Travel Planning

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TRAVEL PLANNING GUIDE

As much as I love traveling, planning for a new adventure and booking a trip can seem overwhelming. With so much to think about and so many different providers to choose from, the choices can take the fun out of what could be an exciting aspect of travel.

I get you, and after many years of traveling and pinning the Planet, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve, and that is the reason I am here to help you and make your experience easy, better, and free of headaches to help you to plan for your next trip!

This page has everything you need: To find a perfect DESTINATION, learn everything before you go with my TRAVEL GUIDES, provide you very detailed TRAVEL ITINERARIES to help on how to visit a new country or city, and finally, it has a checklist of things you need to book and a RESOURCES of my favorite travel providers.

Find below the 10 easy steps to book a perfect trip, and thanks for supporting the blog.

TRAVEL PLANNING OVERVIEW

1- WHERE TO?

Find a destination for your next adventure. Looking for an adventure, a relaxing vacation, or an authentic experience?

2- TRAVEL VISA

Before you start booking, it is very important to check on the visa requirement for the country you are traveling to and apply.

3- TRAVEL GUIDE

After finding the next destination it is time to learn everything for your visit and decide on the Itinerary for your trip

4- BOOK FLIGHT

Normally this is the most expensive part of your trip. It is important to check prices and try to get better deals

5- BOOK ACCOMMODATION

Make sure you find good deals & good locations. Pay attention to the customer's reviews.

6- RENTAL CAR

Are you going to rent a car? Or are you to travel around by public transportation? Check options, compare prices and book in advance

7- ACTIVITIES

Decide what activities you want to do, check options, prices, and book it in advance. Avoid buying at the last minute and skip lines.

8- INSURANCE

Whatever you go, do not travel without travel insurance, the unexpected can, and often does, go wrong. Protect your trip and your health.

9- PACK

Make sure you pack light and smart. Be respectful to other's cultures and dress appropriately. Always pack the travel essentials.

10- TRAVEL RESPONSIBLE

When traveling, be respectful to the local culture, help to protect the environment, and support the local community.

These are websites and companies I use and recommend for my travels. I make a small commission from purchases you make from this page at no extra cost to you. I have also included what I honestly think is the best. If you find my travel articles useful and you would like to support Paula Pins the Planet blog, booking your trip with this page will help keep my site going.

10 easy steps travel planning

1- WHERE TO?

First, you need to decide where is your next destination.

Making the decision on your next destination is the most exciting aspect to travel. What kind of experience you are looking for? A relaxing vacation on the beach somewhere in the world, or a very active adventure? Maybe are you looking for an authentic and ethical experience?

To help you to start, visit my DESTINATION page. Here, I captured my experience by tons of traveling research prior to my trip, and I put together detailed guides and itineraries of each country I visited, broken by travel guides of everything you should know before you go, very detailed Travel Itinerary, breaking in city guides and top experiences.

I recommend visiting my TRAVEL PHOTOBLOG for some overview of the beauty of the country and top things to do and to get some inspiration to help to choose your next destination.

2- TRAVEL VISA

If you decide to travel internationally, after you decide on a destination and start your booking, it is very important to check the entry visa requirement for the country you have decided to travel to.

Check the entry requirement with the government website of your country who will be able to direct you to the relevant foreign embassy for updated visa information.

3- TRAVEL GUIDE & ITINERARY

Now that you decided on the destination, it is time to start to review the Things you Should Know Before your Trip, and you can find on my TRAVEL GUIDE with one page dedicated to each country. – how much it will cost, what are the best places to visit, the best food to try, places to stay, etc.

I also recommend buying TRAVEL GUIDE BOOKS to help you to plan your trip.

Next, you will need to define your Travel Itinerary, and decide what are the places you will visit, and how long you will spend in each place. You can find it all on my very detailed TRAVEL ITINERARIES I put together, all the information you need to make it much easier for you.

If you are looking for specific ethical information, wondering if experience or a place is ethical, check my RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL GUIDE

Next, you will need to define your Travel Itinerary, and decide what are the places you will visit, and how long you will spend in each place.

If I haven’t covered it all and you still have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I would love to chat with you about my favorite topic: Travel.

4- BOOK YOUR FLIGHT

This is most likely, the most expensive part of your trip, so it is important to start to check prices as soon as you decide on a destination. I always use and recommend Cheap OAir. They have an easy and very clear website and search tool, and even better, the best deals for flights.

Once you located the flights, you are directed to select from several different providers to make your book.

Save When You Bundle Your Trip! Take up to $30◊ off with Promo Code VP30 Book Now!

5- BOOK ACCOMMODATION

Booking.com is my go-to hotel, guest-houses, and BB searches around the world. They have over 2 million properties in 220 countries – from hostel to luxury properties.

Also, I love to think that sometimes we need to change our plan during our planning and booking, and Booking.com has a 24-hour cancellation policy that I have used several times.

Airbnb is also what I use and recommend. Whether you want a couch or a castle to crash in, they get you covered. I have been using Airbnb for over 10 years now to book accommodations all over the world, and I only have good experiences to share.

You can quickly quote your accommodation below.

Booking.com

6- CAR RENTAL

I do a lot of road trips around the Planet and I had many situations where I had an unpleasant surprise of having to pay extra at the end, and I know that booking a car can be challenging.

There are many options of providers which all have different add-ons and insurance quirks, making it difficult to compare prices.

The best portal I have found and the one I always use on my trips is Rental Car. They have access to cars from all the major companies which are compared on a grid format that clearly displays the prices for different car sizes across each provider.

They are also very reliable and display what is and isn’t included in the price, and offer good value insurance options and also, they have a 24-hour customer service.

You can quote it from my blog and get up to a 30% discount on your rental car.

7- ACTVITIES

This is a fun part of organizing your next destination, get to choose, and book your activities.

To make your trip more organized and to check prior what are the options for local tours, or side tours, also, to avoid spending too much time in lines, I recommend checking the options and book with my trusted partner Get Your Guide.

They have great options, very reliable customer reviews, and they also can easily send the tickets to your smartphone.

My Travel Itineraries have the information to help to guide you to organize your trip and what I recommend to book in advance in order to make your trip more organized.

8- TRAVEL INSURANCE

Whatever you go or do during your traveling, don’t travel anywhere in the world without travel insurance; the unexpected can, and often does, go wrong. Be it sickness, losing your bag, theft, or even worse, having an accident, travel insurance is your best way of mitigating the issues and saving yourself thousands of dollars down the track.

The most important thing is to choose at least an insurance that covers your medical bills. But before you go ahead and purchase any insurance, understand exactly what the policy covers.

I recommend reliable travel insurance through World Nomads before your trip, and they can tailor to suit your needs – their policies can cover personal loss, theft, damages, and medical as well.

You can do a quick quote below.

9- PACKING

With all my years of traveling, I finally learned to pack light and smart and I can help you with some things I have learned during all these years.

Packing can take so much time, and don’t matter in the Planet I travel to, either my carry-on or my backpack routine is pretty much the same. I ensure I have all the essentials and whatever I need to stay comfortable and dress appropriately for each country I visit.

Check some of my travel essentials below.

10- TRAVEL RESPONSIBLE

This blog mission is to encourage ETHICAL TRAVEL by giving back to the local communities, helping to protect our environment & practice animal cruelty-free tourism.

As it is great that more people are traveling than ever, it is also bringing a negative impact on our Planet: Overtourism – Exploitation – Animal Abuse – Pollution – Emission – Environment Degradation

We all can have a great impact on the Planet in a positive way, by making good choices while on the road – Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s a good choice though, so I am here to share some stories because just like you, I am constantly learning and educating myself on the best choices I can make during my traveling around our home, our Planet!