June 1, 2020
Due to travel restrictions, plans are only available with travel dates on or after
Due to travel restrictions, plans are only available with effective start dates on or after
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Ukraine; Belarus; Moldova; North Korea; Russia; Israel
Jamaica
Jamaica;
If you had just one year left on this planet, where would you most want to go?
That’s the key question to consider when putting together a travel bucket list. Life is short, and it’s essential to plan for joy—don’t just wait for it to come to you! These guidelines will help you figure out where to go and how to start making your dream trips a reality.
We tend to postpone our wildest travel dreams. In a few years, you think, you’ll have more money. In a few years, the kids will be older, or you’ll have more time off. But the future is never promised to us.
Identify the one or two most ambitious trips you want to take, and move them to the top of your list. You don’t have to leave next month, but you can move these dream trips closer to reality by nailing down a few specifics. When’s the best time to go? How much will it cost? How much time will you need?
We know we just told you to go ahead and take your big trip… but if you’re planning to put the whole thing on a credit card without a plan to pay it off quickly, don’t! Your bucket-list adventure could cost you way more than you planned. Let’s say you spend $10,000 on a week at a luxury resort in the Caribbean, and you pay for it with a credit card with a 20% APR. If you pay $500 toward that balance every month, it’ll take you more than two years to pay it off. Plus, you’ll pay more than $2,200 in interest, which is enough to take a whole second trip!
A better way to afford bucket-list travel: Start saving now. Set up an automatic monthly transfer to a high-yield savings account, or try a program that rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and puts the extra into savings. You can also try paying for your trip with travel reward points. Read more: A Beginner’s Guide to Scoring Travel Rewards Points
You’re obsessed with a travel influencer’s account of traveling the American Southwest with her dogs in a vintage camper. The landscapes! The starry nights! Coffee over a campfire! This desert odyssey is at the top of your travel bucket list… until you do a little research. That’s when you learn that #vanlife can involve freezing nights, scorching days, and sometimes, a frantic search for a bathroom.
When planning bucket-list trips, it’s smart to interrogate your daydreams. Inspired by a photo of the Maldives? Read travel guides, talk to people who have been there, and make sure you want the full experience.
Walking the Camino de Santiago from France to northwest Spain has always been a dream of yours. When you mention it to your wife, she makes a face. Walking for hundreds of miles and staying in hostels isn’t her idea of a good time. Sorry.
You don’t need to delete this dream trip from your list. But you should start thinking about whether you want to do it solo, or join a group, or find a buddy to accompany you. Ask friends and family: What’s on their travel bucket lists?
Before you plan your dream international vacation, have you also included all the iconic places in the United States? People differ on the best bucket-list U.S. destinations. Many lists include Times Square, Walt Disney World, and Las Vegas, but we’d skip these overhyped spots. The U.S. is full of places that are truly breathtaking, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Spend some time browsing our 63 national parks and see what calls your heart.
You’ve always dreamed of seeing the ecological wonders of the Galápagos Islands. Trouble is, millions of other people do too. And while tourism dollars support conservation efforts on the islands, the volume of visitors creates big problems: mountains of trash, new development, introduced pests, and pressures on wildlife.1
No one’s saying you can’t go to your long-dreamed bucket-list destination… but neither do you want to hurt a place you love. Consider destination dupes: alternative travel destinations that offer a similar experience to highly touristed sites.
A destination on your travel bucket list may be threatened by political unrest, epidemics or environmental pressures—and if it is, you'll have to decide if you want to hurry up and travel there or wait and see. Sign up for the State Department's STEP program and review the latest travel alerts to stay informed. The Allyz® TravelSmart app can also keep you updated on travel risks, plus connect you to 24-hour assistance (for Allianz Travel Insurance customers).
Peace of mind is essential for any bucket-list vacation. Look for a plan with trip cancellation benefits (to safeguard the money you’ve spent) and emergency medical benefits (in case of a medical crisis overseas), as well as other benefits. Discover why more than 70 million American travelers each year trust Allianz Travel Insurance: See all our plan options and get a quote for your next trip.
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