Last Updated on July 26, 2024 by Tori’s VA
Planning a vacation, but have no idea where to start? So many people ask me how to plan a vacation because they are overwhelmed the second they start thinking about it. There are so many details that go into planning a vacation no matter how small or large the trip is. Whether it’s domestic or international, you have a lot of items to think through and plan for!
If you are taking the time to go on this trip, you must make sure those days are used intentionally, and are not left to scramble and figure things out while on vacation. Not only does that waste time, but it also adds so much stress and anxiety when you should be relaxing and having fun.
This post may contain affiliate links for activities, destinations and products that I love, and think you will too!
When you start to plan it probably seems extremely overwhelming. Or if it doesn’t, then you might be missing out on key details you might not have known you should even be planning before the trip! Planning your vacation is not just about booking a flight and hotel room.
How do you get to the hotel once you land? Where will you go and what things will you do each day? Where are the best places to eat? I mean, if you are going to an amazing new place, you don’t want to eat crappy food just because you happened to sit down at the worst places in town. Planning your trip out is extremely important; do not waste all of that money and time just to have a mediocre trip.
All that to say, do not be overwhelmed! There is a science to planning a great vacation and I have created the perfect plan for you to use for ANY trip you go on. You can use this for a family beach trip this summer or a huge international trip next year. Whatever the vacation is, this plan will walk you step-by-step through the planning process and is guaranteed to leave you with an amazing vacation by the day you are ready to jet off.
Step 1: Research
Use however much time you have to plan by researching everything there is to know about the destination. For some this might be 2 years, others might only have 2 weeks. Use the time you have wisely by absorbing every piece of info you can. I recommend that you do not book anything until you have had plenty of time to learn about the destination. As you learn more, you will likely change your mind many times and shift plans around, so in order to give yourself the flexibility, use this time for brainstorming.
Every time you learn about a new city, activity, location, restaurant, etc. that you would like to include on your trip, write it down. I personally recommend using the Google Docs app or notes app on your phone, this way you will always have your list with you in case you learn about something when you are away from your notebook or computer. Be sure to also jot down the days and times each place is open as you come across it. This way you don’t have to do double the work later.
Blogs
When you have fully uninterrupted time, read blogs. Obviously I encourage you to read through any of the posts I have about the location that you are visiting, but there are many other bloggers out there, and I have several that I think you will love.
Adventures of A+K
My favorite travel bloggers are Adam and Kathryn (and Kona!) of Adventures of A+K. I found them initially from their incredible YouTube channel (more on that later) and their blog to go along with it is huge and incredibly educational! They provide some of the most practical tips and information of any I have seen. Adam and Kathryn are a couple originally from Texas, lived in Seattle for a few years and now live full time in their van traveling the country (and Canada) with their sweet pup Kona. They also have travel resources on Hawaii, Italy, Mexico and more! Read their blog, and listen to the podcast episode I hosted featuring them!
Our Escape Clause
Jeremy and Kate from Our Escape Clause have spent much of their time traveling Europe. They have what seems like an endless number of incredible articles on their blog teaching you everything you need to know about planning your next vacation to that magnificent continent! They are currently living in Portugal with their pup Ranger and have the amazing opportunity to travel to nearby European destinations in their free time. Their content is down-to-earth, educational, inspirational, and covers a wide variety of locations around the world.
Some other great bloggers include Jessie on a Journey, The Blonde Abroad, Tim & Fin and Along Dusty Roads.
YouTube
I personally love a good travel vlog on YouTube. There are many different styles, from full-time travel vloggers who produce extremely high quality content, to the average person just recording their summer vacay, and everything in between. While obviously the higher quality and ones with more tangible advice are the most helpful, seeing what the average person does can be useful (and fun to watch!).
I mainly use YouTube when I am at the gym on the treadmill, or cooking dinner. It is a nice way to be able to multitask and use the time that you have to do some planning! They usually leave notes about the activities they did and restaurants they ate at in the notes, which can be helpful to use later to add to your notes.
I also really love videos because you can see the place and be able to picture where you will be. It helps me to get that much more excited for the destination I am visiting. However, if you prefer more of the element of surprise, I understand that, so videos might not be the best thing for you.
My favorite vloggers are:
Adventures of A +K – A young and super bubbly couple who live in their van full time with their sweet pup Kona. They focus on US travel, but occasionally travel internationally too. They provide the most tangible tips for planning your next vacation, along with inspiration on where to travel next! I love the fact that they are super down to earth and relatable.
Flying the Nest – This adorable family of 3 share alllll the real life things that happen with traveling. Stephen, Jess and baby Hunter are originally from Australia and travel all over the world. They are fun and you just fall in love with their personalities.
Tim and Fin – They run their channel a little bit differently, by running different series. One is called Crossing it Off, another is $1,000 vs $100. It gives a slightly different perspective about traveling that keeps it unique. I love how they show a wide variety of travel styles from camping to glamourous hotels and everything in between. And, they bring their dog Pepper with them all over the world!
Kara and Nate – This couple is kind of THE most famous travelers on YouTube. With over 3 Million subscribers, and over 100 countries visited, they have a huge following. They visit all types of countries, but avoid doing the “tourist” things as much as possible.
Facebook Groups
There are Facebook groups created for travelers to help each other plan their vacations! There are some that are very broad and do not focus on a specific destination, and also usually one (or many) for specific cities and/or countries.
Joining these groups are great for learning, you can just read through the posts and comments and absorb the topics others are already talking about. You can use the search function to find specific topics too. These are especially helpful when you have a specific question, there are (usually) thousands of people there to help and answer your questions.
Researching this way can be helpful to hear from normal people traveling like you. You also get a wide variety of opinions and perspectives which can be helpful. However, the downside is you get a wide variety of opinions and perspectives…sometimes not so helpful. This just means you take everything with a grain of salt, and understand that people are different, and enjoy different things.
Whatever you do, use this space to be helpful and kind. If it is even slightly rude, condescending, or unhelpful, please don’t post it. We are here to help each other and make friends!
I have a Facebook group that I would love for you to join. We are a tight knit group of travel lovers who enjoy sharing our adventures with each other and inspiring us to visit new places! We also host virtual travel planning parties via zoom that you have access to if you join the group. We would love to have you join!
Some other groups that I love are:
Flying The Nesters | Travel Community
Discover Italy | Best Places and Travel Tips
Hawaii Vacation Planning – Plan a Trip to Hawaii
Machu Picchu, Peru – Tips For Travelers 🗺
Now this one is definitely necessary, and more for fun than anything else. I use Instagram to search for beautiful locations. If you are planning a trip to Italy, for example, and want some inspiration on places to visit, you could search “Italy”, “Visit Italy” or “Italy Travel”. Then you can scroll through images to see what sticks out to you. Similarly, if you already know what cities you are visiting, but want photo inspiration or specific locations to visit you can search the specific city.
Another way to use Instagram is by following travelers and gathering inspiration as they post. I personally just love filling my feed with beautiful photos from all over the world and travel tips instead of some of the other not so happy content that can be found on social media.
I use Instagram a little more as inspiration and a way to get even more excited for my upcoming trip than for research, but it is still fun to do!
I would love it if you would follow me on Instagram so you can see my adventures along the way!
Other accounts that I love:
Podcasts
In my opinion, podcasts are an extremely underrated way to plan a trip! They can be so useful, you just have to do a little more digging for them. I think they are especially great because you can be productive and go about daily life while planning for your trip! I especially listen when I am driving and running, but I also listen while I clean the house, cook dinner, garden, and any other “mindless” sort of tasks!
You can listen to podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and many other smaller platforms. The search function can be a little trickier, and sometimes you have to hunt for shows you like, but once you find a good one it is gold. These are some of my favorites:
Untold Italy Travel Podcast
Gola: Italian Food & Beverage Culture
Travel with Rick Steves
Stories from Flying the Nest
Ciao Bella
ReDIScover
The Travel Podcast
Websites
Last up are websites; these are anything that is produced by a company on a larger scale and not a “small” blog. This would include things like Travel & Leisure, Travel Channel, National Geographic, Lonely Planet, etc. These sites can be great, they usually have content about every single destination and can get you started on the basics. I don’t find them to be the best if you want more of an authentic experience.
Blogs tend to tell you the nitty-gritty details you need to get around and share some more real life experiences at specific hotels and restaurants. Big sites don’t usually tell you when a place was bad.
And that just about covers it for the research part! Some of the next few steps you will do at the same time, but others should wait until you are done researching, about 2 months out.
Step 2: Set Your Dates
Selecting dates is so different for everyone. Typically this has to be scheduled around what works best for you and the people you are traveling with. If that means you have big commitments at work, the kids at school, or life plans, that might dictate when the trip happens. Budget can also affect the dates. The more money you have to spend can sometimes mean you can make the trip longer, it also might determine that you want to visit in the slow season when prices are typically lower for flights and accommodations.
If you can be flexible, then you will probably want to do some research first. You will likely want to plan it for when the weather is nice and when it’s not likely to be packed with tourists. Sometimes certain destinations practically close down in the off-season and would be impossible (or very difficult) to visit …I’m looking at you, Positano!
Another option is to find out about an event that goes on at a certain time of the year. It can also be fun to find out if your favorite artist has a concert there, or your sports team has a game there. It can be really fun to visit a new city and see a special event like that.
You might not nail the exact dates down now, and can do that when you look at flight prices if that’s an option for you. Whatever dates you land on, make it work for you!! People might advise against visiting Italy in August, but if that is the only time you can go, then a trip to Italy in August is much better than no trip to Italy in my opinion!
Step 3: Set a Budget
Most people will need to set a budget for their trip. Sometimes that is a very specific number that you can not go over, and sometimes it’s just a general amount. Whatever that budget looks like is okay!! If it is low, but the only way you can travel to this place, then that’s okay. Usually the best parts of vacation are free.
Make sure you lowball your budget. There’s a good chance you’ll end up raising it before you leave, and there’s a great chance you’ll end up going over while you are there. You just have to get that second dessert when on vacation, right?
Step 4: Figure out Where Things are Located
Deciding what activities to do on the same day should revolve heavily around what places are close to each other. There is no sense running all around town if you can just group them by location. There is a super easy tool from Google called My Maps. It looks pretty much like normal Google Maps, except you can create your own custom ones with the locations you selected “pinned” all over it.
Basically you will want to create a map called “Rome”, for example, and then search for your hotel, each restaurant, activity and site you want to visit. Then you can look at the map and quickly see which things are located close to each other. Plan out each day with things that are in the same general area, and then you have a rough itinerary started! Which leads me to the next step.
Step 5: Create an Itinerary
Now you will need to plan everything out day by day (and minute by minute for that matter!) I recommend using a spreadsheet, and I prefer to use Google sheets. This way you can easily access it from any computer and even your phone.
I have a spreadsheet template that you can use to plan everything out. I have found that this is the easiest to use, edit and refer back to while on the trip. Sign up for my email list and you will be sent access to my itinerary template!
First, add in all of your dates and cities for each day. Then start adding your rough itinerary including times and how much each activity will cost. Make sure to do a good estimate for meals, and consider the cost of snacks and drinks too.
As for the timing of each thing, always add in more time than you think. Things usually take longer than you expect, or you might want to pop into a cute shop that you pass by. I love being ahead of schedule, or have extra time for things; it makes the entire trip much less stressful than being on the clock the whole time.
Step 6: Book Flights
Buying flights is an exciting step because it really makes things feel official! However, I recommend waiting to buy flights until about 4 months out. Flight prices can differ wildly depending on when you buy, and every flight is different, but typically they are at their cheapest around 4 months in advance.
I check on the flights frequently before that point, trying to get an idea of what the flight times are and how much they will cost. It is also helpful to decide where you will fly in and out of, if you have options.
We love using our airline credit cards to get free and/or cheap flights and I highly recommend you do too! We have the United Airlines card which was how we flew to Italy round trip for 2 people at $145!
Step 7: Reserving Accommodations
The most common options for accommodations are hotels and Airbnbs/VRBOs. There are definitely pros and cons of each, and this is typically just a personal preference! We like doing both depending on the location and how many people we are traveling with.
Deciding on accommodations can be done at any point, however if they’re non-refundable then I wouldn’t book them until about 2-3 months out. I really like being able to be flexible and make changes to my plans as long as possible. But, if you can reserve rooms either with no money down or 100% refundable, then you can definitely book them as early as you want.
We love staying at Marriott Hotels, but use booking.com for our other hotel stays when Marriott isn’t an option. Also, for more unique options we love VRBO, like when we have a large group of people!
Step 8: Book Tours/Tickets
About 1 month before you leave, you will want to book tours and buy tickets for any attractions you want to do. However, definitely look into each thing much further out because if you know that a certain thing always sells out 6 weeks in advance then obviously something like that you want to be on top of early. Again, the reason I like to wait on this is just so I can shift things around as much as possible.
I do want to note that I will always recommend that you book tours and tickets in advance. I do not recommend waiting to buy once you arrive in any situation. Many people do this and then they end up not getting in, or wasting hours standing in line. That is not the way to make the most of your vacation!!
When you are looking for a tour the absolute easiest way is to use Viator or Get Your Guide. Both have thousands of incredible tour options to choose from with pricing, availability and reviews directly on the site.
Step 9: Make Restaurant Reservations
This might not be necessary for every trip or country, but more often than not I highly recommend that you make reservations for dinner. Many places will only seat you if you have a reservation, or will seat you much faster. If dinner time rolls around and you just feel like getting pizza that night, then call and cancel, no big deal! But at least you have the reservation ready for you if you want it.
When making reservations internationally, you can almost always get away with booking online. Try using the Fork for European restaurants, or visit each restaurant’s website for an email or contact form.
Step 10: Get Ready to Leave
There are usually so many things you have to do before leaving for a trip. If you are visiting a different country than this might mean you have to update your passport or order currency that they use in that country. If you plan to drive in another country then you will need an international driver’s license. You also may need electrical converters if they have different outlets than your home country, or an international phone plan!
Depending on where you are going, you may need to think about getting special medication. This might mean something over the counter like to prevent food poisoning, or it might mean a prescription, for example altitude sickness medication for places like Peru. Something else to keep in mind is vaccines, for example most countries are requiring COVID-19 vaccines now for you to travel there.
Be sure to have all travel documents ready. Nowadays, most people just download everything to their phones, but I still like having printed copies as backups. You will want to make photocopies of your passport (and vaccination cards) and leave them in your suitcase just in case something were to happen to your originals.
One of the most important items to prepare for your trip is buying trip insurance. Getting insurance is so important and lets you rest easy knowing that if something were to happen you are covered. This is important if something happens before your trip, not allowing you to go, and for while you are on the trip if something were to happen. I personally use World Nomads, and think they offer great coverage at a good price.
All of these things need to be planned in advance, some even months out (I’m looking at you, passport!) So be sure to do your research and plan accordingly. These items are all just as important as buying flights and booking accommodations!
Step 11: Buying Things You’ll Need for the Trip
Now this section can be very long for some and very short for others. However, if you are planning a big trip, there will likely be at least a few things that you need to buy. Be sure to start by looking up packing list suggestions for the specific place that you are visiting. That will help you get a good start on what you will want to bring. My list of things to pack for a trip to Italy will be applicable for many European trips!
Clothes will obviously be an important one, and while you might not need to buy any for the trip, you might want to! I am definitely extra particular when it comes to this, but I like to think about what color the scenery will be and then make sure you wear a color that stands out. I learned this the hard way when I went to Napa Valley where everything is green, and I wore a green dress. Let’s just say I didn’t love blending into the background in all my photos…whoops! Now I try to pick colors that pop!
Another thing to think about for clothes is the weather. Hot weather and cold weather are obviously important to plan for, but also find out if it is very rainy there, you might want rain boots and umbrellas. These are my all time favorite rain boots by the way, they’re seriously amazing. So cute, go with everything, comfortable, inexpensive and completely waterproof. Win-win-win-win-win! So, if you are not prepared with the right clothing, you may have to purchase some before the trip.
Other than clothes, there are likely items you will need to buy in advance. This list of things can get really long and will differ so much depending on where you are going, so here is just a quick list to think about. Check out my packing lists for different locations if you want more specific recommendations.
General:
Unique Locations:
Step 12: Packing
The last step will have to be packing! Some people love it, others hate it. I love it so much I usually pack like 3 times before each trip (yes I am aware that I am crazy!) Either way, I strongly recommend packing cubes. They help organize your bag and compress the clothing to fit more. They also make for a less messy hotel room along the way!
I recommend trying to do just a carry-on whenever possible so you eliminate the risk of losing your bag, but I understand that isn’t always possible. I also think it is super important to have a great travel backpack. I think there are 3 key things that make for a good backpack, a security pocket on the inside, a wet bag and a strap to hook onto your suitcase. This backpack covers all of those and I think would make for a great option.
Well that does it! You have now planned your entire trip the exact way that I do. It is a lot, but honestly the planning is just as much fun for me than the trip itself!! Give yourself plenty of time to plan, the more you stress over it now, the less you stress while on vacation! That’s the point, right?
Happy Planning!
