How to Create Your own “20 Summers Plan”
Have you ever heard the saying “The older you get, the faster time goes?” I use to hear my Grandfather say that and I would think to myself, “Sounds like something an old person would say”. Well, as I am getting older, that statement is starting to ring true. It feels so much of the time that life is flying by and we are desperately trying to catch up. At some point, we all just have to stop, take a breath and start thinking about what we want out of life. We all need a create our own “20 Summers Plan”. We need a direction, or eventually, we will look back only to discover we have a list of “what if’s”.
How our “20 summers plan” came about
One day, my husband Dave and I were talking about our “bucket list” of places we want to travel. At the end of our discussion, we had quite a long list. Then we considered our current age and at what age would it start to become difficult to travel independently. In our minds by the age of 70 is when it could become a little more of a challenge. It isn’t that 70 is a hard-cut age where travel is no longer possible, but for us, that seemed like a realistic estimate. With that age in mind and looking at our list, we felt like we had plenty of time to get those trips done. At least, we could make a good dent.
I started thinking, most American’s only get one vacation a year. For most of us, that trip is in the summer. Unlike our European friends, who get roughly 6 weeks of time off per year. It kind of hit me, what if we only have 20 summers to do our travels? Now all of a sudden time felt much shorter. I hope we can easily travel past 70. And hopefully some of those years we can take more than one trip. For us, these were good boundaries and gave us a sort of guideline to follow.
It was at this point that we started to look at our lives and what we wanted our next 20 summers to look like? Where did we want to go and what did we want to do? So, we created our 20 summers travel plan.
Here is a quick outline to help get you started creating your own 20 summers plan.
Brainstorm
We all have at least 1 or 2 places that we want to visit, but the goal here is to turn your imagination loose. Maybe you watch a movie that takes place somewhere that looks interesting, or maybe a friend returns from a trip and tells you all about the great things they did while they were away. Travel inspiration can come from anywhere. The important thing for you to do, is to keep track of them. Write them in a journal/diary, or make a list and save them on your computer.
Another great way to keep track of them is on Pinterest. It’s super easy!! Once you create an account, you can create “boards”. Each board could be a different city or country, however it works best for you. Your boards can be as detailed as you want them to be.,
Create your wish list
I don’t know about you, but I am a list person. Lists help me to visualize and stay organized. Plus, it gives me a sense of accomplishment when I start to mark things off the list once they are completed.
Before you start writing down destinations, really think about where you want to go and what you want to do. Travel is so much more than just the destination, you want to create experiences.
Have you always wanted to take a cooking class in Italy? Maybe you have dreamed of doing a wine tasting in France. Write those down. No matter how far fetched a dream destination may be, get it on your list. If you’re going to dream, dream big!!
Prioritize
Here is where you are going to start taking a hard look at your list and begin prioritizing what is the most important. Your list should begin with the places you most want to visit at the top.
Once you have your list, put down a budget amount to the side. You may need to do a little research in order to come up with a fairly accurate dollar amount. For instance, 5 days staying in the heart of London will be more expensive than 5 days in Lisbon. You don’t have to spend a lot of time researching, but you need an idea of what it will cost for hotel nights, food, and transportation.
Next, to the cost estimate, write down your time budget. How long do you feel it will take you to see and do as much as possible while you are there? For instance, if you want to visit Rome and you want to see as many museums and ruins as possible, then you may want to budget 4-5 days. Maybe Australia is on your list. That’s a long way to travel, so if you’re going to make that trip, maybe you budget 2 weeks, or even 3 weeks if you want to do New Zealand as well. The point is, no matter where you are going, to give yourself as much time as you can afford. You may never get the chance to go back, so do and see as much as you can.
Travel Calendar
Now that you have your list and budget, start laying it out on a calendar. Again, I like to see things written down so for me, putting my travel destinations down in a logical way helps me to see the big picture. With any dream, you will have a better chance of fulfilling it if it is written down.
Let’s assume your top 3 list is Paris, Iceland and a Mediterranean cruise. Well, those are 3 big trips that might be difficult to do in back to back years due to money and/or time. So instead look back at your list and find those destinations that maybe are a little closer to home or fit better in your budget. Plug those smaller trips in between the larger ones.
This will allow you to spread out the trips that cost more and allow you to save up. It’s no fun to get to your dream destination but not really have the funds to do what you want to do. If you are one who is lucky enough that 3 big trips back to back is not an issue, I will just say to you, “Are you interested in adopting a travel blogger?”
It doesn’t matter your age or even your budget, it’s just a good idea to have a plan for your travels. If you really think about the different stages of life, they often fall into 20-year increments. For instance, from the time you’re born until you move out of your parent’s house, it’s about 20 years. From the time you begin your own family to the time you become an empty-nester, is about 20 years. Retirement is about 20 years. So, depending on where you fall within these 20-year segments, you can and should have a travel plan. Some trips you may do alone, some with your spouse, and some with your kids.
So, get started!! Create your own “20 Summers Plan”. You will find that dreaming of your travel destinations is a lot of fun. It doesn’t matter if those dreams keep you within the US or wherever you call home, or your dreams take you to far away places. They are your dreams!! At the end of life, you can have a travel list full of scratched off dreams, and not a list full of what ifs.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”― Mark Twain
I would love to hear about your “20 Summers Plan”. If you would like to share your list, feel free to do so in the comments section below or email them to me at liz@trailseasoning.com.
4 Comments
Kellie Trout
I would love to subscribe to your website….where is that option?? Would like to follow you as well on twitter and insta…..
admin
Kellie….Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. We have been in the process of trying to get the ability to signup to the website up and going. You now have this option as well as signing up to follow the social media account. I hope you revisit the website and follow up on social media.
Christy
I absolutely love this idea! What a great way to plan out and actually work on your travel bucket list! Thank you so much for sharing the 20 summers plan!
admin
Thanks Christy for your comment. It all really boils down to life goes so fast!! If each of us doesn’t create our own “20 Summers Plan” before we know it, the time is gone and we are left with an unfulfilled wish list and not a life full of wonderful travel experiences.