Itinerary Building for Your Adventure

Welcome back to my blog!

Last time we went over the 7 steps to having a successful adventure. Those steps work not just for a trip to Iceland but a trip anywhere. Here are someone else’s tips to a successful trip.  https://worldtravelers.org/travel_tips_jet_lag_tips.asp

So read both mine and Donald’s and combining both these 7 tips will help towards you having a great trip!

 So as I ended my last blog I stated that my next blog will be about building an Itinerary. So here we are it is time to discuss how to properly build an Itinerary.

Whichever place you plan to go to you will want an agenda. Here is a list of must haves on your itinerary.

·         Destination

·         Where to eat

·         What to do

·         Where to stay

·         How to get there

 

Making an itinerary can be fun, this is where you can learn a lot about what your destination offers and what to plan for your amazing adventure.

Remember when planning out your day add extra time on the estimated travel time as mentioned in my previous blog.  

Here is a small example of an Itinerary:

 

Day One - Date - Location

06:30 – Arrive in Iceland

(Check in, grab breakfast at airport (I don't need to be specific with a Bistro name, any place to grab coffee and a bite here works)

08:00- Head to the Bridge between two Continents

 

Google Maps - Iceland

08:45- Arrive at Bridge Between Continents

See although you can see in the map it takes 22 minutes, I added a bit of extra time to get to destination just in case.

 

Add maps to your Word Document so that you have directions and estimated time of arrival.

Bridge between 2 continents

 

Add photos of the site as well, so you have a visuals and the Itinerary with maps, photos, and some information of the place you’re seeing becomes more of a tour guide than just an Itinerary. (More will be explained in the Tip at bottom of this blog)

The reason for details becomes more important on adventurous road trips such as the one I am taking in Iceland where there are only 300,000 people and most of the Island is remote.  

It is wise to have a physical documented Itinerary with directions added in case your something happens to your GPS.

Here is another Itinerary example, however it is missing, maps, photos, info and is more a to the point agenda. Take a look, you can always do yours like this and have a side print out of maps and info. Whatever best suits you.

 
 

TIP: So I mentioned adding information into your Itinerary above. I like to save some money and avoid taking tours when possible, so what I do is I add some information to my Itinerary on places I will be visiting. This way when I am visiting a site I have a bit of history on what I am seeing. Sometimes however tours are necessary or simply more enjoyable, such as whale tours, or touring a glacier lagoon by boat. However that is Iceland, a place like NYC that offers all sorts of tours, I found no need to take any as all the information and history on the places I was looking to visit could be found on the internet.  

If you are visiting a place like Paris, I am almost certain most sightseeing areas could be explored by the traveler without the need of a tour guide, so once you know the places you want to see hit the internet and grab some history and cool facts to print out and take with you. Then read about the place your sightseeing when you are there. This tip allows you to be your own tour guide and stay as long as you want there PLUS a bonus, it saves you a hundred or more dollars that would have been spent on a tour guide. Have dinner on me and this tip 

Of course some people enjoy tours rather than doing research themselves and tours set you up your means of travel from sight to sight. A place like NYC wasn’t hard getting around so I was able to avoid tours and instead did my own self tours. This also allowed me to go at my own pace and stop at dinners and other places along the way that would not have been possible on NYC bus tours. 

So it is worth looking at as an option and seeing if this method works for you on your trip.

 

ATTENTION- Coming up on Dave's Blog - It's not about taking a trip, but taking an adventure - Self Drive Iceland. The Route The Car.

 

Note-  The next few blogs will cover preparing for Iceland and my own itinerary for those interested in traveling to Iceland. I will explain why I chose the places I chose, I will display photos, I will discuss wild camping and more. So follow me as we enter the land of Fire and Ice!