365RoadWarrior

I guess mine come spontaneously, if that's possible. There is some inspiration from people I meet/work with, and places and cultures I have experienced before. Or haven't experienced by want to.

My employers have considerable "influence" on where I go for work.

When I was younger, I planned my travel so that every trip was going to be to a new place. A pin in a map. Every country in the world. Now, I can't think of a more foolish thing to do (other than, maybe, same place every time). I abandoned that pretty quickly.

Athena53

A lot of things. Reading. An avid interest in European history. Wanting to periodically use my German and French. Adding to my list of "new" countries. I try not to be obsessive about this- my next trip will cover two well-loved previous destinations ( Scotland and France) but I added Nepal this year and added Luxembourg and Lichtenstein when I was in nearby countries "because they were there". I've re-visited quite a few places on vacation after being there for business. Great way to try it out on someone else's dime! Munich was a shining example.

My pipe dream for 2020 (2019 already planning on one trip to Mexico, one to Hawaii) is to park in Europe for a couple of weeks in one city and make occasional day trips to cities/countries nearby. Malta is at the top of the list right now but I'm watching a show on Netflix called "Escape to the Continent" in which Britons are looking to buy property in Europe. Typically they're looking at some area I hadn't really thought of before (Dordogne in France, Algarve in Portugal, Carinthia in Austria) so I may find an area that way, too.

Mokuhine

Part of my travel is to see rare and endangered palms in habitat. That passion has taken me to Costa Rica, Belize, Brazil, Peru, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia (Borneo), Indonesia, Madagascar, and most recently Colombia. Plans afoot for Reunion Island.

Hiking is also a great interest, which has taken me to Nepal (adding some time in Hong Kong en route), Kenya and Tanzania.

All of these destinations provide tremendous cultural, historical, and culinary experiences, and certain places attract me specifically for those reasons, such as Japan, Sweden, and Canada. I would enjoy return trips to Europe one day, too, particularly if I can get into house-trading mode for longer stays.

One interest I would love to indulge -- traveling to cities to see specific art exhibitions. For example, right now New York Botanical Garden has a Georgia O'Keefe exhibit of her relatively obscure works done while in Hawaii. Dying to see it!

Proudelitist

I go where corporate says.

Jeannietx

When I was much younger it was to travel all over the US and camp in all of the National Parks and state parks. After that it was to travel to other countries in North America, but at that point creature comfort had become much more important, so no camping.

I have always loved maps, The only childhood gift that I still remember was a puzzle, a map of the United States.

I still love maps, but now it is the world map. My wallpaper on my PC and laptop is the world map. In the living area I have a 28'X42" mounted world map on an easel and a globe on the other side.

In 2008 we went to Europe for the first time and spent 7 weeks in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Scotland. Since then we have traveled to Europe many times and all over the world, been to 7 continents and every place we ever wanted to go. Now we have plans and reservations to go back to the favorites. Most of our trips have been in the 3 to 4 month range, the next one will be 5 months.

DeathSlam

I had a definite bucket list based on my interests as a child, Rome, Japan, China, .... about 20 places.
They all got done a few years ago.
When I was in Paris I picked up a fridge magnet collection of the 100 greatest buildings in the world.
They are gradually moving from the fridge door to the freezer door as I tick them off.
Sadly many will likely never be possible now like the Library in Timbuktu.
Having finished the bucket list I don't have a bucket list 2, it's now mostly about where my friends want to go or where there is a good deal on flights and points (PHX ahoy). I've also started revisiting a few places I especially liked during previous travels like HKG.
There is a framed map of the world upstairs with pins in it but I have failed to keep it up to date

BuildingMyBento

"100 greatest buildings?" Mind taking a picture (or two) of that (albeit subjective list), so that you can add a bit more inspiration to the FT community?

Curious if Nakagin is on it...

RustyC

I used to spend a lot of time with maps as well. In thinking it over, though, magazines and picture books have had a disproportionate impact on first inspirations. If a place looks like something out of a The Territory Ahead print ad there's a good chance I'll look into it further (terrible clothes, though...they shrink unacceptably much).

With the Seychelles it was the 1979 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue (finally got to go in 2015). I forget what it was for Mongolia. Still want to go to Iceland and Madagascar. "The Killing Fields," oddly enough, helped sell Cambodia.

Lonely Planet has gotten a lot more picture oriented but didn't used to be. Dunno if they still have the dead-tree edition of Budget Travel magazine or if it's really budget.

The trouble with that medium today is that the vast majority is aimed toward budget upscale and concentrates on stuff that's way beyond my budget.

Uncle Nonny

I didn't step on a plane until I was 19. When I was young we tented our way through most vacations, mostly state parks in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast.. One summer, our family took a 6 week trip across the country and pretty much saw everything there was to see in a van. I then spent ten years as a 'roadie' traveling all across North America in a bus (man, I wish tour buses had FF programs). Having done everything there is to do in North America and almost having completed raising a family, I find myself playing catch up. I look to thousands of years of history and millions of years of Mother Earth doing her thing for my inspiration. I enjoyed the natural beauty of Iceland just as much as the Parthenon. The cool thing is that very few people, if any, have 'done it all'. We don't run out of places to go. We just run out of time. Sorry for the ramble...

StartinSanDiego

National Geographic Magazine and their travel brochure, National Geographic Expeditions. I enjoying comparing my travels to their photos. They tend to visit UNESCO sites and National Parks, two priorities in my travels as well.

clubeurope

I sometimes decide on a destination solely by looking at considerably far flung places on a map (at least from where I'm partially based)... last time I did that, I ended up with the Seychelles and was quite happy with that

DeathSlam

OK I lied it's only 59

And you're right it's an odd list...

Jeannietx

I've only seen 25 of them that I can remember.

jakejohnson

I guess my travel inspiration comes from the people I meet, from watching travel magazines, and from the social media that shows us great travel destinations especially when using instagram and other social media platforms.

aroundtheworld76

Cool thread....I am lucky enough that my work gives me time to play in some of the worlds most interesting places. For leisure travel inspiration, I rely on a mix of many already cited things.A childhood of poring over National Geographic mags in my Grandfathers garage, word of Mouth: a colleague went to Greenland recently and raved about it, so now it's on the list. I found Anthony Bourdain (may he RIP) to be good travel inspiration, because I like to eat and drink and he did a better job than most at showing the importance of food to many destinations.