So you wanna plan a trip with your significant other? Great, we definitely recommend it! Don’t go into it lightly though; know how much actually goes in to making the dream experience happen.
Seriously this is something else to add to the list of appreciations to my mother and father. Thank you parents for taking me on grand adventures when I was young, even if I pouted my way through the Redwood Forest asking if we were there yet. I like to think that you all gave me this taste of wanderlust that I am ever so pleased with and that has taken me to my real life daydreams! And thank you for taking the time to schedule such memorable vacations; I now know the stress of it.
Okay so after that honorable mention, lets get to it. Here are five tips that we have to make the planning process go smoother! Happy traveling!
- Remember why you’re going on a vacation!
So the number one thing that seems so easy to remember but is so easily lost is that this trip that your planning is supposed to be fun or relaxing or even sometimes just an escape from reality. So do not stress about every insignificant little detail, remember why you are doing this in the first place. Do not waste minutes bickering over the Hilton versus the Best Western, or the condo over the beach house. None of that will really matter once Siri says that magical phrase “the destination is on your left.” Honestly that is one of the reasons why for our first trip we chose a tent of all places to stay in. After two days of going back and forth between hotels, motels, inns and condos we decided this trip is for you and me, where ever we rest our head is going to be a happy place.
- Can’t decide on a spot?
Maybe you have a location in mind but not a precise spot? This delightful occurrence happened to us when we decided we wanted to go to the Florida Keys, but then realized how many different actual spots there are in the Keys. It really is kind of frustrating. My best advice here; do your research, and please write it all down! I can’t tell you how many times I found an awesome spot and then went to tell Andrew about it and said “uhhh well I think it was like maybe $200 a night, I’ve looked at so many places I cannot remember.” If you’re planning on doing a lot of traveling get a little vacation log (mines just a notebook from Kmart), this way if you want to go back and visit you have great spots already written down! Don’t be afraid to read the reviews, in fact look up as many as you can, you may just stumble upon some pretty cool travel blogs with excellent advice J Trip advisor is also great for reviews they usually have forums on different locations, written by real people like you and me! Be cautious when reading reviews on the webpage itself, we have come to find that those reviews are scripted a lot of the time.
- Money, money, moneyyyy
Alright so if you’re anything like us (broke college kids, funding our trips on extra money after rent and bills), or maybe you think you just can’t afford to travel. If you want to travel you can afford to travel, in fact I just read an excellent article on how to travel when you’re broke.
Here’s the link:
The Ultimate Guide to Traveling When You’re Broke
We think that the most important thing to do is make a trip budget and think beyond just your hotel. Talk about what you want to do while you are there; see our point #4 for how to make these decisions. So the number one thing that we’ve seen on travel budgeting sites is tips on how to save on food. This is a very important factor to keep in mind, you don’t realize how much you spend on food when vacationing. We tried out something a little different this trip; we brought most of our own food! It seems so obvious and it is such a great money saving tool. We even made food on the way there instead of stopping at a yucky fast food chain (we don’t do fast food).
- Compromise!
Every city that we go to we each get a day. If we don’t do this we will spend an hour of back and forth “I wanna do whatever you want to do.” So on our day we pick what we want to do beforehand and budget everything! Super simple way to avoid early morning vacation stress. This way there is no wasted time in the morning and we always love each other’s pick anyway! Compromise is key in traveling together as it is in many other relationship aspects J
- Don’t try and do/see it ALL
Seriously, sit down before you go and think about everything you want to accomplish while you are there. Sometimes this list may need to be narrowed down and that’s okay. Trying to fit in twenty different things in a small weekend trip just may not work. Also if you are trying to do too much you are going to miss some things and lose the relaxation part of vacationing because you are stressing about getting to each and every location. It’s okay if you don’t see it all because you can always go back!
Speaking of planning… we are working on our next big trip. Coming to you in March! We will announce the location soon, look out 🙂
2 Responses
Very nice hints. Traveling as a couple is something complety else, but I love having an eye for the detail (especially when it comes to budget planning) anyway. Looking forward to reading about your next trip!
Great tips! Number 1 is especially key – if you remember that the reason you are going on vacation together is to spend time together, everything else starts to matter less and less!