6 bucket-list trips you need to book a year in advance

Remote destinations like Antarctica and Easter Island often take additional planning time.Zephyr_p/Shutterstock/Volodymyr Goinyk/Shutterstock/Alfred Kiesling/EyeEm/Getty Images

• Trips to places like Easter Island or the Galápagos Islands can take months, if not years, to plan.
• Research shows that people are happiest when they have a vacation planned.
• People can use the additional free time they have right now to plan a train getaway across Japan or a cruise to Antarctica.

While vacations might not be taking place in the short term, there's good news.

Psychologists and researchers have discovered that the planning and anticipation of a trip can be almost as rewarding as the trip itself.

A Cornell University study compared the happiness from anticipating an experience versus material goods. The anticipation from an experience — like a trip — left people substantially happier. A different study by the University of Surrey, found that people are happiest when a vacation is on the horizon.

So, while you might not be packing a suitcase, you can still plan a trip.

Whether there's a specific Airbnb you want to visit, a bucket-list item you need to check off, or a hard-to-reach destination on your mind, there's an abundance of vacations that require months of planning in advance.

Pull up a spreadsheet or grab a notebook and start planning one of these dream getaways for when tourism resumes.