The first step of almost anything is planning. I cannot stress this hard enough, but planning is as exciting and as important as the actual trip itself. You have to consider a lot of things when planning a trip. And even tough you would like to be as spontaneous as possible and surprise yourself, believe me, you definitely would need a rough sketch of what would you like the trip to be, so as not to waste precious time, resources and sanity. On the planning stage, you need to be definite about your destination first and foremost. All the other questions would revolve around that specific context. So when you have decided where would you like to go, its time to start setting goals.

1. Transportation

When I am planning for a trip, I make it a point to start researching 3 months ahead of the trip at the least, especially when I would need to renew or apply for a visa, and the first thing I look for is the airfare. This would take up a chunk of your travel expense so it is very important to consider how feasible this trip can be. On most of my travels, I have relied on apps like Kayak and Skyscanner in looking for a flight that would tick all the boxes. But for long haul flights where I need to consider baggage allowances that I normally won’t get in-app, I have used Crystal Travel where you would talk yourself into a flight deal you deem suitable. When I went home last year, I got a 40kgs allowance, 10kgs above the normal baggage allowance for my Emirates flight, and paid for a much lower price than what I would have got in Kayak. Also, if flying long haul, consider a good airline because the flight sets the mood of your trip and if you were uncomfortable for the last 18 hours, it could possibly ruin what would happen after that. I only ever flew my long haul trips with Emirates because of their service excellence, region specific food menu, comfort, efficiency and generous baggage allowances. On the other hand, when looking for flights within the continent, I use apps to look for the cheapest most reasonable short flight that would probably get me a side trip. The best I have experienced is the one I got from Newcastle to Paris via Amsterdam with KLM. That particular flight allowed me 8 hours to explore Amsterdam which by far is my best layover. Aside from the beauty of the Amsterdam Schipol Airport, it was just a 15 minute train ride away from the Centraal so I had plenty of time to even take a boat trip around the city. By looking patiently for the best flight possible, you can see 2 places in one trip with a good layover. TAP Portugal also offers layover deals to Porto or Lisbon to increase tourist influxes, which I think is a good idea to adopt in the Philippines when transport hubs improve, I hope.

2.  Accomodation

When you have already sorted your flights, it’s time to look for a place to stay. This is definitely reliant on what type of traveller you are and how much are you willing to spend for finer things in life. But if you’d ask me, its also important to consider what kind of place are you visiting. You should imagine the place itself, backed with research,and also advise from friends who have been. If you will be going to a beach, and the trip is somewhat laid back, you should put much into spending your chillout time in a nice cozy villa/hotel and have a taste of breakfast selection in-house when you’re still too tired of the previous night. But if you would be in a very touristy city where every inch of the room would cost more, you might probably look for a homey place with a decent price. I once made a mistake of getting an accomodation in Rome miles away from the places I intended to go to because I assumed their train system would be far reaching like London and Paris, but it was not, so I ended up leaving early every morning to catch up with bus delays and travel time. I usually search for hotels in Agoda, Booking.com or the trusty Airbnb. Please just be very mindful of the reviews and don’t be misled by pictures, and if the price is too good to be true, read the reviews and the details twice.

3. Visa

When going out of the country, its almost always a struggle to get a visa sorted. I believe its one of the things that might hold back a person from exploring the world. That’s why its always easier to go to a place that doesn’t require a tedious process of visa application. But generally, almost all of the countries that requires a visa only wants to make sure that you won’t overstay no matter what. This would require you of identification documents like passport, birth certificate, proof of employment or business ownership, bank statements, flight and hotel bookings, itinerary, a visa fee and biometric information. Some countries would require an interview, but some would be just an online application that would only need a personal appearance for biometric data collection. Most of European countries would require you of a Schengen visa for its member states, so you wont have to apply every time you visit a certain country with the exception of the UK and Switzerland, as with Japan, UAE, US, Canada, Australia, etc which require their own specific application processes. Most of visa applications were online and straightforward, so worry not. I’d like to think its just a matter of conditions, but certain Schengen member states issues longer visas than others, so if you will be planning to see Europe on multiple occasions, its best to apply to France or The Netherlands, which might give you as long as 2 years of visa validity compared to Italy or Germany that only approves validity within your travel period, but also this means you would have to gain entry in France/The Netherlands or stay there longest to qualify for application.

4. Itinerary

It is important to plan ahead before a trip because of this. You can book a flight within minutes, as with the accomodation, you can apply for a visa online within a day and just set an appointment for another. But all your other remaining hours before the trip,you plan for your itinerary. When I plan for one, I look for recommendations that spark my interest, apart from all those sights that are given. Surely, even though it was your childhood dream, you wouldn’t want to see Paris just for the Eiffel Tower. So I read sites such as the lonely planet, watch videos in youtube, and in almost all of my trips, set one date for a free walking tour with a local. Sandman’s free walking tours holds walking tours in almost every city in Europe for free. These walking tours are in my opinion, the best way to know a place’s cultural heritage, compared to reading while you’re doing the tour, or listening to audio tours. Do not get too swayed by reviews if something about the place really interests you. If you would like to see the MonaLisa for the longest time, but a tripadvisor review says its a tourist trap, consider how much you’d like to see it. For sure you wouldn’t be close enough to see the brush strokes, but you can see other countless valuable works in Louvre. Also, consider the time when you are planning and stick to it somehow but do not feel pressured. Take note that in all touristy places, you can only get a decent picture without the crowds if you are up early, or you can only catch the magnificent sunset by the beach if you know what time the sunset is actually happening and be by the seaside on the dot. It really takes planning to see what you wanted to see. With time being said, take into account the duration of your stay at a certain place all the time. Some places take longer to explore, some can be a short break, but like what a newfound travel friend has told me, it takes just one day to see a place and decide it is worth coming back to. How you make your itinerary tells a lot about you as a person, if you are somewhat spontaneous, you’d probably plan for an itinerary without every detail, if you are a culture vulture, you’d probably take longer time knowing how life is at a certain city, observing its local vibe, if you are a photographer, you’d probably look for the angles of the place that catches the attention. Even with all that said, planning your itinerary only ends when you are already on the return flight, you can tweak it and change things when you decide to, when you want to.