Planning your dream vaca can be overwhelming. There’s so much pressure to plan the perfect trip. I don’t know about you but if I’m spending my hard earned time and money on a trip it better be a damn good time.
I’ve always enjoyed planning my vacation. In fact, sometimes it’s my favorite part of a trip. If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know I’m a planner so naturally planning a trip is right up my alley. I’d like to think I’m pretty good at it.
If you’re not into the whole planning thing, make sure you keep an eye out for when I launch the itinerary section of Adventures of a Blonde Girl. I’m super excited about it. For a sneak peak, make sure you sign up for my email list to receive a FREE 2 DAY LONDON ITINERARY. Actually, just go ahead and sign up for my email list because then I will personally email you when my itineraries launch.
1. Decide Where You Want to Go
Duh. You can’t plan an itinerary if you don’t know where you’re going. This is sometimes easier said than done. If you’re anything like me, you probably have a lot of ideas in mind- it can be hard to narrow down the list! A couple of months ago, I wrote a post all about choosing your travel destination. You can read it here.
2. Decide How Much Time You Have to Spend
Is this a week long adventure? What about a quick long weekend? After you pick where you want to go, the next step is deciding how much time you have to spend there.
Keep in mind the pace you want to keep while you’re vacationing. For instance, spending a week in Napa is likely going to be much more relaxed that spending a long weekend in New York City. This is definitely something to consider if want to plan something relaxing.
3. Decide If You Will Stay in One Place or Go to Multiple Destinations
Depending on how how long you’re going to be on your trip, you might want to consider going to multiple destinations. For example, when visiting Austin, San Antonio makes an awesome day trip. Going to Vegas? Maybe take a side trip and spend a night at the Grand Canyon. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with spending all of your vacation time in one place, this is just something to think about.
4. Decide What Attractions You Want to Visit
This is the part of the planning where I start to get a little overwhelmed. It can be hard to come up with all the things you want to do, especially if you are unfamiliar with your travel destination. The best advice I can give you is to research, research, research. Take a look at what other people have done in the city you’re considering. This will give you an idea of what to include in your itinerary and (probably more important) what to leave out.
Once you decide all your must-sees, I recommend looking on a map at where they are all located. This can help you arrange all of the attractions so you can visit them in order without wasting too much time backtracking. You’re list doesn’t have to be perfect at this point, just try to get everything into a logical order.
5. Decide How You Are Getting Around
How are you planning on getting from place to place? Does your destination have an awesome public transportation system? Will you be renting a car? Maybe walking works the best? It’s always a good idea to figure this out ahead of time so you’re not scrambling once you start your vaca.
If you’re flying, don’t forget to plan how you’re going to get from the airport to your hotel and back again at the end of your trip. Too many times in my life I haven’t planned this out in advance. Honestly, most of the time this has ended working out. However, one time my friend and I planned on Ubering from the airport and when we got there we realized- surprise!- there were no Ubers. Don’t be like me, plan ahead.
6. Decide Where You Are Going to Stay
Ok, so you have your attractions in mind and know how you’re going to be getting around. The next thing on your list should be figuring out where you’re going to stay.
When I look for a hotel, the first thing I do is take a look at where all my attractions are located. From there, I try to find hotels in the general area of the attractions. Sometimes hotels can be expensive around tourist attractions. If the hotels in the area are out of your budget, it’s totally fine to look in different areas- just make sure there is public transportation or you’re able to drive to the places you want to go see.
7. Finalize Your List
Ok so you have all the pieces of your vacation, now let’s put them together. At this point, I like to put my attractions in a more final order. I also like to get a general idea of how much time I want to spend at each place. In fact, I usually go a step further and list approximate times I expect to be at each place. If you’re not a structured vacation person feel free to skip this step! Make sure you print out your itinerary and bring it with you so you can keep organized.
8. Have fun!
You’ve worked so hard coming up with an itinerary, now is your time to reap the rewards and enjoy it. Have a great trip!
