What are your travel goals?
Are they big goals, small goals or a bit of both? Is it to see another part of your home country? Step outside of your home country? See the 7 Wonders of the World? Experience an island paradise?
Why did you set this goal?
Have you achieved it or in the planning stage?
My big travel goal was to set foot on every continent. I set this goal for myself when I was 14 years old.
What inspired me to make this goal?
The answer may be surprising, because the person who inspired me was not someone known for travelling. In fact, it was Olympic gold medallist Kelly Holmes. In 2004, when I was 14, I was cheering Kelly Holmes on as she won her first Olympic gold medal. I read her story, that when she was just 14 years old, she had set herself the goal of being an Olympic Champion, and then at the age of 34, she achieved that goal.
I was really taken by the fact that she had set such a major goal when she was so young and it was clearly going to take a long time to achieve.
I wanted to make a long term goal for myself. I asked myself, “What is it that I want to do that I will not be able to achieve by tomorrow or the next day? What is going to hold my attention for that long?”
I decided I wanted to set foot on every continent and at that stage the only place I had been to, outside of the UK, was Disneyland Paris.
Why travel? A few reasons. I loved watching nature documentaries and I wanted to see these beautiful landscapes and wildlife for myself. I wanted to see famous monuments, like the Roman Colosseum, the Taj Mahal and the Christ the Redeemer statue. But also I’m nosey! I like to people watch and I wanted to see how other people live.
I achieved my goal at the age of 34. Pure coincidence that it took me the same amount of time as the woman who inspired me in the first place, but after 20 years, I can tick that box on my to do list!