Charts A Course

Part 2 Has Landed…

I have spent many years using various platforms to find and evaluate travel experiences. In the travel planning process, I am initially excited, uncovering history, culture, attractions, cuisines, and experiences. By the end, I am overwhelmed by endless scrolling through websites looking at flights, hotels, costs, and booking options. Fortunately, I found techniques to save time, and, in some cases, costs that will create a smoother travel planning process narrowing the emotional highs and lows I struggled with.

Part 1 reviewed 3 foundational steps to avoid key blunders during the Planning phase that drains excitement and wastes precious time. Those are Determining Level of Quality and Comfort, Calculate Budget, and Understanding your ‘Travel Persona’ (take our survey to see yours!).

Part 2 focuses on 3 strategies to refine travel options and place time-limit boundaries. I am confident these provide further Value during your travel planning to reduce stress and save time.

1. List and Rank Goals | Experiences

Start with the end in mind. It is imperative to list five to ten desires and aspirations. Rank each based on emotional fulfillment and time constraints. People who skip this step inevitably circle back to complete it during research. Put a considerable amount of time and thought into this because it forms your overall Experience. This strategic alignment will filter out countless choices while ‘doom’ scrolling option in the planning tools.

2. Identify a Central Location at Destination

Amidst the whirlwind of travel choices lies the pivotal decision of finding your Lodging Hub. This is a central nexus to all your Experiences, providing both convenience and cost effectiveness. One way to complete this is to pin all points of interest using Google Maps and then triangulate Hotel options in the middle. The goal is to be most economical and time-efficient to maximize your ability to accomplish experiences while traveling.

Read our other blog post about how to Book Hotels in a specific area at a significant discount.

3. Define a Time Limit for Planning

This is the final but most effective piece of advice.

Establish a three-to-five-hour maximum period for exploration (per leg of trip). This will alleviate the feeling of being overwhelmed and despair thinking about all the different Travel Platforms, websites, brand, and activities to search through.

If you followed Part 1 steps 1-3 and Part 1-2 steps, travel planning should be about using platforms that are most efficient to compare options at the best relative price. After five hours there are diminishing returns: at this point you have analyzed 90%+ of experiences you prefer and various costs and wasting more time adds stress. This deliberate approach will elevate your planning process from exhaustive to enlightening.

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Congratulations! You have now learned the secret Six Step approach over Part 1 and Part 2 to unlock efficiency during travel planning.

Tell me know how it works and if there are any other step you think are imperative!

Safe Travels!

Nathan