The Ultimate Step-By-Step Vacation Planning Guide | Pre-Travel Checklist | Things To Do Before Your Next Trip
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Prologue
Our readers often ask us what are the things we need to keep in mind while planning a trip and the things we need to do before we travel. To be honest, years back, when we started with our travels, we didn’t even know where to start. And today, after having traveled across the globe by car, train, plane, boat, cruise, and whatnot, and having created a chest of thrilling memories like getting attacked by masked men in the Netherlands, getting chased by armed robbers in Italy, getting our passports stolen in Germany, getting sent back to Croatia from Montenegro in a police car due to missing documents, getting hit by a car in a remote village in Romania and spending the whole afternoon explaining the Dutch insurance process in sign language to Romanian police, fighting with border police of Bosnia and Herzegovina for an hour at 1 AM for not letting us cross the border due to supposedly insufficient car documents, getting car chased by Bosnian police at 3 AM for over speeding in a remote village in Bosnia, being stranded overnight by the side of a pitch-dark highway with family in a broken car waiting to be towed by the notoriously lazy Italian roadside assistance amidst hailstorms and wildfires, climbing spine-chilling near-vertical 40 degrees inclination (yes, you read that right!) at 2 AM on extremely narrow mirror to mirror Sicilian countryside gravel road with car tyres scidding and engine giving up, and several other sh*t hits the fan moments, I can safely proclaim that we’ve had our share of experiences and learnings! So based on our experiences and learnings, today I’m going to share with you comprehensive checklists of things to keep in mind while planning your trip and things to do before traveling. So, let’s begin!
And to know about things you need to pack while traveling, please read our article The Ultimate Travel Packing Checklist for Your Next Trip | Vacation and Business Travel Packing List.
Travel Planning Checklist - Things to keep in mind while planning a trip
1. Choose your travel destination
Before you start planning your trip, you need to first decide upon your travel destination. Your choice could be based on one of the following parameters that define your primary interest/focus for the trip -
History - Visiting heritage sites, museums
Scenery - Visiting scenic locations including seasonal flora like tulips, lavenders, sunflowers, etc.
Wildlife - Visiting national parks, sanctuaries, and sea excursions including seasonal fauna like puffins, whales, etc.
Activities - Hiking, camping, water sports like swimming, scuba diving, surfing, rafting, kayaking, etc., winter sports like skiing, snowboarding, etc.
City Break - Visiting popular monuments in a vibrant city
Festival/Event - Attending festivals like Christmas Markets or events like carnivals, music concerts, sports events, etc.
Wellness - Visiting a wellness retreat
Photography - Doing architecture, cityscape, landscape, street, nature, or wildlife photography
2. Choose the right season
Once you have chosen your travel destination, the next thing you need to research is the right season to travel. The season could affect the weather, temperature, length of day (hours of sunlight), flora/fauna availability, and prices based on the part of the world you are planning to travel to.
Example 1: The best time to see the Crocus flowers in the Chocholowska Valley (Polish Tatra Mountains) is Spring (Early to late April) when we were there. But during this time, the iconic mountain lakes Morskie Oko in Zakopane area, Poland, and Strbske Pleso in Slovakia were frozen, and hence we had to skip them. And in summer these places could be very touristy. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article An Easter in Eastern Europe | A 6000 km Road Trip across Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Austria from the Netherlands.
Example 2: Baltics are particularly glamorous during Christmas with decorations all around the cities and the quaint, little, authentic Christmas markets selling unique local merchandize. But on the downside, you have around 4-5 hours of daylight (depending on which Baltic country you are – the further north you go, the shorter the day gets), and extremely cold weather. Whereas during summer (which is just a single month, by the way), nature can be breathtaking with around 22-23 (!) hours of sunlight. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article A Baltic and Scandinavian Christmas | A 7000 km Cruise and Road Trip across Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Sweden from the Netherlands | Travel Itinerary, Tips, and Tricks.
3. Check for festivals
While choosing dates, bear in mind that traveling during the high season (especially during the school holidays) will always have its downsides. The highways will be jammed entirely with vacation goers (and caravans!), hotel prices will be sky high, and on days like Christmas or New Year, most restaurants (and even public toilets!) might be closed, including the ones at petrol pumps on the highway. So factor that into your planning.
Example: Usually, Hoofddorp (the Netherlands) to Krakow (Poland) is 1200 km and doable in a 14-hour drive in a single day. But for us, it took 23 hours despite driving continuously on the fastest lane of the Autobahn (German Express Highway with no speed limits) and the Polish Highways between 160-190 kph on average, breaking all speed limits of the Polish Highways (even crossing my benchmark of 200 kph at times) as we got 9 hours of traffic jam in total owing to hordes of people (loads of them from Germany) coming to Poland for the Easter vacation which is a big celebration in Poland (now we know!). Also, on the day of Easter, while we were traveling from Poland to Slovakia, we faced a severe challenge as ‘all’ restaurants were closed, including the ones at petrol pumps on the highway, owing to Easter. We finally ended up managing with the stock of bread we had with us. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article An Easter in Eastern Europe | A 6000 km Road Trip across Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Austria from the Netherlands.
4. Create an itinerary
Once you’ve finalized the dates of your travel, it is time to create a day-to-day itinerary for your entire trip capturing the route you want to follow and the places you would like to visit on each day of your trip.
5. Choose the right base for every region in your itinerary
The best way to plan a comprehensive exploration is to divide your complete itinerary into different travel regions (e.g., Black Forest, Tuscany, etc.), plan a single central base location in each of the travel regions, and then travel to different parts within a travel region from its central base location. I know many people who stay in different hotels across the same travel region to cover different parts. But if you choose a base location diligently that is central to that region, trust me, you can cover the length and breadth of a travel region by car just from one location. Also, try to stay in bigger cities for the night (unless you’re camping out) and travel to the remotest corners during the day by car since facilities like restaurants, supermarkets, medicine shops, ATMs, etc. can be scarce in smaller towns and villages.
6. Decide your stopovers wisely
If the next travel region in your itinerary is too far to reach in a day, and hence you are planning a stopover/halt for a night on the way, choose a smaller city as accommodation in smaller cities tends to be cheaper than in bigger cities.
Example: While traveling from Hoofddorp to Krakow had two alternative routes (either via Berlin or via Dresden) and we chose the Dresden route because the accommodation there for a night stopover was much cheaper than in Berlin. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article An Easter in Eastern Europe | A 6000 km Road Trip across Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Austria from the Netherlands.
7. Plan your budget
After you have finalized your itinerary, it is time to calculate the budget for your travel. It is important to know it upfront so that you can set your saving goal over the next few months, avoid nasty surprises mid-way in your trip and readjust the trip if needed (by shortening the trip or dropping a few places to visit) if the budget goes overboard. While calculating the budget consider the following expenses for each day of your trip -
Flights
Hotel
Car rent (if you rent a car)
Fuel (own car or rented car)
Local transport
Car vignettes
Road tolls
Car parking
Food
Entrance tickets for attractions
8. Do your bookings
After you have budgeted and finalized your trip dates, it is time to make the bookings. The equation is very simple - the earlier you book, the better prices you get. Also, you may get seasonal offers/discounts at various websites. For bookings, I mainly use the following -
Passport and Visa - The first thing before you travel is to check if you have a valid passport. If yes, you are good. But if not, you need to apply for a new passport or renew your expired passport. Next, you need to check if you are allowed to travel to your destination country without a visa based on the passport of the country you hold. If yes, you are good again. If not, you need to apply for a visa for your destination country.
International Driving Permit - If you have decided to go on a road trip, you will need a valid driving license that allows you to drive in the countries you plan to travel to. If you have a driving license from your home country but it does not allow you to drive internationally, I recommend you to get an International Driving Permit (IDP) via internationaldriversassociation.com which is an UN-regulated travel document accepted/valid in 150+ countries. You simply need to fill up a 3-minute form where you need to enter your driver’s license details, the delivery address for the IDP, and upload your photo. If your documents are in order, you will get instant approval and will receive the digital copy in 8 minutes (the printed copy takes 5-10 working days to arrive at the delivery address you provided). So check out their website if you need an IDP!
Car Rental - If you do not have a car and want to rent a car for your travel, I recommend you to check out discovercars.com. It is an extremely easy-to-use website where you can search for a car from all major rental companies (500+ car suppliers), compare models and corresponding prices by simply entering your pickup location (it could be your city of residence/hotel/airport), and prebook. You can also choose to drop off your car at another location/country than the pickup location since they operate in 150+ countries across the world. The simplicity and straightforwardness of their on-screen instructions, absence of hidden fees, 24/7 multilingual support, and great prices have earned them a rating of 4.5 on Trustpilot, and several awards. It has also been named the ‘World's Leading Car Rental Booking Website’ by World Travel Awards in 2020. So do check out their website if you plan to rent a car for your travel!
Flight Tickets - For comparing and booking flights I use skyscanner.net
Hotel Tickets - I’m a ‘Genius Level 3’ traveler on booking.com which is the highest ‘Genius Level’ on their loyalty program that gets me up to 20% discount on accommodation (hotels, bed and breakfasts, and apartments) prices, free breakfast, and free room upgrades. So I mainly use it for booking my accommodation. But you could also use airbnb.com, hotels.com, or agoda.com
Train/Cruise/Ferry Tickets - I also book train/cruise/ferry tickets in advance based on where we’re traveling to avoid nasty surprises mid-trip.
Airport/Port Transfers - If you’ve decided to arrive by flight/ship and want to book a private transfer to/from the airport/port from/to the hotel, I recommend you to use welcomepickups.com. At the same price as a regular taxi from the line, ‘Welcome Pickups’ who operate in 70+ countries, offers pre-booked cars (hence no hassles of cash) with wifi and an English-speaking knowledgable local driver who will act as your guide and provide you with a mini-city tour on the way to your accommodation/airport/port. Along with that, they provide 24/7 phone/email support, monitoring for flight delays, a welcome bag, and a bottle of water for all travelers. They also offer private sightseeing rides with a ‘Welcome’ driver in select cities across the world. So, do check out their website!
Attractions Entrance Tickets - I also book entrance tickets to the popular attractions upfront lest they are fully booked when we reach.
9. Plan for your health
Once you have done your bookings, it is time to start planning your trip; and the first one is the most important of all - health. The wild flora and fauna in many parts of the world can infect you with deadly diseases like Tick-borne Encephalitis or Lyme disease (especially if you’re planning to camp in the woods/mountains). So, discuss the places you plan to visit with your physician before your vacation and take precautions/vaccinations accordingly.
10. Plan for your communication
In Eastern Europe and especially in the Balkans, asking locals for a landmark or explaining to the waiter about a food that you’re allergic to can be challenging as most locals speak ‘only’ the local language. However, you can get around that in 2 ways. Firstly, always keep a printed Excel sheet with you containing the most commonly used phrases like “Hello,” “I want to use the toilet” or “I want to drink water,” or food that you need to buy from supermarkets daily like milk, bread or egg or the food that you are allergic to in English vs. the local languages of all the countries you are traveling to. Secondly, always activate your data roaming on your phone before you leave as it’s convenient to Google the landmark where you want to go or the food item you’re allergic to, like mushrooms or shrimps or aubergine, show the image on your phone screen.
11. Plan for the check-in/out timings of your accommodation and international time zones
In some countries hotels/accommodations do not have 24-hour reception, and all have different check-in and out timings (for most of the accommodations across Europe, check-in starts only after 14:00). So, you need to know it before booking the hotel and let them know your arrival time by calling them on the day of travel when you start driving from your previous location. Also, please account for time changes when you cross the international time zones.
Example: We went ahead by an hour when we drove from Berlin to Vilnius as we crossed the international time zones to enter EET (Eastern European Standard Time) from CET (Central European Standard Time) zone which we didn’t consider while planning. So suddenly after crossing the border of Lithuania, we realized that we needed to reach the hotel one hour earlier. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article A Baltic and Scandinavian Christmas | A 7000 km Cruise and Road Trip across Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Sweden from the Netherlands | Travel Itinerary, Tips, and Tricks.
12. Plan for your route
When you’re traveling from one country to another, always check the route followed by your GPS. GPS just calculates the shortest/fastest route based on your settings but does not consider the humane driving conditions. In other words, don’t follow it blindly. Sometimes common sense might prevail over artificial intelligence.
Example 1: My GPS once showed me to enter North Macedonia from Albania (because, as per the GPS, it was the shortest route with just one border crossing). Still, I took an alternate route via Greece, which meant two border crossings and a slightly longer route. Still, the drive was eventually faster (and more comfortable on the Greek roads than the Balkan roads). To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article A Summer in Eastern Europe | An 8000 km Road Trip across Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia from the Netherlands | Travel Itinerary, Tips, and Tricks.
Example 2: In disputed countries like Kosovo, there are border checkpoints that allow only unidirectional traffic, e.g., only from Serbia to Kosovo and not vice versa (my GPS took me to such a Serbian border while I was trying to drive from Kosovo to Bulgaria via Serbia where the Serbian border police didn’t even have stamps to stamp my passport to enter Serbia owing to which I had to drive back into Kosovo, then to North Macedonia, halt for the night there and then enter Bulgaria from North Macedonia the following day). So always check the route your GPS is taking your through and validate using your human intelligence. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article A Summer in Eastern Europe | An 8000 km Road Trip across Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia from the Netherlands | Travel Itinerary, Tips, and Tricks.
Example 3: On another instance, my GPS directed me towards routes that include a ferry to cross over the Baltic Sea while entering Denmark from Sweden or Germany from Denmark as it considered them the fastest options (though the land-connected route is merely an hour longer than the ferry connected ones since to catch ferries you have to reach early and wait which compensates for the delay over the land connected route). Try to avoid such ferry-dependent routes as over the long journey of 12 hours, it will already be evening (and dark very early at this time of the year), and there’s a possibility that the ferries might not run anymore (also during holidays the ferries run infrequently). So you will be stranded on a dark jetty with no ferries leaving and will have to then go around to find a land connection which will easily be a detour of 2-3 hours that will potentially jeopardize your planning, or else you might have to find yourself a hotel to stopover for the night which will be highly challenging and expensive. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article A Baltic and Scandinavian Christmas | A 7000 km Cruise and Road Trip across Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Sweden from the Netherlands | Travel Itinerary, Tips, and Tricks.
13. Plan for Non-EU border control checkpoints
When you plan to visit countries, not in the EU (European Union), consider a buffer time window of approx 1 hour (max) for document verification at border control checkpoints per country. Some borders can be very busy during high seasons, like the one between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, where you are normally stuck for around 2 hours in total, combining the Bosnia-Herzegovina exit checkpoint and Montenegro entry checkpoint, during high season.
Also, keep your passport, visa (or resident permit if you are residing in EU countries or equivalent), driving license, car documents (the physical green card with your car number plate on it), car insurance (green paper, also called as the green card) handy for verification.
Example: Once I was driving a replacement car since my company lease car was broken and the dealer provided me with only copies of the green card (the equivalent of registration and insurance papers), saying that this will suffice for all countries in Europe. However, we were stopped at the border control checkpoint of Bosnia and Herzegovina (since apparently in non-EU countries, copies don’t work) and after plenty of negotiations, harassment, and delay, we ended up buying seven-day Bosnian insurance for the car. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article An Easter in Eastern Europe | A 6000 km Road Trip across Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Austria from the Netherlands.
14. Plan for car insurance in countries that are not a member of the European International Green Card System
Countries that are not a member of the European International Automobile Green Card System, may need separate car insurance.
Example: Kosovo is not a member of the European International Green Card System for automobile insurance. So when we entered Kosovo, we had to buy a minimum of 7-day insurance worth €15 at the border, which is a time-consuming but hassle-free process. Though many blogs say they accept only cash, but the fact is they also accept Mastercard and Maestro at the border. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article A Summer in Eastern Europe | An 8000 km Road Trip across Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia from the Netherlands | Travel Itinerary, Tips, and Tricks.
15. Plan to get a travel insurance
Get travel insurance if you are going on a long trip across several countries. Ensure that reimbursements for the following (whatever you need) are included in your travel insurance across all the countries you are traveling to -
Trip cancellation/delay
Emergency healthcare (including ambulance)
Baggage delay/damage/theft
Accident
16. Plan for the port control checkpoints
If your itinerary consists of water travel (with or without car), please keep your passport, visa (or resident permit if you are residing in EU countries or equivalent), driving license, car documents (the physical green card with your car number/license plate on it), car insurance (green paper also called as the green card) handy for verification. Also, factor in the last entry time in the ferry/cruise in your planning.
Example: During our Baltic Christmas vacation, there were 2 passport control checkpoints at the Port of Tallinn (before taking the ferry to Helsinki) and another at Port of Helsinki (before taking the cruise to Stockholm). The last entry time in the ferries/cruises was roughly 1 hour before the scheduled departure, and we also considered a buffer time window of approx 1 hour (max) even before that for the queuing of the cars and the documents verification at port control checkpoints. So effectively, it meant that we had to reach the port terminal 2 hours before the scheduled departure of our ferry/cruise. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article A Baltic and Scandinavian Christmas | A 7000 km Cruise and Road Trip across Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Sweden from the Netherlands | Travel Itinerary, Tips, and Tricks.
17. Plan for emissions stickers/vignettes for your car
Before you travel by road to any country in Europe, you need to research the stickers/vignettes (equivalent to road tolls or emission certifications) you need to paste on your car's windscreen before entering that country. You can order them online or buy them at the local fuel stations when you enter the country, and you just have to display the bill on your dashboard. Technically, if you are caught without stickers, fines can range between €50 and €200.
18. Plan for fueling
Before you travel, check gasoline/diesel costs across countries to decide which country it’s cost-effective for you to refuel. Then do a calculation of the total gas cost that you have to bear for your trip (combining all the countries where you want to refuel) to have a clear view of your expenses upfront to avoid any surprises. To get a realistic gas cost estimation for your trip based on the distance traveled, your car model, and the number of passengers, I recommend you to use a great gas calculator app calculator-online.net/gas-calculator.
Also, if you are driving a company lease car and have a fuel card paid by your company (like I have an all Europe Shell Card), research upfront on the Shell Station Locator and plan those fueling stops in your itinerary at regular intervals lest you run out of fuel since Shell may not have many stations across some of the countries in your itinerary. Also, check upfront on the Shell Station locator if it sells the kind of fuel your car uses, if it’s open 24 hours, if it’s a manned or unmanned pump, etc.
19. Check the terrain before you travel and accordingly decide your driving timing
I would suggest avoiding driving through rugged landscapes at night as most inter-country roads and even highways in Europe do not have streetlights. Also, many Eastern European countries do not have good roads, making it very difficult to drive at night. On top of that, a touch of rain or snow can make the roads slippery and thereby more dangerous. So don’t drive on unknown mountainous terrain overnight unless it is essential.
Example: Once we entered Serbia from Romania, driving through the National Park Djerdap after sunset, which consisted of a two-way pitch-dark serpentine mountain road (with the mountain on one side and a cliff drop leading to the Danube on the other), long lightless tunnels with trucks speeding in from opposite direction with their high beams dazzling my eyes and dense pitch dark, uninhabited forests with foxes running in parallel to our car. So use ‘Google Earth’ before your travel to check the terrain and elevation and decide your travel time. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article An Easter in Eastern Europe | A 6000 km Road Trip across Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Austria from the Netherlands.
20. Start early on the long-drive days
I normally drive up to 1300 km (roughly 12 hours of driving and 2 hours of breaks) on average on the long-drive days though I’ve driven up to 21 hours in a day under exceptional circumstances. I leave early around 05:00. My family jumps into the car and sleeps off. Since until 07:00 in the Netherlands, the speed limits on all major highways are 130 kmph, and there is minimal traffic, I try to cover as much distance I can in the first 2 hours. By noon I know I’ve made more than half of my travel and maximum by 19:00 I will be reaching the hotel. This mental assurance is needed since as you start getting delayed, the fatigue/stress/tension starts catching up specially after sunset.
21. Take optimum breaks during driving
Normally doctors advise drivers to take 15 minutes break every one or two hours to stretch your muscles, relax your eyes by looking far (towards the horizon), and regain your focus/concentration. Since I have a seasoned driving stamina, I do not take a lot of breaks while driving apart from 5 min bio breaks every hour or so at one of the gas stations by the highway. While I would not advise you to follow my style if you are not used to driving long distances, also bear in mind that taking too many breaks can delay the schedule. On a 12-hour drive day I normally follow the below schedule -
Leave at 05:00
Break 1 (30 minutes) - First major coffee/breakfast/snacks break at 09:00
Break 2 (1 hour) - Lunch break at 12:00
Break 3 (30 minutes) - Second major coffee/breakfast/snacks break at 16:00
Reach hotel at 19:00
So basically, you have 12 hours of driving and 2 hours of break totaling to 14 hours of road time. In festive/high season consider another hour for traffic/delays.
22. Carry food on long-drive days
On long-drive days, you do not want to waste a lot of time and money looking for food. Also, as your family sits in the car for most of the day, it gets boring. So carrying food becomes imperative. Try to cook and get home food in lunch boxes (dry food like sandwiches work best, especially on hot days), get the snack from the supermarket, and have dinner upon reaching your destination. Do not pack dinner since the food starts smelling by the time you reach.
23. Use high beams at night
As I said, most inter-country highways in Europe do not have streetlights. On top of that, the terrain of Eastern European countries is rugged, and hence driving on such roads is not for the faint-hearted. At most places, there are no highways, the roads continuously twist and turn without light, barriers or reflectors at the cliff edges (including climbing up to 40 degrees inclination, yes you read right it’s 40 degrees, not 4 degrees which means spine-chilling near-vertical climb), most of them are ill-maintained with potholes, at many places the way lead to dirt roads and often you might see herds of animals crossing the roads. Hence switch on your hi-beam if you plan to drive overnight, and momentarily switch them off when you see cars coming in from another direction lest you dazzle their eyes.
24. Plan for driving without GPS at places
At some places, e.g., just after entering Kosovo from North Macedonia, for hours, your GPS may not work despite having the ‘All Europe’ map downloaded. Also, Google Maps will seldom work since you will not have the internet at 70% of the roadways e.g., in Black Forest region. An alternative is to store offline Google maps for the places you are planning to travel the next day once you’re at the hotel at night but to store offline maps for such long distances, Google may ask for memory in your phone that may not be available. So in such situations, use your common sense coupled with street signs and sign language with the locals. It will work like a charm.
25. Plan for driving without online music apps
For people like me who’re seasoned drivers but cannot drive without music and use only online apps like Spotify, download all the music you need for your entire holiday and save on your phone as some of the roadways may have no access to the internet.
26. Plan for reaching your accommodation
It is challenging to find your accommodation (if they are apartments) via the GPS (if it works) as the addresses might not be very accurate/apparent, especially in the Balkans. If you are almost near your accommodation as per your GPS and are stranded without internet or phone connection, show the phone no. of your accommodation to any local and request them to call. They are very helpful and will call without the slightest hesitation (if they understand what you’re requesting for!)
27. Carry the supermarket with you
In many remote locations, it’s incredibly challenging to find supermarkets. Only in bigger cities, you might find a decent-sized supermarket after some searching. To get a large-sized supermarket ask your accommodation (try to stay in bigger cities unless you are camping out) to provide you a list of supermarkets nearby with their addresses and telephone numbers. Also, inquire about their closure timings. Once you are at the supermarket, convert the booty of your car into a mini mobile supermarket.
28. Carry cash
In some regions of the world, bank cards are accepted in accomodations, eateries, and shops only in bigger cities, and for all other local buying and casual fooding ‘Cash is King’. So, withdraw cash in the local currencies according to the respective currencies ‘as soon as you see’ an ATM (since an ATM also may not be abundantly available), and don’t worry about leftover local currency. Before you leave that country, exhaust the residual cash in buying sandwiches/chips/water from a fuel station and stock them in your car (you’ll use them anyhow). Buying local souvenirs to exhaust the local currency is also a good idea.
29. Try to cook
In some parts of the world especially Eastern Europe, getting food of your choice could be challenging since the cuisines everywhere are authentic (apart from bigger cities where you will find Italian, Chinese, or Indian cuisines). Especially for vegetarians, there aren’t a lot of options to choose from. So try stocking the food of your choice from the supermarkets in the refrigerator of your accommodation and then cook yourself (at least one meal a day, e.g., dinner in the night upon return). So always take accommodation with a kitchen.
30. ‘Don’t’ drive in some places
In some cities in the world, driving can be really difficult owing to the lack of traffic rules, lack of street signals, tremendous traffic, and scarce street parking. So in such cities, plan to travel by public transport.
31. Plan for camping/hiking
Search for camping/hiking trails at alltrails.com. If you are climbing up to the top of waterfalls, prepare for quite some hiking (especially with children). Though for the popular waterfalls, you may have steps, they can often be numerous. Hence carry lots of water with you. Also, carry proper camping/hiking gear.
32. Plan for the weather
If you are planning to drive across countries with varied climates, research upfront and pack appropriate dresses.
33. Plan for parking
If you are traveling within Europe, especially to medieval towns, the best thing to do is to research and find a parking garage at your destination upfront before you start driving since street parkings may not be abundant, and during high season they might be completely full.
Example 1: When we went to Tuscany, since most of the smaller hilltop Tuscan towns and villages are fortified, we found parking areas outside the town walls (fortifications) where we parked our car and then entered the fortified towns through the town gates on foot. But often you may have to wait to get a free spot since they may be full in the busy months. In bigger cities like Florence, finding street parking amidst mirror-to-mirror narrow roads was a harrowing experience. Finally, I found one and handed over my car keys to the parking guys to park our car a kitten’s whisker next to other cars in their jam-packed parking garage. Though I was told that the ‘Bravehearts’ ready to drive in Italy shouldn’t give a damn about a couple of scratches, let me warn you that it can be very scary to see them park your car. That’s the reason I just got out of my Mercedes-Benz, gave them the keys, and left. Sometimes you need to take a giant leap of faith. And when I came back, it was okay. Just a mild smoking smell in my car. That’s it! To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article A Summer Escape to Northern-Central Italy and San Marino | A 6000 km Road Trip across Milan, Tuscany, Florence, Pisa, San Marino, and Como from the Netherlands | Travel Itinerary, Tips, and Tricks.
Example 2: Lake Como is one of the nastiest places in Italy when it comes to hotel prices and parking nightmares. We had planned this trip much later than usual since we were waiting to get a date for our COVID vaccinations first. By the time we got the date for our vaccinations, the most affordable hotels on the waterfront were already booked. So we were left with 2 choices - either book a ridiculously expensive hotel on the waterfront or stay somewhere on the outskirts of one of the towns around Lake Como. So we decided to stay just outside the most beautiful town of Varenna and the plan was to drive to the center of Varenna the next morning, park the car, explore Varenna, and later take the passenger ferry to Bellagio in the afternoon. However, to our surprise, ‘all’ street parkings and parking garages across the town of Varenna were full right from 9 AM. So we had to take the car ferry and sail to Bellagio first and then return to Varenna in the evening when parking became available. Even in Bellagio we struggled to find street parking and finally, I decided to park on a spot that was only meant for locals living there. I just took a chance as it was too late for lunch and my son was too hungry. We did not expect these towns to be so touristy, especially during the pandemic but then I was told this is the case 365 days a year. To read the day-by-day account of that trip, please visit our article A Summer Escape to Northern-Central Italy and San Marino | A 6000 km Road Trip across Milan, Tuscany, Florence, Pisa, San Marino, and Como from the Netherlands | Travel Itinerary, Tips, and Tricks.
34. Plan to reach the viewpoints early
Make sure to reach popular viewpoints and sunset spots where you can shoot the panoramic sunset over the city skyline at least an hour in advance to get the best spot and set up your tripod. Even all the street parkings may be full if you do not reach before an hour. Before you know it you will find yourself in the middle of hundreds of people most of whom are drinking, playing music, and dancing, while waiting for the sun to go down. And then, you don’t want to be the spoilsport disturbing the party. So go early!
35. Use a Packing Checklist
Pack optimally ensuring that you have everything you need on your trip namely, dresses, accessories, prescription medication, documentation, food, toiletry, and electronics.
To know about things you need to pack while traveling, please read our article The Ultimate Travel Packing Checklist for Your Next Trip | Vacation and Business Travel Packing List.
Pre-Travel Checklist - Things to do before traveling
Apply leaves/time-off at your work
Activate mobile and data roaming on your phone (get eSIM for international roaming if your existing network operator does not allow international roaming and your phone is compatible with eSIMs)
Recharge your phone sufficiently (if you’re using a prepaid plan) with both talk time and data
Set ‘Out of Office’ automatic replies on your personal and work email
Update GPS maps (like TomTom)
Download offline Google Maps (if needed)
Recharge camera and accessory batteries
Call the hotels and confirm them your arrival time
Water plants at home
Arrange food (via dispenser) for your pets (if you have fish or hamsters) or pet-sitter/pet-boarding/pet-hotel (if you have cats, dogs, etc.)
Halt newspaper delivery (if needed)
Clear the refrigerator/freezer
Throw out garbage/trash cans
Pay the bills that are going to be due while you are away
Reschedule appointments (if any) that conflict with your trip dates
Stock food and water in your car booty (if you are going on a road trip)
Stock prescription medication (if needed)
Withdraw cash from the ATM
Book a taxi to the airport (if you are traveling by air)
Weigh and lock your luggage (if you are traveling by air)
Check-in online for your flight (if you are traveling by air)
Check-in online for your car rental service (if you’ve rented a car upon arrival at your destination)
Adjust/lower the central heating thermostat (if needed)
Unplug unnecessary appliances
Share your trip schedule and a house key with a neighbor or friend you can trust.
Epilogue
So that was our step-by-step vacation planning guide. Please let us know in the comments below if you enjoyed reading this article and if it helped you in planning your travel.
And to know about things you need to pack while traveling, please read our article The Ultimate Travel Packing Checklist for Your Next Trip | Vacation and Business Travel Packing List. Until then, I wish you merry traveling and happy shooting!
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