Where Next?

After beginning to seriously travel occasionally since 2010, I have been blessed to be given the opportunity to travel to so many interesting and beautiful places. Some of those places were indeed my dream places such as Bali, Bandung, New Zealand and Melbourne.

After 6 years of traveling, you'd think that the the list of destinations would get less, but no way. The list just seems to add more and more. There will always be more destinations to explore, more places to visit, so the question is where next?

Over the 6 years of traveling, I have learned that I no longer travel for purposes like shopping and I no longer dig places with too many buildings. For me, it feels a little overwhelming and overrated. Hence how do I choose my next destination. Do I choose a place with more beautiful sceneries or a place with beaches? So many places to visit...

Since there are just too many locations to cover and see in this world, and I don't really know whether I would have the time and finances to cover it all, I have came out with a strategy.

Each year, I would focus on a big trip and then maybe 2, or 3 smaller trips (depending on money and time). Last year, I had extra budget and alhamdulillah managed to do 3 huge trips. I went to Beijing in April for 8 days, then in October went to New Zealand (both North and South Islands) for 21 days and to Australia (Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney) for 13 days from December to January this year.

This year my big trip was to perform my umrah in Mekah and Madinah, Saudi Arabia for 11 days last April to May. Ever since umrah, I have been thinking of places to visit before end year.

My other strategy would also be, to try visit friends from around the world. Not only will I get to meet and catch up with them, but I get to visit their places as well. It was really fun last year when I visited friends in New Zealand and Australia. So far, I already have friends and family in South Korea, Canada, Spain and South Africa. Insha Allah I am saving up for Spain next year. 

So what I have decided in the next few months left of this year is to visit places around my country which does not cost too much. Since a lot of my budget went to last year's trips, this year I decided to be more frugal due to the instability of the world economy.

I was making a list of the places that I have visited and have not visited, and realized that I've never finished visiting my whole country yet. The only place left yet to be visited will be Sabah. A few years ago, I did purchase tickets with friends to Sipadan Island. Sipadan is known to be one of the most beautiful islands in the world. With its' crystal and pristine clear water and beautiful underwater reefs it was definitely a sight to behold.

Unfortunately due to unavoidable reasons I could not make it to the said trip. And now, after so long, I am really considering of visiting Sabah before end year. I was also considering Lombok or maybe even Boracay Island, but I do think that Sabah would be the perfect choice.

What do you guys think?? Please leave a comment..