The Ultimate Guide to Effortless Vacation Planning
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As a travel blogger and as someone who has OCD, I am nothing without a good plan. ESPECIALLY when it comes to traveling, I always have a plan. Today, I am going to teach you the BEST resources I use to organize my trips, so you don’t need to waste your time! Let’s get started!
My Maps by Google
If you have not heard of this yet, be ready to have your mind blown. This quite literally changed my life. It’s not Google Maps, it’s My Maps-Google. So, while Google Maps is amazing, this is even better. All you have to do is add your locations in the search bar and hit the plus button. This is a hard one to put in writing, so I made a short tutorial for ya’ll below!
If the video does not load for you, or you are viewing from a mobile device, use this link!
or click here! *NOTE*- Please ignore my laugh when I’m talking about my butterflies. I was so tired and worn out. Please disregard because I am so appalled by that moment, and I never laugh like that. Ok thank you.
My Maps is perfect for organizing your priorities, day to day, and whatever else you need which is why you will see them frequently in my website. How you utilize it depends on a lot of factors, so here’s a few questions you should consider:
- How will I get around?/With that, how much can I do in a day with that form of transportation?
- How much am I able/want to comfortably experience in a day?
- What time will I wake up?/What is the earliest I can start the day?
- How much time do I want to spend dining and seeing attractions?
These are only a few questions to help you get started. For me, I spend A LOT of time taking pictures, so I always leave room for that. Yet, recently, I have been pushing myself to cut down on that time so I can go do more. Additionally, I love to pack my schedule, but I am not always the best at waking up early depending on the trip, so these are factors I need to consider. Most importantly, ALWAYS leave room for rest, drinking water, eating, jetlag, or sickness. There is such a thing as travel fatigue, and when it hits you, need to be flexible. Stay safe and contact me if you have any questions on My Maps or in general at information@mckenziemccoy.com!
Use an Itinerary
This one might be kind of obvious, but when I say itinerary, I mean a detailed one, not a generic cruise itinerary of where you are going every day. Itineraries are very customizable, they can be a piece of paper, a planner, an excel/Google sheet, or whatever your heart desires. There is no “right” way to do it, but I do strongly believe in having the following included:
- Dates of trip with the day (Monday, Tues, etc)
- Budget (super super important, and if you have one, stick with it)
- Goals/must sees
- If any of the activities or locations are only open on certain days, you need to include that. One common example would be religious sites and museums. Musuems are often closed on Monday, sometimes Tuesday, and for religious sites, there are days where they will only open for people practicing that specific religion (the Blue Mosque for example).
- Time you should leave your accommodation for your first destination
- Time of Activities
- Price of Activities
- Free time/down time
- Flex days (so if something occurs you can move it to a flex day. These are great when you have jet lag or just are not in the mood).
Also, if you plan to go somewhere that is not booked, like a site, GO EARLY. I cannot stress this enough. Obviously, you can go whenever you want, but if you are visiting a tourist attraction, GO EARLY. Seriously, I normally wake up early on vacations, but when I lived in Nice and was visiting Paris, it was a weekend getaway, so I was still set in my everyday routine. This backfired and I often did not leave my hostel until noon. This is a NO NO. I would get to the Sacré-Cœur-packed, and then spent way too much time there. It is OK to leave if something does not interest you. Don’t mistake me, the Sacré-Cœur is gorgeous, but after a while, it gets repetitive. This pushed my whole day back, so when I went to the Louvre-packed, and they kick everyone out at 5:40 despite closing at 6.
What I am trying to say is, even if you do not have a tour and you are going somewhere on your own time, GO EARLY. I do not care what you have to say, every day abroad is valuable, and you will feel so so guilty or angry at yourself that you did not get to see as much as you wanted to. This happens especially if it is somewhere that is far away, or you have anticipated visiting for a long time. If you don’t feel that way, then…I’m not sure what to tell you.
If you learned anything from this, let it be to GO EARLY.
ALSO, this pairs like bread and butter with My Maps. You can do either one first and then use it to create the other. I personally like throwing everything on My Maps, seeing where everything is, and then group close proximity locations and activities in the same day on my itinerary. Often, many tourism sites are near each other, but if you are doing tours it can vary.
Comment if you’d like access to my Google Sheet itinerary template!
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Google Flights- Explore
You may have heard about this one, but I have to include it. I will be upfront with y’all because there are so many ***’s to look out for when it comes to “cheap” flights. If anything, your best bet is cheap accommodation, but flights are… debatable. If you haven’t heard of Google Flights Explore, it essentially gives you unlimited options of flights so you can explore, options you may not have heard of. To access this feature, you will need to head to Google Flights, and then select the “explore button”.
From there you can select when you want to go and for how long.
This is what it will look like on your computer, it is phone compatible, but I always prefer using a desktop. Which by the way if you are reading this on your phone, thank you, but I promise my website will impress you even more on your computer (*wink*). Now, all you have to do is scroll in and out and quite literally explore around the world map where you might want to go. Now before I see any angry comments, no you cannot fly to Asia from Mississippi for less than $1,000, and if you do find a way to do that, I would be very concerned for your safety. My point is please do not have impossible hopes with the way our economy is (unfortunately).
The catch–
I will not and do not ever intend to lie or deceit any of my readers. What you pay is what you get. These flights do not include baggage, which you may think- oh no big deal? Yes, HUGE deal!! It cost me nearly $500 to get my luggage back to the US from France. I mean what can you do, leave your luggage? NO :D. So I am going to leave that there…
..let it sink in.
Ok great now welcome to reality. If you are traveling for a long period of time or you are moving, then please please please always check the baggage fees. Now, if this does not apply to you, and you can fit everything in a check on, great (now please teach me how you do it).
Another notable element is the times and layovers. More layovers generally mean it is cheaper because the airlines demand more money for convenience. Additionally, extremely early and extremely late flights (which I do not recommended the latter for safety reasons) are cheaper because they are inconvenient. Keep these things in mind, especially because if one layover gets delayed it can mess up your entire commute there.
The second part of the catch is safety/comfort. You might be sitting next to the restroom or next to the window (this is a great choice for anything but a long flight). Another factor may be that the seats are uncomfortable, (see, it ties back to the inconvenience catch), and it will cost to upgrade your seat, so keep that in mind. Also, watch out for Spirit Airlines and for Europe, Ryan Air (these are my top two no no’s).
You may be wondering with all of the negatives why am I including this? Great question! In summary, I’ve narrowed down Google Flights’ greatness to two specific things- shorter flights, where you may be comfortable being uncomfortable. The second being, anything within the states, or if you are in Europe or east Asia going to a nearby country, it’s not that bad. Just watch out because those cheap airlines will charge for your carry on or anything besides one personal item (cough couch- Spirit). Personally, anything more than a 3-hour flight I would not fly “cheap”, and especially not for a 14-hour flight across the Atlantic (yikes).
So, pay a little more (or not), don’t compromise your safety, and if you are comfortable being uncomfortable then by all means go for it!
Maximize on Discounts
Alright here is my favorite thing to brag about. There are many disadvantages at my age, but this is not one of them. So, I just told y’all about flight expenses, here is one way to cut down the price without increasing your chances of death or lost luggage.
Introducing…
✨Student discounts✨
So, this is pretty self-explanatory, but it comes down to research. I have normally seen the percentage range from as low as 2% to upwards of 10%. It is not huge, but it does help a lot. Sometimes student discounts also include baggage. Mhm you heard that right, oh but not Air France (if you can avoid them THEN DO). They advertise that and then when you show up with your huge suitcases, out of breath, they say oh it’s only for within Europe. Is that mentioned on their website? No. Am I supposed to know that? Apparently so.
If you use Google Flights or any other search engine for your travel, take the airlines advertised for your trip and explore their discount options on their website. Sometimes you will need to submit proof, other times if you fall within an age range it is automatically available to you. Here are a few airlines that offer it:
- United airlines (only in the app)
- Air Canada
- Air France (be careful they leave a lot of conditions off their website)
- Iberia airlines
- Turkish Airlines
- KLM
- Lufthansa (conditional- location)
- Emirates
- Qatar Airways
*As of August 2023*
These do require a little research because airlines don’t advertise this since they make less money. However, it is not hard to find them with a little effort, just make sure you always read the conditions and small print. I would look up something like this “(insert airline) student discount”. Easy, now go save some money! ✈️
Free Accommodation?
Hahahah this is my least favorite thing to talk about. There are two main sites I have heard that allow you to stay somewhere for *free* if you dog sit, house sit or work.
- Find Pet Sitters & House Sits Worldwide | TrustedHousesitters.com
- Worldpackers: Work Exchange, Volunteer Abroad, Gap Year
Of course, there are more, but these are the most popular to my knowledge. Here is why I don’t like taking about these. Firstly, TrustedHousesitters you have be 21 to use the site. Secondly, World Packers I have heard many amazing things about it, but I have not used them yet. I prefer to experience something before I come on here and write about it. I want to be honest with my butterflies so when I do use one of those websites, I will make an article on it. Until then, if you are interested, those are the direct links.
To many more
I hope this guide can help you with planning your next trip! Keep in mind organization will save you so much time and headache. Always plan logically, you are not Superman or the Flash, so stop acting like it. If you can let the location choose you and do your research prior you will save so much money. So, be organized and flexible when planning to ensure the smoothest trip possible. 🦋Keep an eye out because I have lots more travel advice like pre-trip essentials, financial planning, and many more articles that I am working on! With that, have safe travels please comment any questions, thoughts, recommendations, experiences, or whatever makes you happy!
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