The world is BIG and it can be overwhelming to decide where to go. Let me start by mentioning that as of 2017 there are 193 countries that are members of the United Nations and only 2 that are non-UN members. So we can say that today there are 195 countries in the world. That is A LOT of countries! For more details go to United Nations Member States
To get a little more technical all these countries are spread out around seven continents:
- Africa
- Antarctica
- Australia
- Asia
- Europe
- South America
- North America
How to decide where to go?
My advise to anyone that wants to travel abroad or within their own country is to take into consideration these three things:
- How much time you have to travel?
Based on this then you have to be realistic. If you only have three days probably you don’t want to go too far. Avoid spending most of your time on the plane or other mediums of transportation.
If you have a week or more, as long as you take into consideration travel time (round trip to include layovers), you should be good.
- What is your budget?
This is very important, again, be realistic! Personally I don’t like travelling and feel that I can not enjoy the experience of a place because I don’t have the money. If this is the case then I try to look for destinations that will be less expensive. Usually during low season due to low demand everything tend to be less expensive than normal: flights, all kinds of transportation, hotels, food, attractions, etc. When you start adding up all of these, low season is the winner vs high season. Of course if you don’t have any financial concerns then, why not? live it up! I have done that too and don’t regret it. Made a sound decision and understood ahead of time how much a trip will cost.
- What kind of climate are you looking for?
Take time to research the options you narrowed down to. In some parts of the world, low season may come with monsoons (rain, humidity), others with super cold winters or very hot weather. Knowing the seasonalities at your potential travel destination is a must. Remember the world is big and is split in two hemispheres so, seasonalities are opposite at any given time. Unless the country is close to the equator and temperatures generally are warmer than anywhere else.
Once you have determined those three areas, you will be in a much better place to continue planning your trip.