We all have a different persona when it comes to travel. From those who adore being spontaneous and jumping on the next flight to anywhere to explore, to others who want to plan out every moment to make sure they see everything they want to, there’s no right or wrong way to travel. And whether you’re interrailing around Europe or glamping in New Zealand, your travels are what you make them. But if you’re looking to make the absolute most of your trip and you want to fly back feeling satisfied and relaxed, then planning a travel itinerary, however loose, is the best course of action. There are a few key points to take into consideration to make sure you get the travel experience of your dreams.
Don’t Lose Your Head
With so much to do, see and shoot for your Instagram feed, then it can be quite easy to get travel burnout – whether you plan too much, or don’t plan at all and end up cramming too much in. A huge dose of realism is needing when pulling together your travel plan. Trying to see and do absolutely everything can mean that you end up shooting from one thing to another, not really taking anything in and not getting enough downtime to come home relaxed. Any successful schedule builds in breathing time as much as it does sightseeing and activities. It may be a good idea to plan out what your absolute must-do activities are, and then have a second list of ‘nice to haves’ that you can fit in if you have time. That way, you don’t have to feel like you’ve missed anything but you also won’t come home already needing another break. If you’re going long haul, remember to build in time at both ends for extra naps to compensate for jet lag.
Pack For Success
The other great thing about mapping out what you’ll be doing is that it becomes way easier to pack. If you’re trying to pack for a week in a carry on, then you’ll need to have a pretty good idea of what clothing you’ll need. Equally, you can have the chance to stock up on any specialist equipment, finding walking canes for sale or hunting down off season ski equipment to grab a bargain. With a little practise, you can really get your packing down pat – after all, there’s no point paying for a suitcase full of evening wear if you’re going on a hiking break!
Apply Some Logic
Once you have a list of all the things you plan to do, take a second look at it with some logic. For example, if you’re visiting a big city like Barcelona or London for a few days, use Google Maps to check the locations of all the things you want to see, and adjust your itinerary for each day so that you group things which are physically close together. You don’t want to waste too much time travelling around from attraction to attraction, after all. You can also use this to help plan out your accommodation – a site like Trivago will help you do a location based search and then find the very best rates from across the web.
