Going out on a holiday with my family

Family time. Great time. But it's always the same thing. Shopping, shopping shopping. And its the same place every year. I'm getting bored of it. I want to go somewhere special, like the sakura park in japan. Or just go somewhere a tourist would go other then just shopping malls and eating places. I would work to go somewhere else. But i doubt i can bring my family along. I don't really have a job with good pay. And i don't really have the experience of going overseas alone. What are some things that i need to take note before going overseas alone?