Trip planning: 6 Easy Steps to decide how long to travel

When you start to plan your trip, there are many factors that will go into determining how long you should go for. You will find that these 6 trip planning steps to determine your trip length and will all go hand in hand when figuring it out.

Pre-determined holidays at work.

This is the first and easiest. If you have limited time off, make sure, though, you are making the most of your trip. When working through your trip planning, you want to know exactly how you want to feel both on your trip as well as when you come back. For example, if you feel like you want to see as many things as you can because you don’t’ know if you’ll get back there again, but if you don’t want to feel exhausted when you come home (like needing a vacation from your vacation) you may need to rethink the plan of attack on your trip.

How many places do you want to see?

                If you are going to just one country this is much easier to navigate as you can focus on just a certain area of that country. When you have multiple countries on your list, you need to figure out how long you want to be in each place as well as considering the travel days to get to all the locations. This takes a lot more consideration when trip planning.

How do you like to travel, fast or slow?

                This will determine how many locations you should put into your trip. When you have a longer amount of time to play with, the more locations you can put in. This goes for both fast and slow travel. I really prefer to slow travel. This way you can really “feel” the place you are visiting instead of just seeing the highlights. When you do faster travel you tend to feel more like a tourist instead of a traveler, which there is nothing wrong with that, but you just want to know this. When trip planning, think about what pace of travel is right for you.

Your budget…how much money you got?

How much money do you have to spend? The budget you have will determine the length of stay you have. Depending on how expensive the locations you are going to, your budget will last a longer or shorter amount of time. I do highly recommend you have a budget, even if it is a loose one so you don’t go into a bunch of debt for a holiday.

What is your comfort level?

Are you a high end level of comfort across the board, or are you flexible with places to stay, eat and things to do. If you do prefer high end travelling, depending on your budget, you will probably have a shorter trip than if you can vary your trip level. If it is just high end accommodations that you like, then you can save money flying economy, not eating out at restaurants at every meal, and not need to do every tourist attraction. Your budget can go a lot further if you have more flexibility.

Will you be going on a tour, cruise, or travelling independently?

Travelling independently you have the flexibility to determine the length and places of your trip, but this does require planning and some work on your part for the most of it. With tours and cruises you have built in holidays that you don’t need to put a whole lot of work into, they have determined the amount of time you will be away.

With tours and cruises you may not get to all the place you want or spend enough time in certain locations, but they are great for a hassle free trip. The best of both worlds would be to start off with a shorter tour or cruise and then plan some independent travel for after to explore places yourself.

When you take some or all of these into account you will easily be able to determine how long your trip should be.  No matter how long or short it is, a trip away somewhere is always a happy jolt to your brain and heart.

Are you feeling overwhelmed or not sure what your next steps should be? Lets book a call to chat and see how I can help you.