Setting SMART Travel Goals

The key to budget travel is to plan ahead. When it comes to family trips, globetrotting, well-deserved vacations and/or going to see new places we have never been before, the reality of cost and budgeting is always in the back of our minds.

Planning and spending our travel dollar wisely is a priority for most families. Curbing spending and costs, while still enjoying your vacation to its fullest, is the key to guaranteed success and fiscal responsibility. Your pocketbook and family will thank you!

The reasoning behind saving money while traveling is simple: Even if your personal budget is extremely tight, you can still take a break and enjoy life! Simply put, life is just too short to never step out of the door or leaving the homestead!

Also remembering that while traveling, whether on a budget or not, even the smallest of things can all add op to a large vacation or travel bill!

For example, all those hotel extra's, cab-fares, tips, restaurants, car rentals, gas for your own vehicle if on a road trip, tickets for special attractions or events, beach-and-pool-side drinks (if not at an all-inclusive resort or cruise) and more, adds on and piles up!

This brings us to the some of the rhyme and reason behind budgeting for travel and planning well. This also applies monetarily, to ensure your trip is a success, enjoyable and memorable. Your outlook could be a balance between replenishing your resources and not breaking the bank in the process!

This site is meant to assist you with this task. Its handy, easy-reference format provides you with topical information regarding all aspects of planning and saving on your next trip or vacation. You will find relevant tips in these pages meant to assist you in any travel undertaking in the near or foreseeable future.

When choosing to travel, most of us are normally doing so with our families, opting for destination travel and taking that well-deserved vacation of a lifetime or all of the above. This site will offer tips and insights on how to customize, optimize, maximize and personalize your travel experience every step of the way.

There are many un-seized opportunities to save some cash in the process. We will briefly uncover less known and obvious financial detail, affordability, aftermath and fiscal strategy as it pertains to travel locally, domestically or abroad.

Perhaps you have not taken a trip in a very long time and find yourself in desperate need of a good breakaway vacation to remember. Maybe you are a young student backpacking and exploring some corners of this wonderful world we live in, or a retired couple enjoying the travel scene together.

Whatever your situation and reason for travel, we trust you will potentially find something in these pages that will inspire you and save you some money in the process.

To get us started, here is the first tip for all the procrastinators, impulse travel buyers, discount bargain hunters and vacation shoppers amongst us.  

"The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, learn about them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable."  Denis Waitley

TIP : Make a list of some; any or all of the destinations you would like to visit in your lifetime... and then plan to get to at least one this year!

Like anything else in life, travel needs to be planned for. It is almost like setting a short-time 'SMART' goal for leisure and vacationing. Marketers of time-share and destination vacations, often refer to this as an argument to invest in a travel solution.

People often suggest that we treat travel or vacationing, like any other planned financial decision in life. This is all irrespective of whether this includes house, car, tuition, health, insurance or other life-expense.  Travel and vacation is justified and 'sold', as just another important item on the list to think about and budget for.

Setting goals is described and accepted as a powerful tool to achieve success and keeps people motivated.

Out of the list of dream destinations you just made or have in mind, you cannot possibly achieve reaching all of them, and nor should you perhaps. One can but wish and dream ... Going after these dreams in a planned fashion, will mean a significant investment of time, money, energy, talent, and opportunities. You will need to prioritize.

Prioritizing should include travel items, trips, goals and destinations that you really desire to visit, see, conquer, treasure, explore and would love to achieve in your lifetime. 

Realizing of course that these 'dreams' though, might not all be achievable immediately, or at all. You need to view this as a wish list, shortlist eventually becoming checklist! Then, move on to making at least the first goal or location visit on the list happen this year! (Alternatively, as soon as funds allow and you are able to make it happen).

Hands-on work, defining and planning for travel in such a way that it will convey an actual goal or goals, destinations, budgets and periods.

A goal, in order to be effective and drive people towards it, should have the following characteristics.  The goal should be Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Time-constrained. 

In other words, it must be a SMART goal.

SPECIFIC: The travel goal(s) should be specific. Detail is what matters here. Avoid generalizations; get to the point and crux of the matter. Specify your immediate travel needs and means. Then plan to go after it pro-actively.

For example, take that tropical island, destination dream vacation: "I have always wanted to ..." seems a little general when compared to 'I will travel, with my family to Hawaii for a vacation of two weeks within the next six months.'

MEASURABLE: The SMART travel goal must be measurable.  This goes along with being specific.  A goal defined specifically might already be measurable. The abovementioned goal stated intention, involved parties, location, purpose and a timeframe - all measurable elements.

A measurable travel goal, like going to Hawaii, with a family of four, including two children under the age of five, within the next six months helps you identify, plan, execute and track more efficiently and increase your odds of actually making it there! Considering the logistics in this fashion, makes it that more realistic to enable your family to take the planned trip of a lifetime, as opposed to just dreaming about it!

ACTION-ORIENTED: A SMART goal must also be action oriented.  It cannot merely be stated.  You must relate the goal to doing something, to indicate what needs to be done. An action verb will indicate what needs to be accomplished. "I will travel" is a good example of an action statement, stated intent and implies preparation and planning, will and persistence.

REALISTIC: For any goal to be motivational and get you committed to reaching it, it must be realistic.  When a goal is not realistic and the person does not really believe it can be reached, then the commitment is lacking and the effort will not be there to permit the goal to be realized. 

Choosing realistic goals are based on your present status. What jumps to mind right away in our example, is whether and how you can afford it and make it happen!

TIME-CONSTRAINED: In order for a goal to move people towards it, it must be time-constrained.  A timeline needs to be associated with it. It will entice people to move towards the goal. The timeline set, will be based on the goal itself and the present status. Six months is stated here as a realistic timeline, leaving enough time to save for, plan, book and take your well-deserved vacation to Hawaii (as in our stated example),OR anywhere else YOU have chosen to go!

With these SMART goal insights in mind, this site will provide you with a slew of information that will appeal to the money-conscious or budget-savvy and seasoned travelers alike. Our intent is to assist and enable world explorers and bag-toting travelers everywhere to become frugal, informed, happy, creative, spend-thrift-averse and better prepared travelers.

So let's get started, shall we?

On the next page we will briefly review some Budget Travel Tips that will help you to meet your SMART Travel Goals.