How to Plan A Trip: An Easy 7-Step Guide

Step 1. Choose Your Destination

Finding Inspiration

You can find travel inspiration in many ways. Social media is a great start to choosing a bucket list location and is where most of my inspiration comes from.

You can also find inspiration from people around you, specific experiences, and big events (like the Olympics).

My most frequent method of deciding a destination by simply logging onto Google Flights to find the cheapest location to travel to. For me, this puts any second-guessing aside and helps me commit to a destination.

consider the timing of your visit: While off-season prices may seem appealing, you may face challenging weather conditions, like hurricane season in the caribbean or extreme heat in the middle east during the summer.

Step 2. Do Quick Research

Before you commit to a destination, do some brief research or make sure it is ideal for your preferences.

Things you want to ask yourself:

• Are there any cultural norms or local customs to consider that could impact my experience?
• What is the safety situation?
• Do I need a Visa?
• What is my budget?
• Is it kid-friendly? (If you are bringing little ones)
• Is the weather ideal for my travel dates?
• Are there any major events during my visit that could lead to large crowds I want to avoid?

By asking yourself these questions, you can mitigate unpleasant surprises during your trip!

Step 3. Consider How Much Time You Have

This will tell you exactly how much you will be able to accomplish. If you are like me and prefer to travel for short durations, you may want to limit yourself to one city or region at a time.

Though this has never limited my travels, I do know that I’m not going to fly 16 hours for just a 96-hour trip.

It’s important to focus on a realistic itinerary to truly experience your destination without feeling rushed or overwhelmed. Make the most out of your time by prioritizing quality over quantity.

Because I travel for 96 hours at a time, not every destination works for me. I look for cities that are:

• Easy to get to (preferably nonstop flights)
• Walkable or have good transit
• Packed with culture, food, and charm
• Not too sprawling (I don’t want to spend all my time commuting)

Step 4. Do Your Research and Make Your Bucket List

Now that you’ve chosen your destination, it’s time for the fun part! Start researching on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest—wherever you find inspiration.

Create a list of all the must-do activities and places you want to visit. Whether you do it in a journal or on your notes app, be sure its accessible.

Don’t worry about putting things in order, just focus on recording everything you look forward to.

Step 5. Organize Your List

This is the most tedious but most important part! Go through your bucket list and find the locations of each attraction or restaurant.

The best way to do this is by pinning each location in Google Maps. This will help you visualize your trip and ensure you don’t miss anything important. Once you see where everything is grouped, divide those into days.

Dropping pins ahead of time to cluster daily plans keeps you from zigzagging across a city and wasting time and energy.

Step 6. Organize Your Daily Plan

Now you know what you are doing each day.

You can stop here and treat it as a checklist for what you want to accomplish throughout the day, but I prefer to organize it further by putting it in the order I want to complete it.

In Paris, we discovered our croissant-making class was right down the street from the Louvre. We strategically decided to do the croissant-making class first, so we could take our time exploring the Louvre.

Don’t overplan your days: Remember to give yourself some wiggle room and leave time for flexibility and spontaneity.

Step 7. Book Your Reservations

Once you are confident in your daily itinerary, go ahead and make those reservations.

Personally, if a tour or restaurant isn’t booked out weeks in advance, I wait about a week before my trip to reserve them so I can monitor the weather. This really only applies to outdoor activities. If I see the weather is not looking too good on a day I’ll be outside, I switch my days around accordingly.

This worked for me in Amsterdam, when I wanted to book tickets to see the Tulip Fields. I waited to see the weather forecast to see which days were best for me. We were able to visit the tulip fields on the most beautiful and sunniest day we were there, despite it raining for half the days we were there.