Is your new year's resolution to travel more? If so, you’re not alone. According to the Destination Analysts American Travel Trends & Sentiment Update, 33.2% of Americans plan to travel more in 2022.
Yep, a lot of us wish that we could travel more frequently, but fitting trips into our busy schedules can easily slide to the bottom of our priority list. Between work, family, and social obligations, finding the time to adventure away from home can feel nearly impossible. And on top of this, the new waves of Covid variants and consequent travel restrictions haven’t improved the outlook for travel in 2022.
But that doesn't mean it’s time to give up on your new year's resolution already. Even if you feel limited by time and overwhelmed by all the craziness in the world, it is possible to take some awesome getaways this year.
But should you travel in 2022?
At Knack, we believe that travel is important for mental health and personal growth, and it’s always a worthy goal… even in 2022. Safe and successful trips are just a matter of making realistic plans and knowing to expect the unexpected.
This week, we’re sharing our top tips for traveling more frequently in 2022. Because if you can make travel a part of your life this year, you’ll be able to make travel a bigger part of your life for years to come.
How to travel more frequently in 2022:
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Take simple trips
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Invest in the best travel backpack
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Pick safe places to travel during Covid
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Start working remotely
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Consider traveling alone
1. Travel more by planning shorter, more local trips.
You don’t need to travel to faraway places for months on end in order to have a worthwhile trip - especially when you’re working a full-time job and have limited vacation days. Instead, take shorter trips and more local trips. When you stay local - or at least within the same country - you can fit some pretty awesome adventures into the timelines of long weekends and holidays. From visiting cool downtowns to national parks, there are plenty of things to see close to home.
Find out some unique local travel tips on this website, Spotted By Locals.
And guess what? Taking shorter, closer trips will get you into the habit of traveling in your spare time, because you’ll have gotten over the initial hurdle of just packing up your stuff and heading out the door.
2. Invest in the best travel backpack.
If you don’t have the right travel bag, it’s gonna be really hard to fit everything you need, and really uncomfortable to carry it all. A good travel backpack enables travel because you’ll feel more prepared to take advantage of any vacation time you have.
The best travel backpack is lightweight, comfortable, and has plenty of pockets and compartments that’ll keep your stuff organized, so you don’t have to spend your entire trip digging through a messy pack. Knack Packs check all the boxes. Read about why Knack Packs are the best backpack for travel here.
Since Knack Packs are professional laptop backpacks with an expandable suitcase compartment, they’re awesome for both work and travel. So you can keep your Knack Pack at the ready by taking it to the office, and then head straight to the airport afterwards.
Hint: Make sure you also pick up some of the best packing accessories.
3. Pick safe places to travel during Covid.
While none of us can predict where new waves of Covid variants and travel restrictions will emerge, you can plan trips that are less likely to be affected by such changes. For example, the best places to travel during Covid are outdoor destinations instead of cities, which are more likely to go into emergency lockdowns.
One excellent getaway during Covid is to rent a cool vacation home on AirBnb or VRBO with family or friends. That way, you can take day trips from your rental, but you’ll still have a good time hanging out together in your home base should your destination go into lockdown.
To help figure out which places are safe (and even possible) to travel to, check the following resources.
CDC Covid Data Tracker - Visualize infection rates and movement by location.
CNN Travel - Lists the most up-to-date and detailed travel restrictions by country.
FlightAware Misery Map - Follow flight cancellations, and avoid booking on airlines with frequent cancellations.
4. Travel more by asking to work remotely.
A full-time office job is one of the greatest obstacles to traveling more. If there’s a single upside to Covid, it’s that lots of employers have allowed their employees to work remotely, at least part-time. But if your employer wasn't one of those, you can still try to negotiate a few temporary days of remote work.
For some really great insight on how to ask to work remotely, permanently, be sure to read this classic book: The Four Hour Workweek.
If those remote work days go well, you’ll have some proof-of-concept that’ll help you negotiate more remote work days in the future. Of course, you can also save your travel for weekends and holidays so that you can stay online and available during your normal working hours. And, make sure that you pick a few remote-work-friendly destinations. When booking your destination, look for safe internet connections and quiet spaces to make calls.
Important: Check out these five cybersecurity tips to stay safe when traveling.
5. Consider traveling alone.
Traveling with other people is like herding cats - especially when you’re moving from one destination to another. Somebody has always forgotten something or doesn’t want to go somewhere.
Planning to travel alone can make it a whole lot easier to actually execute a trip. When you only have yourself to take care of, you go where you want, travel according to your preferred schedule, and you can more easily change your travel plans if you need to. If you have a very limited window for travel, going solo will allow you to see more in a shorter period of time.
Want to read more about solo travel? Check out this post.
Do you have any tips for fitting in more travel this year? Help more people travel more frequently by letting us know in the comments.
