As I’ve shared before, travel has been my number one goal for the past two years. Whether with family, friends or by myself, I’ve been trying to check off as many places as I can off my bucket list. With my next big trip in less than a month (see you soon London!), we’re starting to finalize all our plans and I wanted to share my best tips for
SAVE DOWN ALL THE SPOTS: One of the best tools I have for planning comes from Instagram. Even if I don’t have a trip currently planned, I love to make folders in the “saved” section of my Instagram so I can look back later. With so many fun spots shared from different bloggers, friends and sites, this is such a great way to remember all the must have places you don’t want to miss. Its also a great tool to use when you have last minute free time or end up in a certain area and can easily find a restaurant or bar nearby on a whim! I use this tool all the time too here in NYC to help me remember places I’ve been wanting to try or visit as well.
BOOK YOUR TICKETS: For my big international trips, I booked my tickets about six months in advance and our hotels/Airbnb’s around 4-5 months in advance as well. Of course this is all dependent on the best deals and where you are traveling, but I found this was far enough in advance to get the two big things out of the way and not having to stress about them. It also felt great on the expense side of things to pay for two big parts of the trip in advance to help make spending a little less painful.
GOOGLE DOC BREAKDOWN: Google Docs is my favorite way to compile everything together. I usually create a few different tabs including restaurant recommendations, sight seeing spots, travel guide links, reservation info and then our day-to-day itinerary. When traveling with another person or group, this is an easy way for everyone to add in their picks, expenses, etc. and all have access to no matter where you are. I also like to add in a notes category for the itinerary as reminders of tickets we may need to bring, best way to get there or other things we may want to know before going.
FINALIZE AND RESERVE: As you make final decisions on what you’ll be doing, this is a great time to also check how far in advance you need to make reservations or buy tickets. Depending on how hard it is to get one, I usually set calendar alerts to book before so I make sure I don’t miss out! Booking these beforehand also helps with mapping out your schedule, and not having to stress about missing places or not having all the materials you need!
PLAN YOUR PACKING: Along with planning your trip, be strategic in your packing too! I always like to bring a lot of basics and a few fun items to mix and match with. About a month before, I like to begin pulling together a list of the items I want to bring, and see what I need to buy in advance. Giving this month time frame allows you to buy quality items you actually need and not worrying about buying things last minute you don’t love! Most importantly, pick travel bags that are easy to bring around, whether your tote bag or suitcase, to help make everything as seamless as they can. A few of my favorite travel necessitates to shop below and I’ll be sharing my full London packing list before our trip!
As a reminder, all my travel guides are saved here to reference! Let me know where your heading next and your favorite travel tips as well!
I’m always so curious how people plan their travel – you’re a girl after my own heart with that travel doc! Do you do any research on destinations when it comes to the best time to visit? London is on my bucket list…I hope you have a great time!