The 7 Travel Goals I’m Checking off in 2024

Last year was an amazing 12 months of travel and this year is already shaping up to surpass it. I am so thankful to have a job that allows me to work remotely (and a 4-day work week on top of that). Since I am in the midst of planning all these trips, I wanted to take a step back and reflect on some of my travel goals for the year.

I’m gonna be honest, I hate planning trips. I am definitely a “it’s about the journey, not the destination”, but the logistics of planning international or even sometimes national trips can get me so stressed out it overshadows the actual anticipation of the trip. I have been known to book hotels for the wrong year, book museums for the day before I arrive, miss trains, and so much more. And while traveling solo has certainly forced me to hone these skills, I am by no means perfect and still would prefer someone else book the logistical stuff for me.

I wrote a post kind of similar to this last year but it was more general. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am nothing if not a goal setter. Having goals calms me down since it’s kind of like having a plan and as I am current freaking out over how much I have to plan (and how much money it’s going to cost), I wrote out a list of the things I most want to do. Ok enough of the intro though – here are my travel goals for 2024!

Visit a National Park

Specifically Congaree since it’s the last one I’m able to drive to. My bigger goal is to visit all 63 national parks and so far I’m at 5 haha. Since this would be the only national park feasible for 2024, I would love to squeeze it in.

Re-Commit to Local Travel

I love local travel and exploring new places but recently I have not been investing the time to explore my local area, which is something I have a lot of fun doing and is not something I will be around in the area to do forever.

Take Cute Photos

I mean, this one’s pretty straightforward. I like having photos to look back on my trips but sometimes it is hard to take them when I’m traveling solo or just weird to do in crowded places, so I would like to overcome that and take some great photos this year.

Curb my Solo Traveling Anxiety

Ever since my Shenandoah trip a couple of years ago, I’ve had some pretty bad solo traveling anxiety, which is just annoying since by and large I love solo traveling. There are definitely risks to traveling alone as a woman but my fear is of the irrational kind. I think some safety prep before my trips will help.

Eat at a Michelin Star Restaurant

I am tentatively taking at least one trip to a city with Michelin stars and since I love good dining this would be infinitely cool in my book. Unfortunately, Philly is not a Michelin city (even though Vetri for sure deserves at least one star) so this bucket list item has to happen not in my home city.

Take a Trip with Friends

Again, pretty straightforward. My friends and I usually do a couple day trips, but we’ve been talking about doing something bigger now that we’re all out of college and working full-time jobs and I feel like this year is going to be the year for it.

Visit the Old Library at Trinity College

I am going to Ireland in May and while most of that trip is being planned by other people (woohoo!), I would really love to visit Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Long Room. It’s one of the most impressive libraries in the world.

I cannot wait for all the adventures 2024 holds!