My 5 Travel Resolutions For 2014

My 5 Travel Resolutions For 2014
I’m keenly looking forward to 2014 – I’m curious to know where I am headed next. I don’t believe in making a travel bucket-list or stating where I want to go, because I don’t have the power to control my life. If I were a millionaire, I would have traveled to all my favorite places. But that’s not the case, so I have to just wait and watch.
I care less about where I will be going, but I care more about how I will be exploring a destination, learning through it and enriching myself. I want to grow as a traveler this year. I want to be more conscious, more creative and more fervent.
I have listed down my 5 resolutions for being a better traveler this year –
Want to be a better traveler in 2014
1. Cut down on my travel mistakes
You can refer to 9 Travel Mistakes I Have Made. As travelers, we all fall short of something or the other. No trip can be perfect. But from now onward, I will try to make the least number of travel mistakes. I will be more conscious and researched, but without losing my spontaneity.
I firmly believe it’s important to be spontaneous on a trip. I am an extremely spontaneous traveler and I love that about myself. I don’t like anybody telling me what I should be doing to have more fun or how to discover a place better. I like doing things my way. So I would like to keep it that way with more awareness and less goof-ups.
2. Take better travel photographs
Take a step forward as a travel photographer
Taking pictures is my number one priority on a holiday. Thus, I want to grow as a travel photographer. I want to be exceptionally creative with my travel pictures. (There are times when I look at some of my pictures later and think, why didn’t I get a little closer to the subject or why didn’t I try a better angle.) I want to hone my photography skills and have some unusual travel pictures in my collection.
So, it’s a year to challenge myself as a travel photographer.
3. Focus more on food and restaurants
Want something ‘new’ on my plate!
Food is one of my favorite aspects of travel. This year, I intend to explore some interesting and unique eating places in my own city and also wherever else I go. I want to go a little adventurous with food on my upcoming trips.
As a traveler and as a foodie, I will make it a point to try cuisines that are lesser known, yet delectable.
4. Take longer trips – Slow travel
Easy, relaxed and slow…
I usually take two to three-day trips, which I want to change this year. I want to stick around at a place for a little longer. I want to have more relaxed travel experiences. Although I manage to be spontaneous even on a two-day trip, I’d like to spend at least a week at a place. I want to experience ‘slow travel’. I want to take it easy, watch a sunset without going berserk with my camera, take a morning walk, have breakfast at a local café and do many other simple things.
5. Revisit an old destination with a new eye
Shimla – Still has surprises!
It may sound funny, but I’m really itching to visit one of the hackneyed destinations like Shimla, Mussoorie or even Lucknow and explore them with a new perspective. I find it a superior art to extract something ‘unusual’ or ‘unexpected’ from a touristy destination than to simply visit a lesser known one. Of course, I want to visit a lot of offbeat places too, but I really feel that every destination, no matter how popular it is, has the ability to surprise.
As I finish writing this post, we are already in 2014 and that makes me really excited! I hope to have a great travel year with lots of new experiences, memories and milestones.

Now over to you! What travel resolutions have you made for this year?