You’d think that picking your next travel vacation destination would be a breeze, right? It’s the first place you think that you’d want to go to relax, have an adventure, get away from it all, take pictures, and knock things off of your bucket list. But on second thought, there’s a ton of places that could fit that description! And, there’s also the financial consideration …

But, you still want to pick using the simplest way possible, so that you come to the right conclusion with the least amount of stress and anxiety. The following methods will help you do exactly that.

Official Sources

Check out official sources of information about your desired destination. This means researching the most factual resources possible, including travel books, Wikipedia, magazines like National Geographic, or even encyclopedias. The benefit of official sources of information is that they tend to stick with facts rather than opinions, and don’t have the advertising gimmicks that are included in many other methods of transferring information from the external environment into your immediate consciousness.

Trending Topics

If you go onto social media and check out trending topics, that’s a great way to choose your next vacation as well. You can see in real-time what people are saying about various places, and often it’s totally unmoderated, which means you get a set of raw sample data about all kinds of destinations. You can see what people are twittering about at ski resorts on the West Coast, or what Facebook discussions are happening regarding Mexican cruises. And specifically looking at trending data will tend to give you the most up to date reviews with the least whitewashing. Of course, you should pick activities that you also want to try out and not just because they are trending. Say you’ve always wanted to fly in a private aircraft (or a fighter jet), and your research brings you to the website of a perfect place like a flight academy (spitfires.com/) that offers these rides-you should definitely pick that destination and go for it. This has more to do with your interests than what’s trending.

Off-Season Deals

If your budget is your top priority, then finding the next vacation should be as easy as looking up off-seasons deals and jumping on them when they’re the least expensive. This is a fantastic way to see some areas of the world when they aren’t at peak tourist season as well.

Ask Your Friends and Family

Another simple method for choosing a vacation is to ask your friends and family what their favorite spots have been in the past. Look at their photo albums. Listen to their stories. If you don’t have a better idea of a location, why not go for a place that already has some data attached to it?

Be Entirely Random

A finally way to simply choose your type and location of next vacation is to just pick randomly. This doesn’t mean go somewhere dangerous! It just means that instead of trying to pick using known variables, aim for the excitement of illogic. Have a dozen viable options, and then pick one out of a hat, deciding in advance that you’ll accept whatever pops up.