Everyone loves a perfect vacation. But, planning for a holiday trip may sound like a daunting task with lots of responsibilities and work. Isn’t it true?
Planning a vacation requires work. The goal is to make the travel planning fun and not an anxiety-inducing exercise. If you have the right tools and apps, and you know where to look for information, then travel planning can be pretty simple and surprising as well.
How To Plan A Perfect Vacation
Whether you’re flying to a tropical paradise or heading to a party destination, a well-planned trip will leave everyone happy and with good memories!
In today’s world, we are quite fortunate that we have faster and cheaper flights, cruises, better roads and high-speed rail. We live in an era, where traveling is both cheaper and accessible.
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Tips for Perfect Vacation
It is true that some travel challenges are obvious (no matter where you travel to), such as affordability, a limited number of holidays, airport security hassles, tourist crowds, and safety. But, in this digital age, you are your own travel agent, and you decide the budget and control your trip itinerary.
Read Next: How Technology Improves Travel
It may be initially overwhelming to process all the information. That said, with our step-by-step guide, you’ll get the travel planning and preparation done in half the time and no stress.
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1. Decide Where You Want To Go
Various choices are lying in front of you while you are in a state of deciding the best holiday destination. Isn’t it true guys? Giving a chance to your dreams is what life is all about. You should think about those places, which you haven’t been to but always think about.
Related: The Ultimate Travel Bucket List
A lot of people will talk about their preferences for traveling and gives their ideas to you. They never say where they are exactly going, but will share their experience with you.
Choosing a destination is vital and helps in setting your goals. To make the process easy, browse through various options, select the place as per your affordability and range, and finally, gives a full stop to your thinking.
Why Pre-planning?
Most of the people don’t know how much trouble they are going to face when they didn’t have a perfect plan for them. Just getting an idea and pursing on that is not enough, rather you need to think out of the box to have a memorable trip ever. Here are some steps to follow and to fulfill the dreams.
2. Decide on Length of the Trip
The cost of the trip depends on the duration of the trip. Initially, you may not have the idea on how much your trip will cost in total, but if you selected your destination and how many days, you’ll begin to get an idea on how much money your trip may cost you.
Also, knowing the length of your trip helps you plan and schedule activities in advance which is what you ideally want to do.
3. Search for Better Rates
When you are planning a trip, there are lots of things to consider. Oftentimes people don’t search enough and don’t do some basic homework, like reading the reviews, comparing prices, etc. Most of us book everything in the first attempt. Call it laziness or short on time. Point is, please don’t be that person.
You don’t want to pay more for things, at every step, right? Especially, when you may have the option of getting discounts or just better rates! Don’t book the first result that pops up or you will regret your decisions later.
If you are done with step 1 and 2, next, start searching for flights, car rentals, accommodation, tours and travel activities, and compare the options presented. Take your time. Do not rush. Try to go through at least four or five options before booking anything.
You want to do this, because sometimes you may find a discount code, or simply a better alternative for same or lesser price.
4. Create Lists
Let’s all agree that human memory is unreliable. Having a list helps us plan and prepare well. Make list for everything, such as, what to pack, your trip itinerary (which places on which day, and in which order), what to carry, and heck, even which photo poses to do.
Make your lists precise. A good list is detailed and complete. Lists are effective if you have made and tested them before. If this is your first time making a list, start with the most important things. Then add to it as you remember new things to add.
Lastly, make sure to print your list or else it will just quietly sit in your notebook or in your laptop.
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Tips for Travel Activities Planning
If you are making a list of points of interest, activities to do, etc., you may want to mark such points on a map. This way, you can see which places are nearby, and how many can be covered in a day.
Also, you may want to rank them as per your preferences and write down your favorite places within that vicinity. This will save time on your trip and you won’t miss a key attraction just because you didn’t know it was there or simply forgot.
You can print the map or it could be in the form of a list or could be even hand-drawn. The idea here is to be better organized.
5. Read the Reviews
In this technology-prone era, everything is possible to get at your fingertips. When you are new to a town, you probably don’t have much knowledge about the place. Before you sign-up for any trip, go to a bar or restaurant, buy tickets, check the reviews people are giving genuinely, and then decide whether you should continue or drop the idea.
Reviews also help in guiding you about the safety of places, and it also gives you additional details about the locality, culture, language, and much more.
6. Book Your Tickets Before Time
You need to plan your trip before time so that you will not face issues regarding tickets. Though it is possible to get the tickets within no time, there are certain chances that you may find difficulties.
And if you have children with you on the journey, then sudden booking should be avoided as there will be lots of risks and uncertainties. For example, you would want everyone in your group or family to have seatings together in a row.
7. Buy Foreign Currency
When you are traveling to a foreign country, make sure that you have their currencies with you. You can collect the currencies from your banks or at currency exchange stalls at various malls or at the destination airport.
8. Pack Light (Carry Less)
It is always a good idea to carry only what you’ll need for your travel. First, besides difficulties in handling a lot of luggage during the journey, there is always a chance that your luggage may get lost or delayed, and second, if you travel with just a carry-on, you don’t have to wait for the baggage claim.
Additional benefits of traveling light are that you’ll spend less money on your flight ticket, you’ll be able to walk faster, easily lift or haul your luggage, and overall feel less exerted. This saves time and headache.
Moreover, you don’t have to always call a taxi to just go to the next block. Smaller luggage makes you less confined. Plus, you don’t have to constantly watch your luggage for potential theft in a crowded city.
Besides packing light, you should also make sure to check the size of the bags allowed on the flight, and read their restrictions as well.
Read More: How to Pack and Travel Light
9. Get No-Fee ATM Cards
Save some extra cash by using a no-fee ATM card from your bank or by getting it from a bank that issues such a card. This way, one, you don’t have to carry a lot of cash on you when you travel, and two, you don’t have to pay extra ATM fee every time you take cash out.
10. Book Your Accommodation
Once you are done with the flights and car rental booking, trip itinerary and activities schedule, now is the time to book your accommodations according to your travel plan. You would want to book something closer to the airport (or train station), but you also want to be in a safe area, and as well as closer to the local attractions.
Book everything at least a few weeks ago, if not a month or two ahead of your travel dates. Note, last minute booking will always cost you more.
11. Buy Travel Insurances
Travel insurances are important and something which you may need on the trip. You never know what unexpected things may happen before or during your trip. Oftentimes, there can be work or health-related issues may cause you to change your travel dates.
If you are traveling abroad, it is good to have medical insurance as well. Having insurance is mainly for the peace of mind and to cover for any unexpected scenarios which we all wish, may never happen to us. Knock on wood!
12. Enjoy your trip
Get the planning done, cross your checklists, head to the airport, and enjoy the time as much as you can. Vacations are meant to turn-off your everyday worries and enjoying your self. Leave office or school work at home and just carry your dreams and excitement!
Read Next: How to Protect and Maintain Your Skin When Traveling
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About the Author
Evelyn Clark is one of the reputed authors who love to write about his traveling experiences. Her views inspire many young souls as reality and fun are reading the blogs. She has been writing the blogs for years and aims to motivate people to have a trip with their loved ones. The author believes time will never come back, so you need to enjoy every single bit of it. She is currently working with Holiday Home Rentals Company in Dubai.
June 16, 2018 1:17 pm Leave your thoughts