If you travel frequently or travel a lot then you must have realized the importance of travel planning. A well planned trip really gets you your money's worth. You are aware of your schedule, plus you are not wasting your time in figuring out (at the last minute) what to see, what to do, where to eat, etc. But still a lot of people travel with vague plans and without a complete picture. A lot of people say to me that travel planning is hard and time consuming and that if they were to wait for a travel plan then they would not be able to travel at all.
I disagree with all of them. Yes, it takes time to plan a trip but whats the point of traveling to another country or city if you are not going to see the best sites, taste the local food, or experience the top activities. Following are some of the tips that you can use to plan a near perfect trip for yourself.
First of all, zero out on a location where you would like to travel, it may be another city, state or another country.
Second, Why you would like to go there? Maybe some friend or family member went there and were full of praise or may be you read about it on internet or magazine or saw it on TV. Realizing WHY you want to travel to a particular location will help you plan the trip properly. For example, you may want to travel to the New York city to see the skyscrapers, or/and see Statue of liberty or/and may be visits the Museums.
Third, How long i.e. How many days you want to spend in the new place.
Once you have decided WHERE you want to go, understand WHY you want to travel there and decided HOW long you want to visit for, you can then begin preparing your itinerary.
You should start by asking your friends, family & co-workers about the destination that you have selected. If they have not been there, you should ask if anybody they know have traveled to that place. If yes, then don't be shy of talking to that other person about their experience. Realize that people love to talk about their trips. This way you would learn a lot and maybe make a new friend in the process.
You can watch YouTube videos or watch Travel Channel to get ideas about the place you would like to visit.
Further, Google is your friend, you can search for the location to get tons of information about any place. There are thousands if not millions of Travelogues written virtually about all places on this earth.
Tripadvisor.com is an excellent site to research about any destination. You can ask questions, read about other's experience etc. But the research on internet is time consuming and you should be diligent.
Lastly, you can even read the travel books, city guides by Frommer's, Lonely Planet and Fodor's. These are very well written and cater to all level's i.e. Newbies, repeat, expert etc.
All these will tremendously help you plan your ideal trip and make the most out of it.
To get more tips and to see how Travel Planning Helps visit Travel Haggler's Blog.