Last week, I posted the first part of my Planning a Trip advice. It detailed the beginning steps of travel planning: The Research. But if you’ve planned any sort of travel before, you know that the research is just the beginning.
So what comes next? For me, it’s usually forming some sort of itinerary.
How I Plan: The Itinerary
After you’ve done your research and have decided what you want to see and do in your intended destination(s), the next step is to start piecing together a loose itinerary. I say “loose” because travel can never actually be precisely planned. Something will always come up – bad weather, illness, a spontaneous impulse – and you have to be prepared to be a little flexible.
Since I haven’t started this stage with my family’s Seattle plans, I’ll use another example. In 2008 when I was studying abroad in New Zealand, two friends and I planned a 10-day trip to New Zealand’s South Island in late October. We started out by asking people we knew for suggestions of things to do down south, and spent countless hours researching possibilities on the Internet (no joke, we started planning the trip as early as August). Eventually, we had a list of things we wanted to do scattered all around the South Island.
Great post. Look forward to the next one. Im not a very good planner, so I need all the tips I can get!
Thanks! I’m still trying to decide what other kind of planning advice I can impart… Packing maybe?
Any suggestions?