8 Easy Steps for Planning an Epic Vacation

People often ask me how I plan my trips. Planning, for me, is just as exciting as the trip itself! Here are eight easy steps anyone can follow to plan a fantastic trip abroad.

Step 1: Decide where you want to go

Many people have problems deciding where to go. Here are a few suggestions.

• Determine key landmarks you want to have your picture taken in front of (this is how I decided to go to China and see the Great Wall)

• Review travel magazines and think about which articles or pictures you kept flipping back to

• Create a system like “I want to see a country on each continent” (which I did between 2003 and 2008) or “I want to see countries that start with each letter of the alphabet” (be careful with Q and Y)

• Consider your family heritage and visit your ancestral homes

• Spin a globe or look at a map and pick a spot with your eyes closed

• Put a bunch of ideas in a hat and draw at random

• Review travel agency websites

• Talk to family and friends to get their ideas

As you can see, there are lots of ways to decide. Just use your imagination!

Step 2: Gather ideas of what you want to see

Once you’ve decided on a general destination, now you need to dig into the details. What do you want to see when you get to the destination?

• Research travel websites about your location. My husband loves Wikitravel.

• Research tours. Not that you need to go on a tour, but tour agencies know all the best stuff to see (especially the touristy things) so they can give you lots of ideas.

• Check out Trip Advisor. I’m a big fan of Trip Advisor. You can see what people find enjoyable in almost any location in the world.

• Read travel magazines (yes, magazines!), travel websites, and anything else you can find.

One idea might inspire you to think of something else so lots of ideas are best. It’s worth spending time at this step to get to your perfect trip.

Step 3: Identify what type of trip you want to have

• Beach or mountains?

• Group or solo?

• Active or relaxed?

• Tour or self-organized?

• Multi-day organized tour or day-to-day activities?

• Luxury or rustic?

• Hotels or camping?

These are just a few questions to consider. Think about your preferences and what you enjoy the most. If you hate traveling in a group, you should probably avoid that! It sounds simple but determine whether you’ll make day trips and whether those will be with groups. My husband and I took a trip to Mexico that was mostly on our own. We took a day trip to Chichen Itza and were frustrated every time someone from the group was late returning to the bus. Avoid those things you’d find frustrating or unenjoyable.

Step 4: Determine your budget

This one is on you. I try very hard to purchase everything before the trip so that I come home without any debt. Or, I plan on paying back my credit card as soon as I get home. My husband and I save up for our trips by arranging for a year or more. I know not everyone plans ahead like we do but it relieves the stress of the budget. Remember that you can travel the world and see lots of unique sites without breaking the bank. But I can tell you from experience that having the trip paid for makes it much more enjoyable!

Step 5: Figure out the right time of year to travel

Consider the following factors when you think about the right timing.

• Weather: Weather can play a big part in your vacation. Some people love the sun and some love the rain. Research the weather patterns for your desired location and the type of weather you love or not regret. Doing a simple Google search like “Best time of year to visit [location]” will give you lots of useful information about what to expect month-over-month.

• Festivals or Events: You may decide to visit a location because there’s an important cultural festival occurring. Or, that may just frustrate you because there are so many people in the area. Research what key events are happening. Sites like a chamber of commerce site can provide dates for key events and you can decide if you want to visit during that time.

• Local Holidays: Holidays typically mean higher prices and more people. It also means that people you want to visit might be more available. My friend and I visited Ireland in late August one year without knowing there was a bank holiday over our first weekend there. We ended up in a little town packed with people escaping the city for a long weekend. We decided to leave because it simply wasn’t enjoyable with so many people around.

• High, low, and shoulder seasons: Flights, hotels, and tours are often cheapest in the low season. My preference is the shoulder seasons because the weather is typically fine, but rates are lower than the high season.

Step 6: Organized Tours?

If you’re going to do an organized tour or tours at all, start researching who you want to use. Use sites like TripAdvisor to identify potential companies and research customer ratings of those companies. 

I’ve found a couple of travel tour agency sites I use that best suit the way my husband and I travel. And I use those for inspiration. Search for tour agencies online such as “luxury tours” or “adventure tours” or “beach tours” depending on your preferences. You’ll start to see the same tour companies come up in different searches in which you’re interested.

As much as possible, I try to find local tour companies rather than big-name, multinational companies. In most cases, the big-name, international companies outsource to local companies anyway, so I try to eliminate the middle man. I’ve also found that local companies are much more flexible about schedules and plans.

If you’re planning to do multiple day tours, consider using the same tour company. Many will offer a discount if you book multiple tours with them. For example, my husband and I used a tour company in Panama for 4-day tours. They added airport transfers for free which saved us about $80.

Step 7: Start reserving hotels, flights, tours, etc.

Flights First: I always reserve my flights first. By doing so, I can adjust the dates back and forth a bit from my preferred travel dates and see different prices for different dates. I recommend using Matrix Airfare Search. This site allows you to search for other dates, airlines, etc. It can help you narrow down what airline you want to fly and the specific dates. 

If you have a preferred airline, take a look at their partners. I’ve flown a ton on United (1.4 million miles and counting!) and I’ve found I love flying Lufthansa, which is one of the Star Alliance partners. 

Once you have your dates and airfare, buy the fare from the airline directly. Many people want to use travel agency sites like Expedia or Orbitz, but if something goes wrong with your flight (delays, cancellations, etc.), you’ll have to work with the travel agency to fix things. It’s so much easier to work with the airline at the airport to address issues. It is also noteworthy that some of the fares shared in the travel agency sites limit the miles or points you can earn.

Tours Next: If I’m doing a full tour (I’ll have another blog about this later), I reserve that next. Just make sure you align your tour dates with flight dates with the tour operator ahead of time. You don’t want to get stuck flying on a Friday to learn that tours only start on Thursdays. Coordinate with the tour company ahead of time but book the flights first. You may decide you want to stay an extra day before or after the tour (especially if there’s a significant price difference in the flights).

Then Hotels: For hotels, I strongly recommend staying away from prepaid rooms. While they are cheaper, you can’t change them (or at least not easily). For a slightly higher rate, you can get a ton of flexibility in terms of changing your room and dates and even canceling (read the cancellation policy before you submit your reservation). I’ve found I move my hotels and dates around a lot between the first reservation and when we finally travel.

HINT: Hotel rates change frequently. Make your reservation and then check the hotel website regularly. If you find a lower rate, book the room again (make sure it locks in at the lower rate) and then cancel your original reservation.

Back to the Tours: For organized tours, contact the tour companies after your flights and hotels again. Most tour companies need to know where to pick you up.

Step 8: Buy trip insurance

OK, let me repeat this… buy trip insurance! Even in the days before COVID-19 hit, I purchased trip insurance for almost all of my trips. You never know what’s going to happen. What finally sold me was an incident that occurred on my first trip to Africa. I was traveling with a group, and one lady had a bad reaction to the anti-malaria medicine. She ended up with itchy hives over her entire body. She was evacuated out of Botswana down to Johannesburg and stayed in the hospital for a week. And then she had to rejoin the group at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Not only did she miss a week of the trip, but that entire incident would have cost $100K or more without trip insurance. As another example that I heard from a friend is that his father passed away while traveling overseas. It cost $60K to bring his body home. If those examples didn’t land the message enough, think about the impact that COVID-19 had in the early stages when companies canceled flights and cruises but didn’t have policies in place yet.

Trip planning can be fun! Take the time to do some research and you’ll end up with a once-in-a-lifetime trip every time you travel!