Podcast Episode 22 — Organized Vacation Planning

Photo by Mohamed Ajufaan on Unsplash

Do you plan your own vacations? Or do you have a Travel Agent do it for you? I’ve done it both ways, and the answer for me depends on where I’m going and what I plan to do when I get there.

If I’m traveling to see my family in Florida, I plan the entire trip myself, because I know where I’m going and what I’m doing. If I’m traveling somewhere unfamiliar to me, I’ll usually opt for the travel agent option. I still do some research on my own, but I rely on their expertise and recommendations.

Here are the things I do to ensure a smooth travel experience when I’m planning for myself:

The first thing I do is create a spreadsheet. If you’re not a fan of spreadsheets, you could use a word processing document, or even just a spiral notebook or pieces of paper. Do whatever works best for you. I like using Google Sheets, because I can access the information on my phone, which is handy if I don’t want to travel with my laptop. The other advantage of spreadsheets is that you can add tabs for every category of information.

Here’s what I mean. I label the first tab “itinerary.” I add when we’re departing, where we’re going, each stop along the way, and when we’re returning.

The next tab is “hotel information.” When we travel to Florida, we visit several different people…