Figuring out the first steps to plan a trip can be difficult, especially if you are planning a long one! I remember when I needed to plan a three month trip to New Zealand, Australia, China, and Europe I was confused on where to start. I ended up using a travel agent who was helpful, but I realized I could plan everything on my own I just needed some guidance.
I wanted to share with you my tips to plan a wonderful trip!
1) First you must pick where you would like to travel. I am going to use Ireland as an example.
2) Now that you have decided which country you are traveling to it is time to think of the places you would like to visit. I suggest visiting forums or blogs from people who have already traveled there. I also suggest Googling “Top 10 must see’s in Ireland”. You are sure to get many hits and find a great website to use.
3) I would also suggest Googling “Off the beaten path must sees of Ireland”. You are also sure to get hits on many places which are really great to see, but are not as popular. Make sure where you decide to go if they are museums, brewery’s, etc that they will be opened the date you want to visit and they don’t have odd hours. (Some places might be closed on weekends, have odd hours, or you might want to visit on an Irish holiday so it is important to know these things so you can plan around it!)
4) Once this is done and you mapped out where you want to go, you can start planning your trip around the time frame you have. Depending on how long you have in Ireland (ex: 5 days or 2 weeks) you can then decide which places you are most interested in seeing.
5) Now it is time to look for accommodations! There are many places you can stay: hotels, hostels, B&B’s or a caravan. I would suggest using tripadvisor when choosing where to stay, however it is important to remember people differ on standards when it comes to their accommodations. While someone might say they will never stay somewhere again because their beds aren’t comfy, you might find they aren’t that horrible (Happened to me when I stayed at a resort in Cabo).
6) You now have to decide how you are getting around Ireland! Will you be renting a car? Flying? Taking a train?
7) BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET! Now that you have decided what you want to do, where you want to stay, and how you are getting around, it is a great time to plan out your budget. Most of you may think this should be the first step, but researching costs before figuring out your budget is important because based on where you are traveling, prices differ. (When I went to New York City around Christmas time the cheapest hotel I could find was $300 dollars a night- not including taxes, which was A LOT more than I expected, so I had to plan a bigger budget for traveling there)
Even though you have planned your trip and have your itinerary set in stone, remember anything can happen and to just have fun! I have had many issues whether it was with renting a car, a bad hotel room, or a place I really wanted to visit that ended up being closed that day. I had to just deal with it and still have a good time. While it was frustrating at the time, I had to remember that these things happen and not everything will go as planned!
Hope these planning tips help! What are some of your tips when planning a trip?
Charlotte K Travel 