Alright, so
the other day, Lee requested that I create him an outline of my travel planning
process so that he could plan a trip for me one day. Boy, he didn’t know how
long I’d been waiting for him to say that! Happily, I wrote down my thought
process and made it very detailed to make it easiest for him. I then sent it to
my mother, for a laugh, since it ended up being so long. She actually liked it
and thought it would be useful to other people! Some of my friends said that
too so I decided to try it out! I think it’s pretty comprehensive but if
anybody has things they would like me to add, let me know!
Also, I am
happy to help with travel planning for anyone. I know how daunting it can be
and weirdly, it’s pretty fun for me! Just give me a shout and my travel OCD
will be at work for you! ;)
How to Plan
a Trip
1. Figure out where you are going
·
Determine
dates and length of trip
o
Is
it a city trip?
o
It
is an outdoors trip?
o
Roadtrip?
o
June
or October?
o
Two
weeks or two full days?
·
Google
variations of “where to travel in January”
o
Big
cities are generally good all year
o
If
doing an outdoor trip, season is very important
·
If
you have an idea of where you want to go already, google “Rome in January” and
see what the search brings up
o
Is
it an outdoor location that would be cold and rainy?
o
Hurricanes/typhoons/cycloons/monsoons?
o
Is
it jellyfish season?
o
Has
there been lots of terrorist attacks?
·
Go
on to “skyscanner” and search “London to everywhere”
o
Locations
with fantastic prices?
·
Pick
a few ideas of locations that would be possible in the amount of time given
o
Ex:
You can’t do a trip to Greece in two days
2. Start some basic research on few
locations
·
Google
variations of “how long to spend in Venice” or “how many days in Venice”
o
Take
the general consensus into account but also think of your experiences in previous
trips
§ Do you get bored being somewhere too
long unless there is a ton to do?
§ Are you happy with just wandering
small towns or do you need direction, ideas of what to do?
·
Keep
narrowing down, as much as possible
·
Do
a quick search on “skyscanner.com” for length of flight and prices
o
Determine
if flight time in accordance with drive time to flight is too long for the
length of trip
·
Do
a quick search on “booking.com” for hotel prices
o
I
only look at hotels that are rated minimum of 8 and have more than 10 reviews
·
Look
on TripAdvisor for cities
o
Look
under attractions
3. At this point, you should be narrowed
down for best location during the time period/length
4. Book either hotel or flight (or
train) first, whichever you think has the best price at the time that you don’t
want to miss. Then book the other
5. Booking the flight
·
Search
on skyscanner.com
·
Determine
the best time to fly
o
Are
you doing a long flight that requires a red eye?
o
What
shift are you working?
o
Typical
hotel checkin is at 3pm (but most will allow baggage storage)
·
Which
airport?
o
Is
there an airport that is an hour away from location vs one that is 20 minutes?
o
If
there is, is the travel time worth it if the price is much better?
·
Make
sure to look at arrival time, different time zones
·
Check
if a layover is needed, then check to make sure it’s long enough or not super
crazy long
o
I
prefer layovers to be about 2 hours, it gives time for flight to be late and
going through customs again, if needed
·
How
much luggage do you need? Is it just carryon or a long trip with hold luggage?
6. Booking the train (in UK)
·
Go
to nationalrail.co.uk
·
Search
to location one way (two one way tickets are generally cheaper than one return)
·
Check
amount of time for changing trains, if needed
·
Scroll
through a few times, once searched, as there can be huge price changes
especially in off peak times
·
Underneath
the “buy now” button, click “other tickets” just in case there’s a cheaper
price there
·
Seat61.com
gives great information on train travel
7. Booking the train (out of UK)
·
Check
seat61.com for information on trains
o
It
will tell you if pre-booking is necessary or not
o
It
will often tell you the exact website to book for out of country train tickets
and give step by step instructions
8. Booking the hotel/apartment
Do
you want a large hotel or small personalized one?
All
inclusive or not?
Apartment
or hotel?
o
Check
TripAdvisor
§ Sort by “ranking” for best hotels in
area, keeping in mind the amount of reviews. If it only has 50 reviews and is
ranked number one, but the one at number 2 has 2000, make sure to check both
§ At least rated 4
§ Good amount of reviews and good
reviews
§ Use the sorting options for things
you want in a hotel
§ Check location and price
§ Look through “traveler pictures”
§ Also, look for same things as
booking.com
§ Check actual hotel website for more
details on hotel
o
Check
booking.com
§ Again, at least a rating of 8 and 10
reviews
§ Location is generally most important
v Want to be close to attractions
v Close to public transport
§ Read reviews, look for safety and
cleanliness
§ Free breakfast is always a perk
§ Do the pictures look nice?
§ Is there a fridge?
§ Luggage storage?
§ One you find a hotel that looks good,
cross reference it on TripAdvisor. They generally have more reviews, I prefer
their rating to be at least a 4
o
Check
airbnb.com
§ Create an account
§ After you start the search, before
you start looking at places, make sure to check “entire place” and put in price
range (unless you’re ok with the other options)
§ The more the reviews, the better!
§ Their rating is shown when you
actually click on an apartment, the rating should be at least a 4.5
§ After clicking the apartment and
seeing the good score, click through the pictures
§ Does it look clean? Fridge?
Microwave? Free wi-fi?
§ In the description, check for key
words of location, you want it center and safe
§ Read reviews, make sure there aren’t
any saying it is unsafe, in a bad location. Make sure they confirm that it is a
good location for sites
§ Scroll to near the bottom, you will
see “about the host.” Host should have a high response rate and fast. A
verified ID is good along with references and reviews.
9. Car rental
·
USAA.com
for military
o
Under
“our products” tab, go under “shopping and discounts” and click “travel
discounts”
·
For
non-military or just for second prices
o
Check
websites like expedia, Travelocity, etc.
10. Getting between locations
·
Use
seat61.com for info on train travel. Do you have to prebook?
·
Use
Rome2rio.com for a general idea on best way to travel. Check length of time and
estimated prices
·
Airport/train
station to hotel
o
Can
you walk? Metro? Train? Taxi? Hotel have a shuttle?
§ Use rometorio.com
·
Getting
between cities
o
Use
rome2rio.com again
o
Fly?
Train?
o
Cost?
11. Cruises
·
Check
cruisecritic.com for cruises then easy access to reviews
·
Check
usaa, expedia, iglucruise.com or the cruise brands themselves’ websites like
Norweigen or Celebrity, for example
·
Cruisecritic.com
for cruise reviews and information on packages and the ships themselves
·
Make
sure to look at ports and amount of time on water. You want less time on water
and ports are the most important part
·
Check
what you can do at the ports
12. Insurance
·
If
it’s a big trip, buy trip insurance.
·
There
is specialized military insurance on USAA
13. Creating your itinerary
·
Use
TripAdvisor attractions
·
Create
an itinerary on tripomatic.com-gives good idea of travelling time between
attractions
·
Make
sure to cluster attractions each day so they’re close together
·
Book
any tickets that need prebooking
o
Read
reviews of attractions on tripadvisor, they will normally tell you if you
should prebook attraction tickets
·
Consider
amount of time needed at attractions. Example, the Tower of London requires
more time than visiting Tower Bridge
14. Booking tours
·
Tours
are a great way to get information on huge locations
·
For
example, Rome is a place you should get tours since it has thousands of years
of history in its streets or if it’s somewhere that you’re not quite
comfortable alone at
·
Do
you want private tour? Small group? Or larger group?
·
Use
tripadvisor.com again
o
Search
location then click “attractions”
o
Under
attractions, there is a tab on top that says “activities,” click that
o
This
tab will have tours with reviews
·
Always
check google too. Search “best tours in Rome”
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