Are you a newbie, when it comes to travel planning? Having difficulties in planning a trip, even though you’re an experienced traveler? Whether you’re a seasoned backpacker or someone who’s traveling abroad for the first time, these informative tips guarantee to make travel planning a simple as ABC. What’s more, the travel planning tip-offs shared in this post will help you save a fortune for your next trip.
1 The first step to travel planning
Don’t know where to start? In travel planning, the first and most important thing that you have to do is to pick a destination. I know, it sounds too obvious, but frankly there are a lot of people who vaguely talk about traveling, but they never say where they’re heading. All they know is that they are just going somewhere. As far as I’m concerned, picking a destination is extremely important, as it will give you a foundation, as well as a goal to work on.
2 Be specific when picking a destination
When it comes to choosing a destination, you need to be as specific as possible. Being specific with your destination not only makes your trip easier to commit to and more concrete, but it also makes travel planning a lot easier. Trust me, travel planning is a breeze when you choose Paris over France, or Los Angeles over the entire state of California.
3 Read before you choose a destination
Having problems in choosing a destination for your next escapade? There are literally thousands of travel blogs and websites that suggest experiences, trips, venues and places, making it even more difficult for people to choose the perfect destination for their next trip. To make things simpler on your end, we’ve compiled a few resources online that will help you choose your next destination.
4 Ask opinions from other travelers
There are plenty of online groups and communities with real travelers that can give you a good picture of the place where you want to go. Visit these groups, and get some honest words of advice from your fellow travelers. Unlike some travel blogs and websites, these people won’t sugarcoat things, and they would only share real experiences.
5 Other things to keep in mind when choosing a destination
When travel planning and picking a destination, make sure to keep in mind the following things:
- The climatic and weather conditions of the place you want to go
- Demerits and merits of your destination
- Types of diversions and recreation available, such as shopping, culture, beaches, etc
- Clothes suitable for your next destination
- How remote and far away from civilization is your preferred destination
6 Choosing a date of your trip – an essential part of travel planning
Choosing a date for your adventure and vacation is truly essential, as far as travel planning. It, after all, determines a ton of different things, including your schedule as well as length of trip. Once you have a date in mind, you will be able to determine how much time you will be away from your work. Plus, it will help you craft a schedule for your vacation that won’t interfere with any special events in your family, city, company or club.
In addition to your own constraints, there are a few other global factors that you need to consider, when travel planning and choosing a date for your trip, including
- Season – Do you want to travel during the off-season or when the tourism is booming? With off-season travel, you get to enjoy huge discounts and bargains for your flights, accommodations as well as admissions to museums and attractions. It, however, also means reduced availability and closed doors on some restaurants, attractions and venues.
- Weather – Do you feel comfortable traveling during the rainy or winter season? How about when it is muggy and hot?
- Ticket prices – When is the cheapest time to fly to your destination?
7 Research your trip’s costs
Done picking a destination? Do you already know how long you’ll be traveling? Then, your next travel planning task is to do some research regarding the costs of your trip at the travel style that you want. Do you want to stay in deluxe hotels or would you rather backpack, couchsurf or sleep in hostels? How much do the attractions, restaurants, hotels and bars cost?
Whether you a budget-conscious backpacker or a lavish socialite, you should compute and estimate all the possible costs in your trip, so that you will be able to know how much cash you will need to save to fulfill your trip.
8 Save money for your trip
With the estimated travel budget already sorted out, it is now time for you to move on into the next phase of travel planning, and that is saving money for your trip. While saving money for a trip may seem a tall order in today’s fast-paced life, it is in reality very simple and easy. All you have to do is to write down all your expenses, and determine where you’re spending most of your money, so you can figure out a way to cut back.
If, for instance, you need $1,000 for a trip you’re going to take in four months, it means you need to save only $ 8.33 a day. How can you save around $8 a day? Just try to cut back on your unnecessary small purchases, such as those extra cups of coffee and one-dollar snacks. Also, learn how to cook and eat more often at home. Though restaurants are awesome, they can leave a serious a dent to your budget.
For more money-saving tips, make sure to check out 20 sure-fire ways to help your travel funds grow.
9 Get a credit card that offers travel rewards
As you work on saving money for your trip, get a travel rewards credit card, to earn a sign-up bonus, which you can use to redeem points and miles for free hotel stays and flights. Travel credit cards, for the most part, have bonuses of 50,000 miles or points when you meet their spending requirement, which is usually around a thousand dollars within a period of three months. 50,000 miles, honestly, is quite a lot, and is enough to give you a free airline ticket to almost anywhere in the planet. Not bad, right?
10 Fuel your wanderlust
From solo travel planning tips to ultra cool films, we have a ton of sources to fuel your wanderlust. Here are a few of our blogs that will surely inspire you to travel.
11 Check for any last-minute deals
Before you book a hotel and buy a flight, make sure to check any last minute deals. Who knows? You might find amazing flight deals to Tokyo, Dubai, Bangkok or Berlin. Likewise, you can could score bargained deals for sailing trips in Greece, or get a huge discount on a 7-day cruise to Hawaii.
12 Book your airline tickets via travel rewards
After receiving your sign-up bonus and using your travel rewards credit card, the next thing you have to do is to use your points or miles to book your airline tickets. Since it’s pretty hard to book flights via credit card miles nowadays (due to the less flights availability), we suggest that book as early as possible, to score the flights that you want.
13 Visit websites that help you find cheap airfare
Don’t have enough credit card points? Don’t worry, as there are a number of websites that can help you find cheap airline tickets, including:
To get the best and cheapest airline deals, make sure to book them a couple of months in advance.
14Look for cheap accommodations at Trekeffect
The next phase of travel planning is to book your accommodations in Trekeffect. From hostels and inns to ritzy five-star hotels, Trekeffect can help you find the best deals for the accommodations that suit perfectly to your budget and taste.
15Consider apartment rentals and hospitality websites
Reach out to people on hospitality websites, such as BeWelcome and Couchsurfing, and ask them politely if they can be your host for a few days. Make sure to contact them in advance, so they will have ample time to plan your visit as well as arrange their schedule. In addition, you might want to consider Wimdu, Airbnb and other apartment rental websites.
16Travel planning for free with Trekeffect
Travelers usually spend months scouring the internet, just to sort out the activities that they want to do in their trip. But the thing is, you don’t need exert a great deal of time and effort in this aspect of travel planning. With Trekeffect, you can easily and instantly create a blueprint of the things that you want to do in your trip, even if you have little to no experience in travel planning. As a matter of fact, you can complete a 3-day travel itinerary with Trekeffect in 10 minutes or less. And the best part of this travel planning app is that you can use it without spending a dime.
17Automate all your bills
Traveling overseas for a few months? Go paperless and get rid of your traditional mail by creating an online bill payment set-up, to make sure you won’t miss anything while you’re traveling.
18 Pack early
Start thinking of what to bring for your trip at least a couple of weeks before you leave.
19 Invest in a travel insurance policy
No one wants to pay premium rates for something that may never happen, but let’s face it, everyone needs some sort of medical protection when traveling. And besides, a travel insurance policy does so much more than covering your medical expenses. It practically covers your stolen baggage, broken personal belongings as well as cancelled flights.
