Where To Next?

If you’re a travel lover like me, choosing where to book your next to flight to can be like a tug of war!

It might be a place you’ve dreamed about since you were a teenager. It could be a place you saw in a travel mag. Maybe you’ve heard stories from others who have been there and after googling, you think of it often.

If you’re anything like me, there’s not just one place stored in your mind, locked in your heart and tugging your soul … there are many! So what if you want to see more than one place and these places are at opposite ends of the globe and you have limited time? How do you choose?

Sometimes the destination jumps out at you and there’s no choice. Our week in France was a no-brainer! I wanted to celebrate my last day in my 30’s in Paris and turn 40 in the City of Lights!

Sometimes the choice isn’t jumping out at you, because the little girl inside wants to see it all. You know the feeling of being that little girl in a candy shop who wants to eat it all. Note: boys like candy too. And I could never pick a destination by eery meeny miny mo.

As humans, we live in a world where we are told to listen to logic rather than our instincts. To make a choice, many of us have to battle through the war between our mind, heart, body and our soul plus the voices of others. Beware of the decisions that come with a side dish of guilt, jealousy or anger.

Your mind might be telling you that time only permits for one destination or the cheapest destination. Your body might be craving for rest and sun or alternatively to release energy and party hard. Your heart might want to take you back to where your last holiday romance ignited passion that still glows brightly within.

If your soul’s voice has been drowned out by your head, heart or body and you still have this list of scattered destinations that time won’t permit, the four of you need to sit down and listen to each other!

It can get quite noisy when they are all screaming for attention. It’s one reason I knew I couldn’t be a teacher! Firstly, while all aspects of your being are calling out their preferred destinations, write them down. Take your list to a quiet place, away from others outside of your being and ask your mind and heart and body to cooperate with your soul.

Be still. Go deep. Call your soul to resurface. Allow your soul to hear your mind. Let your soul listen to your body. Embrace your soul connecting with your heart. Be one, working together for the greater good of you.

One by one, you will exclude a destination just for now, until one remains. I say “just for now” as an excluded city might be your choice next time. With clarity, you might even see a way to include that city in on the way home.

This is how I choose Greece for my last destination and included Portugal on my detour home. I heard stories of Sintra, Portugal and my Google search tugged at my heart to go there.

Feeling like a princess in my yellow dress, after walking through the fairytale beauty of Palace da Pena, my soul needed to walk through the forest grounds, where I stumbled upon the stables. I was wearing Greek sandals and a strapless dress. Not exactly riding gear!

How many times in ones life, does this opportunity happen?! How could I not ride my favourite animal?!

So I did.

And my mind was thrilled! My body exhilarated! My heart loved it! And my soul soured free!

If we all worked for the Greater Good of Ourselves, we would be working for the Greater Good of Mankind, Mother Earth & the Animal Kingdom as the Soul calls for Love, Peace, Joy, Bliss and Freedom.

Travelling is like reading. It helps you to escape to somewhere else. It opens your eyes to other things and broadens your horizons, but at the same time it takes you inside yourself, where you can discover important things about yourself.

With freedom comes growth at a soul level. Are you one of those people who looks up at the planes in the sky and thinks “I wonder where they’re going?” Yep, Me too!

So, where is your next destination?