How to Plan A Trip: A Simple Guide
This simple guide for how to plan a trip provides an overview of everything you need to do to ensure you have a successful, fun, stress-free vacation. It includes researching the best things to do and exploring where you’re going, knowing how to get there, when to visit, where to stay, and how to get around.
I’ve always loved traveling to new places. One of the parts I love most is planning each trip. It gets me so excited for the actual vacation. I’ve been planning trips for over 7 years and I’m excited to share all of my tips on how to plan a trip with you!
10 Simple Steps on how to plan a trip
1. Determine who you are going with
2. Figure our travel dates
3. Learn your budget
4. Choose where you want to go & start booking the big logistics (flights & rental cars)
5. create your itinerary
6. Research what you want to do
7. Finish booking the big logistics (lodging, excursions, etc.)
8. Create a packing list
9. Get ready
10. Takeoff!
1. Determine who you are going with
The first step in how to plan a trip is to determine who you are going with. There’s a saying that it doesn’t matter where you’re at, it matters who you’re with. I believe that is so truly important when it comes to going on trips. Who you are with on the trip will change the dynamic and the energy of the trip in one way or another, hopefully in a great way (but not always). If you are going on a trip, who is it you want to spend your time with? Yourself? Your significant other? Your family? Your friends? New people you meet at the start of the trip?
Figuring this out first will help make sure everyone included has input from the start and is happy during the vacation.
2. Figure out travel dates
Once you know who is going, the next step is figuring out travel dates. Is there a certain time of year you’re looking to go? If you have a specific location in mind already, it is good to know the best time of year to travel there – maybe just outside peak season so it’s nice weather but not quite as crowded. Once you have a general time of year in mind, think about how long you want to go for. Is there a certain amount of time you or others have to take off of work or school?
3. Learn your budget
The next step in how to plan a trip is to learn the budget. This is so crucial to know before anything is booked. Some locations have very expensive flights while others are easy to drive to or a cheap flight away. One way to help know your budget is to look at your net income each month. How much extra money do you have to save up for this trip? How many months do you have to save for it? Or – maybe you already have a certain amount of money saved that you want to put towards this trip. Either way, it’s good to think this through.
If you’re going on the trip with others, it’s helpful to get their input too on how much their budget is. That way everyone is happy and not stressed about overspending while on vacation.
4. Choose where you want to go & start booking the big Logistics (flights & rental cars)
The first thing I recommend asking yourself (and those going) when you’re trying to pick a location is “why am I going on a trip?”
Is it to have an iconic adventure? Relax on the beach to the sounds of the ocean? Explore on a road trip? Camp in the wilderness? See historic sites? Something else?
Thinking through this will immediately help you focus on locations that would be the best vacation spot for you and your group. Once you have a general idea of the vibe for the trip, you can start to research the best locations that will give you that (and the time of year that works for you). Once you’ve researched enough and know where you want to go and that it’s safe (you can check Travel Advisories), it’s time to lock in those flights! I love using Kayak.com and Google Flights to find the best prices. Going international? Now is a great time to check your passport to make sure it doesn’t expire less than 6 months before your last travel day.
This is also a great time to book a rental car if you need one. Some great international rental companies are Avis, Hertz, and Enterprise. If you have a good idea of where you want to stay, you can book that now too. However, where you stay depends on certain activities and proximity to them, I’d wait to do that until you research what you want to do.
5. Create your itinerary
Now that you have your flights, the fun part begins! You get to start bringing the trip together with where you want to stay, what you want to do, etc. I recommend using a travel planning template to complete your trip itinerary and make sure you have everything documented in one place.
6. research what you want to do
This is where you get to learn all the amazing, fun things to do where you’re going. There are so many great tools on the internet to help you see what all these options are. Here are some I recommend looking into:
- Travel blogs get into the details of what to do at so many places around the world. Take a look here to see if there is already a guide on the place you’re going. Make sure to take into account the culture and language so you can become familiar with anything that will help you communicate with the locals
- Pinterest has countless itineraries for places and a lot of them are specific to trips of a certain amount of days, which is super helpful
- Viator is a great excursion booking company with local tour guides
- When all else fails, Google! Google has everything. If there is something specific in mind you want to do, Google it and I’m sure you’ll find it
7. Finish booking the big logistics (lodging, excursions, etc.)
Once you have a good idea of everything you want to do, you’ll want to lock in where you are going to stay and any excursions you don’t want to miss out on. For booking a place to stay I recommend checking out Kayak.com, Airbnb, VRBO, Marriott, and Hilton. If you plan to camp in the US, I’d also check out recreation.gov
8. Create a packing list
Now that you have all the big things taken care of, it’s time to make sure you have everything you need for your trip. Here are the things I recommend bringing on every trip no matter where you’re going. They are my travel essentials. I also recommend Googling where you’re going to see what others have brought to the location you’re going so you don’t have any big surprises. One time recently I was traveling to a lake and luckily I researched what to bring before I went. It gave me the opportunity to buy bug spray in advance and know what to expect!
9. Get Ready
Take a look through your travel planner and make sure everything looks right. Double-check all bookings and confirmations. Make sure you have your travel documents (passport, license, etc.). Let your banks know you’re traveling if going international. If you’re driving, make sure the car is up to date with oil changes and other things. Make sure your home is all good to be left and you don’t have anything scheduled while you’re away. And finally, pack!
10. Takeoff!
Get excited!!! You’re about to go on your well-planned vacation! Don’t forget to give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport if you’re flying!
I hope this simple guide on how to plan a trip helps you plan your dream vacation! Feel free to reach out on my Contact page if you have any questions!
Great job