Organizing trips is one of my most favorite things in the world, second to playing with an Intertops poker bonus. Even though I love doing it, sometimes organizing a trip becomes a headache. I know many of you get overwhelmed when it comes to making a complete plan for a trip. Trust me; you are not the only one. Beginners go through this overwhelming feeling, and even expert travelers sometimes fail to manage their trip.
Usually, beginners are tempted to book an organized trip to simplify things. But in an attempt to make things simpler, you have to follow a schedule that you are not comfortable with. Eat foods that may not be your favorite. Do activities that you have no interest in. And the most annoying thing would be you have to get along with a group of strangers until the trip is over.
So booking an organized trip may ruin the essence of the trip you are so thrilled about.
You should plan your own trip. It is the best way to enjoy or have fun as you plan everything according to your choice and not some organization’s choice. I have to admit planning a trip might look tricky! But when you get a guide or tips on how to organize your trip everything becomes easier. Today, I will share my personal experience and tips on making or organizing your own trip.
1.Decide Your Destination
This tip might look a bit too obvious to be on this list, but it is an important element when it comes to organizing a trip. You may get confused when you have multiple choices. I have traveled a lot; still, I have to shuffle between at least four choices every time I decide to travel.
First, get a clear idea of why you want this trip. Here am giving a few important factors that I consider before deciding my destination.
- Is it a trip to escape from winter or summer? A traveler’s mind may wish to visit the sea, beaches, desert, or mountains. There is nothing wrong with where your mind wishes to visit. But ask yourself, do you really want to visit those places or is it just to escape the winter or summer season? Either way, season plays a vital role when you choose to travel. So consider your wish and then consider the season of the place you want to go at the moment.
- For how many days do you want to travel? This factor relates to the previous one. When you sit down to make a plan for your trip, you must know for how many days you want to travel. Depending on the number of days, you might change your destination. For wanting a long trip, like more than two months, I would suggest choosing a place that costs less to stay in.
- What kind of trip do you wish to have? This factor is also important. Do you want to visit or stay in a city or village? After deciding what kind of trip you want, it will definitely help you choose a destination according to it.
Another thing I personally do and suggest to any traveler is to read blogs. Read plenty of blogs before deciding your destination. You might find some good facts or change your decision to go there depending on the experience other travelers have shared.
2.Budget Management
After deciding your destination, now it’s time to decide how much money you would spend. Basically, make a budget plan for your trip. You should make a list of flights, staying in hotels, food, and all the inevitable basic costs. Without a proper budget plan, you will most likely end up spending more money than expected.
I am speaking from personal experience that doesn’t matter how precisely you calculate your budget. Still, you will go over the budget and spend more. It happens because many things happen that you didn’t think would happen. You might want to buy some expensive object, take a special expensive ride, buy a fancy service. So it is best to carry more money than your planned budget.
3.Duration of Your Trip
Deciding the duration of your trip is essential. However, no destination has a fixed ideal duration. It all depends on the traveler’s personality and choice. Some travelers like to move fast, and some likes to take it slow. Some might want to just visit and leave a destination fast, while others might take time to appreciate and enjoy a destination for a longer time.
Counting the duration of your trip while organizing the trip is important for your budget and itinerary both. One of the key aspects of organizing a trip is to know how many days it would take to visit a specific destination.
Let’s say you decided to go to Italy, and you have selected the grand canal in Venice and the Colosseum in Rome. Now when you make a plan for this trip, you must calculate the exact number of days you will need for each of these destinations.
If your trip is short, like 8 hours, then it can be done on any weekend. Use the nighttime to travel to the destination and use daytime to enjoy it.
On the other hand, choosing multiple urban destinations might be a long trip because it will take more time to see the site. If you choose an island or tropical beach town, it will be a short trip because sightseeing won’t take much time.
I recommend keeping an extra day on your plan if the trip is longer than seven days. If you face any problem like flight delay, traffic jam or just want to spend one more day on the trip, then this reserved one day will come in handy.
4.Check Government Website
At this stage of planning your trip, you should check your government website to collect information before going any further with planning. You should collect various information on security, natural disaster, cultural and local laws, entry and exit requirement. Another piece of information I recommend you collect is finding help if you face any trouble there.
Someplace requires a tourist visa, which may take longer than you expected to get it.
After collecting and checking all this information from your government website, you can decide you want to go there or change the destination. Remember one thing; your travel insurance might not cover you if you go to a place which your government doesn’t recommend you to go.
5.Search Flight and Booking
After completing the previous steps, now it’s time to book a flight, train, or bus ticket. The trick is to spend some time and do research on airlines and their packages. You will the cheapest and best offer to buy a ticket. There is no secret formula; you just have to spend some time on research. If you don’t have a lot of time, just pick a quality airline and buy your ticket.
There is an old saying that buying a ticket at the last moment saves your bucks. Well, I don’t find that true anymore. What you can do is try to plan a trip in the off-season and try to be flexible with your departure date; it is the best way to get a chance to save money.
If you are absolutely certain of your day of departure, feel free to book a cheaper non-refundable flight, bus, or train ticket. But if you are not so sure about the departure date, then book a refundable ticket even if it costs a bit more.
Flight ticket prices are never fixed; they always fluctuate. So keep track of a few airlines to know and compare the prices. If you want to keep the budget fixed, book a ticket a few months in advance.
6.Book Accommodation
After planning your flight or other transportation, you should now book a hotel or apartment. Some of you might prefer an apartment for the privacy it provides, and it gives you the liberty to cook for yourself. And the rest of you will want a hotel because it’s ready-made and simple.
I like to try both, sometimes I go to a hotel, and sometimes I go to an apartment.
Either way, make sure the accommodation has a free canceling system. Because on a trip, you never know what will happen. Suddenly you might face an emergency or change of heart and want to cancel the trip. After spending some time, you might find a better value for money accommodation and want to cancel the current place you are staying at.
7.Local Transport
You should do your research and plan to use local transportation when you organize your trip. Would you prefer public transport like the subway or bus? Do you like privacy and prefer a rental car? It depends on your choice and needs.
I use a few criteria to determine my transportation.
- If I visit just one city or village I prefer public transport like a bus. It is easy, cheap, and convenient.
- If I visit more than just one city, I use a rental car. It gives me privacy and gives me the freedom to stop at places and enjoy the view.
8.Making List of Destination
I do plenty of research and blog reading to decide the specific places, roads, monuments I want to visit. It helps me organize my trip and make a better budget plan.
9.Activities
I highly recommend planning your activities excursions. This will help you to set a budget and time required to do those activities. If you don’t make a plan, you will find yourself doing way too much or way too little on your trip. To make a perfect balance of activities, you must have a plan. Of course, while you are on a trip, you can exclude or include anything you like.
10.Best Food Places
Best local and traditional food places are kind of must-visit in my opinion. So do research and find the recommended places to try authentic local food.
11.Pack Diligently
Don’t make haste while packing. Remember, haste makes waste. Take your time to pack your stuff properly. A few very important thing is visa, money, and ticket. These three are the most important things you should pack first.
Then comes extra socks, a small towel, battle water, extra underwear, etc.
Conclusion
This list of tips will definitely ease you and give you the necessary knowledge you need to organize your trip. Don’t get stressed. If you are confused about something, look it up on the internet, there are plenty of travel blogs out there that can help you and even travel planners that will make organizing your plans that much easier.
and then