Travel Goals for 2022. Here Are Mine, What Are Yours?
Part of planning your miles & points strategy includes assessing your travel goals, and these are mine for 2022. Regarding the former, I previously shared the first couple of credit cards that my wife and I want to get this year. Now, let’s take a look at my travel goals – big and small, plus challenges I foresee.
Travel Goals for 2022
Goal 1 – Visit every country
I had originally hoped to visit every country by my 40th birthday. That’s coming in 6 months, and this goal is very unlikely to be met. Here’s a look at why, based on the countries I haven’t been to yet:
- Afghanistan – closed to foreigners
- Bolivia
- Bhutan – closed to foreigners who were in a country with 1 or more Covid-19 cases in the past 2 weeks (so…closed to everyone)
- Dominica
- Equatorial Guinea
- Federated States of Micronesia – closed to foreigners
- Fiji
- Iran
- Israel
- Japan – closed to foreigners
- Kazakhstan – closed to foreigners
- Kiribati – closed to foreigners
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Marshall Islands – closed to foreigners
- Nauru – closed to foreigners
- Niue – closed to foreigners
- Palau – closed to foreigners
- Papua New Guinea – closed to foreigners
- Philippines – requires 10-day quarantine to visit
- Vincent & The Grenadines
- Samoa – closed to foreigners
- Solomon Islands – closed to foreigners
- South Korea – requires 10-day quarantine to visit
- Tokelau – closed to foreigners
- Timor-Leste – open, but flights only available from countries I can’t enter
- Tonga – closed to foreigners
- Turkmenistan – closed to foreigners
- Tuvalu – closed to foreigners
- Vanuatu – closed to foreigners
- Vietnam
This goal has become TBD, and my plan has shifted. I’ll visit whatever I can of these countries this year, within reason. Many of these are island nations in the South Pacific. I’m not going to fly all the way there just to visit 1 of them. I’ll wait until several of them are open, so that the trip is worth it. And in other areas I’ll pair together countries near one another when neighbors are both open and suitable for travel at the same time. The “every country by 40” would be a super long shot at this point, though.
Goal 2 – Go to a Game at the FIFA World Cup
This goal is much more realistic this year. My wife and I both have dual citizenship from the US and Brazil. We were so excited to go see a game of the US men’s team and a game of the Brazilian men’s team in 2018. Then…the US men failed to qualify. Thus, we scrapped our plans for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
We are really hoping that the US men will qualify, since Brazil has already guaranteed its spot. Then, we’ll plan to head to Qatar for a game of each team. We really enjoyed the overnight layover we had in Qatar previously and are excited to see more when we return.
Goal 3 – Go to a Disney Park Outside the U.S.
I like Disney. I’m not obsessed with it like some people, but I like it. And my wife really enjoys Disney. She has mentioned several times that she wants to see a Disney park outside the U.S. to see how it’s different. Since my first goal above is unlikely to happen this year, there’s room for something else to take the place of far-flung countries many people can’t find on a map. This could be a good year to check out Disney Paris – or the locations in East Asia, but those would need to open their doors to us first.
Goal 4 – Big Surprise for My 40th Birthday
This is vague and might also be difficult to accomplish. Ideally, I would love for my wife to plan a surprise trip and take me somewhere awesome for my birthday. However, putting this on my 2022 travel goals needs a big asterisk.
It will first require that my wife understand how to use points & miles. Unfortunately, she finds points & miles overwhelming. She’s happy to use the credit cards I tell her to keep in her wallet and happy to apply for cards I recommend to her, so we can get points to go on free trips.
However, the “using the points” part is not in her skillset. Thus, it’s unlikely she would be able to make this happen. We’ll see what happens when I suggest it and drop some hints to her.
I’ll remain optimistic on this one.
Goal 5 – Go to Yellowstone National Park
This one is pretty straightforward and realistic. My wife and I love National Parks. Given that I have a lifetime pass for free entrance (one of the few “benefits” of getting injured in the military), we’ve been to a lot of them lately. Yellowstone is next up on our list, so we’re hoping to visit this year.
What are your travel goals for 2022? How will you use points and miles to make them happen?
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Visit two states to finish all 50 (Montana and Idaho). Visit Yellowstone to achieve dual goal. Hope that car rental prices are not as high as 2021.
Stay in foreign country on Christmas Day (not Canada or Mexico and not before Christmas).
New York Thanksgiving parade in person.
See one major sporting event outside of the US.
Elton John farewell tour.
Charlotte FC first game.
“See one major sporting event outside of the US.” – so maybe I’ll see you at the World Cup!
Maybe
Got Miraval Austin, Maldives, Al Maha, Yellowstone, Seattle, Chicago, all by the end of May.
You’ll be busy!
12 months, 12 countries for as close to 1 month each as possible. But that’s already expanded a bit to around 15 countries, and 2 will only be for a week each – Mauritius and Seychelles.
DJ – highly recommend a trip out to this island from Mauritius’ main island for some interesting history and nature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele_aux_Aigrettes
You haven’t been to Israel yet?!?!? HIGHLY recommended to all types of travelers!!! You have history, nature, beaches, culture, foodies, etc!!
Daniel is right. The Apartheid is tough to swallow but Israel has superb culture, food, and history.
I have intentionally avoided going to Israel in order to not have to lie / hide it when visiting other countries.
Share My plan 2022!!
First trip plan set.
First leg, Stockholm , Sweden ( hopefully Hammerfest, Norway) Finnair Business Class Los Angeles (LAX) to Stockholm (ARN)
Second leg, Stockholm(ARN) SAS Scandinavian Airlines business class to Amsterdam connection Turkish Airlines business class to Istanbul(IST)
Third leg, Istanbul (IST) to Athens (ATH) Turkish Airlines economy class
Fourth leg, Athens (ATH) to Budapest (BUD) Aegean Airlines economy class
Fifth leg, Budapest (BUD) to London (LHR) British Airways business class connection British Airways London (LHR) to Seattle(SEA) business class , connection Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle to Los Angeles (LAX)
Second plan set.
First leg, Los Angeles (LAX) to Helsinki(HEL)
Finnair business class
Second leg, Helsinki(HEL) to Warsaw(WAW)
Third leg, Warsaw to Przemyśl train
Fourth leg, Cracow-Krakow(KRK) to Budapest (KRK) LOT Airlines Economy class
Fifth leg, Budapest (BUD) to Doha (DOH) Qatar Airways business class.
Sixth leg, Doha (DOH) to Los Angeles (LAX) Qatar Airways business class.
(Considering change route from Doha to São Paulo Qatar Airways business class and final flight from São Paulo to Los Angeles American Airlines)
I’d dearly love to hear the details on how you found award space and mileage costs on these epic trips.
check daily to grab seat one way segment especially business and first class from Alaska Airlines , American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Iberia over their own frequent flyer programs (all are OneWorld alliance) to book for Alaskaair, American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair and Qatar Airways. For StarAlliance to grab seats from United Airlines Frequent Flyer for Aegean Airlines, LOT, SAS and Turkish Airlines.
The Finnair business class is what stunned me in particular. They are legendarily parsimonious about releasing business class award space. The rest is just wondering about prices, open jaws, and stopovers. Those are awfully nice trips. Congrats!
Finnair business class seat is very hard to grab from Alaskaair and American Airlines one seat per day ! Ironically to booking at Cathay Pacific Asia Miles can book more than one Finnair business class seats.
When I flew Finnair biz a few months ago, I was seeing lots of availability from Alaska’s site (I booked about a week or two before flying). Just in case that helps.
La Jo – sounds fun! Enjoy your trips.