Daunting
It can be daunting planning your first trip. Worries about hotels , travel connections and even what to see fill your head with unfounded fears.
Start with yourself
It may sound strange but before you can plan your trip you need to know yourself and if applicable your travel companions. I don’t mean in the mystical sense. You will need to define how long you have. You will need to define your interests. You will need to define worldly limits like a budget or physical limits.
Be reasonable
If your vacation is seven days trying to cram in seven years worth of travel isn’t reasonable. It will almost always leave you with a bitter taste. Accept that you can’t do everything in a short period of time.
Don’t be wasteful
You will often see people wasting hours on long flights or multiple train rides. If you have a short trip those hours spent in airports or train stations are wasted hours. If you really want to to spend a few days at the airport no need to even buy a ticket. Go to your local airport and spend the day before security. Doesn’t sound like fun? Don’t expect it to be any more fun just because you’ve spent money on a plane ticket. The same principle applies to moves after you’ve arrived at your destination. Each time you move you will waste part of a day. You will need time to pack. Time to check out of your hotel. Time to get to the train station. Time for the train ride. Time to get to the new hotel. Time to check in. Time to unpack. Very few people find any of this enjoyable.
Wasting not just time
Each move wastes not just precious time but it will cost you monetarily. The train ticket is the obvious cost. But you may need a cab to the train station. Or just a bus ticket. Once you arrive in the new city a second cab.
Next step
After you have defined your budget both in terms of time and budget you can move on to the next step. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? You may be tempted to give a very general answer here but don’t. Answering Italy or Spain or France for example isn’t an answer unless you have months for your trip. It’s better to concentrate on one city then to try and see everything.
Skyscanner
offers various search options to help you find a flight. It can also be used to figure out which airlines fly certain routes. Or just to find the best airports
They also offer an app that you can use.
Google Flights
Like many things Google offers an option.
Google flights is useful from your computer. It also provides price tracking.
Lodging
Your next problem will be finding a hotel or other lodging in your destination. Booking.com lets you search a large number of hotels and apartments . You can sort by price or hotel rating. You can search using various factors. For example do you want breakfast included? Free cancellation? Or parking? Spend some time setting the various filters and you can find a hotel tailored to your needs. Booking.com provides a large number of real reviews from travelers like you. It’s a very good idea to carefully read the reviews prior to booking any hotel.
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Pretty good tips for first-time travelers. I know many people find it quite daunting. So I hope this will help and inspire them 😊