How to systematically find a place to go to for newbies [closed]

Since you're in Europe, I'll suggest a technique that used to apply to me when I lived in London:

Go to http://www.skyscanner.net/

Enter in LON in the From box.

Enter in the dates I want to travel.

DON'T enter a destination.

Hit go.

It would then present me with cheap flight deals to various countries. I'd then pick the cheapest one I'd not been to, say, Norway.

It then shows the cheapest flights to Norway. And I'd do some reading on the cities that it suggests. I could usually back myself to find cheap accommodation and stuff to do.

It added a feel of excitement not knowing entirely where I'd be going on my next trip, but still allowed me to control at least the region of a country and the other stuff that I'd do there.

To decide on what to do, I'd head to Wikitravel and read the high level info about the country or the city, as well as the climate, activities and sights - you may decide you just care about the climate, safety and costs that it mentions instead.

Then I'd book my flights and accommodation.

Finally, I'd look forward to my new holiday :D

One reason why there are so many travel-related websites out there is that what makes a good getaway/holiday/journey heavily depends on the individual's preferences. That means that what is important to you in finding your optimal destination, might not be important to others. And that means you'll be lucky to find a place where you can use exactly your criteria in finding your preferred destination.

You won't have to plow through whole libraries to get some understanding of the cost of living in different regions of the world, though. And if the cost of getting there is easy to determine, as you say, narrowing down your available choices shouldn't be too hard, while a very good start for reading up on your potential destinations are the summaries of articles on your destinations on Wikipedia and Wikitravel.

So, a systematic approach could be:

• Roughly determine how much you're willing to spend on getting there.
• Find destinations that are reasonably priced.
• Read up on the attractions of these destinations at Wikitravel and Wikipedia. This will also give you an idea of the cost of living and political stability.
• Narrow down your choices and purchase a few Lonely Planets of the few destinations that are left.
• Read up on your final few choices.
• Make a decision.

If you haven't been anywhere yet, then anywhere other than where you are now will be interesting. Lets try systematically.

There are about 180ish countries and half of them your going to score off as unsafe. So lets list them alphabetically and then cross of the ones that are unsafe. Now where there is more than one country per letter, cross out the furthest away. If there are still more than one country for some letters, remove the most expensive from that letter. By now you should have a list of 25 or 26 countries (there's not country starting with X). Start with the capital city of the A country and then B, C, D or randomize them.

Put a map on the wall, blindfold yourself and through a dart at it. If it lands in the sea or in a warzone, try again. Then go where the dart was. Try to get a close the exact point of the dart to ensure you go to somewhere off the tourist track.