Indice:
The previous steps to prepare a trip
You probably got here after having dreamed about your trip for a long time. It could be a few days or a few months, it doesn’t matter, you want to plan your trip.
You have watched a lot of videos on Youtube, or searched for articles on blogs, and gathered all the information about the chosen destination, and if you have not done so yet, well… do it now! It is the first thing of all.
HOW TO PLAN YOUR TRIP
Have you already planned? It’s time to make reservations! Let’s get to work. Now, finally, let’s plan the trip!
When planning and organizing a trip, there are many things to take into account: how many days are you going for? What season are you going in? What is your budget?
After asking yourself these questions it is time to take pen and paper and start !!
Anticipation is important when bookings, generally if you do it very close to the date of the trip the prices are higher.
Flights
After deciding on the destination and the dates available for travel, it is time to buy the plane tickets. When booking a flight, there are many tips to follow. Trying to travel out of season is perhaps the main one (taking into account that the weather allows us to visit that place), and waiting for the airline offers is the second one. There are specific dates when they launch promos that are very difficult to resist. If you are flexible with your dates, it is very likely that you will get a better price. Try to do the search by changing a day or week (before or after) of your chosen date, both for departure and arrival.
However, check what type of luggage is included in each ticket. You will know if you can travel with only hand luggage or if you prefer to check a suitcase.
►You can start by searching Skyscanner↓↓
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Lodging
When choosing a hotel, the tip is that it is in a central area, where you can do everything or almost everything walking, it does not matter if it is not a multi-star hotel, the important thing is that you will not spend so much on public transport or time, remember that the time when you travel is… gold!
It is recommended, when choosing the type of reservation, that it is with free cancellation, there are many hotels that offer you this option and it is a way to be calm in case later the travel plans change.
Where to make the reservation?, although there are many options of online pages to make reservations, we manage with Booking.com is easy to use and with good offers. In all cases I repeat: that they have free cancellation!, we had always done it this way and when we had to cancel all our reservations for 2020, this was a peace of mind.
A good option to see real photos of them is to look for the comments of the chosen hotel on Tripadvisor, you will find photos of guests there and you will get a more complete idea of what the accommodation is really like.
►TUTORIAL TO MAKE A GOOD ACCOMMODATION RESERVATION
To find out which are the best areas to stay, mainly in large cities, we leave you specific articles, take a look before choosing the area↓
►Where to stay in : PARIS / LONDON / NEW YORK
►You can try hotels↓↓ in this search engine
Transport
Sometimes, traveling by train can be the most economical option, but… always do your calculations. If there are more than two people traveling, you may want to consider renting a car. Also keep in mind that having one will give you a lot of freedom.
It is also very important when putting together a trip, to know if you have places where a car is important, for example to do the Amalfi Coast road, or to tour the Loire Valley. Of course, keep in mind to add insurance, petrol and road tolls. Have you already joined?, yes?, are you decided?, then let’s rent the car!
We choose Discovercars on our trips depending on the offers they show us for our destination and dates.
Remember to include insurance in your car to travel more peacefully.
Exclusive to ITALY: If you want personalized service in your language, for our Italian tours we recommend renting from Trayectis. If you’d like to do the same, take advantage of the discount with this coupon: EUROPAACOMPANADA5
►The car may not be the chosen option. In that case you can think about making the journey by train or also by bus, taking into account that in the latter you may be able to find good deals.↓↓
Travel communicated ►Data eSIM
Staying in touch is very important for all of us these days. We want to be close to our loved ones via WhatsApp, upload photos on Instagram, receive emails with reservations we have made during the trip and use Google Maps for our route.
In our case we have tested a data eSim designed for travelers, Holafly has accompanied us during our tours. You buy it through the web, they send you a QR code and you activate it on your mobile, (what you have to take into account in this case is that it does not work on all mobile models, on the website is the list of them).
DISCOUNT CODE FOR OUR FOLLOWERS: EUROPAACOMPAÑADA5
Travel Insurance
If there is one thing you cannot forget, it is to travel with travel assistance insurance. We are never free from something happening to us on our trip, from losing our luggage to a health problem, for all this we must be proactive and take out insurance that covers any setback.
Here are two of the options we use.
When choosing travel insurance it is good to be able to compare what they offer us, if it suits what we are looking for, always read calmly everything they cover and contact them to answer questions, although it is something that we usually leave as a last booking, it is something very important in our trip and we cannot travel without one.
You also have cancellation insurance to cover yourself in any eventuality and not lose everything by not being able to travel.
Activities
Now we have the dates chosen, the flight, the accommodation, a car if we are going to travel in that way through the country or countries chosen for our trip, or otherwise the train tickets, and travel insurance. What’s missing? The most beautiful thing! Putting together the itinerary day by day, choosing the activities to do and attractions to visit.
Check out some of our posts about cities where we recommend you to see in each one, such as Milan, Edinburgh, Verona, or Bogota for example.
A tip: we always (or almost always) take a free walking tour on the first day in the city we arrive in. This option is very widespread, in fact there is nothing free about it, since leaving a tip according to the tour that was done is normal. It is a two or three hour tour with a guide who generally tells you the history in a very pleasant way, and in this way you have the first contact with the city, you will learn something about its history and its customs, and then you can start on your own with a more in-depth tour.
Book it from here and all that remains is to join them that day
Free Tours
► Book different free tours in cities around the world
Not all activities are walking tours, there are also many very interesting guided tours, which you can book in advance of your trip and in many you have free cancellation, look for this option whenever you can.
Where do we make reservations for activities?
We have two favorite pages to make reservations for attractions, many of them have free cancellation that comes in handy in case there is a change of plans. Civitatis and GetYourGuide
►Read the review on our website
NOTE: The information in this article is based on our own experience, being totally objective. This article contains affiliate links.
