What's stopping you from traveling more?
 

I'm sure everyone here loves to travel. And I'm sure that at least some of you don't do it as often as you'd like to. I know that one of the biggest reasons for that usually has to do with budget. But I'm really curious to learn more about some of the big setbacks that people (namely you) face when it comes to making trips happen.

For instance, how far in advance do you generally tend to start saving before making a trip possible?
Do you ever have any issues with booking online travels?

For me, a big problem is often the thought of putting my usual responsibilities on hold for the entire trip. I'm working on a project and getting more insights on this topic would really help me A LOT, so I'd appreciate any opinions.

Thanks!! :)

What is the project? If this is intended to provide input for your website, I'm not interested.

No blog posts or anything like that. Trying to make an app for travelers and would love to know what people find most useful. If you would like to help make it better, that would be awesome - but I'm not looking to promote that (which is why I didn't want to mention it specifically)

So in other words donotmisslist, your post is not travelled related it is intended to get you info you can use to develop an app. Do you see the difference? You are attmepting to use this site for personal gain, not to participate in a travel forum per se.

In answer to your rather naive question, other than budget the reason why people do not travel more is simple. They put other things ahead of it. It's called prioritizing. The simple examples being some people see their job as being more important or renovating their bathroom maybe.

I'm sorry you see it that way. I like to look at different threads, have answered some and plan to continue doing so just because I like talking about travel. But me asking for feedback on something travel related that I am interested in is bad? Isn't that what everyone is doing when asking for travel tips and other things like that? It's for personal gain, of course, I would learn something useful... but I ask you here because I believe you are qualified and willing to answer.

I am happy to answer, perhaps in part because I don't think an app would remove my obstacle which is... (drumroll, please!)...pets. We have a great pet sitter, and trust her wholeheartedly, but because of our pets we could not in good conscience leave for more than 2, perhaps 3, weeks at a time, even if we were both to retire.

My answer is the same as NewbE. We have a golden retriever that we have to board when we travel. While I know she is well taken care of, we miss her terribly. We just returned from an 18 day trip which is about the longest we want to be away.

We are retired so time isn't a factor. And while we aren't rich, money isn't that much of a factor either since we don't tend to frequent Deluxe hotels, restaurants, etc.

Travel is also very tiring, even with a few "down" days factored into an itinerary. For us, the jetlag coming home can be brutal.

Thank you for both answers :) That really is a problem I didn't expect to hear about which is very strange, considering my sister has a beagle and that used to get in the way of her travels too (now she has someone who can take care of him and she never travels for more than a week anyway). You're right, I don't know how an app could help in this case (maybe other than having the option to see if a hotel is pet-friendly).

But on a personal note, it really helps to know what sort of issues other people are facing, because I can actually draw something from that for myself: if I want to keep traveling without having too many things holding me back, I should probably not have pets :)

Just money.
DH retired this year; I work, but can set my own schedule and work as little or as much as I want.
No pets.

Freelancer I take it? :)
Great choice of work for travel enthusiasts, as long as it pays enough

My husband doesn't like to travel but I don't think an app can fix that :)

Hobbert, lol! If only, right?? :-))

1. Time off from work.

Time off from work- don't know how an app would fix that!

1.Pets, hate leaving my Boxers behind.
2.work
3.money

The dog only stops us to the extent it is so expensive to kennel him. He is going to the kennels for 5weeks. No I don't feel bad about it.
Money is the main constraint for us, plus family and social commitments.
Procrastination doesn't help either.

Like other, I'm guessing the two biggest obstacles to travel are (in this order) money and time.

As people get older they become more secure financially and, if working, they accrue more vacation time. Those who are retired have even more time available for travel, assuming they have the budget and like to travel.

Also, a person's health also determines their ability to travel

That doesn't mean younger people or those in poor health don't travel but rather their priorities are different.

My point being I doubt you can develop an app that will give people more time, a larger travel budget or good health. Those things are beyond a travel consultant's control.

Now, one other situation that might dissuade a person from traveling, at least for a short period, is experiencing a "super fabulous" trip. For example, we are a couple who have been traveling the world over for well over 40 years and especially so in the last 15 years when we've done multiple trips each year. Anyway, two years ago we did a 6 weeks driving trip through New Zealand which was by far the best trip we had ever taken and for the next year or so we simply couldn't bring ourselves to finalize plans for another trip mainly because we the ideas and places we came up with never seemed to be as good as the New Zealand trip so we kept postponing travel. But wanderlust soon crept back into our mindset and we again took to the roads.

There are plenty of existing travel apps and internet tools that make travel easy so I can't think of any "new" app that would make travel easier or allow us to travel more - all one needs is money and time.

But this is a board of experienced travelers, for the most part. I do think someone could develop an app to address concerns less experienced travelers have, such as, there are so many websites for hotels/airfares/cars and I don't have time to scrutinize them all; or concerns that people who don't have much money have, such as, I would like to go somewhere I can afford, and since I've barely been anywhere, I don't much care where that is.

I'm happy to answer...

I am single, self-supporting, have a full time job with limited vacation time. That's the ONLY thing that keeps me from traveling more.

If you develop an "app" to solve that little problem, please do let me know.

<two biggest obstacles to travel are (in this order) money and time.>

For me it's the opposite, time is harder than money, as far as the order of the ONLY two things stopping me.

I have a cat I love dearly. And I have a cat sitter who loves him too.

suze -I'm glad you have enough money for travel but I stand by my original comment. the first obstacle to travel is money, having the time comes next.

A person could have all the time in the world but if they lack sufficient funds their ability to travel will be curtailed. Ask any of your retired friends or others who have time on their hands but are less fortunate (financially) then you what prevents them from traveling more. The answer will almost always be affordability.

Doesn't matter how much money I have, if I can't get the time off from my job to take a trip.

I don't have any retired friends. Everyone's still working.

I do agree you need both... time & money... perhaps equally?

Time may be more important. You can often figure out how to travel more cheaply. You just have to be willing...

Money of course ;/
And sometimes the lack of free time

I still think that an app that answers the question (for example), Where shall I go this weekend? could be successful. It could include driving routes of a suitable length, staycation options, and cheap air and rail and hotel deals. Right now, one would have to visit numerous websites to amass that kind of info.

I'm the same as lots of others here--pets and money. With two cats and an elderly dog it takes a lot of preplanning (and a fair amount of money as well) to go away.

I'm back to thinking time is the most important.

If I was one of those retired people someone mentions, with plenty of time, but not enough money... as long as my healthy was good, I'd find a part-time or temp job and save money so I could travel.

So I'm back to voting free TIME is the key.

Thus the need for money! No money = no travel

I am going to change my answer to "money". If I had enough money, availability of time off would bot be an issue.

But what constitutes "enough"? If I waited to travel until I had what many Fodorites would consider "enough" I would never leave home.

Enough that I could consider myself independently wealthy. $9,000,000 should do the trick.

Lol - well I certainly wouldn't be out here traveling in that case.....

OK sparkchaser makes a good point. If I have oodles of money then I would quit my day job, and limited time off would no longer be an issue.

The OP was asking about trips, not life lived permanently on the road. However, I seriously doubt that many people on long term trips are multimillionaires. Most have figured out how to make money while traveling (sometimes by telecomuting), others are on sabbaticals, or taking a long break between jobs. Hang out on twitter or check travel blogs and you'll find plenty of them. Others are retired, although not, I suspect, with 9 million. When I asked about "enough" I was not asking about a luxurious existence permanently on the road, but I bet I could buy a large enough (for my needs) single premium lifetime annuity with inflation protection at age 65 for a lot less than 9 million.

9 million was my number because since we're fantasizing, that would be enough for me to do what I want and buy what I want and go where I want (first class or charter).

You may be fantasizing, but I'm not. I asked a serious question. Plus, I took early retirement so I could travel, if not full time, at least extensively, before I got too decrepit. And I had nowhere near 9 million, lol!!

Even if I had the means to do so, there is no way I would travel full-time.

If I could, I would travel for a month every year! But ...

We have elderly parents (multiple cancer survivors) and I am the only local kid left to pitch in if they need help.

We own a farm with animals -- *fortunately* no dairy animals anymore, and we've stopped breeding which eliminates two big obstacles. But it's still tough to find someone willing to step in and run a farm for two weeks or more.

We have kids who will be going to college all too soon; one just finished braces and one will be getting braces soon. $$$$$

I have a demanding job and can barely manage a day off, let alone a week. Example -- it's early October and I haven't taken a single vacation day yet this yet (to be fair, I *am* traveling at the end of this month, but the rest of my team will be adversely affected, which is a crushing level of guilt).

I've got this pesky thing called a full time job... pays the bills so can't ditch it!

For me, money is certainly a necessity for my travels. I've got lots of vacation time (at my job for 31 yrs) but plan on working another 9 yrs so I can continue to travel.

I also have dogs but my husband doesn't like to travel so he stays home w/ them while I get 2 trips a year to France!