How To Start With Travel Planning: The Ultimate Practical 10 Steps Guide​

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Travel planning can be a nightmare, especially if you are not an organiser per hearth. For many years, we have been preparing the travel plans for our friends and family. In this time we noticed a lot of them don’t know where to start and what they need to think about. Are you also one of them? 

Then you are in the right place. Over the years, we have developed methods and unique process. This will help you plan the trip quickly and efficiently. All you need to do is follow our step-by-step travel guide and organise your next travel as a pro. 

You will learn the tricks to find cheap flights, hacks on how to plan day-to-day travel itinerary and essential tools we use that will make your planing look so effortless. 

Let’s start with travel planning!

Quick overview

STEP ONE: Set a goal and your budget

Most people have wishes and their dream destinations picked up. But having a wish is so different than having a realistic goal and steps to achieve it. Either for a weekend getaway, summer vacation or long travel through a new country. This will depend on:

• How much time do you have available? And when in the year?
• How much money you have or you can save up leading to the trip?

What kind of a traveller you are?

Answers to these questions will help you choose a realistic goal that you can achieve. Knowing the length of your trip or vacation, part of the year you can leave your business and what you can afford is crucial. 

Setting your budget

Now you have a goal or at least a clear idea of what is possible. To make it even more realistic and achievable, you need to think about your budget. 

• How much are you willing to pay for a holiday?
• Do you have any saving and if not, do you have time to save up some?
• Do you want to travel as a backpacker or you would rather stay in hotels?
• If you are visiting a country, do you want to stay in one place or travel around? Do you want to use public transport or you would prefer to rent a car?
• Do you want to see a museum or swim in the sea?
• Do you want to travel in high or low season?

This impacts the estimated costs of your travel. It will give you an idea where you can afford to go and for how long. 

STEP TWO: Choose location / destination 

The destination you choose has to fit nicely into your framework or availability you set in Step 1. If you are not flexible, you will need to select a destination that might not be among your top wishes, but a country you can visit during that period. You don’t want to travel to a new destination during the wrong season. Visiting a country in low season or in transition for high to low is not only cheaper but also less crowded.  

Remember: Not all destinations are alike. That means their peak, off-peak, and shoulder seasons will be different. 

Another aspect you want to pay attention to are the main events. You don’t want to travel during public holidays or festivals. There are usually many closures and gatherings around popular sights. If you are travelling to visit a specific event, you need to plan your trip accordingly. 

Where to find inspiration?

You might already have a destination in your mind. If you just want to escape somewhere, here are some useful websites for inspiration:

• Instagram: one of my favourite tools. You can search by hashtags or places to learn about new destinations or check whether a particular location is worth visiting. You can also follow @tjasapele and @gregorcigut for travel inspiration. 
• Pinterest: a visual search engine similar to Instagram. You can pin the photos of your favourite places and save it for later. Great way to stay organise and have all the sight at one place. 
• TripAdvisor: check for the length of stay
• Google search

Travel momento insider tip: Always check your documents are valid and possible visa requirements. 

STEP THREE: Book your flights

You have your perfect destination, you know how long you want to stay there, and you set your budget. Now it’s time to make your goal a reality and book your flight tickets. 

As perfectionists and research geeks, we would scroll through many sites to find the best flight deals. Through years of travel, we found the best sites to book flights:

• Skyscanner: A great way to see when the flights are cheap and when expensive. You can search for flights on selected days or get an overview of flight prices over a month. 
• Momondo: Another booking site providing you with budget saving options.
• Farecompare: We use this site to check for average flight prices. This gives us an idea of what we can expect.
• Airline website: We would always finish our research by checking the official website. It already happened to us that this price was cheapest at the end. 

We go more into details on how to find the best and lowest price for flights in another post. 

If you are travelling with family or you are into planes and views from the window like us, it is always important to check the best seats for your selected flight. We cannot recommend you more to use the Seatguru. It will show you the best and the worst seats and photos of the view they provide. You will also find information on where the exit row is to get more legroom or where the toilets are. 

STEP FOUR: Decide on the primary purpose of your travel

Now you have a destination and flight ticket to go there. That’s already a lot towards achieving the goal of exploring a new country. But it’s not enough, if you want to be well prepared or if you are on a budget.

You need to think about your preferences. Do you want to only stay in a hotel and make some day trips? Or do you want to go around and explore everything your destination has to offer?

If your plan is the latter, you need to decide how long to stay in one city. At this point, we usually do a quick research on Google to see the recommendations and check TripAdvisor section Top Things to Do. 

STEP FIVE: Book accommodation

We tend to get deep into the research and comper the smallest details opening 40 pages at once. You don’t have to go so much into the details but should make sure to check for parking, Wi-Fi and similar things. 

The sites we usually use:

• Booking.com: A great selection and many filters you can use to find exactly what you are looking for. On the plus side, more often you moke, more discounts you unlock. You can also use our code for a 10% discount. 
• Hotels.com: Depending on your destination, this site could have a more choice. You can collect the nights and after 10 stay sleep one night for free.
• Airbnb: You can rent an entire apartment or just a room. In both cases, cooking and washing facilities are at your hands. We would use this platform for cities that are generally more expensive. But it also comes with a risk. The owner can at any time cancel your reservation. It happened to us twice, and it was hard to find last-minute accommodation.
• Hostelworld: good for cheaper accommodation

Other sites you can use:

• Agoda 
• Trivago

STEP SIX: Prepare your travel itinerary 

We recommend you make at least a quick overview of the most famous landmarks for your chosen destination. This is especially important if you are travelling to a big multinational city. With millions of visitors going there, the chances you will get a free spot or tickets on a chosen day or time are low. 

We usually start with checking TripAdvisor website for Top Things To Do and write them down in a Word document. You should include other information such as opening time, costs, and suggested duration. We also use Google to check if we have included everything there is to see and do. Afterwards, we would do the same to prepare a list of what and where to eat and drink. 

For day trip where we cannot reach on our own, we would research tour companies that can take us there. We book them through TripAdvisor, GetYourGuide or Viator. 

Once the list with all the sightseeing places is completed, we save the locations to Google Maps. It will give you an overview where certain areas are and if they are workable based on your timeline. This way you can do all the attractions close by on the same day without losing time. 

Travel momento insider tip: Always check if a city you are visiting is offering a city pass. It can be such a time and money saver. Some of them also come with a priority pass. This will allow you to skip long waiting lines before the most attractive sights

STEP SEVEN: Travel Insurance

There are a lot of people who think it’s not necessary and a waste of money. When we least expect it, something will happen and you would be happy to have it. I’m also the one that had often forgotten it. But with our checklist, I’m always on track. 

Isn’t it great if you can go and not worry what if something happens? The travel insurance will cover you when something unexpected happens. The best one out there is World Nomads Travel Insurance and it covers residents in 150 countries. 

STEP EIGHT: Download essential Travel Apps

We cannot stress enough how much of help these apps are, especially travelling in countries, where internet is not available or it’s hard to find. 

Here is the list of our all-time favourites:

• MapsMe: A free app with detailed maps. You can search for different sights, restaurants or transport/connection options. Make sure to download the destination of your visit before your trip and you can use it offline.
• Wallet: Enables you to have all the flight tickets and bookings saved in one place (only on iPhones)
• VPN: This app will change the VPN from a country where you are to your home country. It’s a must when travelling to a country where some websites are blocked or not accessible. Using it you will be able to access websites or apps you usually use. We wouldn’t be able to survive without it in China. 
• Booking.com app: Have all your bookings in one place. Useful when your flight is delayed, or you are stuck on the road and need to inform them. 

STEP NINE: Plan your arrival

So you have your flights and hotels booked, travel insurance sorted out and ready to take off. 

Before all the excitement overtakes you, make sure to plan your first steps in a new country. You don’t want to walk around all confused not knowing which way to go or how to ask for help in a local language. 

Here are some bullet points to help you out:

• Print, screenshot your hotel booking details or use any of the apps above
• Check the possibilities to reach your accommodation from your arrival point. Depending on your budget, you can take a taxi, bus, tram or train.
• Check-in to your flight and double-check your departure time to leave your house on time. 

STEP TEN: Pack and enjoy

You only have to figure out what to pack and make sure you don’t miss the flight. Have a great trip or vacation!

Once you go over this process several times it become part of your routine. You will be thinking ahead to answer all of above points. 

As with everything else, making something part of your routine takes time. But I know you will love how much time you will save planning your trips and dedicate more time to actually enjoy all your activities. 

Have fun!

 

HELLO THERE!

We are two travel passionistas, who are always in the minds of planning their next travel trip and creating memories. Get honest tips and all the details, learn from our mistakes and enjoy our travel guides so you can have the best time!

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