Pops’ Travel Guide, Tips for Planning Travel

If you want to make the most out of your upcoming vacation then the most important part is planning. This is even more important when you are going somewhere for the first time, especially for international travel. The planning you do before you leave can make the difference between a once in a lifetime experience and a disaster. The following are my tips for planning the best vacation ever.

Talk to someone you know that has been there. If you know of someone that has been there before they may already know your likes and dislikes and will be able to give you suggestions on where to stay, what to see and where to eat. You’ll also get what went right and just as important what went wrong.

Talk to a travel agent. They will help you plan your vacation. Keep in mind that you will have to help them also. They will need to know your likes and dislikes, health issues, what do you want to get out of the trip, etc. So do your planning before you talk to the travel agent.

Read Trip Advisor or a similar site for reviews on the place you are going. You can find reviews of hotels, restaurants and sites in the area. One caveat though is to be able to weed out the overly positive and negative reports and take the reviews with a grain of salt. Some negative reports may not be warranted and some positive reports may have been planted by the supplier.

Watch the weather online. There are many sites that you can bookmark that will give you long range forecasts of the weather. This will help you prepare for anything from a storm to a heat wave.

Subscribe to newsletters for the place you are going. These are free to sign up. Newsletters like “Visit Denmark” or “China Like Never Before” will give you advance notice of events happening during your stay.

Also, you can start reading online local news like “The China Daily” (China) or “New Straight Times” (Singapore, Asia, SE Asia), “Copenhagen News” (Copenhagen) to get local news and events.

There are many government websites that will give you valuable information on passports, visas, immunizations, safety, and what to do if you need embassy help. These sites include the State Department, CIA, and CDC.

Mobile applications like “Seat Guru” and “Flight Path” for your flight; and “Travel in Chinese” and “Currency Converter” for when you get there are also valuable resources.

Finally, I have used expat sites to gain valuable information on the place you are visiting. Expats are foreigners living in another country. They usually create a site where they can share information for current and future expats. Information is usually like places to eat, where to shop, and upcoming events. You will also read about some of the bad things that can happen to you.  Some of those are taxi stories, currency issues, and restaurant reviews. You can probably read where to cash in travelers checks, what restaurants are their favorites, what festivals or events are coming up and how to get around. These expats are a community and they like to look out for each other. For an example look at http://www.deltabridges.com/ .

As you can see there are a lot of resources at your disposal to help you plan your trip. I would highly recommend that you take advantage of as many of these as possible.