Trip Planning How To – Short Trip

Following are the steps that we take when planning a short trip over a long weekend or over a three to four day period.

1. Step one is to identify where it is you want to go.  The most obvious locations for a short trip are individual cities, regional areas, or festivals.
2. Once you identify where it is you are going decide if you will be driving, taking public transport or flying.
   1. If you are flying research flights and utilize any frequent flyer type benefits you may have accrued.  I always research hotels and flights at the same time prior to booking either one.  If you have the right flight book it.
   2. Research the bus and train schedules and make any arrangements needed to get to the terminal.
   3. Researching your route by car is not as important in the days of GPS but it is still advisable to look at a map before you go too get the general lay of the land.
3. Book your accommodations for your stay; hotel. air B&B, couch surfing, etc.
4. Yelp the area you are traveling to
   1. Use the Yelp app to bookmark restaurants in the area that you will want to go to
5. Google the are you are traveling to to identify points of interest and activities
6. Draw up a tentative itinerary to include the points of interest, activities and restaurants you want to take in.  Be sure to leave enough wiggle room to adjust accordingly for unseen interruptions or unexpected attractions you will want to see.

The important thing is to be flexible so that you can take advantage of the unexpected but plan enough so that you do not miss any of the highlights.