Having a travel itinerary is the most important part of a trip. Having a travel checklist will ensure that you stay safe and don’t miss out on experiences because of poor planning.
Are you going on a trip soon? If you’re planning a stag party, business trip or city break, it always helps to build a travel plan. Keep reading for our tips on how to create a travel itinerary.
Know Your Goals and Your Limitations
Before you make an itinerary for a trip, you should know what you want to get out of your trip and what your limitations are. Do you have activities that you have to do? Do you know what your budget is?
Talk with your travel buddies and come up with a list of travel essentials to keep in mind as you plan your trip.
Transportation Details
Planning transportation for a trip is kind of like putting a puzzle together. Every plane ride, train ticket, and the bus will have set departure and arrival times that will all come together to create a transportation plan that works for you.
Start with the big purchases. This is normally the plane ticket to and from the destination. These will cost the most, and are the most important, so everything else can work around the plane tickets.
After that, figure out transportation for your destination. Do you need to buy a train ticket or a MetroCard? Does your budget allow for taxis?
Start big and work down to the small decisions. For example, for a trip to Disneyland Paris from New York, you would buy your plane tickets to Paris first. Then you can buy your train ticket out of Paris to Disneyland, and research the transportations at the park for your day-to-day movements.
Make sure you collect all flight information, booking information, receipts from your purchases, and contact information for airlines and travel agents.
Finding Accommodations
Accommodations are a part of your trip where it is key to know exactly what your budget is. Your budget will determine if you are camping, staying at a hostel, finding a decent hotel, or sipping margaritas on the rooftop of a luxury resort.
Whatever your accommodations are, make sure that you note in your itinerary what your arrival and check-out times are and if the place allows you to leave your luggage there if you arrive early.
Daily Activities
Once you have a way to get to your destination and a place to sleep, the next part of building your travel itinerary is planning your daily activities. Everyone is different with this. Some people like to plan every second of their day, while others like to create a loose schedule and see what happens.
As a smart traveler, you should make a list of places you want to visit (museums, restaurants, shows) that will have time constraints or need reservations. This way, you don’t miss out on an experience because you didn’t know you needed to buy a ticket two weeks ahead of time.
Safety First
Your travel itinerary should always include information that can help you in an emergency. Scan copies of your passport and driver’s license, as well as your medical history, prescription information, and embassy contact information.
Anything you might need in an emergency can go a long way towards reducing your stress if the worst happens on a trip.
Compiling Your Travel Itinerary
Once you have all of this information collected, you should compile your travel itinerary into one place. Make copies that you and your travel companions can carry with them either in paper copies or on their phones.
Using a free itinerary template can make this process so much easier. It also allows you to customize your itinerary to fit your style–a fun way to start off a big group trip.
Ready to Go On An Adventure?
Now that travel is opening up again; it is time to get back out into the world and find new experiences!
Build your perfect travel itinerary and start your trip off on the right foot.
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