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When's the best time to travel? The answer may surprise you.


The best time to travel to Catalina Island is always with  sunny skies and temperatures all year long. ©AlonzoWright
Is it the best time to visit Catalina Island? Middle Beach in Avalon looks like this all year round. ©AlonzoWright

You're likely thinking that September is the best time to travel, after all, the weather is beautiful virtually everywhere during that month. And you'd be right. The weather is pretty mild, it's less crowded and slightly more affordable. But maybe you're not looking for a specific month, you're looking for a season. My personal favorite time of year to travel is in autumn, but that's because I'm a sucker for amber and ruby leaves. But that may not work for you either, especially if you have kids and are limited to summer vacations. Summer travel can be overly crowded and very expensive because it's usually the high season, but the weather is nice. Yikes, while you're at it, you should probably be Googling when the rainy seasons are, you want to make sure you don't go during that time either. So when, exactly, is the best time to travel?


The answer is right now. Between your workload, your finances, your health, travel advisories, weekly schedules, and a whole other slew of catastrophic events that could happen, there's never a better time to travel than right now. Let me tell you why.


Even a foggy Lucerne, Switzerland is beautiful and mesmerizing, no matter what month it is, it's still the best time to travel there. ©AlonzoWright
You've waited so long to see Switzerland and it's cold and foggy. Oh, and turns out, it's still incredibly beautiful. ©AlonzoWright

Why there's no such thing as the best time to travel


The idea that there's a single best time to travel is absurd. Everyone’s tastes are different, so a desert rat who lives in Vegas (like me) won’t shrink from rainy season because I rarely experience it. But if you live in the Scottish Highlands where they consistently record the lowest annual sunshine in the UK, you may always be chasing summer. Sure, you could wait until the tulips bloom in Amsterdam, or for the Christmas lights to go up in London. But what happens if you wait all that time, and something pops up? The truth is, now's the best time to travel because something is always going to pop up.


You know what the biggest objections are to taking your vacation time each year? Time and money. When you were much younger than you are today, you had all the freedom and flexibility in the world...but you never felt like you had enough money to travel. You probably have a lot more money now than you did then, but you probably spend more too, and you definitely don't have the free time. Are you seeing a pattern yet?

September in Spain, often thought the best time to travel to that region, because of the golden vineyards and hilltop castle towns in the distance. ©AlonzoWright
September in Spain's Rioja wine region is filled with golden vineyards flanked by hazy hilltop villages. ©AlonzoWright

Henry Ford said, “whether you think you can or you think you can’t- you’re right.” That statement is true across the board. It’s not a problem with your money or how much time you can take off, it’s a problem with your mindset. The t