In our family, October 31st marks the beginning of Christmas music season. I have spent years carving my pumpkin on Halloween with Christmas music playing in the background. This year was no different…other than it was the first year that I carved a pumpkin alone on Halloween because all of our kids have successfully launched into adulthood. A little bittersweet, but the pumpkin carving show must go on…

I just returned back from the Philippines where they have a most fascinating approach to celebrating the Christmas season. They have something called the “ber” months. That relates to all months ending in -ber being the months of the Christmas season. So from September to December you’ll see Christmas decorations and hear Christmas music playing everywhere. I will tell you that I am quite a big fan of this tradition. The reason we start listening to Christmas music on Halloween is because I want to enjoy the music for more than just one month.

Which brings me to the point of my post. I have missed a few weeks of content because of travel in Cambodia and the Philippines. I was busy experiencing the best of what I try to inspire others to on this website: Embrace travel and create adventure. I travel to Mexico and Spain yet this month and then I find myself settling in for a few weeks before leaving on Christmas Day to gather with my family in Paris to celebrate Christmas together. The only way that this amazing Christmas experience is possible because of the time and energy I spend in one of my favorite hobbies: Travel Hacking.

Travel is more attainable than we can ever imagine. The family Christmas in Europe idea was birthed over a year ago by my kids, and because of travel hacking, I was able to leverage our everyday spending and jumping on bonus offers to make round-trip airfare to Paris only $83 a ticket. And Air BnB is the game changer in finding a place to stay for less than you would spend in a hotel.

Here’s my question for you today: Where is your dream destination? The follow-up question is this: When will you make pursuing that dream a priority? The difference between dreams and goals is simply this: Action. Choose a goal today that will begin to move you towards your travel dream becoming a reality.

You may not have a travel dream that includes celebrating Christmas with your family in an international setting. That is ok, because that was not necessarily a dream our family had. The goal of Christmas in Paris grew out of the reality that we have two kids living in Europe at the moment and we wanted to take our third kid with us to have one more Christmas together as a family. That is the beauty of travel. It creates moments and memories. All I want for Christmas this year is a family photo in front of the Eiffel Tower. The shift from that dream to reality was simply devising a plan to earn the miles needed.

In 2020, make your travel dream a reality. Keep your eyes posted on an upcoming webinar I will be hosting that will teach you the basics of Travel Hacking. It could be the jumpstart you need to make 2020 the year your travel dream becomes a travel memory!