Good Plan = Good Trip: Planning Tips + My Free Trip Planner.
Budget
It all starts and ends here, doesn't it? First sort out how much coin you have to spend and use that to guide the rest of the decisions ...I mean that's what responsible people do right? In this planner, use the amounts from chosen activities, flights and accommodations as a foundation for your travel budget.
I'm no excel whiz so the formulas on this tab are simple. Feel free to get add more complex accounting formulas to live your best budget.
Location Information
Alright, so in Tab 1, "Budget Worksheet", you've established that you have money, will travel- great! Let's move on to researching the location(s) that you will travel to. On the tab, you will enter general information about a place such as the accepted currency, expected average weather for the time period you are there and any common seasonal weather anomalies. I also included a section for "social norms". Here you will enter what you found out about any special ways of greeting, showing respect or ways of being. Yes, be yourself when traveling but in some countries there are certain behaviours and actions that are regarded as offensive or that are illegal so better to know what they are before arriving.It all starts and ends here, doesn't it? First sort out how much coin you have to spend and use that to guide the rest of the decisions ...I mean that's what responsible people do right? In this planner, use the amounts from chosen activities, flights and accommodations as a foundation for your travel budget.
Actitivies
Ok right, now that you have a general idea of the place you are visiting it's time to plan the fun stuff. Most likely events and activities are the entire reason you are planning a trip...or i could be wrong and you just plan to go somewhere to do absolutely nothing - boss moves, feel free to skip to the next tab. Those of you with activities, pay attention. If you're time is limited in a place and you have many things you want to do and see, you're going to want to plan them out to ensure you get to participate. Keep in mind that tours, workshops, concerts, experiences, etc can get booked up. If you can, reserve your spot ahead of time. Use the Activities Tab to enter key information such as meeting points, reservation #s, and items to bring for activities.
Itineraries
Moving right along to my favourite part of trip planning - making hypothetical itineraries. I know this seems like too much. Just go with the flow, right? Yeah buuutttt sometimes the flow has to match up with booked activities (did you secure your reservations in the previous tab?), with travel dates (exploring the nearby town), incoming weather (it's raining all day on Wednesday so now it's Museum day not beach day)...you get the point. Planning out a few different itineraries will help you to re-adjust quickly if something unexpected happens.
Calendar
If you're more a "bigger picture" type traveller and don't want to plan daily details in an itinerary, using the Calendar tab will be more useful for you. It is also useful for all travellers. On the calendar, you would enter important travel dates, fixed scheduled events, time zone changes and major local holidays happening in the place you are visiting.
Accommodations
Alright, so now that you know where you are going and what you are going to do and when, it's time to choose your base. Of course, if you are traveling to a specific resort or only have one place you want to stay, this tab won't be useful to you. This tab is for the traveller that is weighing out multiple options of where to stay and or is booking multiple options for a multi-location trip.
There are a lot of personal preference factors that go into choosing a place to lay your head. I included factors that are important to me when traveling but feel free to change the headers to reflect what's important to you...in fact, that goes for this entire spreadsheee -- where are you going?! Sorry can't use that word here meant to say, 'this entire "Trip Planner"'.
Flights
Usually, searching flights and accommodations happen at the same time. There isn't much surprising to say here. For those on longer, multi-location trips, this tab is a good place to keep track of all those flight numbers and requirements for each flight. I've included considerations for connecting flights, baggage fees, required Visas, and pre-boarding requirements. Know before you go!
Trains, Buses, Ferries, etc.
Once you're on the ground, there might be many other forms of transportation available to you. Use this tab to help you navigate your options . You may find that you are only aware of certain bus lines, ferries, connections etc. when you've arrived to a place as some smaller transportation companies/providers do not have a large or any presence on the internet. Keep your eyes open for brochures and posters with schedules of these smaller companies. They sometimes are the only option you have so you will want to have their information in hand (remember: they won't have their schedules online).
Maps
Remember needing to use paper maps? Yeah those were fun. You will find them in local tourist offices. I recommend taking some and even to stop and chat with the rep inside there. They will circle places for you to see that maybe were not in your original plan - Go off track baby!
If you don't want to carry anything besides your smartphone, there are other maps...
- Maps.me: this is my go to map app because it works OFFLINE. No data plan needed just GPS and a prayer.
- Google Maps: Google is known for mapping out the World and for the most part, they do a good job. I like to use their "create a map" feature for planning out walking/hiking/day trip routes. There is a high chance you will get lost while exploring so having a digital map with routes and landmarks is helpful. These maps are shareable too so if you are in a group, all members can use the same digital map.
Health Information
Even with all details planned out, being mindful of your health is always optimal for the best travel experiences. Be sure to know what health documentation is needed to enter a country. Some places may require certain vaccinations and those vaccinations might need to be completed within a certain period of time before your arrival to a place.
There could be other health forms and/or public health self-declarations to submit prior to boarding the plane or arrival.
Another thing to consider is if you will need travel insurance. Some countries require a traveller to have travel insurance in addition to their own medical insurance. So do your research or consult a travel advisor who can help you.
The IAMAT has written an impartial(they do not name any specific insurance providers) guide to Travel Health Insurance where they explain how to buy the most appropriate travel health insurance for your trip.
On the Health Tab, I have a list of possible health forms and considerations to think through regarding your travel.
And finally, here is EURTrip planner! Click on the yellow image to the right to download it. It is an excel(xlsx) file.
You can also download the file by clicking here.
I hope this article was helpful. I'd be happy to know if you found it useful and if you have used the trip planner. Happy travels!
