These days, there are so many options for travel experiences– from big cruises, to bus trips, to DIY app-based excursions, supported custom adventures, and personalized experiences. You name it, it’s out there. Discover Your Bali is one of the boutique travel offers that have recently popped up, offering a specific kind of experience.
One of the most universally important factors when it comes to travelling is ease– if you’re planning a holiday around your busy schedule, you don’t want to put hours and hours into poring over maps, planning every second, and making sure it all goes off without a hitch. Generally, most of us want to show up and enjoy the journey. The risk of doing this is you show up and the experience is not at all what you really wanted.
No matter what you’re looking for in a travel experience, here are five important things to consider before clicking the Book button! If all of them are aligned with your desires, you’re going to have a great time!
1. Location: Where are you yearning to go? Which destinations are on your bucket list? This may seem obvious, but it’s not that simple– we choose travel destinations for a lot of reasons. Maybe it’s because you’ve been there before so it makes the planning process simple, or someone you’re going with really wants to go there, or the destination is close by, or there's a deal on plane tickets. A piece of advice: Visit the place you really want to see, especially when you have limited time and budget to spend travelling! No one wants to have a two-week holiday somewhere they aren't excited about, and think, "Dang, I should have just gone to Tuscany after all!"
2. Length: Is this travel experience offering you the kind of support you want for the amount of time you have, or is too short? It’s all too easy to cram as much as possible into the time you have, and choosing a quick drive-through tour of a national park or a one-day guided experience through a beautiful city before leaving the next morning is tempting in order to “free up” time for other things later. But consider this before signing up for short travel experiences: you might want to linger in a beautiful place! And then it won’t be time wasted, but time spent in beauty and wonder. Choose the experiences and locations you want to linger in, and then find the kind of travel experience that will leave you satisfied.
3. Style: This is the “je ne sais quoi” of travel expeditions. Travel experiences come in all shapes and sizes, from huge groups that insist you wear a bright t-shirt and a whistle lest you get separated, all the way to travel expeditions that give you a kayak and a map and send you out to sea. In order to determine what your style is, consider these questions: How many people do you want to share it with? Are you excited about meeting new people? Are you ok with mainly visiting tourist stops or do you want to experience some local hideaways? Do you want to spend more time in transit, or more time in one place? Is food important to you? What about cultural experiences? You don't want to leave feeling like you missed out. My big tips: Ask questions and read reviews! Take them with a grain of salt of course, but they will generally give you a good idea of the real takeaways from real people.
4. Freedom: This is a big one with travel experiences and tours– some have very rigid schedules that allow for very little choice, including what you'll be eating, where you'll be sleeping, what activities you can choose from, and how far you can explore. These can be great if you're open to all experiences and are find with following the itinerary. In between is a Discover Your Bali-style experience, where we travel to different destinations, but there is a lot of time to linger and do what you want to do built into the plan, whether that means nap, hike a volcano, or try out a lunch spot with a new friend. Even more freeing are DIY apps that offer maps and a plan to hike through certain areas– in these cases, there are no rules or guides at all, just suggestions, and you can hop off the beaten path whenever it strikes your fancy. Make sure you feel excited about the prospect of your holiday!
5. Cost. You’ll notice this is at the bottom of my list! Cost is important, but if a travel experience satisfies all of the above for you, then it's probably worth paying some more money, unless it's so far out of your price range, it's laughable. I generally suggest that you leave cost out of it until later for an important reason– if you treat cost as the most important factor, you're more likely to end up on a tour that you would have rather not paid for at all, making sacrifices and concessions at every step of the way. But then again, travel for me is a priceless experience, and I want to do it right! How about you?
If Bali is on your bucket list, you want to travel in a small group of women for 14 nights, and you’re excited about seeing places off the beaten path, learning about and participating in Balinese culture, exploring the countryside and towns, and are looking for relaxation, wonder, and rejuvenation, then Discover Your Bail might be for you! I’ve designed this trip to a mix of planned activities, with lots of free time in between to do what you want, and I’m here to support you the whole way. Download the Discover Your Bali itinerary to learn more!