One of the common questions that I have received from people is ‘How do you actually go about planning a trip?’, with several requesting a blog to go through the process. So to those that have asked for it, your wish has been answered. As you may have guessed, this blog will go through my method to planning and booking a trip, whilst explaining the reasoning behind the steps. This guide is designed to be a step by step kind however, it is to be noted that each stage can effect another one thus sometimes, two stages have to be considered at the same time.
Finally, before I get into the think of things, I think it’s worth pointing out that I am by no means an expert at this and missing a trick or two myself.
How Long Does It Take Me?
I’ll be honest with you and admit that the amount of time it takes for me to plan a trip is a minimum of 2 weeks but that can go up to 4 weeks and beyond depending on the length of the trip. You may be thinking that this is an extraordinarily long time but I like to make sure that my whole plan in place before booking. Some people like spontaneity when they travel, which I think is more suited when you can go for months on end or have journey that is open ended but with my trips being restricted to only a few weeks due to work, I want to make the most of my limited time.
Picking a Destination
Obviously the first thing you need to do is select where in the world you want to go. As to what factors you use to pick where you’d like to go depends on your personal preferences and this is not something that you can have dictated to you as travel is a personal experience. My criteria is constantly changing from trip to trip as I have developed and learned what it is I’m actually looking for when I head somewhere as well as changes in personal circumstances. To help inspire what criteria you may use, I’ll list my usual determining factors along with any additional factors that you may want to consider:
- Time – A large factor for me is how long have I got to travel. Personally, deciding to go to the other side of the world when I only have 1 or 2 weeks to travel is simply ridiculous. You’ll lose a day at the beginning and end for travel then you have to consider the effect of jet lag, which can be around another 2 or 3 days for you to get over fully. That’s potentially 4 to 5 days of your trip written off or majorly affected! This leaves you minimal time. Also how long you have to travel will determine what kind of holiday you want to have, for example, a city weekend break versus a long trip covering a whole nation. My general rule for flight times are as follows:
- Up to 2 weeks – I would keep it within a flight radius up to a maximum of 4 hours, maybe up to 6 hours if worth it, to ensure that the effects of jet lag aren’t too much and I’m not losing a whole day or two due to the travel time.
- 2-3 weeks – I would expand my horizons up to around the 8-10 hour mark, potentially up to 12 hours if I’m in the upper limits of that 2-3 week range and the destination is worth it.
- 3 weeks or more – I wouldn’t have any restrictions on my options as I’m only losing a smaller percentage of your trip relative to the amount of time that I have set aside for the trip.
- Money – Of course this is big factor! There’s no point heading for your trip to the other side of the world because you have 3 weeks available when you’ve only got for example, £1000 for the whole trip. Unless you’re extremely savvy with your money and booking way in advance, that’s going to just about cover your flights alone! Though there are services that can offer you some incredible deals on long haul flights for surprising prices. You do need to consider though, where you’re going to stay, how much of the nation you’re going to see and what you’re going to get up to once there, as these will have a big effect on the money required. I’ll cover how I take all this into account in finer detail when I get into budgeting.
- Activities – You want to enjoy yourself when you travel, right? There’s no point spending all that money, going all that way to then find out that there’s nothing for you to do that you enjoy. This is where knowing what you enjoy comes into play and can shape where you’re wanting to go. Why head to the centre of a major capital city like London when you’re looking for mountains to explore nor is it smart to head to newly formed country when you’re looking to immerse yourself in thousand of years of history! You catch my drift. Then again, you may want to throw yourself in the deep end and try something completely new! Like I said, it’s all personal to you. So before I pick somewhere to go, I come up with what sort of activities I want to do on that trip, for the time of year, and then use that to tailor my destination based on what I’m expecting to be there.
Other things for you to consider, that for me aren’t that high on the priority list:
- Climate – To some, this is key and the top of the list! How many times do you hear someone say they “just want to go somewhere hot”? They just want it hot, possibly along with a beach or pool to enjoy it, nothing more, nothing less. For the most part, the climate doesn’t matter to me as places tend to conform to the different seasons, giving you different activities on offer. The only time that it does come into consideration is when it’ll truly affect your experience, e.g. the monsoon seasons in Asia, or affects my desired activities, e.g. there’s no point going to France for piste skiing during July.
- Who’s going – The reason why I’ve listed this here is because, excluding a couple of trips, I’ve been a solo traveller so usually the answer has always been, “Just me”. Solo travelling is very different to travelling with other people. If you’re going on your own, you get complete flexibility on what you want to do and where you want to go. If travelling with someone, you have to factor in things that you can do as a collective and that everyone will enjoy. Be warned, this can be a stressful experience, even with the closest of people to you!
Travel Tip: Sometimes I know exactly where I want to go and hunt for that one place. However other times, I know my budget and time available but need inspiration as to where to go so use SkyScanner to assist me in this process. Using the “Everywhere” tool on the website and putting in the dates of travel, it clearly lays out in ascending price order, the places in the world that have flights for those dates. Then I just go through the list and see what catches my eye, either becoming set on one place or building a shortlist to research. A perfect and easy way to get inspired.
Alongside this method, there are plenty of other ways to gain inspiration from to help you decide where you want to head to. This could be a guidebook in the local bookstore that has caught your eye, a story that a friend has shared with you or something you’ve read or seen through a blog or social media. All it takes is that spark, you’ve got to just let that fire grow and develop into a full idea.
How Do I Go About Selecting Flights
This perfectly takes me on to how I book my flights and as mentioned in the paragraph above, the tool I like to use is SkyScanner. With the handy tools that allow you easily pick which dates, destination, filter down how long you want to actually spend travelling and times of departure, it gives full flexibility in your decision making of how you’re going to get to your chosen destination. As simple as it is to use, there are a few little techniques and bits of advice that you can use to be able to get the most out of it and find the cheapest flights.
- One thing to be careful of is that on the initial overview page, they show the cheapest for that day and could include a catch or two. These could be 0600 when you’re only able to do 1800, it could be a 3 stop trip, taking you 24 hours to get there instead of what should be only a few hours direct or it could be going with an airline with a variety of extra charges. It’s something worth noting, especially if using the inspiration technique detailed above. Though don’t be afraid of quite short stops at airports nor very long ones, as that could give you the chance to explore an extra city on the way.
- Don’t always be so set on which airport you want to leave from nor the number of stops. Sometimes if you open yourself up to add only an hour or two to your journey, you could save a lot of money! A personal example for me was booking to go to Las Vegas from Manchester with 1 stop rather than from London direct. In total, this added just over hour to my total journey but saved me over £400! The crazy thing about it? The flight I was connecting to was the one that was going to cost me that extra £400 direct from London.
- Additionally to the point about airports, flying from one airport but returning to another can reduce the price for you whilst not inconveniencing you too much. A good example of a city where this works is London with it playing host to six international airports in relative proximity to each other so, for example, flying out from Gatwick but landing at Heathrow could save you a few extra pounds/euros/dollars etc. (Apologies but as someone from the UK, the easiest and most well known example for me is London!)
- Airlines are always a big thing for people. The experience you have can really set the tone for you. You want to be as comfortable as possible when you’re moving through the air. We all have our personal favourites but sometimes flying with a lower rated airline, especially for a shorter flight, can save you a significant amount of money. Thankfully, there’s a tool on the left hand side of the page to narrow/widen the search field.
Travel Tip: Depending on where you’re going, there may be an option to utilise a train or coach, providing a lot cheaper way of travelling to your destination with the trade off of time! To ease the travel time and travelling in the daytime, you’ll have opportunity to get into that book you’ve always wanted to or to get through some work or else if you're on the move overnight, it will can allow you to sleep the time away. If you can fall asleep that is...
How I Go About Selecting Accommodation
Deciding where you’re wanting to stay can be really simple and based on one thing like price per night, its rating, its location or a combination of the three to get what you want. You could also be looking for a certain thing from that hotel such as a spa, rooftop bar, infinity pool and so on. When searching though, there’s no point trying to get a 5 star place in the centre of a city for next to nothing, it’s just not going to happen unless the country you’re staying in is generally inexpensive or you managed to find a real gem of a deal!
The next thing to consider is what kind of trip that you’re having. This will very much shape the kind of accommodation you want. Hotels and hostels have been the mainstays over the years when it comes to accommodation, with their own pros and cons, but then there’s been the emergence and increased popularity of AirBnb in recent years bolstering your options, now giving you three main options with what kind of accommodation experience you’re wanting and this ultimately comes down to you. To give you my thoughts on it, I’ve summarised it in a handy little table below.
Type | Situation | Advantages | Disadvantages | Method of Booking & Why |
Hostel | Travelling on my own so looking to meet new people and make friends |
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| www.hostelworld.com – Probably the most popular place to find a hostel. I find Hostelworld to be a great place because it gives plenty of options for you to filter your search and shares what previous inhabitants thought of the place. |
Hotel | One of three reasons or combination of them: – Wanting to relax and recover – Privacy when travelling with someone else – Lack of hostels! |
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| www.trivago.com – A great price comparison website, taking in data from plenty of other sources to give you the lowest prices for your dates. Also has a plethora of filters to use to get exactly what you’re looking for. |
AirBnb | When accommodation at hostels and hotels is too expensive or there is a lack of them. |
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| www.airbnb.com – I think reasons for this one are obvious! |
How I Go About Selecting My Activities
As I mentioned in the section about choosing your destination, activities are something you’ll have already kind of taken into consideration and have a general idea of what you’re going to do when you’re there. However, you may be travelling just on the recommendation from friends that have only explained it as a “great place to visit” and that you “HAVE to go to” so require some assistance in filling out your itinerary. Have no fear, Quilty Covers is here to share with you the techniques that I use to fill those gaps in my itinerary:
- Googling things to do – Who am I kidding, this is someone’s first port of call! Google knows everything, right? So why not ask Google what are the best things to do wherever it is you’re going?
- Local guides – Doing free walking tours is one of my favourite ways of starting off in a city as it gets you out exploring it with someone who’s knowledgable about the place. You do tend to see a lot this way but it can give you some food for thought for places you may want to explore in more depth and the guides always have a collection of places to visit that are off the beaten track, places to eat and potentially discount vouchers for local attractions.
- Intuition/Maps – I’m not sure how common this method is amongst travellers for working out things to do but I enjoy a good adventure out in the wilderness, working up a good sweat to get the endorphins flowing whilst taking in the locality. To be able to do this, I look at Google maps for some challenges to see what’s around amongst the landscape to challenge myself, whether this be a hill, mountain, viewpoint or a coastline. Sunrise and sunset spots are a firm favourite for me so taking into account East and West, as well as times for these respectively works a treat.
Travel Tip: One of the key things with this though is ensuring that you’re fully aware of the task at hand and make all the preparations required to tackle whatever challenge you set yourself.
- Inspiration from social media – With the prevalence of social media in the world, it is one of the most common ways of discovering places that you may want to travel to and the activities on offer there. From videos “randomly” crossing your path (we all know how the algorithms work!), to actively following travel pages or personalities that travel around and share their experiences, (such as that AMAZING blogger who goes by the pseudonym of Quilty Covers! Not following him? Why on earth not?!), we are given inspiration by the content that we consume. For you, this could be the perfect way to discover your next perfect trip!
- Guidebooks – If online content isn’t your way of learning about where to go and what to do then heading to a bookstore’s travel section will give you an array of guidebooks that will give you the full lowdown on your next travel destination.
- Word of mouth – The good old fashioned way of sharing experiences and inspiring those around us is through the stories that we tell each other when we’ve been away on a trip. Best take note next time you catch up on a friend’s antics.
How Do I Budget For Everything
Now people may think that it is a bit much but I tend to track my finances year round through the use of a spreadsheet so that I’m always living within my means. By doing this, I can predict what sort of budget that I’ll to have for a certain time of year, with all other outgoings considered and accounted for. If you don’t do this already, it could be a worthwhile thing to do, either via a computer based spreadsheet or manually on paper.
Now you know how I set my budget in the first place, once I add my destination and know when exactly I am travelling, it’s time to build a spreadsheet for that holiday. Got to love a good spreadsheet!For me, this allows you to clearly see everything that you would need to know about your upcoming trip. As you populate all the information into it, it will give you a running total of the cost of your trip, allowing you to manage staying within your set limits.
Here’s a template of the spreadsheet that I use to plan a trip, which you’re free to use and amend as you see fit:
Date | Day | From | Time | To | Time | Method | Price | Accommodation | Price | Activity | Price | Link |
10 Jan 19 | Tuesday | Manchester Piccadilly | 1000 | London Heathrow | 1300 | Train | £xxx | Hostel Y | £xxx | Empire State Building | £xxx | |
London Heathrow | 1600 | JFK | British Airways | £xxx |
Most of the headings are self explanatory but you may be wondering about the inclusion of some:
- Day – You know the date so why is the day important? Well, the first reason is that for some tours that you are interested in, they will only run on certain days, so you wouldn’t want to miss out! Another reason is that it allows you to quickly cross reference when booking what the cheapest days are with where and what you’re doing on a given day. An example would be if you work Friday until lunch, you’ll be able to see about getting a Friday evening flight out rather than waiting for an early morning one the next day, giving an extra evening at least.
- Link – This one is probably obvious but it gives you a place to put in the link to where you’re booking your activity, giving you a straight forward way back to the company if you only found it by accident on page 7 when trawling through Google.
I find that when I budget a trip in this way, it provides a platform to plan in detail what I’m doing, when and at what times to leave me with a detailed document covering the whole trip. This in turn can be used to check off what has and hasn’t been booked so you’re on top of everything. Another advantage of using this way, is that I’m able to link the grand total back into my yearly finances spreadsheet to double check that I’m in my limits.
If you want to see a completed spreadsheet to see what it looks like once finished, here’s an example of one from a recent trip to Thailand:
Looks like a fun trip right? You’ll be glad to know that a blog will be released for this in the future so watch this space!
What’s Next?
You’ve got the destination sorted out, all your accommodation and activities are lined up and you know how much it’s all going to come to. So what do you do next? Book it! Get everything booked, sit back and relax and wait for the time to come for you to pick up your passport and suitcase, head to the airport and get on that plane to take you on your next adventure! As to when you actually go about booking your trip, the earlier the better would more than likely give you the cheapest prices but there are theories when exactly the best time to book is. However, there’s always the last minute deals if you like running the risk!
I hope that you have found this blog post useful and can take forward some pointers to help you when you come to planning your next trip away. If you want to see more content from me, be sure to check out the other blogs on my website and follow me on the social media links found below! I’ll catch you in the next blog!
