It’s almost that time of year – the time when we set new goals or reaffirm our commitments to finish goals we set for ourselves last year and get ready to welcome a new year.
While these last two years have been rough and unpredictable, I’m hoping 2022 brings some balance to our lives. A big part of my life that keeps me balanced is travel; therefore I’m setting some fun travel-related resolutions for the New Year.
I’m not getting all my hopes up that we’ll be able to plan epic adventures or grand getaways, but I want to find someway to keep travel alive in my life and set travel-related goals for myself in 2022.
My 5 travel-related New Year’s Resolutions for 2022
1. Learn Portuguese
Rick and I are (fingers-crossed) going to Portugal this spring and I cannot wait to explore Lisbon and cross it off my travel bucket list! I’m a big believer in learning at least a few key phrases in the local language before traveling abroad but since I’ve got plenty of time to plan ahead for this trip I’m going to commit to adding Portuguese to my lineup of language classes on Duolingo. I want to at least finish two units or get gold circles on 25 of their language sections.
2. Explore Lisbon
I’m knocking on every piece of wood in our house that we’ll find ourselves arriving in Lisbon in the spring and I want to commit to setting aside at least one day there just to get lost. I don’t want to have any agenda or plan, just see where the streets take me and enjoy the city instead of crossing items off my Lisbon itinerary.
3. Keep up my Italian language skills
While I do want to focus on learning Portuguese, I also don’t want to neglect my skills in Italian. I’m going to make sure I read at least two books in Italian this year – fortunately I have copies of the Harry Potter books in Italian as well as a few choice titles by Sophie Kinsella! If I feel my Italian is still good enough, it might be the perfect motivation to plan a return trip in 2023.
4. Open a new travel account
We were lucky enough to buy a house this year and opened a new house fund account, so I want to make 2022 the year I open a travel account where I can save money just for travel. I’m planning on setting up automatic withdrawals from my main account into this one and then I can use these funds to pay for reservation deposits, flights, or have a spot to pull out cash to get it exchanged for euros without dipping into my regular savings.
5. Redeem credit card points for a fun weekend away
Rick and I have been talking about doing a weekend away in New York City or San Francisco for a while now and it keeps coming up in conversation but we never actually make concrete plans. I could blame COVID-19 but if we made it all the way to Jamaica during the pandemic, we can certainly plan a weekend within the US.
We’ve also got our eyes on Orlando for an adult version of spring break if we don’t make it to NYC or San Fran. Either way, I’ve accumulated enough travel points on my credit card to either get us there free of charge or book some nice accommodations.
Have you set any New Year’s Resolutions for 2022? Do any of them include travel? Sound off in the comments below – but don’t get mad if I steal one of your ideas!
