A few months ago I had the chance to answer a lot of questions about how we plan for our trips. It can be so frustrating to know where to start, or what the best tips and websites are to use. We're definitely not experts by any means, but we do know a thing or two about what's worked for us. So, here you go. Our 5 favorite travel planning tips:
1. Budget, Budget, Budget: When Marcus and I were first married, my brother-in-law asked what our goals were as a family. We decided that traveling was important to us and we were willing to sacrifice other things so we could. You should see the car my husband drives-ha! He’s the best.
What we’ve come to realize is that every family spends their money differently. Whatever brings you joy as a family-do that! Whether it’s a new car, larger home, fun outdoor toys, it’s always important to budget. Sometimes you have to sacrifice in one area to do something else. So for our “travel budget” we set aside a certain % from every paycheck. Similar to how we pay our church tithing every month, this percentage is our “travel fund.”
The more activities/excursions you can book before your trip, the less you’ll have to pay afterwards. Buying your tour tickets, train/bus tickets, and admittance tickets ahead of time will help you stick to a daily plan and help you budget what you’ll be doing that day. It’s so much easier to research and find good deals ahead of time; instead of when you’re in the moment and willing to pay anything to make life a little easier. And then kicking yourself for spending that much on something when you've gotten home!
Every day of our trips, we also have a food budget (in cash.) Not even kidding, in France we had to hit up McDonald’s because we had already eaten our “daily allowance.” Sigh. We take one big bill with us and break it throughout the day. This helps us when we’re out and about to not have to sort through money. Especially, when it’s foreign currency we aren’t familiar with. Once that day’s food allowance runs out, we’re done for the day. And it’s to McDonald’s we go.
The more activities/excursions you can book before your trip, the less you’ll have to pay afterwards. Buying your tour tickets, train/bus tickets, and admittance tickets ahead of time will help you stick to a daily plan and help you budget what you’ll be doing that day. It’s so much easier to research and find good deals ahead of time; instead of when you’re in the moment and willing to pay anything to make life a little easier. And then kicking yourself for spending that much on something when you've gotten home!
Every day of our trips, we also have a food budget (in cash.) Not even kidding, in France we had to hit up McDonald’s because we had already eaten our “daily allowance.” Sigh. We take one big bill with us and break it throughout the day. This helps us when we’re out and about to not have to sort through money. Especially, when it’s foreign currency we aren’t familiar with. Once that day’s food allowance runs out, we’re done for the day. And it’s to McDonald’s we go.
2. Let's Talk About Flights: When booking flights…our two favorite websites/apps to use are Kayak.com and Hopper. Are they perfect? No, but they are great at seeing the prices you’ll pay and they’ll give you an estimate as to wether that’s a “cheaper” travel day, or more expensive. This has saved us more than once when we’ve flown into another country and didn’t realize it was a national holiday for them. No wonder the flights were so expensive that day! I also love that it compares all of the different travel sites (think expedia, travelocity, hotels.com, etc.) and will show you which website offers the cheapest rate. We use Kayak for our car rentals and hotels too! And CostcoTravel, which at times can be even cheaper than other websites (that tip comes from Marcus, I was scared off by the high prices at first, but Marcus proved me wrong!)
3. Activities, what do do and see? When traveling to a new place it can be hard to know what to do so you can experience the most out of your trip. One of my favorite books for research is Lonely Planet. I love the insight on what to see, but the maps they contain are FANTASTIC! For transportation especially. Subways or Rail trains can be really complicated in a big city, especially when you’re not used to using them, but their maps are great at breaking down different stops and stations (and in English!). And you can easily take the book with you when seeing different landmarks and it’ll give you a short but brief explanation of what you’re seeing.
But when it comes down to food and actual tour groups, we use TripAdvisor EVERY. TIME. Entering a new city, or new part of town, we can quickly access best food around us (or where to find the best ice cream!) no matter where we’re at, or what our food budget is. We’ve only been let down once, and I love to read other people’s reviews on restaurants, tour groups, hotels, etc. I appreciate real people and their reviews, not just the “critics.” Generally, I’ve always been pleasantly surprised and things are rated good, if not better, than most of the reviews. You can also research Top Things To Do in whichever city you’re traveling to and it’ll list the top things you should see, and then which tours are the highest rated for that activity. My best friend can attest that I’ve dragged her around to the “best restaurants” when we’re traveling. And TripAdvisor always comes through!
But when it comes down to food and actual tour groups, we use TripAdvisor EVERY. TIME. Entering a new city, or new part of town, we can quickly access best food around us (or where to find the best ice cream!) no matter where we’re at, or what our food budget is. We’ve only been let down once, and I love to read other people’s reviews on restaurants, tour groups, hotels, etc. I appreciate real people and their reviews, not just the “critics.” Generally, I’ve always been pleasantly surprised and things are rated good, if not better, than most of the reviews. You can also research Top Things To Do in whichever city you’re traveling to and it’ll list the top things you should see, and then which tours are the highest rated for that activity. My best friend can attest that I’ve dragged her around to the “best restaurants” when we’re traveling. And TripAdvisor always comes through!
4. What Next...TripIt, hello! You’ve budgeted, bought your flights, picked out some activities and tours, but what do you do with all those “confirmation emails?” TripIt! It’s an app and website where you can organize everything for your trip. You can forward your confirmation emails to their website and it’ll organize everything for you! And it’s FREE! You can upgrade, of course, but the free app lets you access your information even without Wifi connection. I’ll write down restaurant addresses, hotel information, flights, tours, notes about each place, etc. and it’ll keep all of your E-Ticket vouchers readily available too. It’s like having your own personal travel agent. And the great thing is, after your trip is done, it will store the information as a past trip. So you can easily share your itinerary and what you did with others who are going there too!
5. The Lowdown: Last but not least, reach out to others who have been there. Everyone has a friend, of a friend, who has been there and talked about something fun they’ve done. You don’t have to reinvent the vacation wheel. If you’ve heard about a fun activity from someone or a great place they’ve been, make that your plan. What better resource then someone who’s actually been there! They’ll give you the best insider tips that never made it into their Instagram or Facebook pictures. Search hashtags for a particular city and you’ll see fun food to try or places to visit. Search Pinterest or Google for a place you’re interested in, and you’ll find blogs of people who have travelled there and blogged about their experiences. Don’t be afraid to ask people about their trips. Reach out to people on social media. They'll love to talk about the places they’ve been-and you’ll be interested to hear all about it too!
A friend and I were just talking about how the anticipation of a trip, is just as much fun as the experience itself. The more planning you’ve done ahead of time, will allow you to enjoy your actual vacation time even more. You can PLAN on it. Ha!
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