Best Advice: How to Create the Perfect Trip

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As readers know, I have traveled a lot in my life. I grew up on the road and my adult life has included many epic trips that I am slowly recounting here on The Cameron Journal. One day they will all become a book, but in the meantime, we can talk about all my crazy trips. In this edition of my Best Advice column, I want to help you plan the perfect trip. It might seem odd to be talking about travel here in the time of Covid but we all soon be traveling around again so now is the perfect time to brush up on your trip planning skills. 

Rest days/unplanned days

The first and most important bit of advice I can offer is to plan for rest and unplanned days. Unplanned days are helpful because if you find something you want to do while you’re at your location, you don’t necessarily want to dump something else off the schedule to do it. Having 1-2 free days is helpful. Sometimes, while traveling, you might get worn out, and a free day, with nothing on the schedule, is nice to just to lay around, watch some TV, sleep, or stay quietly at a bar, pub, or in the hotel, possibly poolside. A vacation or trip where you are going all the time is exhausting. If you plan an extended trip (longer than 2 weeks), you’ll want to plan around life things like laundry and travel days.

It is also important to do some rest days if you are traveling somewhere long distance. Sometimes it is just easier to book the hotel or the Airbnb for the whole weekend and give yourself a day to not be traveling. If you’re in a location, you’re going to want an unstructured day to do whatever you like or take advantage of an opportunity to see something neat. If you want to avoid an AirBNB, you could always take an RV and stay on the road. You can also look into local RV parks as a way to extend your trip without a lot of extra expense.

What do you want to do?

When you are traveling, it is important to prioritize. You won’t be able to do everything, so it is important to pick a few areas to focus on. I like going to see art and museums, so I plan much of my travel outings around that. If there is a particular sight that I want to see, I plan a specific day to go and see that thing, especially if additional travel is needed. This is where research comes in. Even if you are going to an amusement park, do some research in advance and determine the specific sights or rides you want to take. If they have a fast pass option, it can be worth the extra money. Once you have done the specific things you want to do, you can start being spontaneous. You might find something else you want to do, and you won’t have to miss out on the higher priority. In short, front load the things you want to do, and then you’re free to do as you like. 

Activities

Planning a trip around a certain activity (hiking, skiing, music festival) can have lots of downtimes or dead space. This can be ok but you might see what else there is to do in the immediate area or just give yourself some time to have fun. For example, in ski towns there usually, lots of interesting places to drink, hang out, watch sports, etc. Make sure to do some research in advance. It might be handy to do the activity early in the day and then take some drives or see some sights around the area. If you’re driving to a music festival, see what you can visit along the way. It makes the trip much more memorable. It might take some extra time so plan accordingly. If traveling internationally, make sure you have a reliable source of transportation back and forth to your hotel/resort. 

Plan a base that is near all the things you want to do or see

This is my favorite way to travel. I like to set up in a city and then travel around the surrounding region to things I might want to see or do. Even if you’re planning on sticking to a major city, picking the right accommodation is vital. You don’t want to stay too far out of town. This is even true for conferences and conventions. I made the mistake of adding a 45-minute commute to and from a convention once. It made it hard to hang out with people late and do the networking I planned. I picked a hostel in Paris near most of the museums I wanted to go to, and I could arrange a train for everything else. As with many things in life, location is key to success. 

Plan for the small stuff

It is important to plan for small things like when/how you are getting to the airport and how much time that will take. If you can swing it, try to stay near the airport before flying. When I was flying back from the UK, I had to take the bus from Glastonbury in Somerset to London, and the bus only left once a day, at 6 am, and my flight was later that day, around 4 pm. I made the mistake of getting up at the crack of dawn, walking my luggage down the high street to catch a bus in the dark at 6 am, and then had 5 hours to kill at Heathrow. The better option? I should have arrived the day before or even a week before and spent more time in London. 

Know Your Destination Country’s Respective Laws

Doing a little research on certain laws in every country you will visit may save you precious time and reduce headaches. In some countries, you are only allowed to enter when you have more than six months left on your passport before it expires. Other countries are much more relaxed. Knowing your passport expiration date is a priority, and understanding any country’s limitations will help you in deciding whether or not you will need to renew it before you travel.

When you travel aboard an aircraft, there is a clear list of items that are prohibited in the cabin. The same goes for personal items you may want to travel with, such as those you enjoy from Delta 9o. Always learn about any rules pertaining to what you will have with you to know if it is ok to have when you travel. And, never assume that just because one country allows a certain item they all do.

Get ready to go!

With a little research in advance and some planning, you can plan an epic trip that will fit in everything that you want to do and create some beautiful times and great memories. The perfect trip is one part planning and one part spontaneity. If you’d like to hear some more fun content about travel then subscribe to my podcast. Every Monday I do an interview and a great travel internet is coming up on March 8 with Buddy the Traveling Monkey.