Planning a trip is my favourite part of any upcoming travel plans, I know this is not for everyone as most people simply book a flight and that's it for them. As a solo female traveller, it is important for me to plan a trip and not just simply arrive there.
When planning a trip; there are a lot of things that you need to think about such as getting a visa, vaccinations if needed, and knowing your itinerary. Sometimes this process is stressful and time consuming.
7 Best Tips To Plan Your Next Trip
1. Know Your Budget
This is the very first thing you need to figure out before you plan a trip or decide where you'll be heading to. You need to know how much money you will be spending on your trip as your budget will determine how you will be spending your trip and where you will be able to go. If you have a small budget then you will need to look at countries that are cheaper to visit, or you will need to shorten your trip to visit more expensive countries.
2. Choose Your Destination
After knowing your budget, you will then need to pick your destination. You can choose your the country you want to visit based on what kind of trip you want, for example do you want to go somewhere for the culture or do you want to go somewhere for an adventure, or maybe you just want to somewhere to just relax.
If you want adventure then you can look for countries where you can find a lot of outdoor activities such as rock climbing or hiking. If you're looking for somewhere to relax then look for places that have nice beaches such as Greece. If you aim to travel for the culture, then go to places that have a lot history and traditions.
Another thing to look at is what time of year would be suitable for you, you can for example look for high seasons and low season of each country to determine when will it be cheap to visit and when will it be expensive. You can also look for the weather patterns, or maybe festivals and holidays, or maybe the visa requirements. There are a lot of factors involved when choosing a destination.
3. Research The Location
After you choose your budget and your destination, it is time to do some research. You can find blogs and guides for your trip, you can even look for photo inspiration on Pinterest of Instagram, but the most important thing to research is the culture itself and the traditions.
You don't want to do something offensive so it important to do some research, you can also ask locals for tips through online forums or Facebook groups.
4. Plan A Trip Itinerary
You've chosen your budget and your destination, and you've made you research, now it's time to plan your itinerary. First thing you need to know is to choose the places you want to visit, simply go on Google Maps and pin these locations to be able to get an overview of where they are and the distance between them.
Now you can plan your trip, based on the locations, the distance, the activities you want to do, and how long you will be staying, you can plan everything.
You can plan the transportation and know how you will be able to move around, you can also chose your relaxation days because travelling is exhausting and you need to relax even for just one day during your trip, and look for opening hours of the places you will be visiting.
If you want to enjoy your solo trip with other people as well, I would suggest going on a guided tour! Sometimes I like to explore by myself, and other times I like the company of others, I would always go on guided tour which is the easiest way to meet others and make new friends. You can book your guided tour either through my favourite which is GetYourGuide, or Viator.
5. Book Your Trip
This is the exciting part of planning your trip, you are finally ready to book the trip after all that planning. Depending on where you are and where you are heading, you can book your flights, train rides, or bus rides. Make sure you look for the cheapest options and the least layovers, it always a great idea to compare prices before booking anything.
You can book cheap flights through WayAway — Get 10% off WayAway Plus membership with this code → TP-385219. —. You can book trains and buses in Europe through Omio; which is the one I always use. You can use 12Go in Southeast Asia & Oceania. There are other apps that you can use to book trains & buses such as Trainline, Rail Europe, Flixbus, and Busbud.
Next thing you need to book is your accommodation, I like to book an Airbnb or a hotel room through Booking.com, you need to choose the area you want to stay in first, for example do you want to be in the centre or do you want to be in a quiet area. Take into consideration everything before booking anything. You can also find hostels through HostelWorld. You can also use Agoda, Trivago, or Vrbo to book your accommodations. I know most people have a favourite website or app to use, so just choose what you prefer best.
6. Plan Your Arrival
The last thing you want is to arrive somewhere after a long flight or train ride and not know how to reach your accommodation from there. When planning a trip, make sure you plan out your arrival, know what transportation you will need to take to reach your accommodation, it can be a train or a metro ride, it can be an Uber or a local taxi, just make sure you know what transportation will you be taking.
You can book a car to get you from the airport to your accommodation through GetTransfer, kiwitaxi, HolidayTaxis, i’way, and/or intui.travel.
Next thing is to make sure you buy a sim card from the airport or when you reach the destination to be able to use apps such as Google Maps and Uber. Your best option would be to get a travel SIM card or E-SIM such as Airalo or DrimSim.
Airalo is the world’s first E-SIM store that solves the pain of high roaming bills by giving you access to E-SIMs (digital SIM cards). More than one million people are already using Airalo's E-SIMs. With E-SIM from Airalo, you can download and install a digital data pack for over 200 countries/regions and get connected anywhere in the world as soon as they land.
DrimSim is the first universal SIM card and free app for travellers. DrimSim is a real SIM card. It’s a plastic card with a chip, just like any other, which you can insert into your phone, tablet, or router. The difference is that it is not tied to an operator. Once your plane lands in a new country, DrimSim is immediately ready to work. DrimSim operates in 229 countries, provides stable communication, a fast Internet connection, and prices similar to those of local operators. You can call your friends and they can call you. You can chat, post photos, and make routes without being afraid of spending all your money on roaming. DrimSim negotiates directly with the operators. Therefore, DrimSim is cheaper than roaming and SIM cards from other providers. DrimSim has an app to help you keep track of your expenses. The balance can be refilled manually or via auto-payment. Money is written off in seconds and megabytes, but not for packages or subscribers.
Other things to pre-plan are exchanging money, downloading an offline map of where you are, and learn some basic phrases in the local language.
If you want to learn the basics of the country’s language you are visiting, which in my opinion is the best thing you can do, because locals appreciate it, then you can use Ling to learn a new language! I am not saying you need to be fluent, I am simply saying that you need to know your hellos, goodbyes, and than yous at least, and Ling would be one of the good options for you.
7. Organise Paperwork
This is very important, you need to have all the important paper with you in both physical and scanned on your phone, just in case you lose one of them you have the other.
Before all that, make sure you prepare everything you need before applying to the visa depending on whether you need it or not. You can get your visa online through iVisa to avoid dealing with foreign governments.
Next you need to buy a travel insurance, get vaccinations if needed, and buy medications depending on the length of your trip. You can get your insurance through SafetyWings — which is designed for digital nomads —, Insubuy, VisitorsCoverage, or EKTA.
What To Do Before Travelling Anywhere
🪪 Get Your Visa
Easily get your visa with iVisa which is simple and much less complicated than dealing with foreign governments. All documents are reviewed by a team of immigration experts. Their staff is well-trained and offers years of experience.
→ Go to iVisa
✈️ Book Tickets
Book your flights seamlessly with WayAway. Compare prices, find the best deals, and jet off to your destination with ease! — Get 10% off WayAway Plus membership with this code → TP-385219.
→ Go to WayAway
📱 Buy A Travel SIM-Card
Stay connected easily with Airalo SIM-card. Activate one before your trip and enjoy hassle-free communication during your time in your destination!
→ Go to Airalo
🔒 Choose Insurance
Ensure peace of mind during your trip to your destination by having comprehensive coverage against any unforeseen circumstances.
→ Go to VisitorsCoverage