Planning Trips

How do people plan/decide where they want to go on their next trip?  I am currently sending myself into a tizzy, trying to figure out where we will go for the upcoming big vacations (Christmas/New Year, Chinese New Year and Easter).  We obviously take into consideration activities, food, flights and any particularly good prices or deals - but even with all those factors, there still are so many enticing places!

In Hong Kong, the vast majority of people prefer to book their trips through travel agencies.  A person can't walk for more than a block here without passing a travel agency.  The biggest one seems to be Travel Expert, which in the past two months have opened not one but two new locations that are directly on my route to work (and this doesn't count the one that was already en route).  I pass another one, Flight Centre, on my way home from the yoga studio, and it beckons to me with new flight and hotel packages each time I pass. 

I am loath to use a travel agent, though, because I don't think they really provide me with much of a discount.  And I think I derive as much pleasure out of planning the trip as I do out of actually going on the trip.  It is so satisfying when I stumble upon the perfect connecting flight, or when I figure out what city to add and what city to remove to make the whole itinerary flow.  I can sit for hours compulsively checking websites for airfares, packages, departure times, best routes, miles charts and recommendations from fellow travelers. 

It's so magical when it all works out -- not to mention the anticipation as the big trip approaches!