Staying focused on my travel goals

Every week I hear from a co-worker, a friend or a family member, that they are going on a trip somewhere.  I am a travel addict and this news always triggers a craving in me.  It has been three years since I was in Kenya.  Just yesterday my cousin called me and said she and her husband, were going to Cartagena, Columbia. My sister wanted to join them and needed a partner for the double occupancy, would I be interested?

Of course I want to go, but I took a deep breath and said, “I’ll have to say no”  Why would I say no to travel?  Because I am saving to do a three week trip to Peru. Hiking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu aside, I want to walk under the catacombs of the San Francisco Monastery in Lima.  Take a tour of the vineyard of Pisco and drink pisco sours,  fly over the Nazca Lines, photograph the sea lions and penguins on the Ballestas Islands, the Condors in Colca Canyon, and the macaws at a clay lick at Tambopata nature preserve in the Amazon. Who knows a jaguar or tapir may pose for me.

The white city of Arequipa will be interesting, I can soak in a hot spring admiring the volcanoes, peer into humanities past at a mummy called Juanita. There is lake Titicaca to explore, cobblestone streets around Cusco to stroll and the ruins and markets of the Sacred valley to ramble about. I’ll finally get to compare if the colours of rainbow mountain are as true in real life, as the pictures on Instagram. Just to experience being in the thin air, so high up in the Andes mountains, will be an experience not to be missed.

Joining my sister and cousin for a week on a beach in Columbia, might sound delicious but it will side track me from my savings goal, causing me to either delay my trip or decrease my itinerary.   What do you think?   Have you ever had to stay focused on a travel goal? Drop me a note.

Happy travels from Maritimemac.