How do you decide where to go?

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I am curious how folks decide where to go - there are so many places to see and I know I sometimes have a hard time deciding where I should go next.
Some folks travel for business and tack on extra days for leisure so that decision is easy but for just leisure travel it can be harder to decide.
I know I have a list of places I want to eventually go to and have somewhat of a rating system to help me decide - the 3 A's - art (great museums and local indigenous), archaeology ( I am an archaeology buff - especially Mayan so travel a lot to Latin America), architecture and the 2 C's - culture and cusine. There are some places that never come off my list since I like them so much I will go there again. There are some places that are not on my list like China, Japan, Russia (except St. Petersburg for the hermitage museum) - I may add them at some date if I find a good enough deal to tempt me.
Mexico is on my list but not everyplace - my last trip included Puebla which was not even on my radar - LL tempted me with their great package and the hubby wanted to do the cooking classes so we went and loved it. Some places are on my list but we may never make it due to political unrest, etc. - like Egypt and Jordan. Others are on the list but due to cost we may never get there - like Anartica, Galapagos, African Safari - although the costs have been coming down for the latter two destinations. Some are on the backburner since it involves long plane rides (we are on the East coast of the US) and we usually can only do 2 weeks at the most due to work constraints - Austrailia and New Zealand for example.
When I am trying to decide, I check LL 1st since there are some great places and deals and I like to stay loyal to LL. Although LL does not have packages for some of the places on my list - even a nearby destination would help but no luck for some of my places -for example Mexico - LL has a great deal of packages in Cancun, Puerta Vallarta and the central part of Mexico - not enough in some other parts - although they did just get Merida in the western Yucatan - way to go LL! Need some in the other parts - like Oaxaca, Chiapas - Veracruz, Villahermosa, Campeche, etc. Just saw on SkyAuction that they have a few places listed in Mexico that are off the beaten track like San Cristobal de los Casas and Veracruz. Guatemala is another area - LL has Lake Atitlan and sometimes in Antigua - need more in the Peten region and the Pacific region.
So before I just start babbling away ;-) I would like to hear what some other folks do when trying to decide on a destination........

[thepiranha]

I agree with you that there are many factors weighing into my decision on where to travel. Not only do we always tack extra days onto business trips, but we take those trips to places where we really want to go. We're fortunate that we don't have to travel out of town on business, but we can if we want to.

Like you, Denise, I have some fairly specific criteria when selecting a travel location. Cuisine is very high on my check list because I enjoy eating foods indigenous to various countries. Some of my favorite travel destinations have my favorite foods (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Greece, Spain, Mexico). Since I enjoy photography, I enjoy going places that have a variety of photographic opportunities. Beautiful scenery, colorful clothing, interesting architecture.

Most of Mexico, Central, and South America are high on my list. So is Southeast Asia and a lot of Africa. I go to Western Europe but it's not as exciting as the other locations. I spent six weeks in Australia and three in New Zealand and would go back in a heartbeat. I agree that China, Japan and Russia aren't destinations that I'm too keen on.

Since discovering Luxury Link, I usually narrow my trip to a certain country or region of that country, then check the website to see if there is a way to work in one or more packages. For example, we go to Mexico almost every year, so I see if there are any packages available in a part of the country where we haven't been yet. I coordinate this with calls to the airlines to see if I can find reasonable or free (using miles) flights to those destinations. Once I book the hotel and flight, the fun part begins, because that's when we decide what we want to do when we're on our trip.

Travel preparation is a lot of work, but it's certainly worth it.

[bonniejoy03]

I match LL trips with vacation rentals and airfare. .....what is "off season" so that I can use less ff points to get there. That is a big consideration for us. I also like to find the less developed tourism areas.

[travel2fun]

I am curious how folks decide where to go - there are so many places to see and I know I sometimes have a hard time deciding where I should go next.
Some folks travel for business and tack on extra days for leisure so that decision is easy but for just leisure travel it can be harder to decide.
I know I have a list of places I want to eventually go to and have somewhat of a rating system to help me decide - the 3 A's - art (great museums and local indigenous), archaeology ( I am an archaeology buff - especially Mayan so travel a lot to Latin America), architecture and the 2 C's - culture and cusine. There are some places that never come off my list since I like them so much I will go there again. There are some places that are not on my list like China, Japan, Russia (except St. Petersburg for the hermitage museum) - I may add them at some date if I find a good enough deal to tempt me.
Mexico is on my list but not everyplace - my last trip included Puebla which was not even on my radar - LL tempted me with their great package and the hubby wanted to do the cooking classes so we went and loved it. Some places are on my list but we may never make it due to political unrest, etc. - like Egypt and Jordan. Others are on the list but due to cost we may never get there - like Anartica, Galapagos, African Safari - although the costs have been coming down for the latter two destinations. Some are on the backburner since it involves long plane rides (we are on the East coast of the US) and we usually can only do 2 weeks at the most due to work constraints - Austrailia and New Zealand for example.
When I am trying to decide, I check LL 1st since there are some great places and deals and I like to stay loyal to LL. Although LL does not have packages for some of the places on my list - even a nearby destination would help but no luck for some of my places -for example Mexico - LL has a great deal of packages in Cancun, Puerta Vallarta and the central part of Mexico - not enough in some other parts - although they did just get Merida in the western Yucatan - way to go LL! Need some in the other parts - like Oaxaca, Chiapas - Veracruz, Villahermosa, Campeche, etc. Just saw on SkyAuction that they have a few places listed in Mexico that are off the beaten track like San Cristobal de los Casas and Veracruz. Guatemala is another area - LL has Lake Atitlan and sometimes in Antigua - need more in the Peten region and the Pacific region.
So before I just start babbling away ;-) I would like to hear what some other folks do when trying to decide on a destination........

Denise, over the past couple of years or so, with all of the unrest, violence and other natural disasters around the globe, my list of potential travel destinations seem to be shortened. Then I take a look at lack of the strength of my dollar vs other currencies and the list of destinations I can afford gets even shorter. So, I just keep updating my list and eventually, my decision is made for me. May sound simple, but that is the way it works for me.

[kyshel]

My "direction" is so different from most since I have the luxurious privilege of being able to fly last-minute, albeit standby. I choose destinations that are accessible off-season--frequently, exotic. Visa requirements are key for me. Boss has several I don't have due to his position. That said, I can always fly to an embassy to wrangle one last-minute, too.
I have to admit that potential natural disasters would limit my options pretty fast! I like the dollar-value destinations in SE Asia but then there's that pesky LONG haul and being flexible...