If you’ve flown, driven or sailed around the world to your fair share of sunny beaches and tourist cities, it’s not too uncommon that the freshness of the experience might seem to wear off. If you have a bucket list you’re tackling, you don’t want it to feel like checking items off a list. So, how do you make sure you’re getting the most from your travels?

Plan and relax

Planning doesn’t sound relaxing at now, but the key here is to save yourself the headache later. Learn as much as you can about the logistics or the trip and the economics of your destination before heading off. Find out prices not only for accommodation and flights but of food and travel (like taxis and trains) while you’re over there. Find out how easy or difficult it is to access some of the highlights you really want to see. An itinerary doesn’t mean setting an iron-clad schedule for your vacation, but it can be a good way of making sure you don’t miss something you want to see by accident. In reality, it opens up more choice, leaving you to decide whether you want to stick to the schedule or go off and experience something different instead. Plan your trip so you don’t have to worry about the particulars when you get there.

Try something entirely new

Make your vacation more than a destination, by planning it around an activity you’ve never tried before. If you love sports, then hit up one of the many sporting venues around the world for a big event. If you want a thrill and you prefer a colder clime, then look at skiing destinations. If you’re a history buff, then the oldest cities tend to also be some of the most beautiful. Think of the context of a destination and why you love it then make that the core of the journey.

Share the journey

You don’t have to go it alone even if you don’t have friends who could make the trip with you. Company makes most experiences better and the agencies that promote hosted travelling know that. Not only can they give you a deeper look at the culture of your destination and what it’s like to live there. Some offer options that help you find like-minded travellers to get to know and share the experience with. There’s still plenty of room for alone time, but sharing a hobby like traveling can be as rewarding as the traveling itself.

Chronicle your travels

Speaking of sharing, nowadays, one of the easiest ways to do it is to keep the memories of your journey and show it to others. But taking photos and writing a journal to document your travels doesn’t just help you keep the memory fresh and share it with others. It serves as a good motivation to make sure you’re doing your part to see more and do more. You don’t want your chronicles to be boring, after all.

What makes travel brilliant can be different from person to person. You might be more than satisfied sunbathing in a tropical clime. But if you want more, then there’s a lot of opportunity to reach out and get it.