wanderlust
Originally uploaded by Jayray24

Wanderlust; (noun) very strong or irresistible impulse to travel

Travel is a timely and costly leisure pursuit, one that, for most, takes considerable planning and budgeting before to time to take off is right. If travelling is a pursuit you can not seem to push from your mind it can seem so far off when you are pushing papers behind a desk, answering frustrating customer calls or pulling pints to earn the cash to take you there. Or perhaps it is that you have landed yourself an incredible job and just can not bring yourself to leave, making travel an infeasible option for at least the time being. Either way, once travel is on your mind, it's a difficult to ease the day travel inspired day dreaming. However, there are a few things you can do to nurture that insatiable wanderlust you are feeling...

Journal & Scrapbook Plans

Use a city moleskine or big scrapbook to collect a collage of pictures of all the places you'd like to visit and things you would like to see. For really great images, hit up your local travel agent for some flyers on your dream location. The weekend newspaper usually has a travel section, as do a number of magazines. You may also find it useful to keep other article items such as reviews of accommodation, restaurants and attractions.

Do a rough itinerary; say you would like to travel across Europe. Jump online and print off a map of Europe, then take to it with a marker & draw your dream journey. Then create a page in your journal for each place you hope to stop off at along the way ("Locations Page"); Paris: picnic & champagne by the Eiffel Tower, next stop Spain ?!

Buy a Lonely Planet guide (this will become your bible) & decide where you'll stay & what you'll do. Jot down the names and numbers of the places you'd like to shortlist, under each location page in your scrapbook or journal. This is also particularly handy for getting a rough idea of needs in way of a budget, as the authors of Lonely Planet have taken the hard word out of research by including costs (or fare rate in case of transport options) for accommodation providers, activities, trains/buses/taxis, restaurants, bars etc. Make sure you are reading an up to date edition so you don't get any nasty shock & be aware that all prices are obviously only guaranteed as correct at the time of publishing so if your budget it tight, double check costs with the providers directly.

On your location pages, keep a list of any advice anyone gives you, say, a friend arrives back from a trip to Italy and suggest you visit a particular cafe in Rome, jot down the name for future reference. You may never use these tips but then again, you never know when you might just be in the neighbourhood.

Read & Research Online

The internet is a fantastic resource when it comes to travel. Not only will you find websites for the part of the world you wish to visit, the accommodation available, activities on offer - you can also find travel bloggers who are doing just what you plan to do. Through reading the blog of someone who has 'been there done that' you can pick up some valuable tips about what is well worth the fuss AND importantly, what's not. The best ones to read are those who are blogging for the love of it, rather than being paid for their posts (like for example on a newspaper's website). This means you are more likely to be getting some fair and impartial reviews!

If you are planning on a backpacking style trip, be sure to jump on Hostel World to look for accommodation. Not only can you book and pay for all your international accommodation in the one spot, but there are reviews and ratings for each accommodation option by travellers who have stayed there. This can be great for weeding out the dodgy hostels with not so nice bathrooms and also for picking up on less then favourable aspects that would not be mentioned on the accommodation providers official site, for example, the fact that the hostel sits at far end of steepest road in the town (which is exactly the sort of guidance you'd like to ahead of time if you are arriving carrying a 20 kg rucksack on your back).

Little Things

Aside from planning there are a number of things that can help cure a bit of the wanderlust you are feeling. A great one is to learn how to cook some authentic international dishes or eat out at a good restaurant. Again using Italy as an example, you could whip up a killer bolognaise or hit a restaurant with your girlfriends for a delectable woodfire pizza.

Pick up little knick knacks to add to your wardrobe that are travel inspired. If Europe is your destination of choice you could find brooches or scarves reminiscent of European styling, or if Scotland is your object of travel desire, spice up your wardrobe with a tartan kilt & some white knee socks!

Spend some time in the international corners of your city, for example, the Spanish quarter or China Town. Authentic foods, trinkets at market stalls and the buzz of expats speaking fluently in their native language.


Where do you want to go? How to you feed the wanderlust?