How do you plan a fun vacation without overcommitting yourself?
You’ve just booked your dream vacation and you’re excited to squeeze in as many fun things as possible. You want to see all the sights. Explore all the cute neighborhoods. And eat and drink at all the popular restaurants and bars. But how do you do all these fun things without stressing yourself out?
When we’re on vacation, we tend to feel pressured to get the most out of a big trip. After all, we’re only there for a limited amount of time, and it’s not everyday you get to travel to Paris or go on a road trip with your friends or have the family altogether in one place.
So you end up overbooking yourself, packing your schedule with activities and excursions, and running from one location to the next. It’s no wonder you often need a vacation from your vacation!
A vacation shouldn’t feel as jam packed as a regular work day. After all, you’re going on vacation to escape your everyday routines. And while it’s important to plan things to do, it’s also good to leave room for chance. When you stray from the schedule and go off the beaten path, that’s when you experience those magical vacation moments on a vacation, like discovering a cozy restaurant or stumbling upon a beautiful garden.
The secret to a great vacation is to figure out the essential parts of your trip ahead of time, while also leaving room for spontaneity and rest. Here are our tips and tricks to planning a trip that’s fun, relaxing, manageable, and memorable.
Start with a fantasy travel itinerary
They say that planning a trip is just as fun and oftentimes even more pleasurable than the trip itself. It’s the anticipation of going somewhere that gets us feeling so excited and inspired.
So use this time to think about all the things you’d like to do. Write down your ideal experiences and vibes. In a perfect world, in which you had plenty of time, energy, and bandwidth, what would you do on each day of the trip?
Feel free to read through guidebooks, go through Pinterest boards, and look at photos on Instagram to inspire you.
Identify your travel must-dos
Now that you’ve made a list of your ideal travel itinerary, it’s time to start getting a little bit more practical. A way to make your ambitious itinerary more manageable is to narrow it down by things you must do or want to do.
You can use our Ink+Volt Travel Worksheet to help you identify your travel must-dos and start creating a schedule.
What do I really want to see?
What are some of the sights you really want to see? Try not to feel pressured to do the typical things that a guidebook or influencer will tell you to do.
Or maybe you really do want to see the big landmarks and the touristy sights. Then don’t feel self conscious about it. This is especially important if you’re going somewhere with a big group. Some people may have already been there before and don’t feel the need to do touristy things, while others may want to check out all the sights.
If it’s important to you, write it down.
What do I really want to do?
Let’s say you only have three days in Paris. What do you really want to do while you’re there? And what do you feel obligated to do? For instance, if you feel obligated to go to the Louvre, but you’re not really a museum person, is it really worth the visit? Maybe a good compromise is to visit a smaller museum or gallery that you can explore in an hour or so. This way, it’s much more manageable, and you still have room in your schedule for other activities.
What do I want to eat/drink?
Make a list of the types of food or drink you’re dying to have. Or the restaurants, coffee shops, and bars you’d love to try. Then, you can try narrowing down your list by price or neighborhood or reservations policy. For instance, if a popular restaurant doesn’t take reservations, ask yourself: does it make sense to wait for a table? Or would you rather go somewhere else that’s just as good without the long waits? Identify your priorities so that you can come up with a schedule that works for you.
What stores do I want to visit?
What are some of the gifts you want to buy for family and loved ones? Any souvenirs you want to buy for yourself?
Consider the logistics
When planning your day, try to schedule activities around each other, and in a way that’s most convenient for you and your group. For instance, you don’t want to book a museum on one side of town, followed by lunch on the other side of town, and then a different activity that’s in the complete opposite direction.
If you’re limited on time, you don’t want to spend your entire day commuting from one place to the next. So try to consider the various locations when you’re planning your itinerary.
Plan around the neighborhood. To make things more convenient, maybe you can schedule your day around a certain neighborhood. For example, you can do all the landmarks on day one, visit the downtown area on day two, and spend time in the arts and culture district on day three.
Consider the weather. Another important variable to consider is the weather. If the forecast calls for rain during your vacation, then try to schedule indoor activities like museums and shopping for those rainy days.
Keep a travel schedule
To help you stay organized, keep a travel schedule on hand. You can include your travel dates and hotel check-in and check-out dates, along with your activities, excursions, restaurant reservations, etc.
Block out certain hours of the day and don’t plan anything during that time. You can do with these time blocks as you wish. You can take a nap or go exploring or sit at a cute cafe and jot down your travel observations in a notebook.
By managing the big picture of your trip along with some of the details in advance, you’ll end up with a fun and exciting itinerary that still has room for rest and relaxation.
Written by JiJi Lee