Over the years, I’ve gotten pretty proficient at trip planning. A few quick internet searches and clicks of the mouse, and I’ve got myself an adventure to look forward to on the other side of the world. Easy peasy.
Yet when I talk to friends who don’t travel often, I notice that for them, the idea of planning a trip–especially overseas–can often be intimidating and seem almost overwhelming. I hear so many people say “I want to go to X country but I need time to plan,” or, “Things are just too crazy right now to make this happen.” And that always makes me sad. It’s not really that complicated to plan a basic trip—hell, I’ll do it for you! I love all this stuff!
So I thought I would post a quick breakdown of all the usual things I do before an international trip, to show how relatively simple the process actually is. Here goes:
10 Quick and Easy Steps to Planning Your Dream Trip
- I have a passport, but if you don’t, obviously, you need to get one. Americans can visit state.gov for more information on how to do this. Make sure the passport you do hold is valid for at least six months after the planned end of your trip, as a lot of countries you may want to visit will insist on this.
The vast majority of countries most travelers want to visit won’t require a visa for a short stay, but there are exceptions (Russia, for example). Any guidebook should be able to fill you in on whether you need a visa and what to do to get one for your country of choice.
- Pick a place to go! This may be the easiest part of the process for you, or the most difficult. If there’s someplace you’ve been dying to go for ages, and it’s feasible for you to make a trip there now, go for it! If you’re not sure, maybe start by figuring out what parts of the world intrigue you most (Europe? Southeast Asia? South America?) and narrow down from there based on factors like cost, length of travel time, ease of infrastructure for travelers, and of course, if there’s anything special about a potential destination that really intrigues you. Personally I love this part of the planning process: so many possibilities! Get a map or a globe and take a look at what’s out there. We live in a big, fascinating world, and the prospect of discovering more of it is always exciting to me.
- Flights. Presumably if you go international, you’ll be flying. My go-to for flight comparisons is always cheaptickets.com. There are other general search engines (Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia) but Cheaptickets has proven over the years to be the most reliable source for the lowest fares. Use this as your starting point. Do a search between your local airport and the destination you’ve selected, keeping in mind that mid-week travel dates may be cheaper but also may result in fewer travel days if you don’t have two weekends sandwiching your trip. Ideally, you should start looking a few months before you’d like to travel in order to get a sense of the typical range of fares—you don’t need to book right away, but can wait to see if the price may drop in a bit. However, there are often good last-minute fares to popular destinations, and even two weeks or so out from potential trips I’ve found good deals; sometimes the prices start dropping as airlines attempt to fill up flights on less popular routes. It’s all more of an art than a science, but a basic Cheaptickets search will help you begin. (Although once you see fares for different airlines listed, you’ll probably want to buy direct from their own websites, which can often save you $20 or so).
It’s also a good idea to sign up for emails offering weekly travel deals. This can not only give you information on bargains, but over time it will give you a good idea of what types of fares or costs are typically considered good for the places you want to visit in the future. Sherman’s Travel and Travelzoo are two of my personal favorite travel deal emails; there are plenty of others as well.
- Hotel/hostel booking. Once you’ve booked your flight, it’s time to think of a place to stay. My first stop, when I’m traveling solo on a budget, is Hostel World (hostelworld.com). You can search for beds or private rooms in hostels, B&Bs, and smaller hotels in nearly any city in the world here. You select the days you want to stay, see a selection of hostel/hotel choices, and when you select one, pay a small online deposit of about 15 percent. The rest is generally payable when you arrive.
Of course, I don’t always go the hostel route. When I travel with a bit more cash or to a less-expensive country, I look for mid-price hotels which are a) in a good location; b) good value for money, and hopefully c) have something extra and fun, ie a pool, a good restaurant, maybe even a spa. You generally can’t have everything on a budget, but I’ve managed to stay in very nice hotels in places like Cape Town and Phuket for a relative steal. You can do a google search for hotels, but my personal recommendation is to look in a guidebook first, get a sense of well-regarded hotels in your price range, then go to their websites to check out current prices, deals, and availability, then book your room.
- Buy a guidebook. Another of my favorite parts of the planning process. Get yourself to a bookstore, find a good guide for your trip, and start reading up on the culture, history, and language of the place you’ll be visiting, as well as planning out the practical details of what to do, see, and eat.
Guidebooks may be old-school in our age of everything-online, but to me they’re invaluable. Sure, you can look up locations, hotels, and tours online, but I love having a whole book chock-full of advice, background, and history to pour over before and during my trip. I’m personally a fan of Lonely Planet, which is pretty much the only guidebook I ever buy, but there are loads of options on the bookstore shelves or amazon.com, so take some time to browse and figure out what style and brand of book works best for you.
It’s also important to figure out what type of guidebook you’ll need. For a quick weekend trip, a city guide will probably work best, and gives lots of in-depth information about the city you’ll be visiting that you won’t find in larger country guides. But if you’re going to be exploring throughout France or Italy or Greece, a country guide may be your best bet. If you’re sticking to a specific region of a country—Normandy, Andalusia, the Lake District in England—then you might opt for a region-focused guide. And finally, for a wide-ranging trip through Europe or Southeast Asia, a multi-country guide covering these regions, while bulky, can be a good investment.
- Buy travel insurance. You never know what the future will hold, which is why travel insurance when you’re going abroad is a necessity. I’ve always had it; I’ve never used it (so far, fingers crossed). But for a one-week trip I pay an average of $10-15 for overseas health and accident insurance, which gives me peace of mind and security to enjoy my trip with fewer worries. Total Travel Insurance (totaltravelinsurance.com) is the source I use. Fill out a brief questionnaire, compare plan options, and then buy when you’re ready. Simple.
- Start booking specific activities a few weeks in advance. Once you know your travel dates, start thinking of the kind of activities you may want to participate in during your trip. Of course, it’s fine just to wing it, but if there are specific things you’d really like to do—a wine-tasting tour in South Africa, visiting elephants in Thailand—you should definitely try to book at least a few weeks out to secure your spot. My usual approach is to look in my guidebook to see if any good recommendations pop up for activities that interest me; or sometimes I just head straight to google, type in what I want to do and where (“wine tours, Santiago, Chile”) and look at details, prices, and customer reviews. Booking ahead of time, as well as conducting a little research into the type and quality of experience you’re signing up for, is always time well spent.
- Learn a few words of the language. I’ve said it before, but learning even a few words of the language of the place you’ll be visiting, assuming you don’t already speak it, will be invaluable, and shows your willingness to absorb and integrate into a new culture. If you have time and money to take a class beforehand, even better; but if you don’t, just five to ten words are quick and easy to learn and will pay off once you arrive at your destination. You can often purchase small Lonely Planet or other guides which provide a basic tutorial in a new language, or you can just look at the key words and phrases included in your guidebook. If you happen to have a long plane ride ahead of you, this is a great chance to brush up before you arrive!
- Call your credit card company and visit your doctor. Final logistics. If you’re heading anyplace where you might need vaccines before arriving, check with your doctor to find out what steps you may need to take to protect yourself from contracting diseases, which can ruin a trip pretty fast. The only time I ever had to get a shot before a trip was when I went to Thailand. I’d recommend doing a bit of research (guidebooks for the win, again) and seeing if it appears likely you may need to immunize yourself against anything before traveling, then contact your doctor to confirm.
Also, call your credit card company a day or two before you leave to let them know you’ll be out of the country, lest they see a sudden Visa charge in Beijing and freeze your account to protect you from fraud. Let them know where you’ll be, on what dates, and what card(s) you will be using. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes, and can save you a lot of hassle later on.
- Read up, get excited, and dream away! OK, enough boring logistics. Now you’ve got your trip planned and organized (and it was relatively painless, right?) So, dive into your guidebook, look up images of your new destination on Instagram or Pinterest, read books or watch movies set there—basically, start getting excited for your trip and how much fun you’re going to have.
Bon voyage!
Any travel planning tips I left out here? Know of any good trip planning hacks? Share below!
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