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I
like going on short trips (typically upto a
week) to one country at a time rather than longer
trips covering multiple places. I prefer to
do my own research months in advance and do
all travel, insurance, hotel, passes bookings
myself rather than relying on a travel agent
to do it for me. With Internet its possible
very easily and it saves money too. I have nothing
against the guided tours or touring companies,
its just that for me, planning and deciding
what to do / see gives great satisfaction.
When
I visit a country, I want to be 'close to ground'
- travelling on public transport, speaking in
broken foreign language, going to bank to convert
currency, collecting local coins (Have lost
this fun since the advent of Euro), eat in a
roadside café, study local maps. Most of these
pleasures would be lost if I go on a guided
tour. |
| I'm
a photography-oriented tourist wanting to see
many places and take lots of digital pictures,
do lots of shooting with my camcorder and also
take pictures with good ol' camera (to remember
when I retire). I also enjoy creating / editing
my holiday DVDs and showing it to my family &
friends (I have to entice them into watching it
over a drink though!). Ok enuff of my story. |
Here
is what the page title says - How I plan my travel:
This
in no way meant to advise you on how you should plan
your travel. This is just the way I plan it and find
it to work. I have used this method to travel to almost
10 countries and it worked for me. These are the three
steps:
1.
Planning and budgeting
2.
Itinerary / Schedule
3.
Implement with travel checklist
Planning
typically starts 2/3 months in advance.
1.
I study the country I want to visit.
2.
Visit various Internet sites, contact local embassy
and request brochures, borrow books from library, and
talk to friends who have visited the country.
3.
Then I list down what I definitely want to see.
4.
I check out what are the flight fares. Typically I try
to keep the schedule a bit flexible. To find best offers,
I find fares on the flight website. With all the no
frill airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair you can find
out best one way fares over a period of time. Offcourse,
if you are travelling by other airlines, you can still
find out fares from the agent.
5.
One more important thing I do is to work out fares for
different combinations e.g. travel in to London and
travel out from Edinburgh (and vice versa) as you are
travelling. It not only saves time to come back to original
destination, but if you do some homework, you will be
amazed to see how much you can save. Then I choose the
dates that look right, it may not be the cheapest dates
but at least it gives me an idea of how much difference
it can make if I'm flexible. This is my Travel
Plan and Budget Spreadsheet (Disclaimer)
6.
Check local trains and transportation timetables to
see what is realistic in the no. of days I'm visiting.
Study what country pass would suit me best.
7.
Based on all above research, I get my Projected Expense
Calculation with typical expenses. See my Travel
Plan and Budget Spreadsheet (Disclaimer)
Then of course I book the flight / train tickets.
8.
Next step - see Itinerary/
Schedule --->
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