A travel itinerary is almost just as important as your passport. It’s the holy grail of a successful trip, and to even contemplate travelling without one is asking for trouble and increases the risk of your trip being derailed. It can be easy to overfill your itinerary with interesting but unnecessary information, so you need to display an element of self-control.
Here are the 7 top items that you should include in your travel itinerary:
1. Your flight details
2. Your tickets
3, Your accommodation details
4. Copy of your passport
5. Copy of your travel insurance policy
6. Emergency contact numbers
7. Your schedule
Numbers 1 – 6 are all self-explanatory. It is number 7, your schedule, that can cause sleepless nights. What are you going to do on your trip? You need to invest time into researching your trip so that you can make informed decisions:
Budget
The money that you have available to spend on holiday is typically the most influencing factor as to what you can do. You need to have a firm grip on your financial situation before you start confirming reservations and planning activities.
You do not want to experience either of these scenarios:
- Being away and realising that you can’t afford to do the main activities that you wanted to do.
Being at home and realising that you can’t afford to go out for the rest of the year because you overspent.
Budgeting is laborious, and yes, it does dampen the excitement of a holiday, but it is an essential aspect of having a successful trip. Once you know what money you have to play with, you can then start looking at what you can afford to do and where you are going to stay.
Accommodation
Planning a trip requires almost military precision, not with respect to the timings, but rather the geography of the places that you want to visit. You do not want to waste time commuting between attractions and your accommodation, for example. You need your trip to planned so that you maximise the time you have available for experiences.
Going to Florida? Research the things to do in Miami, Orlando, or the Florida Keys if that is where you are going. Know what you want to do, and plan your accommodation accordingly. People often make the mistake of planning their accommodation first. However, this is a false economy and can cause you to lose precious holiday time in transit.
Your travel itinerary is not just essential for you; you should share it with your loved ones at home so that they have an idea of where you are going and what you are doing. There are some fantastic itinerary travel apps that can help you create an online version of your itinerary so that you have access to your itinerary at all times.
Your trip is a break from your usual routine and is an opportunity to escape from the challenges of life. However, if you fail to prepare your trip adequately, you risk your trip becoming more of a burden rather than a joy.
