“Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.”
Dalai Lama
Everybody likes to go to a vacation, spend some time resting or changing environment. But sometimes it’s pretty hard to decide where to go or how to plan your trip, how to combine all ideas or what will be the best option. Of course there are so many choices in the modern world, a lot of travel companies offer different kind of trips and that’s why it’s harder to decide where to go – too many options. You have to spend so much time then trying to choose the best option for your budget and places to go. And if you spend too much time on planning, you’re losing excitement about the future trip. Especially if something goes in the wrong direction and we don’t get what we want, we get upset and a vacation doesn’t bring us needed feelings and energy. And that’s bad. So what is the best way to plan your trip?
According to my experience, first of all you need to listen to your heart – to choose an option, which you really want, not the option where other people usually go, but what you feel you want to get this time. You have the whole life to try everything, so don’t worry if in the next trip you will not visit all places. If you feel you need to relax your mind, just do it, change the environment, go out the place and people you used to be with, try something new, turn off the telephone and hear your heart. Sometimes we just need to rest physically, to lay on the beach or in a house without an opportunity to move or walk. It’s really helpful when our body asks us about that. For some people, like me for example, the best way to rest – to change activity, to visit new places, to walk a lot, to see new places. Of course all people are different and everybody choose different places and kinds of rest but what is common and the best way to decide, just listen to your heart, make a list of places you want and can visit this time and it will make your planning simpler. When you will know the places to go, you will need to find how to get in there and where to stay. Just do it step by step. And remember – the main rule – it should make you happy. If you want to do it – you will find the way. It can be not that simple as you imagine and it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Because it you want something, you will achieve it. Following your dreams will make you happy and the universe will help you to find the best way to achieve it.
Summarizing all information I would singled out the next steps to plan your trip:
- Decide where do you want to go, when and for how long
- Decide what is your budget, what do you want to see on your trip
- Decide if someone is going with you
- Start looking and searching for tickets
- Start looking and searching for accommodations
- Booking and choosing tours, sights, etc
In my opinion, respecting all kinds of different views of course, I prefer to have as many things booked as possible. It also depends on how long and how far will the travel be, but in general is common sense that things bought in advance become cheaper. But of course, some adventure and romance can add unexpected routes and not planed activities.
For a trip between continents, it’s deal to start planning at least 6 months before. Start by looking patterns on place tickets, that changes everyday. Normally, the ideal time to buy it it’s around 3 months before the trip, since after that it’s unlikely that they will go lower. If you are going to Europe, the task gets easier, since many companies fly to there. A tip, buy the tickets to any European city you can get, because after you got there, it’s easier to get cheap tickets inside.
On my trip for example, my first destination in Europe was Munich, in Germany. The prices for a direct flight from São Paulo were really high, so i started looking other options. Just for comparison, a direct flight at the time cost around $1600. First, I found a flight with a connection in Istambul, but the tricky part is that I would have to change airport during the night. So I ruled that out. Right next, I found one with a connection in Madrid, right in the morning, by $1200,00. Bam! $400 saved!
