Map your travel timeline: why now is the time to plan future adventures

The trips you dream about today might not be the ones you’ll be up for tomorrow. Mapping your travel now helps you match adventures to the right stage of life.

By Bron Maxabella

We’re all guilty of daydreaming a little too vaguely about our travel future. On my own list are things like JOGLE (walking the length of Britain); trekking the Milford Sound; living in Italy for a year; doing The Big Lap; tackling the Camino de Santiago; and overlanding South America. But when I actually sat down to map out every dream destination and activity on a timeline, the shock was huge: there’s probably no way all my plans will fit neatly into my retirement years. Plus, let’s face it, many of the bigger ambitions I’ve listed above are better tackled sooner rather than later…

Here I am, expecting retirement to open the door wide to travel, but my energy, health and confidence won’t stay the same forever. I’ve realised I need to be realistic and intentional, so I can give myself the best chance of making the most of my most active years.

I’m guessing you might be in the same boat?

Get practical about your wanderlust

The most sensible thing we can do is write a travel timeline. 

Jot down every trip we want to do, then shuffle them into sensible order. Active adventures go first, long haul before short haul, people-dependent trips before solo ones, and everything else sprinkled in around other life commitments. 

But, before we tackle the ‘how to’, let’s take a look at the things you need to consider before you start planning. Think of this as a list of ‘possible, but it all depends on your own set of circumstances’ barriers to travel in retirement…

Active adventures belong up front

If hiking, skiing, diving or cycling feature on your wish list, move them to the early slots. You may still be able to do them in your later years, but it’s far easier (and more enjoyable) when joints, stamina and balance are on your side. Think about whether you’d prefer to hike the Himalayas in your 50s or your 70s…

Long-haul tolerance changes

Another thing: flying for 24 hours is exciting when you’re 20; uncomfortable when you’re 50; likely intolerable when you’re 75. Plan the longer, more arduous trips while you’re still keen to put up with airport layovers and time zone chaos. Save shorter flights, cruises and local travel for later, when comfort may mean more to you than another great adventure.

Be open to changing your mind

While you might write them off as naff or a ‘cop out’ now, as the years pass, travel options like cruises and luxury tours may start to look more enticing. Keep an open mind about what future-you might appreciate (and as Citro writer Andrew will tell you, you might be surprised all along).

This works both ways, of course. My husband Bart and I always dreamed of “hiking” the length of Britain over a couple of months, but now we are older we’re planning to take several. We joke that the first leg of our “big trek” will be 150 metres from the start of our walk to the nearest cafe for a cuppa and a snack. Yes, we all get to travel exactly the way we want to – there’s no one way to do anything.

Health and confidence considerations

Adventure relies on both physical and mental readiness. Today, you might feel perfectly fine climbing the ruins in Mexico, but in 20 years the confidence in your balance and mobility may not be there. That doesn’t mean your joy of travel ends; it just means the style of your travels may have to adapt.

Factor in the cost

Remember to factor in the financial side of travel when you’re mapping out your trips. You’ll need to know approximately how much you’ll be spending so you can set a realistic saving plan. If a bucket-list destination is going to be pricey, get it in earlier while you’ve got the means. Big-ticket adventures like an Antarctica cruise or an African safari might be best done in pre-retirement while you’re still earning; or early in retirement before healthcare costs start to rise. Also keep in mind that currencies wobble and prices increase frequently, so make sure you’ve got a generous buffer in your travel budget.

Leave room for life

Don’t forget that life keeps going on back home, even if you plan to be of no fixed address for a very long time. Which is why you should consider big life events and how they might affect your travel plans. Kids graduate, get married, have babies and do all sorts of things you won’t want to miss. Parents also have a habit of needing us well into our own dotage as well. Not a reason to never leave the country, of course, but definitely pause for thought.

Visas and red tape

Countries change entry requirements over time and that may mean some destinations become more complicated for older tourists to get visas or travel insurance. This one is especially important if you’re planning on staying in a particular country for a longer period of time.

Travelling companions shift

Hopefully your nearest and dearest will always be by your side, but will your partner still want to ski Japan with you at 65? Will your adult kids still want to road-trip Europe with you in 10 years? If certain experiences depend on specific people sharing the same dream as you, schedule them sooner rather than later.

Energy for big itineraries

Multi-stop trips are a thrill in your 40s and 50s, but later, you might prefer one destination done well rather than a ‘10 countries in 10 days’ whirlwind. Slot the complex many-destination trips in while you still get a buzz from running for connecting trains.

Step-by-step: build your travel timeline

Okay, so now we’ve got all of the Debbie Downer talk out of the way, let’s get planning! As I mentioned at the top, do this sooner rather than later. Like me, you might find yourself running out of timeline for all the travel you want to do… and then it comes down to playing  a bit of travel-Tetris to try to squeeze everything in. Or make some hard decisions about where, why and when.

Here’s how you might approach your own timeline.

1. Do a fast brain-dump – Write every trip or experience you want, big and small. One line each. Examples: “Walk the Ho Chi Minh Trail”, “Ski Japan”, “Portugal road trip”, “Kimberley cruise”, “Paris apartment over summer”, “Africa overland truck”... you get the idea.
2. Capture your “why” – Next to each trip, jot down why it matters to you: is it for the joy, challenge, family, culture, nature, food? Your list of reasons will help you prioritise later.
3. Tag the effort level – Mark each trip as Active, Moderate or Easy. Consider things like flight times, stairs, hills, altitude, balance (tip: never underestimate Europe’s cobblestone paths), long days on foot, water supply, heat or cold… all the things.
4. Set your travel cadence – Decide your ‘rhythm’ per year to set the number of “slots” you can fill across the next 10–20 years. It might be “ 1 hero trip, 1 shorter break, plus local weekends” or “1 big international every second year, domestic in between”. Remember to factor in other lifestyle changes that might compete with your travel plans, like the arrival of grandkids.
5. Mark the time-sensitive ones – Circle anything that clearly gets harder with age or logistics, for example back-to-back hiking days, high altitude treks, diving, skiing, remote overland trips, even complicated visas.
6. Do an honest energy check – Note your realistic window for strenuous trips and very long flights. Example: “Happy with long haul until ~72, multi-day hikes until ~68, cold-weather skiing until ~65” etc.
7. Consider the cost – A list of desirable places to go is one thing, but affording it is another. You don’t need to do a full reccy of each trip, but you should estimate whether it’s High $$$, Mid $$ or Low $ cost.
8. Create your map – This can be an online spreadsheet, in a calendar or just on a big sheet of paper – anything that you can create a timeline of years and months for many years to come will do the trick.
9. Block out your knowns – Grey-out times that won’t be suitable for travel so you have the basis of your timeline starting from now. How many weeks annual leave do you currently get from your job? Are you owed long-service leave? Are you bound by a work or school calendar? When do the kids graduate from high school (off the school calendar for life, yes!)? Importantly, when do you plan to retire? Will you have flexibility at work before then – like taking a sabbatical or the ability to ‘buy’ extra annual leave or work a 3-day week?
10. Add your age – Each year, make a note of how old you’re going to be. Not to scare you, just to warn you…
11. Add your trips – Roughly plot each of your planned trips along your timeline according to all of the above. Consider the seasons and event timing to capture the optimal time to travel to each destination as you go. Remember to cap each year to your cadence and budget, so your plans remain doable.
12. Review every year – Shift items around as health, interest, family and finances evolve. Add new dreams, retire old ones without guilt and keep your timeline current.

Your timeline, your way

The beauty of having a travel timeline like this is that it’s all yours. You can swap things around and add things to your heart’s content. I’ve always believed half the joy of travel is in the planning and anticipation, so this is only adding to that for me. I will warn you though, it gets a bit addictive. This is all about giving yourself the clarity to see when things are possible and the confidence (and budget) to make them happen.

When you map it all out, you stop being at the mercy of “someday” travel and start building a plan for “this year, next year, soon.” Even if plans shift – and they always do – you’ll know which adventures to move forward, which to push back and which to let go of entirely. 

The truth is, we already know that we’re never guaranteed the perfect moment for anything. But hopefully with a travel timeline, we’re far more likely to tick off the big trips while we still have the health, the means and the appetite to enjoy them. And later, when pace and priorities change, there will still be plenty of gentler adventures left to savour.

^{Feature image: iStock/demaerre}

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