How to Start Planning a Trip: A Step-by-Step Guide

Planning a trip can be overwhelming. Where do you start? How do you make all of the tough decisions and get all of the stars to align to make your trip the trip of a lifetime?

Make your trip planning easy with these seven steps. Make the tough decisions as you go and you’ll be ready to book your trip and jump on a plane sooner than you think! Let’s dive into the step-by-step guide of how to start planning a trip.

Table of Contents

1. Choose where you want to go

The first step for planning a trip is making the tough choice of where in the world you want to go. With so many amazing destinations in the world, it can be difficult to make this decision. Are you interested in visiting the mountains or the beach? Domestic or international travel?

If you don’t have someplace in mind, do some research taking into account the top considerations for picking a travel destination. Or you can surf my destinations or head over to Pinterest or Instagram to see what sparks your interest.

2. Decide how long your trip will be

Once you know where you’re going on your trip, the next big decision is how long you will be gone. Are you looking at a weekend getaway, a week away, or maybe even longer?

There is no right answer, but you should weigh how much travel is involved to get to your end destination as compared to the entire length of your trip. It doesn’t make sense to travel 24 hours to Japan to spend just a long weekend. You’d spend most of your time in transport!

3. Determine who is going on the trip

Now that you have a destination and some kind of timeline in mind, it’s time to decide if you want to travel alone or with friends and family. Both options offer amazing experiences, but they are also immensely different.

Traveling by yourself means you can plan your itinerary and spend your time exactly as you want, with no one to weigh in. Not to mention its easier to make friends on the road when you travel solo.

But, traveling with a friend, significant other, or family member, you get to build shared experiences which you will reminisce about for years to come.

4. Understand your travel style

To budget and start planning a trip, you need to decide what type of traveler you are. Do you want to take a budget, mid-range, or luxury trip? Once again, this is purely dependent on how you (and your travel companions) want to experience your destination.

Budget Travel

For budget travel, think hostels, couchsurfing, and guesthouses, street food, local restaurants or cooking your own food, and public transportation. It’s definitely the most cost effective option for solo travelers.

Mid-range Travel

Mid-range travel budgets take into account typical hotels, mostly tourist restaurants, and a mixture of public transit and taxis or pre-planned tours.

The costs of mid-range travel vary greatly as hotels and taxis can be quite expensive for one person but decrease per person cost if there are two or more.

Luxury Travel

Luxury travel typically includes staying in 4 or 5 star hotels and resorts, taking taxis everywhere, and eating at fancy restaurants.

The end cost of a luxury trip can fluctuate quite a bit, and you have much more control over the actual cost then on lower budget trips. That’s because the sky is the limit on what you can spend, but the lower limit for budget travel does exist.

5. Pinpoint your necessary travel budget

If your travel budget is firm, you should start planning your trip with that number in mind and work your way down the rest of the steps. If you are planning your dream trip, plan it in this order to know what your trip will cost to plan the trip of a lifetime!

Determining the budget you need for a trip will ultimately depend on quite a few things that we have discussed above.

Where are you going?

For how long?

Who are you going with?

What level of luxury are you looking for?

Beyond those points, you’ll also want to factor in items like Travel Insurance and Visas, if needed. Travel insurance is a must when traveling although some people doubt whether travel insurance is worth the expense or not. I personally recommend World Nomads as they cover both medical and theft.

Start doing research to understand how much things will cost for your trip. This will help you pinpoint the budget needed for your trip. Another great resource is taking a look at estimates on how much it costs to travel.

6. Start saving up

Once you have an idea of what your trip budget looks like, you’ll need to see how long it will take you to save up. This will fluctuate heavily depending on your current income and savings rate, as well as how many places you can cut your current expenditures.

If you don’t know much about budgeting and saving money, there are a few resources to help you hit your savings goals faster:

7. Book your trip!

Once you’ve got the high-level plan for you trip, it’s time to start booking the necessities, like your outbound flight and accommodations. To help you navigate the booking process, check out the recommended Travel Resources. They offer helpful resources for booking flights, hotels, insurance, and more.

You’ll want to shop around on most of the big ticket items, like flights and hotels. This will help you save more of your budget for on the ground and sightseeing activities.

Find Other Helpful Resources for Planning a Trip

Planning your next vacation doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be very straight forward when you start planning a trip with a structured plan.

Here are some other helpful resources to prepare for your trip.

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How to Start Planning a Trip: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Choose where you want to go

2. Decide how long your trip will be

3. Determine who is going on the trip