How I’m Planning The Biggest Trip Of My Life
I’m currently planning the biggest trip of my life and I’m using the same planning method I would for a weekend away.
Yep, I use the exact same method to plan a trip no matter how long it is. Why? Because it works but more importantly I find it fun.
Planning your trips shouldn’t be this long-winded tedious thing that you dread doing, for me its half the fun.
Planning where you’re going and what you’re going to do, whats more exciting than that?!
My first ever long-term trip was a 6 month trip across South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. I think I spent the same amount of time planning the trip as we spent on it, not because I had to but because I wanted to.
I could’ve got it planned in a wayyy shorter time but I went into DETAIL, and loved every minute.
I definitely dont spend that much time planning my trips anymore, and I don’t suggest you do, but that was the start of my journey perfecting how I like to plan my trips.
So, how do I go about planning out a trip of any length?
Theres 3 simple steps :
Where am I going/to do what
How long I want to spend in this place
How much do I need
Lets break those down further
Where am i going/to do what?
This is the basis for any planning. Normally a trip for me is inspired by a specific thing or a few specific things I want to see in a destination. So the first thing I do is make a note of what I want to do and start researching what else there is to do.
When I planned Java, Indonesia for example I knew I wanted to do Mount Bromo, that was the starting point.
But then I started researching Java and found out about Tumpak Sewu, Ijen Crater, Borobudor Temple and all the rest that Java had to offer me.
So start with the things to do/see and the main draws to a destination.
How long?
Once you’ve got an idea of how you’re going to be spending your time, you will have normally figured out a rough idea of how long you’ll need.
Let’s go back to the Java example, all the places I mentioned are in different parts of Java so I knew I’d need to move down the country.
My next step was to figure out where I would base myself for each thing and how long getting around would take me. Between Malang and Banyuwangi for example was an 8-hour train ride, that’s an entire day dedicated to moving between places for example.
I knew I wanted to spend 4 days in Malang to see Tumpak Sewu and Mount Bromo and have a couple of days in Malang to explore, a fifth day would be needed to travel between Malang and Banyuwangi (a create name lol) and then I’d want at least 3 days in Banyuwangi before I moved onto Bali.
This step isn’t difficult, it just takes a bit of understanding of what each place has to offer; which is why that’s step one.
Nowadays I aim to travel slower, so if I were to do this Java trip again I would’ve added a day or two extra in each destination to enable me to take a more relaxed pace and get some work done.
How much do I need?
I leave this part until last because I like to figure out what I want to do and then aim to save up enough to enable me to do it all instead of trying to make the plan with a figure in my head.
There are a few ways to figure out budgets but my go-to methods are blogs/vlogs and a website called BudgetYourTrip.com. These help me figure out how much I am going to need.
So that 3 step method is how I plan any trip. For bigger, multi-country trips it goes a bit granular, running this process first with the country overall and then with each stop along the way but over time it builds out a dope-ass itinerary.
That’s all from me this week, PEACE ✌️
