Planning A Trip Made Easy

Everyone wants to go on holiday. Not everyone takes the proper steps to plan it though and this can lead to mismanagement during the trip which in turn leads to the fun being squeezed out of your long awaited vacation. Fret not, whenever you’re planning a trip follow these steps to ensure you have everything covered.

Choosing Your Destination

This may seem obvious, but it’s really not. A lot of people just talk about ‘going’ instead of going someplace in particular. They have only a vague sense of their destination like ‘Europe’ or ‘South America’. This is not enough and having a definite idea of where you want to go will make planning everything – like booking hotels, tours etc. – a lot easier and save you hassle for when you get there.

Deciding The Length

Once you have chosen a place, the next thing to do is decide the duration of your stay. Again makes for easier planning – if you know how long you’ll be staying, then you can decide which tourist spots you can visit and leave out.

Researching The Costs

The next important thing – deciding your budget. And this depends on how you want to stay; want a relaxing vacation in the best hotels or do you want an adventurous one thriving on hiking and camping. With this in mind calculate your costs. This is a major part of planning a trip and may require significant time.

Start Saving

You know when you’ll be taking your trip and you know how much money you require for it (more or less). That will allow you to calculate how many money per day you need to save. For example if your vacation will cost you, say, $2000 and you’re going in 6 months. That means roughly 11 dollars a day – that’s not much is it? Cut back on the coffee and drinks and be amazed at how much you’ll save.

Switch To No-Fee Cards

Since we’re trying to save every penny we can, it is useful to switch to cards which don’t charge a fee when you withdraw – especially for international transactions. There’s also an option of joining a Global ATM Alliance. And if you can, try to get a travel rewards credit card which allows you to rack up reward points which you can later use to redeem all kinds of stuff including free airline tickets.

Choosing Your Flight

You know where you’ll be going, the duration of the stay, you’re saving steadily Now is the time to book that ticket. Search around online on sites like Google Flights, Skyscanner, Vayama for the cheapest flights that are available. Booking long in advance helps you save cash or if you want, you can use a travel agent – they’re helpful in finding you the most economical options available. Another option is using your air miles if you have any.

The Accommodation

Same thing applies to the hotel. Booking early, trying to go during the off season will all help save a lot of cash.