Self-profile your travel preferences

It’s quite helpful to do a quick Q&A with yourself about personal expectations for travel experiences, lifestyle preferences, and budget before digging in with your research. Answering these nine self-profiling questions significantly helps you maneuver through the essential trip planning steps of where, when, how, and what.

1. What are your preferred travel interests?

   What kind of travel experiences do you want to have at your destination? If a history buff or culture curious, you may want to consider Old Europe cities like Florence and Lisbon. If you’re a diehard foodie, maybe Italy or Portugal appeals. Outdoor adventure seekers would certainly enjoy Costa Rica and Ecuador while tropical beach-goers would love Mexico’s Riviera Maya.

2. Do you prefer a hotel or city apartment rental with more space and a kitchen?

   Heavily discounted rental rates are available when you stay a month or more, and travel off-season. So renting an old town apartment is much more affordable than a comparable hotel. With up to a 50% to 60% discount for a low season stay, it’s like paying for 1 1/2 months but staying for 3 months.

3. How long do you want to travel?

   There are significant benefits to staying weeks or months, especially if you want more quality time for authentic, immersive experiences. With the freedom of more time, you can take day trips and overnights to nearby locations from your home base. Also, staying weeks or months usually gets you a more reasonable rate, especially when renting a city apartment.

4. Where do you want to stay – city, countryside, small town, village, coastal, or near the ocean?

   For example, if you’re looking to stay where there are extensive walking areas nearby, plenty of culture, city-centers with shops, markets, and eateries – with the Mediterranean Sea a short walk away – then you might choose Nice or Barcelona.

5. Do you want to rent a car, or will you walk and use public transportation?

   Fortunately, efficient train and bus transportation exists in most major cities for local, national, and international transportation. Otherwise, you can book exploratory trips through local companies either by bus, van (group of 5 or so) or train. Of course, you can always rent a car locally for discovery tours beyond your home base.

6. Do you want to socialize, connect with locals or expats?

   Happy Hour is a social event in many cities where drinks and appetizers (like tapas and small plates) are offered. And, outdoor cafes are everywhere and great spots to people-watch. If staying for a month or so, there are international networking communities such as Internations.org which you can join and participate in group activities like dining, festivals, theater, etc. Joining communities such as these is a great way to meet locals and expats, jump-starting a live like a local adventure.

7. Do you want to go on day trips to interesting places outside your home base?

   If you stay for weeks or months, you can take exciting day trips and overnights from your home base. So, when staying in Florence, there’s all of Tuscany to see and if you’re in Nice, the Riviera is at your door step. Public transportation is available but you may want to opt for a local day-tour company.

8. Which seasons and climates do you prefer for travel?

   If you want to travel when there are less tourists and more locals around, check out the shoulder seasons (spring and fall) and low season (winter). If climate is your priority then just look at the monthly temperature ranges for a destination you’re considering. In some Latin American countries, temperatures don’t vary much from season to season while in most European countries, temperatures can vary significantly.

9. What level of technical support do you want?

   Most city apartments and hotels offer Wi-Fi service and usually it’s included in the cost. If you don’t have the right plug adaptors for your devices, a local hardware store can help. It’s best, however, to bring at least one with you.

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Enjoy your destination like a local.

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