world traveler to 50+ countries, a travel writer/blogger, and a book lover. Learn more about me, read our story, and how to work with me. Get my latest updates, how-tos, and trip ideas in my monthly Discovery Newsletter.
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