Planning your vacation

Let´s talk about vacation!

As I told you before, I love travelling.

But travelling implies a lot of preparation work, so if you´re the kind of person who likes to improvise, this post is definitely not for you.

I´m a planner. I think it has to do with my college education. Managers are meant to collect all the meaningful information in order to make substantiated and sustained decisions and it´s just the way I do everything in life (can´t really do it any other way).

So, when my husband Peter and I decide on a destination, the planning begins…

The choice of the hotel begins with establishing a budget. It’s very important to determine exactly the amount of money you are wiling to spend in your trip which includes the hotel, the plane ticket, the food, all the visits to museums and monuments, souvenirs, transportation.

Choosing the hotel is not an easy task. I have a few demands: it has to be comfortable, nice, appealing, it has to be well ranked in TripAdvisor, Booking and preferably has to be Adults only. So, what I do is select a few, in the chosen location, and make a list of pros and con for each and every one of them and then choose the one that seems the best. Afterwards I usually plan each of our vacation days separately.

I create personal guides according to the place we´re travelling to.

I make a lot of research. I buy one or more pocket guides, travel magazines and search for information online. Then I compile all that information into a custom-made guide.

Obviously, what I may consider interesting might not be the same thing you consider interesting or worth visiting. It is a very subjective process. I try to be as exhaustive as I can.

My guides are not pocket guides!  The ones I created for London and Paris had over 50 pages. My guides are meant to help you get to know the cities and also learn a little bit about their history, their art, their culture. My guides are meant to make you a bit richer in terms of knowledge… They are really hard work, but worth every bit of it.

The downside of this elaborate planning is that you invest so much time and dedication that when things don´t go according to “The Plan” usually you can´t really deal with it in the best manner. It has happened and I have a tendency to go through a few stages: first I refuse to acknowledge that circumstances aren´t the ones I´ve predicate and I try to follow the plan, no matter what; then I just give into my depression and get very sad and then very mad; finally, I realize that all I can do is readjust the plan. A well-made plan is perfectly adjustable!

#travelling #planningatrip #guides