How to plan a Trip? Save money while traveling

How To Plan a Trip

• How to plan a travel?
• Easy steps to plan a affordable trip.
• Briefly explained a complete tour package.
• How to save money while traveling.

To many people, making a travel plan is like solving complex mathematical formula, But believe me, planning a trip is not such a difficult task. I am going to tell you 6 simple steps So that you can make your next travel plan easily, whether it is domestic or international. If you follow all the steps, you can reduce your expenses on your next trip by about 50%. Once you become addicted to travel planning, then travel planning becomes more enjoyable than travel itself. Let's get started.

1. The first step of this process is choosing the destination. This is the first, basic and obvious step of planning, in which you have to decide your destination. 

2. The 2 most important factors for this decision making are your budget and how many holidays you have. On its basis, you can decide whether to do a domestic trip or international. After this comes your personal preferences, you may like Beaches, Mountains, Cities or Art, Culture & History. Apart from this, the decision of your destination can also depend on the fact that Are you traveling on any special occasion such as honeymoon, anniversary or going just like that. It also depends on with whom you are traveling. You will go to someplace if going with friends, will go to some other place with family. And if you are solo then maybe to some other place. In this step, if the chosen destination is a state or country then we will have to pick cities & their Attraction and Activities have to be shortlisted on the basis of your personal choices And to help in this work, Google is waiting for us on computer. Let me explain this step. Open the Google search bar, and type places to visit in your destination, In this case, it is Malaysia. When you press the search button, then you will get to see all the cities of your destination on your screen. You can scroll down and select cities of your choice. Whichever you would like to visit. You will get the top 3 cities always on the top. I have made 3 columns in this excel sheet, first is the city, then attractions and in the last is no. of days to cover those activities. I have included all the 3 cities suggested by Google in my list and I noted down in the excel. In the next step, we will go to the city level. And from Kuala Lumpur, George Town & Langkawi, we will pick top things to do. and it's activities. We will apply the same thing again in Singapore also. Since Singapore is a city-country, we would not get options for cities like Malaysia. But you will only get options for things to be done in Singapore. We got a list from the 4 cities, the activities in those cities & the number of days to do those activities. So on this dummy trip, I will need 12 days. 

3. In the 3rd step, we will be deciding the travel duration &; dates for the trip. After 2nd step, you will have a list of cities and attractions and activities there. which you want to do. So that you will get an idea of ​​how many days you need for this trip. Or if you have limited days, then you will be able to decide about what activities you can do from your list. You will have to decide your travel dates after the trip duration is locked. In many cases, these will also be pre-decided, if you are traveling with your family, then it would be according to the children's school holidays. May be in summer or winter vacations. Or whenever their vacations are. But if you are traveling solo or with friends, then you will have flexibility in terms of dates. If you have the flexibility to choose dates, then I will suggest that you choose shoulder season, The shoulder season is the period between the peak and lean seasons. At this time, you get accommodation at cheaper rates and there is less rush on attractions. You can enjoy yourself more at your chosen destination. If you type the shoulder season with your destination in Google, you will get the answer. Half of this process is already over, many congratulations for the same. Just 3 more steps and you will have your perfect travel plan. In the last 3 steps, we have selected the destination, cities & attractions, duration & dates. We have taken these decisions in the last 3 steps. The next step is of travel booking & visa. If you are traveling in your country, then you can travel by your own vehicle, bus, train or flight. But in the case of international travel, you have to book flights. (Only assuming) I have selected the option of Multi-city from Mumbai to Kuala Lumpur & Singapore & the dates I have kept of September. The best price option that it is showing is of Approx. 21000 Rs One side flight is one-stop & the other side is non-stop Let's switch the destinations & check the prices once again. Instead of going to Kuala Lumpur, let's go to Singapore & return from Kuala Lumpur for the same date. And check what are the prices. The fare in this case is 19,562 Rs. And the cheapest option is of approx 18,000 Rs. To compare the fares between return & multi-city tickets, check one by one by picking Kuala Lumpur & Singapore. You would clearly see that the Multi-city tickets give you more value for money. If you are traveling in a big state or multiple countries please use the multi-city option for flight booking, due to which travel hassles are reduced considerably. In the case of international travel, visas also come into the picture, The planning for visa differs from country to country. If traveling to countries where Visa is on Arrival and free like Indonesia & Maldives or traveling to countries like Singapore & Malaysia, where you may get it easily online. You don't need much of planning for that. In the case of online visas, you can apply 8-10 days in advance and will get it very easily. But if you are traveling to countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, or any of the Schengen countries. then you have to apply for a visa well in advance by doing proper planning. In the last step, you have booked your travel be it, a train, a flight, bus, or might have arranged a car for you. You have made arrangements to reach your destination, now you will have to arrange for stay. Whatever accommodation you book, hotels, BnBs, or hostels. Confirm the booking only if you feel right after reading their recent reviews and watching videos on YouTube. In the case of city travel, you should always book your accommodation in the city center. It has got 2 benefits, first, most of the attractions across the globe are in city center only. and secondly, At the same time, traveling to other cities also becomes very easy because the bus stands and railway stations are in the city center only. 

6. This is the 6th & last step of our travel planning process. In this, we will plan for Intercity and Intracity Transport options. First, let's talk about intercity transport You will find a lot of options to go from one city to another, like car rentals, taxis, buses, trains, and flights, Whether it is your country or Aborad. The cost and convenience level of all the options will be different, always choose that is best for you by balancing cost & convenience. Pre-booking intercity travels well in advance in most cases proves to be sensible. If you are booking trains, then you might run out of availability, Fares might get steep in case you are booking flights. The decision for Intracity transportation varies from destination to destination For example, taxis in Europe are so expensive that you will probably choose public transport. Whereas in South East Asia (except Singapore), taxis are not very costly. But because of being densely populated, public transport proves to be cost-effective and time-saving. Most of the cities around the world issues unlimited travel passes for tourists on their public transport. Which is very convenient & cost-saving. So, whichever city you are traveling to, you will definitely get the information of the same by doing a Google search. Most of the attractions, that you want to see and enjoy charge a lot of money on the entrance. You can reduce this expense a little bit, If you do not buy these tickets from the official websites or windows of attractions instead buy it from some of 3rd party travel websites. There are many such websites, from where you can buy attraction tickets and save some money. I would suggest booking your accommodation 15-20 days before your travel dates. And if possible, in the refundable option. Because travel plans might change anytime. Attraction tickets can be purchased online even a day or two before.