5 Tips & Tricks to Creating a Perfect Travel Itinerary
March 22, 2022
It takes all types of travelers to make the world a colorful place! Some like to wander aimlessly with a backpack and bare essentials, others can’t make it past day one without a trip timeline!
Travel is a little more complicated during Covid – changing restrictions and protocols and, if you’re flying to your destination, trying to plan the timing of your Covid testing or vax for flights! Advanced bookings are essential at this point in time for your vacation accommodation, activities, and attraction tickets.
Whatever your travel style, having your vacation essentials at a glance helps with planning, and maximizing your time to enjoy the best of your destination’s attractions, activities, and local culture. Perhaps your personality type calls for a step-by-step, hour-by-hour planner or you’re more of a rough travel guide kind of traveler, either way – a little travel planning always goes a long way! Here are our 5 top tips & tricks to creating the perfect travel itinerary:
Create a Vacation Bucket-List
If you’re still early in the planning stage, create a vacation bucket list! What kind of adventure are you seeking? The purpose of your vacation is the centerpiece of your itinerary – a wine weekend with the girls, a spring break treat for the kids, a golf getaway with the guys, or a corporate retreat with a couple of free days – this determines your vacation destination and the type of activities to plan.
This is the part where you dream! If you’re yet to find the perfect travel destination – read local area blogs, watch travel documentaries, and scroll the amazing destinations on Instagram for inspiration, it’s also the best way to get your travel tips.
Create a trip inspiration board, pin inspiring destinations on Pinterest, add a travel folder to your bookmarks, dream away – and once your destination is decided, build a bucket-list list of ALL the places you’d love to eat, play and stay – regardless of budget or time constraints.
Do Your Research
Back to Reality! It’s wonderful to dream, but now you need to use your bucket-list to create a realistic wish-list that aligns with your budget and time!
Prioritize your Bucket-List: Categorize and then prioritize your bucket list from “must-dos” at the top to “can give it a miss” lower down with an estimated time for each activity. Categories should include top destination attractions, history, arts & culture, restaurants, and traditional food, free things to do, nature & eco-adventures, festivals & events, and unique destination experiences.
When to Visit: Are you looking for the vibe of the high-season crowds, or a quieter shoulder season escape? An important factor to take into consideration when booking an out-of-season vacation is that many attractions and activities are seasonal, so be sure to do your homework. If you’re planning a last-minute vacation, look ahead at the weather forecast to plan indoor and outdoor activities accordingly.
Transportation: Are you road-tripping or flying into your destination? Plan your route or book your flights and research local transportation options for arrival and getting around. Many vacation destinations have airport transportation and seasonal shuttles to get around easily, or you may have to rent a car on arrival.
Where to Stay: This is our favorite part – finding your dream vacation home with Xplorie! We’ve all heard the horror stories of travelers arriving at a non-existent home so booking your vacation with a reputable brand that offers personalized guest service is key!
Map It!
You now know where you want to stay and play – let’s map it! Google is a great resource to map all your bucket-list attractions, activities, favorite restaurants (and local shuttle stops if required) to see where they all are in relation to each other and save running from one side of town to the other. You can switch from driving time to walking or biking times to help plan your travel times too.
Create a Calendar of Events
A calendar for each day of your stay allows you to see if you can realistically fit in all your “must-dos”. Tours and activities in top destinations fill up fast so book your attraction tickets and activities first, get them set on your calendar, and then have fun filling in the gaps.
The perfect travel itinerary allows for flashes of spontaneity so if time permits, schedule a free day or at least a little flexibility and wiggle room for personal time, last-minute adventures (or potential travel mishaps). If it doesn’t all fit, it’s a matter of adding an extra day to your vacation or cutting an activity or attraction from your vacation planner.
Finalize your Dream Vacation
Now it’s time to put it all together in one place, and this looks different for each traveler. It may be an old school notebook, a color-coded spreadsheet, or a digital app for tech-savvy travelers that allows you to share your plans with friends & family, and even access your trip itinerary from your watch!
Planning your vacation should be fun, and easy! Xplorie partners with professional property managers and local activity providers to bring you the best places to stay and play in one package for easy vacation planning. All that’s left is to keep dreaming, plan your packing, and discover the best of your vacation destination in your dream home with free and additional activities from Xplorie.
