It’s pretty unbelievable that 2022 is less than one month away. Although the past couple of years have restricted travel and put a seemingly unending pause on making your dream vacations reality, I firmly believe that 2022 has something different in store for you as a traveler. Before you become doubtful, I suggest implementing a few extremely tangible new year’s resolutions for travelers in 2022 that will lead you to the traveling life you have always dreamed of. And, to help you get started, I have laid out 10 attainable new year’s resolutions to travel more in 2022, right here, just for you!
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1. Designate a category for travel in your monthly budget. (New Year’s Resolutions Travel More)
Hands-down, the biggest barrier between hopeful travelers and actually traveling is budget. Traveling costs money (and sometimes a lot of money), so if you’re monthly budget does not allow financial room for travel, traveling will never truly be a part of your life.
I lay out how to save money to travel here — How To Save Money To Travel: Tips For When You’re Broke — so I will refrain from talking your ears off in this new year’s resolution guide. But, if you don’t have time to read that whole in-depth article, just remember this:
Make “travel” a new category in your monthly budget separate from other spending money categories, so that you are actively saving toward your next big trip every month. I suggest dedicating somewhere between 5-10% of your monthly income to this new travel category. Five percent is a tiny fraction of your income, but you will be surprised to see how quickly that percentage adds up to your next trip.
2. Tour one touristy place in your hometown.
Nearly every city has at least one museum, famous building, cultural center, hotel, nature trail or the like. But, for whatever reason, it seems as though the majority of seasoned travelers have neglected to play tourist within their own hometowns (myself included).
If 2020 and 2021 have taught us travelers anything good, we have learned the priceless lesson that beauty can be found in every nook of the world — even those nooks close to home.
I personally have been meaning to visit my hometown’s (Appleton, Wis., USA) famous Hearthstone Museum, the world’s very first house fueled by hydroelectric power. Where is one place local to you that you have been meaning to visit?
3. Learn 5 words in a new language.
“Learn a new language” is a new year’s resolution that is frequently added to many travelers’ agendas. However, the reality is that learning a new language really cannot be done in a single year, even with extensive cultural and lingual immersion. It’s quite literally not possible for the average human brain to pick up another language after the age of about five years old, the age of lingual cognitive development.
This is why this recurring new year’s resolution seems to be a constant let down for those who attempt it. Those who attempt it end up quitting because it is simply too difficult.
Learning just five words in a new language, on the other hand, is a totally attainable new year’s resolution for travelers in 2022. Here are the steps to nailing down these five new words:
- Choose the new language.
- Choose the words (or better yet, phrases) you would like to learn.
- Look them up on a reliable online resource or language dictionary like linguee.com or wordreference.com (not Google translate).
- Practice the pronunciation.
- Practice the pronunciation again. And again.
- (Bonus) Learn full sentences with the words or phrases in the language.
- (Extra Bonus) Travel to the country of origin and use the words or phrases with the locals!
4. Go on at least one hike. (New Year’s Resolutions Travel More)
There are fantastic places to hike everywhere. You do not have to be next-door neighbors with a national park to go on a great hike. I, as well as thousands of other seasoned travelers, love using the All Trails app and website to discover and navigate hikes both nearby and when traveling.
Or, perhaps hiking outdoors isn’t your thing. Is shopping more your cup of tea? Take a hike through a mall in a new city! All that walking and carrying heavy shopping bags is hard work. I think it counts.
5. Visit at least 5 new cities. (New Year’s Resolutions Travel More)
This new year’s resolution to help you travel more in 2022 is pretty self-explanatory. While we don’t know exactly what 2022 has in store for us in terms of international travel restrictions, we do know that visiting five new cities is certainly attainable!
Again, you do not need to fly across the world to tour a new city. You could fly to a city located in the same country as you, or you could even drive 20 minutes down the highway to the next city over. You never know what hidden gems you’ll find.
(P.S. If you would like more ideas on where to travel in 2022, I have an entire guide completely dedicated to the 13 best vacation ideas in 2022 in the USA and abroad.)
6. Step outside of your comfort zone at least once.
Even though your comfort zone and fears are naturally instilled inside of you to protect you, sometimes they can be just a little overprotective. Likewise, in order to travel more in 2022 than you have ever traveled before, you will inevitably need to step outside of your comfort zone anyway. After all, traveling is inherently stepping outside of your geographical comfort zone.
Therefore, challenge your fears that you know deep-down are being overprotective by stepping outside of your comfort zone at least once in 2022. This could be something as small as calling up a friend to chat or as large as moving abroad solo!
7. Study cultural competence for one hour every month.
Some travelers are culturally competent without even realizing it. Other travelers — or should I say, most travelers — on the other hand, need a little boost to fully elevate from tourist to cultured traveler. Either way, understanding the definition of cultural competence is an admirable new year’s resolution for all travelers in 2022.
Similarly, not only is cultural competence an important characteristic for every global traveler to develop, but cultural competence is vital for every single working person in this continuously globalizing world. You can learn why here: 5 Benefits Of Cultural Competence In Everyday Life.
8. Make a Pinterest board of your dream destination. (New Year’s Resolutions Travel More)
This new year’s resolution for travelers in 2022 is a super easy and totally fun new year’s resolution to help you travel more. (Hello! A productive excuse to spend two hours scrolling through Pinterest? As if you don’t already spend hours scrolling through social media anyway…)
If you do not have a Pinterest account yet, build one and locate “Add Board” on your profile page. Name the board after your wildest dream travel destination, and start searching on the Pinterest home feed search bar for the destination’s photos and value-packed travel guides. Finally, save the resulting Pins that spark your interest to the board for you to refer back to when you’re ready to actually plan the trip.
(To get your searching started, I have tons of free travel photos and travel guides on my Pinterest. Follow me and find all of my free guides here!)
This fun, easy new year’s resolution for travelers will fire you up in 2022 to start bringing that dream trip to life! Pinterest is a great, simple way to start taking some real action.
9. Follow 10 new travel creators on Instagram.
Similar to creating a dream-travel Pinterest board, following 10 travel creators on Instagram (or any other social platform you would prefer) will expose you to just how realistic traveling actually is for you, ultimately firing you up to finally book the trip.
Of course, I myself am an active Instagram travel creator, so you should absolutely follow me (although I may be biased). You can find tons of free travel tips, guides, photos and relatable travel content from me by clicking here: @indigosahara.
Additionally, here are my top ten current favorite travel creators on Instagram. (I tried to add a couple of men to the list, but I personally follow mostly women. There are tons of incredibly talented male travel creators on Instagram, too, though!)
- Bree from @eyeofshe
- Renee Hahnel from @reneeroaming
- Hayley Andersen from @haylsa
- Jorden Tually from @jordentually
- Allison Anderson from @photoallison
- Ian and Ana from @theotherside_vlog
- Christine Tran Ferguson from @tourdelust
- Mark Harrison from @markharrison4
- Amy Seder from @amyseder
- Hannah Rheaume from @hannahrheaume
10. Make at least one investment in yourself as a traveler.
The final push! It’s time to invest all of that money and energy you have collected and actually put it toward your travels and/or yourself as a traveler.
This new year’s resolution for travelers is open-ended on purpose. The investment could be:
- A trip you have been dying to go on.
- A simple weekend getaway to recharge your work-life balance.
- An online course.
- A retreat.
- A new camera or camera lens (you can find all of the best budget travel gear for beginners here).
- A new suitcase (this suitcase from Amazon is on my wish-list because it comes with a built in phone charger).
Or, basically anything else that will help you travel more in 2022.
Do you feel ready for 2022? Comment which 2022 new year’s resolution for travelers you’re most excited to conquer below!
More On Traveling In 2022
13 Best Vacation Ideas In 2022 (USA & Abroad)
Tap A Photo To Save This Post To Pinterest
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