Steps You Need To Take When Planning Your Next Overseas Trip
You can easily rely on a travel agent to plan your holiday out for you. But what fun is that?
Why not spend hours upon hours before you even spend a dollar booking anything; researching, comparing, investigating, asking questions and understanding the place you are going.
Planning your own overseas trip is possible and you will find while away travelling will be a much more authentic experience for you. For many people, just planning or anticipating your trip can make you happier than actually taking it.
Since the Australian borders are closed, we have more time to get organised and map out our next trip in advance. That way you are ready to book it all in when it is safe to travel again.
So what do you have to do if you are planning it yourself? Just follow these 19 steps…
Decide on the country you would like to go to; narrow it down to cities
Look up the suggested best time of year to go - the wet season is usually a cheaper time to travel but be prepared for rain and the humidity. If you think this may ruin your trip, choose a different time of year. At high season, places are overcrowded and low season may mean that some tours are not operating or places are closed. There is much to consider that is if you are not governed by when you must travel.
Will your travel solo, with someone or tour? Research tours if you decide to take a tour. That’s a whole different ball game, compare companies, days going, price, age range, itinerary…. Travelling solo can be fun or consider carefully who you travel with - are they a good friend? do they have enough savings or will they want to borrow from you? do you have similar interests etc?
Book your flights – direct flights are often more expensive but I prefer it. The fewer stopovers the better. Go with reliable flight companies. A good app to compare flights is called Rome2rio or Skyscanner. Avoid weekend travel as this tends to be more expensive.
Investigate where you would like to go and begin to plot out an itinerary. Consider how long you need to have quality time in the places you are going.
Look up things to do in each of those places. Are there special events or festivals being held? TripAdvisor is a great place to start. What types of activities are on offer? If you are hiking you will need to pack boots and may need to put in some hours of training before you leave.
Download the maps.me app and start pinning places you would like to go. Easy reference for when you are away.
Book your accommodation. Choose centrally located places to stay. Consider traffic noise if staying on the main road, consider if there are stairs or a lift if have heavy bags, consider asking for a non-smoking quiet room. Go directly to the accommodation website to compare prices.
Is your passport valid? – when does it expire. Memorise your passport number and expiry because you will be asked to record this a zillion times. Saves your sanity if you know if off by heart.
Does this country require you to have a visa? If so, apply for a visa. If not, go to the next step.
Visit your doctor to ask if this country requires you to have any vaccinations or medications? Yellow fever, malaria etc. If yes, book them in or buy the tablets.
Look up the country’s currency. Will you buy it before or when you get there? I tend to take out at the ATM at the airport – research which ATMs have no fee for your type of travel card. Look up where you can find these ATMs throughout the country.
Check and understand the conversion rate so you don’t get too much out or too little. Done that before!
Inform your bank you are going away so they are aware and don’t cancel your card when they notice random transactions from overseas ATMs.
Check the weather at that time of year so you know what type of weather you are packing for – jacket, scarf, boots or shorts and shirt weather.
Check the electrical points so you can take the right adapter for charging your electricals.
What language do they speak where you are going? Start learning a few keywords. Download the Google Translate app to help while you are away.
Register that you are going away on the Smart Traveller website.
Start saving hard. Sacrifice a coffee a week or walk instead of drive to the local shops. Every cent counts.
Do you tend to plan your own holidays or put them in someone else’s hands as you don’t like the stress? Do you think you could follow these 19 steps? We would love it if you joined the conversation and left a comment below.