Step 1 – Choose Your Destination

The 4W1H rule is always a good start for planning any trips.

- Who are you traveling with?
Who you are travelling with will greatly determine which destination you should consider. If you are travelling with elderly, less walking with slower pace is essential. When travelling with young children, it is important that the destination include family oriented programmes as well as stroller friendly environment. The sky is the limit for couples as well as friends going on a vacation.

What kind of experiences would you like?
The destination of choice would depend on what you will like to experience as well. Which of the following are you looking for?
- Relaxation or Adventure
- Resorts or Road trips
- Festivals and Culture
- Shopping or Gourmet experience

Where would you like to visit?
Are you looking to revisit a destination or a brand new country? Some of the location criteria are
- Beach or Mountains
- Forest or Caves
- Lake or Sea
- Cities or Countryside

When to Travel?
Your availability as well as the season which you will like to experience will determine which country as well as when you should travel. For example, if you will like to experience winter and you are available in June, you can head south to countries like Australia and New Zealand. On the other hand, if you are looking for scorching heat as well as plots of beautiful flowers, you are likely to head to countries in the Northern Hemisphere during the same period.

How much time do you have?
It is always advisable to choose your destination base on how long your vacation is. For example, if you have pay more than $800 and you have flown for 8 hours from Canada to Germany, it will not be worthwhile for you to stay for only 4 days or less. A minimum of 1 week is recommended. It you have 2 weeks or more weeks to spare. Try to visit 2 or more cities to fully maximise your time in the destination of choice. Do take into account the time required to travel from place to place as well as the time required for each activity when planning the itinerary.
 
Step 2 – Book Flights for your trip
Searching for flights can be be both mind boggling as well time consuming if you do not play your cards right. More often than not, flight tickets takes up the bulk of your travel budget. How do you weigh your options between flight pricing, level of service as well as flight duration, timing and transit time? For more information on how to get the best flight tickets, stay tune for subsequent entry on "Tips on Buying your Flight Ticket"

Step 3 – Plan your Itinerary
After the flight ticket has been purchased, it will be ideal to start researching for places of interest, activities as well as events which you might like to experience during the trip. From these research materials, sort out your priorities based on your time frame as well as budget. Plot your itinerary with this list, taking into consideration duration of each activity as well as time needed to travel from point to point. This step will serve as a skeleton for your trip, prompting you on what you will need to prepare subsequently. A detailed breakdown of how you can plan your travel itinerary will be released in a blog entry subsequently.

Step 4 – Book Accommodation for your Trip
Following the booking of flight ticket, choosing accommodations for your trips can be quite a challenge as well. If you do not have a huge budget, it is always good to compare between hotels, airb&b and service apartments. An important point to note is the check in and check out timing and date. You will not want to miss out on accommodation booking for any nights of your trip. Last minute surprises are never welcome. More information on how you should go about deciding and booking your accommodation can be found in Booking you Accommodation Travel Tips Entry.

Step 5 – Getting Around
It is never an easy task to decide the best way to travel to point to point. The following are some points to consider when deciding how you get around.

- Number of People
- Cost of Public Transport / Rental Car / Taxis
- City vs Rural
- Can you drive to the destination you are heading to?
- Is Train a viable option?
- Why fly if flight is the most expensive option?

More information on how you should go about deciding and booking your travelling options can be found in Travelling from Point to Point Travel Tips Entry.

Step 7 - Planning your Budget
Planning your budget can be a tricky so where should we start? Start an excel sheet to help you plan your budget for the trip. Consider the following criteria when determining how much you will need to spend for the entire trip.

- Is your trip going to be budget, moderate or luxurious?
- The country you are heading to (high vs low standard of living) will affect how much you will need to spend.
- The currency exchange rate (against you home country) for the country you are heading to.
- Cost of Flight
- Form of transport(s) and the cost involved
- Type of accommodation and their cost
- What are the type of activities you will be doing and how much they will cost
- Cost of each meal
- Budget for shopping / souvenirs etc

A detailed breakdown of how to plan your budget will be available via subsequent Travel Tips entries.

Step 8 – Check Your Passport
Make sure your passport has a minimum of 6 months validity from the last day of your travel. Some countries require less days while others require more. Be sure to check on the requirement of your country as well as the destination country prior to your travel.

Step 9 – Know the Visa Requirements
Visa requirement varies for different countries. Such requirements are usually based on the diplomatic ties between your country and the destination country. As such, it is always essential that you visit the website for the custom regulatory authority of the destination country to check whether a visa is required to be made prior to your travel. For certain countries such as Nepal and Indonesia, visa application can be done onsite. For certain countries like Canada and United States, special clearance like ETA (Canada) & ESTA (USA) has to be applied prior to entry instead.

Step 10 – Important Documents
It is always important to have your driver's license with you wherever you travel. Even if driving a car is not part of your travel plans, you never know when plans might change or emergency that requires you to drive arise. In addition, it is always good to bring a copy of your passport with you daily. Original passport are best left in your accommodation where it is safe.

Step 11 – Phone & Internet Access
It is always important to have data access when you travel. This is especially important in terms of navigating your way around. Depending on the number of people travelling as well as the needs and requirement of the trip, you may consider different options to meet your connectivity needs. If you are travelling alone or as a couple, a local (destination country) sim card or roaming plan (home country) might be a good idea. If you are travelling as a family or group of friends and are likely to be with each other most of the time, a portable wifi might be cheaper on a per person basis. More often than not, data connectivity is more essential as compared to local call access as we can make use of mobile applications like Whatsapp, Skype, Wechat call etc to reach each other.

Step 12 – Accessing Your Money
Depending on the country you are travelling to, duration of your stay as well amount of money you are bringing along, one can consider various options of accessing your money during your travel.

For short travels of 1 week or less and less developed countries, it is usually better to simply keep the cash with you as you are bringing a smaller amount of money for short trips. Banks and Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) might not be readily available for less developed countries as well. Exchanging foreign currency prior to the trip is usually the cheapest way as there are no additional charges involved.

For safety reason, withdrawing from your saving account and credit card, bank draft, overseas bank account and swiping your credit card are some of the many ways one can consider when travelling for long trips, across different countries as well as high theft rate locations. More often than not, transaction fee, bank exchange rate and other fees may apply for such transactions.

Step 13 – Purchase Travel Insurance
Conventionally, tourists will pre-purchase their travel insurance via insurance companies through insurance agents. However, with technology as well as bundled packages available these days, conventional travel insurance purchase through agents are slowing dieing out. One may now consider the following options for cheaper/free or convenient methods to obtain your travel coverage.

- Comparing and purchasing your travel insurance online via travel insurance comparison sites

- Purchasing your insurance when purchasing your flight or hotel stay online (bundle discount)

- Some banks offer complimentary travel insurance when you purchase you flight ticket via specific credit cards under their bank.

- Obtain travel insurance coverage via credit cards or membership points redemption

Step 14 – Packing your Luggage
Although this is something that is done only on the last few days prior to your trip for most people, it might be wise to start looking out for essential travel items the moment you decide to visit certain countries. For example, if you are visiting a country with harsh winter, it might be good to keep a lookout for winter wear sales, second hand winter wear or explore the option of borrowing from friends or relative prior to the trip.

A detailed breakdown of how to plan your Packing Essentials will be available via subsequent Travel Tip Entries.

Step 15 – Final Preparation prior to Trip
- International Driving License (Alway check to see if your local driving license is accepted in the destination country)
- Confirm Flights & Check-In 24/48hours prior to flight (subject to airline check-in policy)
- Keep yourself updated with weather condition as well as news related to destination country as extreme weather or situations (riot, war, terrorist attacks etc) will affect whether your trip is still feasible.
- Check on flight status before leaving your home as flight delays/cancellation is not uncommon. This is especially so during periods with extreme weather
- Confirm accommodations as well as online tours minimally one day prior to trip
If you find planning your trip too much of a chore, contact us for a free consultation on how we can help to ease your load. At Breeze Travel, we provide one stop service for all your travel essentials from Itinerary & Budget planning, Flight, Accommodation & Tours booking all over the world. Bundled booking packages as well as individual component bookings are available as well.