Our Sweet Sunny Days's video: How to Easily Plan a Killer Trip

The other day I was walking through the travel section at the Boulder bookstore and found myself overwhelmed. I was thumbing through a Hawaii travel guide hoping to get some tips for our trip in August, but instead I found myself drowning in all the options and restaurants and hikes and do’s and don’ts and ahh!! I snapped the book shut and put it back on the shelf. See, I’ve never been much of a planner. The whole thing where people have strict itineraries for their trips and actually follow them… That’s not for me. I don’t enjoy the planning before the trip or the rigid schedule during it, but even I know that trips don’t just come together with no planning at all. In this post, I want to share how I take a minimal approach to planning, but still maximize time while I am on the trip. Let’s jump right in! Read the full post here: http://andreavehige.com/2019/06/21/how-to-easily-plan-a-killer-trip/ THE BIG 3 The first 3 things I plan for every trip are: how I am getting there, where I am staying, and how I am getting around once I get there. For most trips this looks like flights, an AirBNB, and a rental car, but not always. Sometimes I drive out to visit a friend and am staying with them. Other times I’m flying to my destination, staying in a hotel downtown, and taking public transportation the whole time. Tools I use: Skyscanner, AirBNB app, Expedia or Booking.com NARROW IT DOWN Once I have all of the logistical things booked, I start honing in on things I want to do during each day. Usually I have a pretty good idea of what the destination is like – If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have booked the tri. So I start putting together a small list of “musts”! Note: For most trips, it’s a mental list. Unless I am taking a long, international trip, no pen and paper (or google doc, I should say) planning really happens. When I am narrowing it down, I am usually just getting a general idea of what I want the trip to be like and a few big things that I really want to do while I’m there. Tools I use: Pinterest, Yelp, and Google MyMaps BOOKING TIMELINE You might be wondering when all of this is happening in relation to the trip. First things first, I don’t consider any details or really even acknowledge that the trip is happening until I have my flights, AirBNB, and a rental car booked. So that’s the start of planning for me. From there, it depends on the trip. Sometimes, that’s all I need to feel comfortable and I figure out the rest once I get there. Other times, I need a little bit more of a plan. If I need more of a plan, the first thing I try to take care of are things that might sell out. For example, when Jess and I go to Hawaii, we are going to a luau. We aren’t concerned with our daily schedule yet, but we booked those tickets as soon as we could so they didn’t sell out. Once I have that done, the planning gets really sporadic for me. If I’m feeling like researching things for a trip, I will. If I don’t, I don’t worry about it. I really only care about having a plan for the day by the night before. Other than that, it’s free game! And that’s all I do! I think one of the reasons people don’t travel more is because it feels overwhelming, so it’s not fun! My hope is that by sharing my trip planning process, traveling feels a little easier. Get $55 off your first AirBNB stay : https://www.airbnb.com/c/avehige/ Follow along! Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/andreavehige/ Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/andreavehige/ Pinterest : https://www.pinterest.com/andreavehige/