5 Tips On How to Plan Your Trips Based On Your Travel Personality

How do you choose where to go and what to do when you travel?

I often ask get asked this question by friends. After several years of traveling together, my husband Glen and I have a way of planning our trips based on our travel personality and style. It’s an ever-evolving system, but we have a good grasp of who we are as travelers and what we like, and it has helped us hone in on places that we want to visit and the activities we want to engage in.

Travel planning is something we take seriously. We’ve worked hard to save up for our trips and get a limited amount of days off from work, so we are conscious of how valuable our travel time is.   It would be unfortunate to save up for months or even years to go on a trip that we didn’t enjoy fully.

Here are 5 Tips On How to Plan Your Trips Based On Your Travel Personality

1. Know your travel personality and style

Knowing and acknowledging your travel personality is key to making good decisions about the places to visit and activities that you do during your travel.   Your preferences reflect the kind of traveler that you are and influence the choices that you make, whether you are conscious of this or not.

There are a lot of travel personality quizzes out there that categorizes people into broad groups with different preferences when it comes to the type of experience they seek or enjoy when traveling.   They’re fun to take and your responses to a handful of questions generate a result that is often accurate about the type of traveler you perceive yourself to be.   Sometimes your answers to the questions come up with a type that is different from how you see yourself, like if you think of yourself as an roughing-it type but realize that your choice of accommodations are actually more on the fancier side.

The usual grouping systems will identify you as belonging to one of the following general types, or be a combination of several types:

• Classic

The classic traveler prefers a organized and well-planned trip. She is more likely to join a guided tour group where all she needs to do is show up. She is inclined to visit more traditionally popular places.

Where you’ll find her: taking a group tour to China, staying in an all-inclusive resort in Mexico

• Adventure

The adventure traveler seeks active, sporty and adrenaline-pumping activities. She likes to take things to the extreme and makes sure she get her fill of excitement with every trip.

Where you’ll find her: bungee jumping in New Zealand, wakeboarding in Camsur, sandboarding in Dubai

• Luxe

The luxe traveler prefers high end choices. Staying at 5 or 6 star hotels, flying business or first class and engaging in private tours are typical for this traveler. They expect exclusivity in their travel experiences.

Where you’ll find her: relaxing at an Aman resort, dining at French Laundry in Napa, sipping champagne in a Singapore Airlines Suite

• Bonder

The bonder traveler prioritizes the experience of being with her companions more than anything else on the trip. Whether it’s with her husband, children or girlfriends, this type of traveler values the shared experiences and bonding time.

Where you’ll find her: on a girlfriend getaway in Tagaytay or New York City

• Intellectual

The intellectual traveler goes out in the world in search of things to learn about. She is often the tour guide or docent’s pet, asking questions.  She seeks out museums, ruins and other points of interest to quench her thirst for knowledge.

Where you’ll find her: spending hours at the Smithsonian, studying the ruins in Angkor Wat, asking the local guide about Incan civilization in Peru

• Eco-friendly

The eco-friendly traveler makes conscious decisions about where she goes and what she does, making sure they they are environmentally responsible and animal-friendly.

Where you’ll find her: relaxing at an eco-lodge in Costa Rica

Where you won’t find her: riding or touching whale sharks in Donsol

• Party

The party traveler is looking to socialize, hang out and meet new people. Dancing in a club or chilling with her new bestfriend by the pool bar are her ideas of a great time.

Where you’ll find her: dancing and chilling the days and nights away in the beaches of Boracay ,Thailand and Ibiza.

• Arts and Culture

The arts and culture traveler want to fill her mind and soul with beauty from works of art, music and literature. She is typically loses herself in museums, galleries, local concerts and quaint bookstores.

Where you’ll find her:  soaking up the works of Masters in the Louvre and MoMA, watching a flamenco performance in Madrid

• Family-oriented

The family-oriented traveler has the comfort and enjoyment of her family as her utmost priority. Typically with younger children, she crafts her itineraries based on what her kids will enjoy the most.

Where you’ll find her: Disneyland, Universal Studios

• Nature-lover

The nature lover traveler goes out in the world to commune with nature. She feels one with nature while hiking, camping or sailing.

Where you’ll find her: climbing Mount Pulag, camping in Yosemite, sailing in Croatia

•  Foodie

The foodie traveler centers her trip on where she can find the best meals and culinary experiences.   Channeling Anthony Bourdain, she seeks out restaurants, cafes and bistros that could range from high-end gastronomical feasts to comfort street food.

Where you’ll find her:  hawker stall hopping in Singapore, paying homage at Noma, lining up at Sukiyabashi Jiro

•  Temporary Local

The temporary local traveler revels in breathing in the local scene and engaging the local people.  She wants to blend into the crowd and get a feel of how it is to live in that city or town.

Where you’ll find her:  staying at an Airbnb apartment and making the host her new best friend, going to locals only restaurants, sipping coffee while watching people go about their business

 

2. Plan your destinations and activities based on your travel personality.

There are times when we plan on going somewhere or engaging in a travel activity because we’ve seen a friend go there or a travel show host do it. It’s perfectly fine to get inspiration and ideas from others. That’s what travel magazines and the Travel Channel is for. However, you should always make sure that your plans suit you. Knowing what you enjoy should guide you in building your itinerary.

Now that you have a sense of what your travel personality is like, you can prioritize visiting places and doing things that are consistent with your interests.  Many countries and cities have enough diverse experiences and levels of comfort to accommodate the different travel personalities.

You could start either start planning a trip that is centered around an activity that you really want to do or pick a country or city then researching what they have to offer that’s to your liking.  The more time you have, the more chances you get to see and do what you like.  With a little leftover, you could even explore something new and different.

Sample travel planning:  If you had 8 hours to spend in Barcelona what would rather do:

> take in as much Gaudi as you can with a tour of works of architectural wonders

> eat your way through La Boqueria and all the mercats

> take a day trip to Monserrat

> hang out with the locals at the Barceloneta Beach

Glen is a history nerd so he likes to visit Roman ruins, historical sites and museums.  I am interested in observing and absorbing  local culture so I make it a point to stop at neighborhood cafes, markets and parks.

 

3. When traveling with a companion or a group, make sure you take into account their travel personalities for a harmonious and enjoyable trip for everyone.

If you are traveling with other people, it would be good to ask them what their preferences are.  Chances are, you’ll like things in common or will visit a place with attractions that are universally appealing and enjoyable to everyone.  Generally, just be mindful of what the group members want to get out of the trip.   If they’re investing their own resources and time into this trip as much as you are, then it should cater to what they want.  Even if you are footing the entire bill, it would be gracious of you to consider what would make this trip a good one for your companions.

If there are too many differing styles at hand, consider splitting up and having people do their own thing and just meet up for meals to share their experiences.  You could also compromise and take turns in seeing places and doing activities that the members of the group want.

While we may have slightly different preferences and must-sees, Glen and I generally agree on our itinerary without too much fighting.  We do compromise on the stops that each one is really excited about and take turns on visiting them.  We usually stay together during our trips, but aren’t opposed to having some alone time to discover places the way we like to.  On our recent trip to Morocco, I opted to go to a  women’s only hammam or public bath but Glen wandered around the streets and alleys of Essaouira.

 

4. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try things outside of your typical travel personality.

Just because you know what your travel personality is, it doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t try to go to places or engage in activities that may be out of your comfort zone.   If you’ve satisfied your main cravings for this trip, then sample different experiences and locations.  Sometimes plans fall through or you have more time that you expected – take that opportunity to indulge and investigate other possibilities that could make your trip even more enriching and memorable.

We are not particularly athletic or adventurous people, but Iceland gave us the chance to walk on the wild side. Activities such as snorkeling in freezing waters between the European and American continents and lava caving added a different and exciting dimension to our trip.

5. After a few trips, look back and see if your travel personality has changed and make the necessary adjustments.

Our choices in travel, while largely influenced by our base nature and interests, can sometimes be dictated by our circumstances and stage in life. With the change in seasons of life, our travel personality can evolve. From a beginner traveler to a more experienced one, our preferences can slowly shift because of the experiences we’ve had.  Having more funds and vacation time  can also open up opportunities that may not have been previously available.   Meeting travelers on the road, hearing their stories and learning from their journeys can also inspire you to try a different path for a while to see if it fits and sticks.

Glen and I are still and always will be travelers-in-progress.  We open ourselves up to new adventures and see if these adventures lead us to a change of our travel personalities or reinforce who we are.

 

I don’t believe that there is one best travel personality.   We are all wonderfully different and we experience life in our unique ways.