The Five Steps to Planning a Trip
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Planning a trip can be overwhelming. There are plane tickets to get, hotels to book, and the perfect itinerary to plan. But don’t worry because I’ll help you to plan your perfect trip with these 5 easy steps.:
Plan the basics
Pick the highlights
Centralize the hotels
Finalize the itinerary
Pack the right way
I use these steps for every trip I have taken, and they have led me to many memorable vacations. I’ve used them from my big trip to Korea to the girl’s trip to Las Vegas and everything in between. After these steps are done then all there is left to do is just sit back and relax as I enjoy my beautifully planned vacation.
With that, let’s get started!
Plan the Basics
Before you can book the ticket you first have to know where you will be going and when. For me is one of the most fun parts of planning any trip. This is the time to research the places you want to travel to and when you want to visit them, aka watch tons of Instagram Reels and YouTube videos of beautiful places and yummy food. However, before you get too deep into your doom scrolling and changing all of your For You page to Japan content, speaking from personal experience, you must pick which way you are planning this trip.
There are two main ways you can pick your travel destination.
Option one is to pick the location you want to go and plan everything around that. For example, if you dream of seeing cherry blossoms in Japan then you plan the dates and everything around being there at the right time to see the cherry blossoms. With this option, you typically will be planning this trip for months to even a year or more.
For more ideas on travel destinations, check out Lust ‘Till Dawn’s post 22 Awesome Places to Visit Around the World. Plus, explore her key reasons for visiting each destination.
Option two is one I frequent for my shorter closer-to-home trips. With this option, you know when you can go, and you pick a destination you can go to in that time and with a simple budget. For me, this is typically what I do for a quick trip to Vegas as I don’t need much time to make reservations, and everything can be more spontaneous. The joy in these trips for me is found in the travel rather than the specifics of the destination.
Want further depth on how to start planning a trip? Check out my Ultimate Travel Planning Guide.
Now there are many other ways you can pick as the base of how or why you are planning a trip but those are the two most basic. Up next we will discuss what to do in the destination you have picked.
Pick the Highlights
Now you know where you are going and have a Pinterest board, a folder of reels, and a diary listing out all your hopes and dreams for this trip, so you are ready to start putting down some money, right? Wait! We aren’t quite at that step yet. We are here planning the best trip so we have to be like the tortoise and slow down a bit.
It is now time to pull out all those lists and saved ideas and compile them. So open a map service, which could be Google Maps, Naver (Korea), or whatever other one you will be using on your trip. That is the key tip. Some countries use different main maps that give you access to better local spots. Now that you have picked that map application it is time to start entering all those fun spots you have been dreaming about. Make use of the color coding features and note which stops are your must-see versus would-be-nice-to-see. I know you want to put them all under must-see, but as much as we wish we could see, do, and taste everything we are only human. We have limited time, money, and the greatest tragedy, in my opinion, limited stomach space.
Once you have picked out your highlights then we are ready to start laying down the cash.
Centralize the Hotels
Now I hope you didn’t close that map app because we are not done with it yet! Taking a look at where your highlights are grouped can help us to figure out the best location to find a hotel. Nothing is worse than wasting your precious travel time in traffic because you got the cheaper hotel way far away from where you wanted to spend ninety percent of your vacation. In my experience, those travel fees typically add up to the amount you thought you were saving on the hotel anyway and only eat into your sightseeing time. So do your research and pick the place that makes the most sense for you and your specific trip.
This also applies to other things such as planes, trains, and boats. You may want to fly in and out of the same airport or you can do an open-jaw flight where you fly into one and out another. This is especially useful when traveling to multiple cities or countries. But also don’t forget to check other ways to travel between cities such as trains or even boats, such as the ferry from South Korea to Japan.
Ready to take your trip planning skills to the next level? Dive into my Ultimate Travel Planning Guide now!
Finalize the itinerary
Now comes what may be the most time-consuming part of your trip planning process, finalizing all the little details. I promise you though if you take this step seriously and put in the work you will save yourself a lot of headache and time.
As someone who is an INTJ, I love this step. It feels fun and invigorating, but I also know that is not the case for everyone. So, I will help you to know where to focus your time and energy to make this process happen smoothly. Note I did not say easy or fast, cause remember we are going for the best vacation we can make.
Some key aspects to focus on are what CAN be done in a day. This needs to include time for eating, travel between spots, how busy the place is, etc. And as I always suggest, overestimate those times. This is why we have the must-see items and the would-be-nice because if we end up with extra time, we can add them in on the day we are there. What I don’t want is for you to pack your day so full that you run out of time and miss something you were truly looking forward to because the time got away from you.
I also want you to not be lost. So, take this time to familiarize yourself with how to use the transportation of your choice at your travel destination. If you are going to a country of another language, research what phrase you may need to use. Google Translate is helpful in a pinch but it can go a long way if you know even a few simple phrases.
Ready for stress-free travel planning? Unlock the secrets in my Ultimate Travel Planning Guide!
During this process, I also calculate the estimated budget. I typically do this by listing out the day’s activities, the time we will be there, and the cost. I do this even for every Uber, train, and bus ride too, overestimating as needed. That way I know how much I will be spending throughout the trip. If you want to take it a step further, research some ways to save money, especially as a tourist as some places will try to take advantage of that fact.
Pack the Right Way
What does it mean to pack the “right way”? Well, some might disagree when I say there is no universal right way. The right way is with whatever fits your needs on that specific vacation. Now that is not to say that I don’t have all my travel essentials that I think everyone can benefit from, because I do. What I will say is that this takes trial and error to find what you actually use when you are traveling.
I like to pack minimalist. For me this is easier, since I frequently am traveling city to city on trains or in and out of subway systems. It also means I leave room for things souvenirs I pick up without having to worry about how I will bring them home. If you want to know more about the benefit of packing light check out this blog post, where I go into further detail.
The general basic questions you should be asking yourself when packing are the following:
What will the weather be like? (hot or cold)
What situations will I be dressing for? (formal or casual)
Will I wash my clothes there? (pack less or more)
Will there be toileties provided? (Use provided or bring own)
What won’t I be able to purchase? (medications, deodorant, feminine supplies, etc.)
These questions will help you to build a basic outline of what to pack.
Ready to take your trip planning skills to the next level? Dive into my Ultimate Travel Planning Guide now!
There you have it! Five simple steps to planning your trip. By focusing on the basics and picking your highlights before jumping into booking your tickets and hotels you will have a better idea of what you want to do and where you actually want to spend your precious time and money. This helps you to better be able to finalize your perfect itinerary so that you know what you need to pack for your specific trip. Happy travels! ✈️🌍
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If you have ever gotten overwhelmed with planning a trip, then this post is for you! Plan any trip you have in mind with these 5 easy steps.