In the past, every vacation we went on would be thoroughly researched well before our departure date. Hotels, AirBnB, and transportation would be plotted out, price shopped, and all reviews would be read. I am a planner by nature. Writing things out and having a plan makes me feel in control. I love plotting out adventures to places that are under the radar, knowing where to see the best sunrise, and finding the most unique watering holes. I love researching.
Once we hit the road on this adventure, this all changed. We had done the work on New Zealand. We plotted our road trip and booked all the places before we left. I flagged the hikes that looked amazing, the best happy hours, and the museums that had free admission and great reviews well before we left. But everything after that was a bit of a question mark.
While traveling, you want to be in the moment while it’s happening and not spending hours pouring over information for the next place. Now that we are 4 months in, we have perfected a planning process that works for us and doesn’t take us out of the current moment for too long. Here is the process for how we plan on the road.
Our Planning Process While We Are Traveling
Decide on a Place
The first important thing you need is a place to go. We plotted out our basic regions in the months before leaving on our year-long trip but left some room for spontaneity. Our best planning is usually done over a happy hour beer and a map. We also lean on our traveling friends for recommendations. Koh Phangan is a great example. We would never have picked that small island in the Gulf of Thailand, but we have a few friends who love it and sent us info. It was an amazing place.
To Lonely Planet or Not?
Lonely Planet guidebooks are our favorite. We have used them for all of our international road trips and couldn’t imagine doing anything different. They give you a little history, some basic knowledge of the place we are visiting, and a pretty decent list of places to eat and see while traveling. We only spend the money on them if we will be in a region for a while. Once we are done, we always leave them somewhere that another traveler could find them.
I would recommend getting one if you are going to be in a region for more than one week and if you will be visiting multiple areas. We drove the entire Ring Road of Iceland and loved having this book with us, but when we went to Costa Rica, we only visited one small area, and the book wasn’t much help.
Head to Pinterest
Pinterest is our next favorite spot to find itineraries and “must-do” lists. We do a quick search and open a few articles. Anything that looks like it fits our travel style, we pin for reference later. It helps us find some off-the-beaten-path locations as well.
It’s easy just to start repining articles, but I always click through and scan them first. If I know that will be helpful in the future, I pin them. If they aren’t really giving me the information I need, I move on to the next.
You can follow us here and see all the articles we have saved so far.
Flag things on Google Maps (The Best Tip for Planning Travel)
We utilize the lists on Google Maps to mark places that we want to go. Anytime someone recommends something, or we see a place featured that looks amazing, we flag it. It doesn’t matter where in the world it is because you never know when you’ll find yourself there.
In order to flag a place, you just need to search for it on Google Maps, and once you have it pulled up, you will find an option for “save,” and you can use one of their prepopulated lists or make up your own. When you flag it, it gives you the option to make a note, so I try to write down where we learned about it so we can circle back with that person to swap stories and opinions. It also helps if you receive a recommendation on a specific menu item or a specific tour.
Here is a glimpse of our places saved in Europe right now. This map is a lifesaver and an inspiration for a planner like me.
Scope Reviews
Reviews are great because you can read through people’s experiences. We worked in customer service, and we understand the reviews should be consumed through a filter. Some people always have outrageous expectations, but if you get through enough, you will find a general pattern. The most important things we take away from reviews are tips on the best times to visit, the best tour guides, and other pertinent information that may not be as obvious on the place’s website. Trip Advisor is one of my favorites.
Loosely Plan Out Each Day
Once we have an idea of the places we want to see, we group things together based on location. We see what’s in each neighborhood and plan our days to see as much as possible without running all over town. This is especially important if you use a taxi or the public transportation system because every ride costs money.
We also try only to plan a couple of things for each day. Leaving some space for random spots you see while out and some spontaneity is essential.
See All The Things
All that is left is to get out there and do it all. There is only so much planning you can do before you just need to get out and see what you can. Also, your plan is just an outline. If you see something that you want to do, do it. We have found some of our favorite places by stumbling upon them while out doing other things.
Let us know if you have any resources you use that we should add to our arsenal. How we plan on the road has changed and morphed and we are always open to new ideas. Hope you have as much fun planning as we do!
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