What's My Travel Personality?
It’s so important to know your travel personality before trying to plan a great vacation. Typically everyone you’re traveling with will have slightly different travel personalities so you need to plan for this. You may be able to accommodate each person while sticking together, but if possible you may want to split up for part of a day to enjoy a more personalized itinerary.
I created this checklist to help you plan a great vacation for everyone involved. Ask each person to share their preferences and plan accordingly. If you would like a more detailed test you can visit Best Trip Choices. They ask for your contact information before giving your results though so if you don't like giving that out don't bother with the test. You can still view the personality types listed and probably assess yours from the descriptions.
OK, let's find your travel personality.
What type of accommodations do you prefer:
High end hotels
Budget hotels
Bed and Breakfasts
Camping under the stars
Airbnb house we stayed at while in Amsterdam - Travel personality preference = locally owned accomodations
Do you enjoy:
Museums
Tours of historic sites, churches, and buildings
The Arts - Music, Plays, Operas
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France - Travel personality = We enjoy some of the main attractions but we don't feel the need to tour them all and prefer to spend time outdoors.
Are you into:
Extreme adventure
Backpacking
Do you prefer:
To pack your schedule tight to fit it all in
Have a couple days of a packed schedule with some lighter days between
Take it slow, I’m on vacation
Do you enjoy trips/tours with physical activity?
Biking
Hiking
Skiing
Rafting
Climbing
Skiing Whitefish Mountain in Whitefish, Montana - Travel personality = yes, we enjoy biking, hiking, skiing, and in general any outdoor activities we can while on trips.
Or prefer trips/tours with a little less exertion:
Ferry
Bus
Two Medicine Lake Ferry - Glacier National Park - Montana - Travel personality = With kids along we sometimes take a more relaxing approach to reach our hike or next activity.
Do you:
Need to hit all of the touristy spots
Prefer to visit some touristy spots and some lesser known out of the way places
Want to get away from the crowds and the hype and do your own thing entirely
When it’s time to eat do you:
Have food in your room - it’s cheap and quick
Eat on the go from a local stand, no need to waste time and money
Want to sit and leisurely enjoy a drink with your meal
Street food at the fair in Dam Square - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Travel personality = we like a variety oftentimes saving money and eating at local stands or markets for lunch then sitting down to enjoy a nice dinner.
What about shopping, do you:
Love to visit high end retailers and brand name stores
Enjoy local markets and authentic souvenirs
Hate shopping
Would you prefer to spend most of your time:
Inside
Outside
Do you like to spend your time at:
The beach
The mountains
The city
The country
It doesn’t matter as long as I’m on vacation
Puerto Rico - Travel personality = we actually aren't beach people but our girls absolutely love it so we add in a day here and there for them to enjoy.
I hope you find this helpful to your planning. In our family my husband loves to take it slow, I could keep going all day long, and the girls want time for parks or to run on the beach or explore some outdoor area. So we work to find a happy medium. We like to do some tours of churches or historical buildings but spend the bulk of our time outdoors or being active in some way even if it’s just a stroll or a bike ride.
You will soon learn what works and enjoy the challenge of incorporating everyone’s travel personality. My brother-in-law loves to check every tourist item off his list and hates to waste time sitting for coffee or to enjoy a sunset. So, we’ve found the best vacations to take with him are destination vacations such as skiing or camping where there really is only one main focus which we all agree on. In Cinque Terre my sister and I wanted to hike to all five villages. This sounded like a bit much to our husbands so we split for the day and hiked while they drove to the Savinelli pipe factory in Milan. Then, we enjoyed the sunset together from our rooftop terrace over the Mediterranean with a glass of wine sharing stories of our day. Win Win!
Rooftop terrace in Cinque Terre, Italy - Accommodation booked on VRBO
Don’t visit a site just because everyone else does. Make sure you care about seeing it. In Venice we didn’t tour St. Mark’s Basilica, we saw the outside which was beautiful and let the girls feed the pigeons in the square. At their age they enjoyed this much more than touring the church. In Amsterdam we avoided the Red Light District which many people go to see and took the train out to the Corrie Ten Boom House and Zaanse Schans which we all loved.
Have fun, make your trip your own, and try to visit at least one site that everyone else doesn’t.
