girl staring off into the sunset

How To Set The Travel Intention

Updated February 2021

New year, new intentions. Travel Intentions that is ✨

I think that when we are looking to travel more (in the new year or at any point) it’s easy to get stuck in the “how” of things. Things such as lodging, flight prices, who is available to go with you, etc. But these are things that don’t really matter. Not at the beginning anyway when you’re trying to set the intention to travel. Like with every decision, it all starts with you first.

In today’s post, what I really want to focus on is sharing with you a couple of ways in which you can focus on and set your own travel intention in the new year, and beyond. These are things that I have done in the past, which have helped me in the following ways:

  • Actually find a way to travel to Europe for the first time a couple of years ago (when I thought it would take me years!)
  • Receiving an opportunity to live abroad for a year.

The thing is that I didn’t even plan “the how” in those two real-life examples. I frankly just had fun envisioning myself looking at the pretty European scenery, doing fun things and such. It’s really simple, but I think that it often gets overlooked.

It’s touching on the ideas of visualization and setting intentions

Now before we start, I do want to add a small disclaimer. This won’t be a post that will give you practical tips like; saving money or traveling in the offseason. Thought that’s helpful, it’s not everything. In fact, I think that before you get to those tips, the ones I am about to share with you are going to better prep your mind to look for these opportunities easier and faster.

girl posing in sidewalk in montreal, canada

So below, find some of the ways in which you can start setting travel intentions for 2020, which I promise you, will get you closer to actually traveling.

Get Clear

Where do you want to go? What’s a temperature you’d like to experience on your skin? What are the sounds and sights you want to enjoy? What’s a culture and language you’d like to learn more about? Getting clear on what you actually want to experience can help you imagine better where you want to go, and where you see yourself. Whatever it is, it has to be something that you want to go and experience, something that you feel called to want to do/see. Instagram, Pinterest, and blogs are super helpful when it comes to giving you inspiration, which is great – but make sure that wherever you choose, you get clear on that it’s the place you want to go to. Establish your why.

girl with pink top and shorts looking at the sea in Greece

Create the intention

Intentions are very powerful. Before you can take any action towards planning a trip or brainstorming where you want to go, intentions are needed. It’s the driving force behind the action. Travel intentions prime the mind to look for those opportunities effortlessly and to take action in the direction of your travel desire. Once you do this, a path to follow towards traveling will appear for you to take whether it’s an unforeseen opportunity, finding the perfect time, prices, and then some – it will come easier because your mind is actually looking for them now. I know this that this is going against what we are constantly being told a little, which is to look for the deals, have the email notifications on when the prices drop, etc. and I’m not saying to stop that completely. What I am saying is that you shouldn’t obsess over these logistics because that drains the fun out of planning the trip, and if you’re feeling stressed about it before it even happens, chances are that you’ll have a harder time finding and attracting good opportunities and deals to travel.

Related: How To Travel More in 2020 When Working Full-Time

white houses on a cliff in santorini island greece

Visualize

One of the things that I did before going to Greece (or knowing that the opportunity to go was on the cusp of appearing for me) was playing Greek music in my day-to-day. I let myself get carried away by the music, and pretty soon thereafter, I felt that I was staring off into the Aegean Sea, the Greek flag waving in the island wind of Santorini, as I watched the beautiful sunset.

Visualization is powerful. I’ve learned through experience and through lecturers like Neville Goddard and Dr. Joe Dispenza that discuss these topics with more detail. Visualizing your desires, feeling the feeling of already having what you want, allows the subconscious to already believe that you already have what you want. The subconscious mind will believe anything you constantly envision and feel, whether it’s true or not. You stepping into that visualization, that mind movie of yourself enjoying that trip will get you closer to that desire. This just reinforces the overall travel intention with happiness of planning a trip without getting stuck in “the how” and getting bogged down by it before it happens.

Get lost in that visualization, it doesn’t even have to be for that long. Before getting into consciousness and being more self-aware, I used to do this without really knowing it was a thing. I was daydreaming. The visualization I shared about Greece earlier was my own, and it came to me in my physical reality. As I imagined it (see pictures below). The opportunity to go came shortly after, and the effortless way in which it did is something I hope to share with you if that is something you’re interested down the line ?

But for now, don’t underestimate the power of visualization, daydreaming, whatever you want to call the mind movie that plays out in your mind of what you want to experience. For travel intention purposes and life in general.

Greek flag waving in the air
Girl staring off into the sea and sunset in Greek Island

Create the space for it

For me, I’ve done vision boards which have worked for me and many other people. But recently, I got into creating YouTube playlists. Personally, a video with moving images that evoke a certain feeling in me is extremely powerful and really allows me to visualize clearly. So gather up the videos online that carry those good feeling that you’re looking for, and those images that you want to see in your life. It can be movie trailers, music videos, travel vlogs, airport vlogs, there so much creativity and beautiful videos online. Whatever it is, a vision board, an inspiring YouTube playlist, a Spotify playlist of your travel music – make sure that it represents what you’ve gotten clear on, what you’ve visualized for yourself, and your overall travel intention.

Italian building with a a sign saying piazza di spagna in rome, italy

Be grateful for it

When I visualized myself in Greece, I felt grateful for already being there. Even though it wasn’t in my physical reality, I just knew that I would be there sooner rather than later. I’d daydream for fun and just be so happy that I couldn’t help but feel gratitude for being there. I know that this is stepping further into New Thought and consciousness and manifestations, but I have to add that gratitude always speeds up travel intentions; it did for me. Gratitude in itself is a good feeling to experience, so why not add that to your travel intentions? If you practice visualizations, let your mind wander deep into these mind movies with the help of your vision boards or YouTube playlists. You’ll see yourself in these experiences deep enough to feel like you’re there.

girl standing inside the parthenon in greece

The perfect trip awaits

Now that you’ve done all of this, be open and aware of the opportunities to come. Find that evidence. We never really know what kind of ways will come into our physical realities that will help us take that easier step towards travel. It could be a sudden deal on your flight. An email in your inbox letting you know of your accumulated flight miles about to expire, a friend inviting you to stay at their place, even winning a trip somewhere. The opportunities are limitless – I’m telling you. Whatever it is, be aware of these little nudges and take inspired action. You’ve already set the travel intention, gotten clear on where you want to go, visualized yourself there, and everything else.

Girl with black coat smiling in front of roman aqueducts in Spain

***

Let me know what you think ?

If you’re interested in me sharing about how I manifested my study abroad experience in Greece and other travels like my year stay in Spain, let me know in the comments below. These were two travel experiences that have shaped the person I am today for the better, and the way they came into my life was literal perfection.

To more travel moments like this ✨

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10 Comments

  1. We are a full-time Nomad Family traveling the world since 2016. I can completely agree with everything you’ve shared. I planned leaving the states with our two older kids for an entire year before we actually sold everything and left with what we could carry. It soon became very obvious to us that I wasted a lot of planning time. Fast forward to today, we only travel with our now 2 year old (our older kids are now 18 & 22 and live in Japan and Seattle respectively) and we don’t plan our next location more than a few days to a week out. We move from place to place every couple of days to 2 weeks. We found that being fluid allows us to choose our moods. Do we want beach? City? Relaxation? Do we need to just work? What’s the weather we want to be in? And so much more.

    1. Wow, this is amazing Wendy!! Thank you for sharing. It’s very inspiring to see other people do what they love and travel, but when a family as a collective travels the world like this, that’s just another level. So cool! To many more travel moments like these ?✨

  2. Visualization and GRATITUDE – what a wonderful combination to add on to setting up your intentions. I never really thought about mindfully creating space for travel intention so this is a great perspective to develop. I’m so glad you enjoyed Europe! I love Europe too.

  3. I love this! It is so true, people seem to really hold themselves back from doing something they want to because the hows and the whens. I appreciate this article for pointing out the mindset you need to take to START. Thank you for this lovely article.

    1. Thank you so much Kelmeny! It’s so easy to get caught up in the “how” and other small details when in reality, we must first establish in our mind that we want to travel. Once we do that, the number of opportunities are really endless in terms of finding the means to actually get there.

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