Charts A Course

Part 1: 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, and attractions. 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.

This section deals with the introspective and qualitative approach that few of us rarely think about. This pre-work will develop a solid foundation from which to make decisions. It acts as a Filter for all the options you will encounter.

Complete the below 3 steps to avoid key blunders during the Planning phase that drains excitement and wastes precious time. These have strong relationships with each other and are intertwined.

1. Determine level of Quality and Comfort

The first step is to envision your Journey. Close your eyes. When you think of this location and Experiences – what do you see? Are you staying in a luxury resort being pampered at the Spa or spending time hiking, boating, seeing the city not necessarily spending much time in the room? Will you be escorted around town in a private car or leverage more economic options like taxi, bus, subway, or ferry? Are you flying the red eye in a first class oversized seat drinking wine or comfortably sitting in coach sleeping with a neck pillow? Define the ambiance that resonates with your situation and preferences, ensuring that every accommodation, and every experience, meets your expectations. Craft your travel canvas with intent.

2. Calculate Budget

Now that you have a Vision of what the Journey will feel and look like – confirm you have the financial appetite.

It is imperative to set financial constraints around options and preferences to help narrow focus and avoid sticker shock. The level of quality and comfort will significantly impact the cost. This is where you can alter parts of the Journey to fit within constraints. Maybe a red eye in coach saves hundreds of dollars to upgrade your hotel room or book a Catamaran sunset cruise with 20 people instead of 200.

A few additional tips to consider:

1. Add 10% more to the budget – most people spend to enhance the experience at the destination
2. Research and use travel-favorable credit cards or rewards programs that provide discounts and points
3. Check seasonality: try traveling on shoulder seasons as costs are higher during peak Tourist season
4. Reduce the number of activities or recalibrate importance of Quality and Comfort. Do not hustle through the current experience to go to the next. That is how you squander and ruin the Journey

3. Understand Your ‘Travel Persona’

The first two sections identify what is most important, how you want to feel, and how much you want to invest in and during the Journey. All of these factors of preferences and needs combine into a Travel Persona. Are you an adventurer who prefers to spend more time planning and spend less or a luxury traveler who can spend more money and spend little or no time planning relying on a travel planner.

Embrace your ‘Travel Persona’ to filter the myriad of options down to a manageable amount.