When planning a trip, I usually follow one of two strategies. The first is a destination-based trip. I pick a destination that I’m interested in and build the trip around it. Everything from the duration to the accommodations and the style of travel is built around the place.
The second strategy involves picking a time period, for example a week in March, and deciding on a trip based on what fits best. This strategy can be more economical, as you can select a destination based on your budget, good flight deals, and destinations convenient for a shorter trip.
Research the Destination
The first step in planning my trip, once I’ve decided on a destination, is the research stage. I begin by reading through various blog posts about my destination, marking down places I’d like to see. I write down every stop that piques my interest.
The plan during this stage is not to build an itinerary, but rather to collect information, ideas, and hidden gems that I can use later to build my itinerary. While I do search via Google or another search engine, I also find Pinterest to be a useful resource to find blogs.
Searching for Inspiration through Pinterest
Pinterest is a great source for travel blog posts. I find it to be especially useful to find hidden gems and nearby daytrips that I might otherwise not find. Pinterest can help you find super specific information as well, such as where to eat, what hikes to do, where to shop, or the top free activities in the area. Then, you can save links to each of these blogs into a folder.
This makes it easy to search a little at a time while you’re waiting for an appointment, on the bus, or any time you have a spare moment. Then, when you’re ready you can sit down and skim through your saved articles to begin building your plan.
Organize the Plan
After you’ve done your research and collected enough data, you can start to organize this information into what you’d actually like to do on your trip.
If I am following the first strategy, I start to compile what I’d like to do and build an itinerary to understand the number of days I’d like to travel. In this case, I’ll book flights after I know how many days I’ll want to be away.
If I am following the second strategy, I’ll start with the number of days on my itinerary and then slot my top activities, restaurants, and other destinations into my plan based on priority.
Create a Map for the Trip
I create a map for every trip I go on. I’ve found this is one of my favourite travel hacks as it leaves room for spontaneity and allows me to always have a back-up plan. If you use Google Maps to create your list, it is also very easy to share the map with everyone you’re travelling with for easy collaboration.
I started creating maps for my Europe trip in 2024 where I travelled to London, Greece, and Italy. Being on a trip for three weeks traversing three countries meant there was a lot of time for plans to change and unexpected hurdles to occur. For example, we didn’t realize until Friday evening, our first day in Athens, that Orthodox Easter was on Sunday. This meant we needed to condense our plan to see the six archaeological sites over three days into two. Because I had extra items pinned on my map, it was easy to decide what to do on Sunday instead.
By having a map set up with all the sights we wanted to see and highly recommended restaurants to choose from, it was easy to adjust our plans without missing out on important spots we had prioritized.
Build an Itinerary
I usually build an itinerary using a spreadsheet. Personally, I don’t plan specifically to the minute, but I will estimate the general amount of time each activity will take to fill each day. I often leave spaces of time to “explore” different towns or areas without scheduling anything specific as well.
I won’t necessarily follow the itinerary word for word while on the trip, but building a plan gives me a basis from which to make decisions. It also helps me to prioritize which spots are most important to me in order to remove some items from the list that I had found interesting during the research phase, but don’t fit into my schedule. I will usually keep those pinned on my map, just in case I have additional time or my plans change.
At this stage, I will also double check my top priority interested to ensure that they are open when I’d like to visit (or if I need to shift around my schedule). I’ll also check if I need to book tickets in advance to make sure I don’t miss any of my bucket list items due to poor planning. I’ve made this mistake a couple times while living in Spain, as I did not account for the advanced bookings needed for Park Güell in Barcelona or the Alhambra on my last-minute trip to Granada.
Leave Space for Spontaneity
As mentioned in my itinerary, I leave extra time to wander and explore. While pre-planning can make you aware of the top sights or some lesser-known gems at your destination, sometimes the most memorable parts of the trip come from spontaneous side quests. Climbing Mount Lycabettus on Easter Sunday was one of the highlights of our time in Athens—and it wasn’t part of my original plan.
I never set my itineraries in stone, which is one reason that I don’t really schedule activities around specific times. My itineraries usually look more like a list of things to do on each day of the trip, primarily driven by where I plan to be on each day (particularly on trips with multiple stops), or around one or two priority activities that must be done on a given day (due to ticket availability or opening hours).
What are you top trip planning tips? Do you use any of these methods?