Couple goes viral with game to pick their next holiday destination

Fun destination-picking process gets 5.8 million views

The elaborate system inspired plenty of Ms Machado’s followers (TikTok/EveMachadorn)

A nurse and her husband have gone viral after sharing the original way they pick their next holiday destination on the video-sharing platform TikTok.

Eva Machado, who has more than 40,000 followers on the social media site, posted a clip of her and her partner playing a game in a beer garden to decide which country or city they would travel to next.

“We made this up years ago. Highly suggest!!!” she captioned the post.

“We have a really weird way of picking where we go on trips,” Ms Machado added.

She explains that she and her partner each pick three places, one of which has to be within six hours’ drive of their home; one has to be within the US or Canada (they’re based in North America); and the third has to be international.

The couple demonstrates how they put all six ideas, written on Post-It notes, into an empty pint glass.

“We then pick them out one by one – we have no idea what each other picked – and then the last one standing is the one we go to on our trip,” explains Ms Machado.

In a time-lapse video, the pair then show how the game works, writing down their choices at dinner and putting them into an empty glass.

Ms Machado’s partner pulls out San Diego as the first suggestion, and they laugh as they realise they both chose the west coast city as one of their three.

Montreal, Canada, Richmond, Virginia and Croatia are each ruled out next.

The last Post-It left in the glass is an international choice – the couple unfurls it to confirm they’re going to Spain.

The video has already had 5.8 million views and attracted 879,000 likes, with many commenting to say they feel inspired to play the same game.

“That’s awesome!!! Watched with so much excitement,” wrote one.

“This is such a fun idea! This is what ‘no kids’ money looks like! I love it!” commented another.

“I love this!! I’m travelling the world and don’t have a partner, but might pick my next destination this way,” wrote travel TikToker @Aili.Likes.Adventure.

“I showed this video to my BF and now we’re playing this game for my 40th birthday trip,” wrote Brandi Smith.

A few followers felt the approach was too scattergun, reasoning that surely you either want a lower-cost domestic trip or a far-flung adventure.

“The eternal battle between going to Richmond, Virginia or Spain,” said one, drily.

“I feel like I would be disappointed every time,” wrote another user.

Seeing that both Eva and her partner had written the same city on this occasion, one asked: “If you both want to go to San Diego – maybe you should go to San Diego…?”