How to properly prepare for your trip in 13 steps!

It is increasingly common to want to organize your trip yourself without having to go through an agency. Not only because it can be cheaper, but sometimes it’s relatively quick to prepare.

Here is the list of 3 essential steps to properly prepare for your trip.

#1 Choose your destination

The first step in preparing for your trip is choosing the destination. Far from being the easiest, it is decisive in all the rest of the organization of your trip. In order to choose the right destination, several questions should be asked:

Depending on the destination of your choice, you will have to look at the weather, local festivals and the climate of the destination where you want to go. Depending on the country, leaving in March is probably not a good idea, traveling in low season is not always a good idea!

The political and health situation

It is also important to take a good look at the current situation in the country you want to visit. This is all the more the case with the new standards concerning the health crisis that has been hitting the whole world for 2 years now.

From a political point of view, it is also essential to find out about the latest political decisions taken as well as potential demonstrations in the country.

The cost of living is an important parameter! Between a trip to a cheap country like Bolivia, Ghana or Moldova and a trip to Japan or the USA, the budget will not be the same. After buying your plane (or train) ticket, you will need to pay for accommodation, food, transport and excursions. The cost of living on site will then be decisive according to your means.

Entry requirements into the country

Finally, if you want to go outside of Europe, you should carefully check the entry conditions . The requirements are not the same for all countries.If going outside the Europe zone does not tempt you, here are some ideas for destinations to prepare for your trip:

#2 Prepare your itinerary

Organizing your trip well is based above all on preparing the itinerary. Depending on your criteria, this one can be tough. If you want to stay in the same place without moving, you can go directly to step 3.

For those wishing to take a road trip or simply visit several cities, the itinerary immediately becomes more complex. To prepare your trip and your itinerary, here is what I recommend:

Look for places of interest and must-do activities in the places you want to go. Many articles will be available on the Internet. The blog is full of inspiration and ideas for visits, for example with the article ”  What to do in the Dominican Republic?” “.

Opt for the paper format with the Guide du Routard or Lonely Planet to have everything at your fingertips, even without a network around you.

Choose a travel application that allows you to mark all the places that interest you and find them more easily. I particularly recommend PolarSteps or Google Maps .

When you have the list of things you want to do or see, remember to calculate the travel time between each step and places to visit. Organizing your trip also means you don’t have to run around and know exactly how long your stay will last.

Find my travel guides : tips and tricks for traveling safely and cheaply, and for becoming a digital nomad.

#3 Book your ticket (plane, train, bus)

Once you know the destination, the duration of your itinerary and the travel dates, all that remains is to book your ticket. If your destination is far away, it will be better to opt for a plane ticket. For this, I strongly advise using a flight comparator like Ulysses . I particularly appreciate it for its ability to pay for a plane ticket in installments .