20 Dec 2011
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Compass Editor
New Year’s Resolutions That Will Enhance Your 2012 Travel Experiences
When making New Year’s resolutions for 2012, consider these globetrotting themed suggestions from the Destination Experts at Kensington Tours (www.kensingtontours.com). From tips on saving up for your dream adventure to vowing not to be a typical tourist, making a travel resolution ensures you make the most each valuable vacation day. Happy New Year and Bon Voyage!
1. Invest in Your Travel Dreams
If it’s worth going, it’s worth saving up for. Resolve to put money away each month to make your travel dreams come true. Whether you squirrel it under the mattress, set up an automatic debit, or get smart of on the travel loyalty rewards options, when you’re gazing at the Mona Lisa or diving on the Great Barrier Reef, you’ll have no regrets.
2. Where The Wild Things Are – Put Endangered Animals on Your List
A devastating number of stunning animals are on the endangered species list – and time is ticking. Make a resolution to see them now, and get inspired to help turn the tides of fate, before it’s too late. From the orangutans of Indonesia, the black rhinos East Africa and the Arctic’s polar bears, to the Amazonian pink dolphins and India’s Bengal tiger, you’ll stand in awe of nature and hopefully be inspired to action.
3. Don’t Just “Fly & Flop” This Year, Get Experiential!
Make a resolution to give the all-inclusive a pass this year, in favor of something off the beaten path. Immerse yourself in the culture of the destination you are visiting. Whether it’s camping with elephant mahouts in Thailand, an afternoon trekking in Kenya alongside Maasai tribesmen, dinner with a local family in Peru - spending time with locals is guaranteed to be an enriching travel experience.
4. Take Inspiration From A Book Or Song That Has Moved You
From Hemingway’s ode to the Running of the Bulls in The Sun Also Rises to Kipling’s The Road To Mandalay, and from Jazz great Miles Davis’ Filles de Kilimanjaro to Sinatra’s New York, New York, literature and music have always celebrated the great global experiences. Resolve to have your favorites to jump to life off the page this year.
5. Change Your Life With A Sacred Pilgrimage
Vow to get spiritual this year. Explore Israel, homeland of three of the world’s religions Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Spiritual sites linked to each are found around every bend and you’re sure to find many that stimulate your soul. In search of Nirvana? Journey to India’s Bodh Gaya, where Buddha achieved enlightenment or the Holy Ganges River where millions of people take their final voyage from earth into heaven. A trip of this kind is bound to give you a new perspective on your own life.