If you’re considering an extended multi-destination or around-the-world journey chances are you’ve got a pretty advanced sense of adventure and a strong personality to boot.  The first part of deciding where you want to go on your trip is to determine your traveling “personality”, that is, how you identify yourself as a traveler, your overriding pastime, your modus operandi even.

We’ve pinpointed a series of traveling personalities to help establish an identity that will create an overarching theme for your trip, a way to help divide up the world into those places you should see and those that aren’t as worthy of your time.

ADVENTUROUS – Bungee jumping in New Zealand. Running with the bulls in Pamplona. Dancing until 6 in the morning in Berlin. Heliskiing from the top of a mountain in Banff. Boating down the Amazon. These are the activities of an adventure traveler.

National Geographic recently published a list of the top adventure tour operators worldwide that may be worth a look.  Of course, you don’t need to be a part of a tour to have an adventure, but if you’re not sure what adventure travel means or if you just want an idea of what kind of companies do operate tours, that’s a great place to start.

Recommended destinations: New Zealand, Brazil rainforest, Bolivia, Nepal/Tibet, Tanzania, India.

ROMANTIC – A perfect sunset on a secluded beach in the Seychelles. Gondola rides in Venice. A honeymoon for the storybooks. Travel can be an amazing way to connect with your partner, or even meet someone new! Here’s Travel and Leisure’s list of the 50 most romantic places to help you get a sense of what’s out there. The notion of taking off to far-flung places is a romantic idea in itself, so grab a bottle of wine and check out the sunset from the caldera in Santorini.

Recommended spots: Santorini, Venice, Paris, Buenos Aires, Goa, Bali, Phuket, Fiji, Tahiti.

INTELLECTUAL – Broadening your internal traveler’s encyclopedia. Art, culture and history. Days filled with museums, archeological sites, groundbreaking architecture and traditional experiences. If these thing are your style, the world awaits. There are destinations all over the world that will cater to the student inside you.

Recommended regions: Europe, India, Japan, Machu Picchu, Istanbul, Cairo.

FIRST TIME TRAVELER – Will this be your first time traveling internationally? A little nervous about flying overseas? Concerned that you don’t know what you don’t know? There are places much less of a cultural shock to ease you into the world at large.

Recommended stops: London, Paris, Rome, Costa Rica, Australia, New Zealand.

DANGER JUNKIE - Live on the edge. Explore the off the beaten path destinations. Your ideal trip includes Ghana, possible brushes with the FARC in Colombia, or meeting some Maoist rebels in Nepal. Robert Pelton is your personal idol. You’re a risk taker and feel better finding destinations that give you the thrills you desire. Of course, we caution our travelers to read US State department warnings, as well as the warnings posted by other nations (many warnings can be colored by political agendas).

Recommended stops: Tibet, Colombia, Uganda, Papua New Guinea.

ALL OR NONE OF THE ABOVE - Many people want to include elements of every different type of travel in their around the world experience, and we certainly encourage you to do so. The best way to prepare for an extended journey is to be completely honest with yourself about what you want to accomplish and how you want to experience the world. The truth is that most travelers have some elements of all of the things we mentioned above in their ideal travel experience. It’s important to think about this aspect of your trip, not just what cities you want to visit or on what airlines you’ll be flying.

Need more help? Here’s another great article on the subject by Vagabondish.

Now that you’ve decided on your traveling personality, the next step is to settle on your traveling style.