Okay, so you have picked the place you want to travel to. Iceland, Rome, Canada, Thailand, Japan, wherever!
Do you go to a travel agent? You do!? Then just get off this page right now! Kidding!
In todays world though a travel agent is pretty much useless if you have time to plan trips yourself. What? You do not know how to plan a trip? Well that is okay! That is what this blog is all about!
So sit back, strap those boots on and lets look at 5 steps to success to planning your trip!
STEP ONE: Know your destination!
You need to know where you want to travel before you begin your researching. Obviously.
STEP TWO: Know your finances!
Yes, we all know travel costs money. But you should have an understanding of how much money you want to spend so you don't get too ahead of yourself.
We are talking about an adventure not some all inclusive resort somewhere where everything is free and you will have maybe a few hundred bucks to spend on some activities and such. An adventure takes more from your wallet. So know your finances ahead of time, so when you start planning out your trip you know what you have to put towards it. Are you renting a car? Money. Are you taking tours? Money. Are you hotel jumping? Money. Are you buying groceries? Money. You get the idea. So have an estimate of how much you can spend and plan your adventure accordingly.
STEP THREE: Make contact!
Go use +TripAdvisor and jump on their forums! I went to Tripadvisor then I searched-Forum-Europe-Iceland. These forums are where you can post questions and as well explore through threads to get some information on the place you wish to travel. Get the app, it has a great review and I have used it as my go to guide for not only Iceland, but for other trips as well.
Through the forum you can talk to the locals living in your place of travel. I actually landed a contact for my trip to Iceland who is going to let us stay at their guesthouse which is right under Kirkjufell Mountain. A mountain that I particularly am excited to see, so being able to camp at the base of the mountain is amazing and would not have been possible without the permission of the land owner!
STEP FOUR: Learn the culture!
You are a guest in a foreign land, show respect by learning the culture. It also is amazingly cool to see how others live. The world is filled with diversity, what is okay at home may not be okay elsewhere. Example, Icelandic women are very sexually open, they will bath naked in hot springs and should you stroll by, they will invite you in. They are not shy they will come across as flirty, but that doesn't mean you will get them in bed!
Icelanders are also very religious. Icelanders as well believe in Trolls and Elves. 70% of Icelanders (Taken from survey) believe that elves live under ground.
http://www.odditycentral.com/news/elves-trolls-and-hidden-beings-icelands-love-of-the-supernatural.html
STEP FIVE: Research then research some more.
I am in advertising and marketing, so when I have to do an assignment that involves research, many times I need to research more than one site. I mean, you can get some info from one site, but to make sure it is credible you will want to keep researching to make sure that your info is legit. It is the same with planning a trip. So when I hear a review about say, a car rental company, I will then keep researching to see if that positive/negative review seems to be consistent and not just one persons experience. That goes for hotels, museums, areas of interest, food, etc... And then I will when I can, search for photos, so I can see for myself what the item/area looks like and if it appeals to me.
STEP SIX: Plan your route wisely.
I like to use Google Maps. In New York, I could plan my travel routes with GM and get an idea of time of arrival and the smartest route to go so not to back track. In New York, 4 day, I saw 32 attractions. I researched, most anyone could do was 10 to 15 attractions. It's because I planned my route wisely so that I wasn't wasting time, I spent hours mapping the days out and my bud who went there with me was so pleased I did. Here is a quote from Facebook from him to me. "Dude, I saw more than most, I felt we had time to relax during our exploration of the city. This by far is the best planned trip I have ever been on and I have been on a sh*t ton of trips!"
So plan your trip wisely so you get the most out of it.
When it comes to road trips, especially in Iceland (as I learned from research) Google Maps may estimate a travel time but could be off by 15 minutes to one hour!
So when you are planning a road trip my tip to you is give yourself extra time. Say point A to point B is stated on GM (Google maps) as being 1.5 hours drive. Add some time to it, say instead of 1.5 hours, make it 3 hours. This accounts for time should the weather be bad, or SHEEP on the road, or to stop for a picture or rest room break. If you do make it to point B in under 3 hours then great you have given yourself extra time to look around and stuff. Having a full day planned this way, will insure you are rarely finding yourself rushed.
STEP SEVEN: Have fun!
Enjoy the planning process as it is all part of the experience.
So try to plan your next trip yourself, using these steps. These steps will be described with detailed examples throughout my upcoming blogs.
It never hurts to get a travel agent if you do not have the free time to plan yourself.
I guess my last tip/step would be, plan ahead. I gave myself months to plan, so I could plan a bit each week and not feel overwhelmed. As making a great Itinerary can indeed be overwhelming if you wait till the last minute.
Next time on Dave's Blog - It's not taking a trip, but taking an adventure- Building your Itinerary.
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