How To Go About Doing Travel Planning?

Not knowing how to get started for an upcoming travel? 

Refer to this month by month travel planning guide to help you as you go along making your own fantastic travel plans. 

6 Months Before

·   Browse through travel sites, blogs, documentaries, guides, magazines, itineraries to get ideas of possible travel destinations. I am a big advocate of magazines, especially those Taiwanese ones, or online sites which have attractive photos which create desires for travel.

·   If you already have a destination in mind, ‘dog-ear’ the respective locations which are a must-visit.

·   Meanwhile, continue to keep an open eye as you never know what you may discover.

4 Months Before

·   Confirm that the period of travel is suitable for your purpose of travel.

·   Check the air ticket prices through an aggregator site which allows for easy airline routes and ticket prices comparison.

·   Consider the mode of transport – public (domestic flights, coach, rail, subway), private self-drive (caravan, sports utility vehicle, sedan car, motorbike, bicycle!) or private driver.

·   Compare accommodation types – mass hotel chains, boutique hotels, budget hotels, Airbnb, campsites.

·   Apply for visa where necessary and check on any vaccination requirements.

3 Months Before

·   Book your air tickets, including domestic sectors.

·   Confirm that certain location bookings e.g. musicals, restaurants, theme parks are available for your period of travel and book them if they are in high demand.

·   Decide on your mode of transport and accommodation type.

2 Months Before

·   By now, you should have a big picture of the area you will be covering.

·   Get a map of the region, cities and public transport networks such as the rail, bus or subway, if you are travelling by public.

·   Decide on the number of days to stay in each city.

·   You can either work upwards (identify the must visits, they are usually attraction sites but it may also be a gourmet trip whereby the restaurants determine your route and tabulate the number of days required to stay in that city) or downwards (just allocate x number of days for each city).

·   Ensure you plan out the transport route, especially critical if you are taking the public transport options especially if they require pre-bookings or only one trip per day.

·   Make your accommodation bookings. Note that in certain countries, they are very strict regarding the number of occupants, minimum age requirements, the definition of children etc.

1 Month Before

·   Create a travel itinerary. It can be in the form of MS Word or Excel format or travel planning apps. I personally prefer to use Word as pictures can be included. Many balk at this, as they feel that they know where to go in their minds. But I strongly recommend to list it out as it aids in the planning, especially when you need to take public transport and/or change hotels.

·   Plot your travel itinerary. You can loosely do up a daily or a half daily itinerary. I’m a big advocator for the half daily itinerary as food is an essential part of my travel. Therefore, I make sure I cover places I want to eat for both lunch or dinner. The rest of the itinerary should include attractions, shops etc.

·   An itinerary is also important, especially you do not wish to waste time travelling to and fro. You want to make sure you cover places you wish to visit based on proximity.

·   Make all necessary bookings – day tours, restaurants, places of interests, hobby classes etc.