USVI-On-Line

Where do you get your inspiration for your travels?
Is it from seeing pictures in glossy magazines?
From seeing offers in the travel agent's window?
From hearing the tales of others who have traveled?
From the internet? Or from somewhere else?

What inspires you to travel?

Reading guide books and Magazines. My favorite Magazine is Islands.
From travelforums online.
From collegues at work. I work for an airline and there are many people that travels a lot that could share travel experiences.

This forum sure helps!

Gromit! Most of my travel problems begin and end with GROMIT! She is a TERRIBLE influence!

That and I just have a running list of places I want to see before I die. Oh that book -- 1000 places to see before you die - is actually a good source of inspiration. I enjoy going through it and flagging things that I've done!

I used to have a system (pre-kids) Spring trip to somewhere warm (usually STJ or another caribbean island) & fall somewhere more culturally enriching - Europe, or somewhere historical. That has all gone out the window.

I am trying desperately to work my way through all the islands but STJ just keeps calling me back. Still high on my list - Nevis and St. Lucia.

Travel programs on TV get me fantasizing about places to go! Usually tropical places, but I'm also inspired by places like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon.

flip-flop,
I thought about this series on the Travel Channel when I read your post about places you want to see before you die....you probably know about it, but here's the link just in case you don't ...mia

http://travel.discovery.com/tv/1000-places/about.html

From my wife has was the traveler

Thanks Mia. I had not seen it and will definitely Tivo it!

I also forgot...I get the discount travel enewsletters from Travelzoo and Shermans travel. Both often provide budget friendly travel opportunities!

Historically speaking it has been magazines, especially National Geographic Traveler. We were charter subscribers of when it first began in the 80’s. That magazine was the inspiration and guide for trips to cool places like Vancouver/San Juan Islands, Banff/Jasper, and Prince Edward Island.

An early Sports Illustrated swimsuit photoshoot (one of the Cheryl Tiegs covers) was even the inspiration for our honeymoon in Cancun 25 yrs ago when there were all of 7 hotels there. They try to shoot in unconventional locations, which at that time Cancun was. Our travel agent tried to talk us out of going there because she had barely heard of it. When folks asked us at our wedding where we were going on our honeymoon, almost everyone said “where??” We have no interest in going back with 40,000 hotel rooms there now.

That 1000 places book has been the inspiration for our next trip in May which will be our first to Europe - - to Switzerland = Alps, lakes, chocolate, cheese, etc. Looking forward to see what the series looks like on TV.

The internet was the primary means of finding St. John. My daughter was beating the drum for a Caribbean cruise, and although we really didn’t think we were cruise people, we started researching on the web. After seeing lotsa comments like “the best day of the cruise was when we did (insert activity here like daysail, island tour, snorkeling, etc. ) OFF the ship” we said why don’t we spend ALL of our time off the ship. This lead us to St. Thomas which lead us to St. John. And although we are quite smitten with the island and will return, it wont be the only place we go, as it certainly ain’t cheap, and there are too many other places to see and experience.

Thanks jmq, I just subscribed to National Geographic Traveler for one year...it's something I've been meaning to do and your post nudged me to actually do it ....mia

Often from documentaries we see on TV. If they look interesting we’ll start looking around on the Internet if it can be done and if the whole region is interesting. If that’s the case, we go for it .... I’m also a member of Traveler videos. The site is travelervideos.com. They have a large collection of videos and I recommend the sites to travel lovers.