Planning a Trip

Anyone who knows us knows that we love to travel.  Many people ask me often how we plan a trip.

First, my husband and I decide where we want to go. We look at the weather and then we look at the map to figure out how many days it will take to get there. Next, we discuss whether we want to camp or stay in a hotel. We also talk about the different things we may want to do while we are there. This will help determine how long we will stay there.

Next, I do it Excel spreadsheet and start writing a packing list. I list things that I want to make sure I don't forget to bring. In case we are camping, I list our camping supplies that I want to bring too.

Then we talk about how we will plan on staying at a hotel or campsite. Many times, we like to be spontaneous, so we don't make any reservations until we get into that town.  We started using the Hotwire website to find reasonably priced hotels. So far, we like this process. We put in the location and the date we need a hotel; it could be for more than one night. The search engine for Hotwire shows the different hotels and the star ratings as well as the price but it doesn't show the name or the location. Once we choose our hotel, we can book it and then they will email the name of the hotel and the location after we book.

Next, we look at the map and decide how far we will go on our first day of travel and what towns we may stop in for the night. This gives us an idea of what time we need to start looking for a place to spend the night. It might be a hotel, or it might be a campground.

I also like to make a list of possible activities that we may want to do in the town we are going to. This helps us when we're planning what to do while we're there because sometimes we forget what we researched when we were at home.

We also try to budget how much money we will spend each day so we can make sure we have enough money. Nothing is worse than to be on a fun trip and start having to worry if you have enough money to get home.

We also think about places to eat and whether we need to bring food and the stove. If we are going to be in a city where there are plenty of places to eat, we don't bring a lot of food to cook.

I like to download books on our iPads, just in case we have some relaxation time. I also bring my knitting with me because it is hard for me to sit and do nothing in the car.

Usually, this is all we need to do to plan a trip. We enjoy the adventure and we always have fun no matter where we go because we are together.

Do you like to travel? How do you plan for a trip? Please share.

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