Travel planning it tricky. There are a few factors that you can focus on to help you plan the perfect vacation. Budget, destination, excursions and down time.
Budget defines everything and is essential in your travel planning. If you don’t have a budget, you can’t go anywhere. Finding out your budget often means having savings, making payments or a combination of both. If you know how much things cost, it makes it a lot easier to plan. If you don’t know how much your new car is going to cost, you don’t know what you can afford. It’s the same way with a vacation.
Destination is defined by want and budget. If you want to go to Africa for a month, that’s great! You save, you plan, you go. Maybe you don’t know what destination you want, but you know you want to go fishing. What kind of fish do you want to fish for? What is the best time of year to catch those fish? Maybe you want to see the Aspen trees in fall color. Where is the most dense population of Aspen trees to experience the fall foliage? And when is the best time to get the best view? What is the best way to get there? A destination defines where you’re going and how you’re going to get there, as well as what you’re going to do while you’re there.
Excursions are the things you do and see on your trip. These often times have a cost, but not always. At the very least, there’s probably a transportation cost to get there. They also take time, which you have to allow for in your travel planning. If you want to go see something 30 miles from the route you’re on, you have to allow for travel time plus time to do or see.
Down Time is crucial. You can only go go go for so many hours at a time. This is the place that most of my clients don’t plan. Especially when there are different time zones involved. Time change effects your sleep and eat schedule. Your body has an internal clock and if you don’t allow for a little down time, you’ll be exhausted and often times cranky.
I’ve had people want to visit all the Hawaiian Islands in 5 days, but they’re coming from the East Coast. They don’t factor in the time change and jet lag. They also don’t forcor in what they actually want to do and/or see while they’re on each island. Often times people also forget about travel time or may not realize how long it takes to get from point A to point B. The thing my clients love about my vacation planning is that they don’t come home from their vacation feeling like they need another vacation to recover.
Travel planning can be tricky, but if you follow a plan of how to get there and how much it’s going to cost, it doesn’t have to be so complicated.
Marlie Burt
Cassandra