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One concern that’s been tugging at me lately is that it must seem that since most of my reviews of places (restaurants, bars, hotels, activities) are so positive, I just give everyone really high ratings, regardless of my actual experience. This is NOT the case. Travel planning is an extremely important part of a trip. The answer to why most of my experiences are good-to-great is really simple: I do my research. I spend a lot of time on travel planning for each trip that I take. I don’t want to waste my time and money on a bad vacation.

For anyone who knows me in real life, they know that I’m super Type A about a lot of things. That’s one of the best qualities that a lawyer can have. It’s not great for travelers if you don’t know how to turn off your Type A tendencies sometimes and just go with the flow. But my anal-retentive inclinations, combined with my need to know everything about everything (some might call it a know-it-all?), leads me to research the CRAP out of where I’m going before I actually plan a trip and go there.

I’m not saying you should overschedule your vacations so that you don’t leave any room to deviate from your travel plans or spontaneous experiences. I’m not saying that at all. But, with a little research you can make an “alright” vacation into an unforgettable experience – just put in the time beforehand (or even while you’re there) to figure out what you want to see, where you want to eat, and where you want to lay your head at night, and you can minimize any unfortunate surprises when you’re finally on (what’s supposed to be) your relaxing getaway.

So, now that I’ve shared my not-so-secret secret key ingredient to travel planning, the next question is:

How and where do I do my research and start my travel planning?

So glad you asked. Here we go:

I figure out where I want to go.

The world’s a really big place and I never want to be home. But, I have time and budget constraints so I can’t just take a year off and see where it takes me. So, first I figure out how long I can afford to leave for, and think of destinations that fit into that plan (taking flight times into account – especially for shorter trips).  Sometimes I use Kayak’s “Explore Mode” to find the best, cheapest destinations from my city during a certain time, to any part of the world. After some deliberation, I choose my destination (with hubby’s input now, of course).

I check the legal and health requirements for my destination.

Being from the U.S., I’m lucky that many countries don’t require a visa for travel for a short period of time. However, depending on the country and your home country, you may need an entry visa. You also may need vaccinations prior to visiting a destination. For those of you from the U.S., you can check entry requirements, safety concerns, and required/recommended vaccinations on the state department’s website, here.

Car Rental planned? I check car rental and car rental insurance requirements for my destination.

If you plan to rent a car, know that you need to check the driving requirements of the destination country as well. For example, Italy requires an international driving permit. If you don’t have one, and you’re stopped by the police, you can get a ticket with a hefty fine.

And, you’ll also need to check if your credit card benefits cover the insurance for a rental car or not. For my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, I need to waive the insurance offered by the rental company in order to activate the coverage (Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver) provided by my card.

However, waiving insurance not legal in Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Italy. These countries require you to purchase rental insurance from the rental agency, no matter what. I got a special letter from Chase Card Services prior to my trip to Italy, indicating that I had excess coverage, and that I was going to cover any amounts in excess of the lowest-possible coverage. It gave me peace of mind to know that I could show it to a pushy car rental agent, to guarantee that I wasn’t stupid for going for the cheapest insurance (and was covered up to $75,000!).

I tap into my social network for tips from friends.

I ask friends who have been to my target destination for some tips. Lots of my friends have old e-mails where they send tips on certain destinations to people who ask. I don’t know if that’s special to me or if it’s because we’re like-minded people or what. (I have an e-mail for Argentina, Dublin, London, Lisbon, Paris…etc.) I creep on their Facebook photos from their latest trips. I read articles online from Conde Nast Traveler (and Traveller), Travel & Leisure, travel blogs that I follow, etc.

Lately, I’ve also taken advantage of amazing Facebook group communities full of travelers and like-minded people. If you want to join my page on Facebook, just click here. (You can ask me questions there, too!)

I consult Tripadvisor.

TripAdvisor can make researching travel a lot easier. It’s also a great place to start narrowing down your options once you have a destination in mind. It’s really amazing and since it’s user-generated content, there’s no real skew in any particular direction so the reviews you see are all over the place, but are honest. The reviewers are not compensated for their reviews (if they are, I’m totally missing out as a Top Contributor!), so there’s no incentive to overlook negative details.

I love TripAdvisor and I have done over 98 reviews over time. Why do I do reviews? Because I use it so much, I want to give back to the community and include my 2 cents as well. And, each place’s profile usually contains e-mail contact information for the hotel, for example. This is handy for the next step.  

And no, I am not sponsored by TripAdvisor or paid to say anything good about them here. I just love it.

You can follow me and read my reviews at TripAdvisor here.

I get in touch with the staff at my hotel.

After I’ve booked a hotel, I e-mail the hotel. I let them know that I’m going to be their guest, I’m excited about my trip and ask them any questions I had while reading reviews or checking out their information. If I’m celebrating something special (like my honeymoon), I let them know. I also ask for some local recommendations on what to see and do while I’m there, and if I can book anything with their concierge ahead of time.

This has the added perk of alerting the hotel that you’re celebrating a special occasion. More often than not, you’ll get some tasty treats in your room from the staff as a “surprise and delight” – e.g., a bottle of bubbles, some chocolate, fresh fruit, even flowers. There’s no downside to doing this!

I read, read, read travel blogs.

Once I’ve narrowed down my top choices for activities and restaurants, I google to see if other travel blogs have reviewed them. I love Watt? Where? How? and Pints, Pounds, and Pâté, for example. This is especially because I know the ladies and gents behind them from social media and they’re wonderful. I read the reviews and compare them with each other, keeping in mind the demographics of the reviewer. Am I going to like the same things as the family man? Or the 20-something hippie girl? Probably not. But, it’s even more telling when everyone can agree that something is awesome.

I consult my favorite books and websites for restaurants, bars, and sights.

I always check the Michelin guide for the best restaurants, first. This is how we ended up basically having lunch with (ok, sitting next to and making small-talk with) Stanley Tucci in Sicily last month while he filmed a documentary program for CNN. And how, on the same trip, we ended up chatting with and taking photos with Sicily’s best pastry chef, nowhere near his pastry shop. Both are seriously true stories, and I owe them both to my research in the Michelin guide!

If I’m going to look for a place in New York City, I check out the Zagat Guide.

Zagat was my first bible when it came to food and restaurants and eating well and I love their rating system. It hasn’t let me down! It’s their 40th anniversary, which is also very exciting. If you’re a Zagat fan, anyway.

I then search Where Chefs Eat and Where Bartenders Drink for great restaurants and bars that may not be Michelin-rated but are worth a visit.

I also will look at 1000 Places To See Before You Die for unmissable sights and experiences. Sometimes I’ve neglected this step. I was pleasantly surprised when the hotel where we stayed in Austria was featured! (You can purchase any and all of these books by clicking on the images.)

Finally, I really want the following books (hint hint, hubby) for Christmas this year, especially Pasta, Pane, Vino! The place that we stayed in Sicily was an amazing little agriturismo that I’d never heard of before we booked it, but it was supposed to have amazing food. They are actually featured in it. Plus, it’s from the late, great Anthony Bourdain’s Roads & Kingdoms. I can only imagine this imprint takes authenticity and food VERY seriously.

I book must-do’s, must-eats, and must-sees in advance.

Try to make contact with folks ahead of time where I can. Making reservations to avoid disappointment if a restaurant is particularly hard to get into, etc. is a must. I buy tickets to shows in advance and book tours in advance if they are popular. It’s the common sense things that you’d do at home for the hottest restaurant in town. Just because you’re visiting doesn’t mean that you should hop the line or get in automatically!

Then, I map it all out.

I’m a pretty visual person (although I’m predominantly right-brained) and I really benefit from seeing my trip as a map. It also helps me plan the order of stops in a way that makes the most sense. For example, take this actual map that I used for our trip to Croatia last summer:

I love this tool on the RoutePerfect website. I have no incentive to tell you to use it other than the fact that I use it for nearly every Europe trip I’ve taken in the past 5 years. Highlights are: you can set it to auto or manual mode, and control how much of each interest you have, so it can tailor an automatic itinerary to you, or you can plug your own in just to see it all pretty and color-coded on the map.

I create an email label for the trip’s confirmations, bookings and other information I might need.

This step is self-explanatory. However, I use Gmail, and it’s really easy to create a new tab for an upcoming trip. Then you can easily search when you’re at the ticket counter or at check-in. I like that you can also add colors if you’re just scrolling through. I file all of my trip-related emails in the same place. This way, I can easily access them when I need to. Plus, if I’m traveling with others, I can forward them easily, too.

I keep a travel planning master file with all info in a spreadsheet

I’m a nerd. I love my Excel spreadsheets. But, I create a tab at the bottom of the worksheet for several different things: one for accommodations, one for flights, one for activities, one for a calendar view, etc. I put in all of the key times, dates, contact information and other necessary info. Then, I keep it all in the same document. If you’re doing a group trip, you can upload it to Google Drive and ask your tripmates to collaborate on the trip. It makes things so much easier to plan group travel if you’re all working off the same page!

If you’re not an Excel lover, you can create a Word document, email, or other word processing doc. You want to keep all of the important information together; a summary of who needs to be where and when. Give a copy of this document to someone at home, in case you need to be reached during an emergency.

I keep my iPhone with me and get an international data package before I leave.

I use my smartphone and travel apps while I’m on vacation to help maximize last-minute changes of plans and find great options on the go. Finding Winterose Portofino is an example of when that came in handy. I always do a search for destination-specific apps before I go somewhere and download them at home. (No data roaming fees.) Many major travel media sites offer free city guides – so be sure to check and see what’s out there.

Before I go, I add an international data plan to my usual wireless plan (about US $30 a month). With this, I can get on the internet if there’s no good WiFi available. Good WiFi is hard to come by in more remote areas and on moving trains. So, it’s a great idea to have a backup plan if you’re depending on WiFi while in transit. Having an international data plan is also SUPER handy in case of an unplanned layover.

Travel Planning 101 – You’ve graduated!

Congrats! Now you’re well on your way to planning your next amazing vacation. Any tips that I haven’t covered? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

How about you? How or where do you do your travel planning? Or your travel research? What would you find most helpful in a travel planning tool?

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