Itineraries planning, the method
Writer and editor: Yair Bar-Zohar
Date: 17.06.04
Introduction
A trip could be an unforgettable and exciting experience. For the
success of the trip, hikers and vacationers tend to
bother about all of the many and important details.
A trip is not a
distance or a v mark contest. A trip is not measured by how much you
managed to see, but by how much you managed to absorb, understand
and to have fun. Therefore, take your time and walk leisurely, try
to see and meet the local residents, and to learn about their
culture and customs.
Not once during the trip abroad, you run into unexpected problems,
due to lack of experience and information, like differences in
hours, pickpockets and crime areas, weather, as well as budget
issues and much more.
In order to avoid malfunctions and aggravation, you should prepare
yourself some questions towards the trip, which through them you
will be aware of your motivation, wills, capabilities or limits
before you hit the road. The awareness to these details will allow
you to enjoy the trip and make the best out of it.
Examples for questions: Would I like to travel with or without a
guide?
Would I like to travel
alone, with my family or friends?
Would I like to
make a short or a long trip?
Planning the trip
When you decide to go on a trip, it's recommended to start planning
a few months ahead, in order to avoid bumping into problems (place
is closed, tickets have sold out, highways or roads closed, etc).
You should browse guide books, the different trip websites and your
destination's website. we advise you to buy a good and detailed map,
where main and sideway roads appear.
To plan the trip from one place to another better and more accurate,
you should use websites where you can get the road map, the number
of kilometers, journey time, and the shortest and fastest way
reaching the desired location. Please notice whether the information
about the distance is in kilometer or miles. If the information is
in miles, convert it to kilometers and then continue planning the
trip.
There is the possibility to address the foreign country's embassy
offices, and get some information and maps about the wanted sites
there. You may also enter the tourist offices where you want to
visit, email them, and get free information brochures about the
locations. Another way of getting additional information is by
talking to friends that have already been in those places.
Make a table and write in it: the destinations you want to visit,
the date and day of the week, the transportation means if you use
them, the accommodations, what you do each day, the organized tours
or car rental, the cities, hotels and their level, and some
description of the sites and places you visit.
The trip's offer that you get is only a recommendation, and it's
fully adjustable due to variable situations. Therefore, feed the
trip's program with secondary destinations so you won't stuck and start searching other
places and sites when you're there.
You need to coordinate the different takeoffs and landings dates
with your trip's plan. It's recommended to add the flight's number,
in which terminal the takeoff and the landing is, the time of the
takeoff and the landing, and the waiting time between flights. Pay
attention to the date of the flight.
After you have formulated the plan for the trip, you may forward it
to your friends and forum's websites for consulting. This is very
acceptable, and you could get ideas that you haven't even thought about.
Budget
During your plan, please consider the budget issue, which is an
important and vital component to the trip. You should think about
the profitability about renting a car:
small car or a big one,
gasoline car or a diesel one (each one with a different price), rent
a car for a week or less (not once renting a car for a period of
over a week is worth better renting one for 5-6 days). In extreme
conditions, you can check the possibility of purchasing a car and
selling it at the end of the trip.
Food and its accessories: the cost of a personal food pack against a
family one.
Accommodation: the price of a hotel against a B&B.
Insurance: health insurance, luggage insurance, car insurance.
You need to remember that the credit card only gives you partial
insurance, and that you should compare the different insurance
specifications. Check the possibility to make market survey between
several agents, formulate the desirable trip with the dates and
locations, and give the agents the franchise system in order to get
prices offers for your plan.
Trip's budget components: fuel, parking, toll roads, vehicle fines,
entrance prices to the different sites (museums, amusement parks,
theaters, shows, etc – check if it's possible to purchase a combined
ticket to several sites in town), accommodation, daily budget
(shopping, self cooking, restaurants), money for personal shopping.
Trip's destination
Choosing your trip's destination is a function of personal
preferences. Make a list ahead with places and destinations you
would like to visit, and rate the primary and secondary locations,
in case the primary site will be closed or if you have free time.
Plan the route of your arrival. Don’t compromise on the places, only
the arrival ways.
It's recommended to buy a map with a good scale (for countries
-1:150,000 , for cities – 1:15,000) which contains all of the sites,
locations and areas you want to visit. Pay attention to the last
date the map got updated. It's very important to check that main and
sideway road numbers are noted, and learn the map's legend.
Trip's duration and date
The trip's duration is a function of its destination. On the one
half the time is a personal consideration of each, but on the other
half the ticket's price is no different if you travel for one day or
more, so you would better plan the trip for a week minimum.
The minimal traveling time to Australia and New-Zealand is about 4
weeks, to the United States and the Far East is about 3 weeks, and
to Europe is about 2 weeks. Within this time you can catch many
locations, and not feel that you get tired from it.
We advocate you to have enough time for calendar flexibility, so you
can enjoy nice locations and sites that are not written in the books
you have read.
For travelers that are limited by the date of the trip's takeoff,
it's better to determine the date of the trip according to your job.
For example, the second half of May or September is a good date for
teachers to travel, since the weather is good and there are not many
tourists.
Trip's type
There are different types of trips: star, circle or line trip. The
type of the trip will be determined by your personal need, the
flight's price, the car, accommodation, and by the participants in
the trip. If you are traveling with adults or children, it's better
to travel in the star type, where you sleep at the same place for
the entire trip, it saves searching for accommodations, packing and
unpacking luggage every time, and allows you to obtain and keep food
in the room, do laundry, rest, and to keep walk till the late hours
of the day. On the other hand, when you travel in a circle or a link
type, you save time on traveling back and forth, fuel, and allows to
reach more distant places.
Route's planning
When you plan your daily route, you need to consider to not load too
much on the first day of the trip. Everything depends on the time of
the landing and the time you get your rented car, but just in case,
it's better to get to your destination in that day and walk near it,
learn and meet the environment, and by so allowing yourself to get
some rest from the flight and all the preparation.
Even on the last day of your trip, you shouldn’t make long routes,
but again, it all depends on the time of the takeoff. You need to
get back to the airport several hours earlier, according to the
distance from your whereabouts, to avoid unpleasantness being late
for the flight due to unexpected problems, just as traffic.
At the beginning of the trip, start
with the most important and significant sites in the area. At the
other days, it's best to balance the trip in terms of content,
traveling times, entertainment sites, to diversify and not to return
the same subject every day.
It's worthwhile to check for dates of events, rest, and festivals in
your area. Try avoiding
traveling in especially popular sites during the local holidays and
student's vacations, since most of the locals go out to these
locations in the masses, the roads are jammed, the hotels are full
and expensive, and the tourist sites are bombed.
Try to find out if there are integrated or discounts tickets to
where you're going. In each site you need to ask if you could buy
integrated, family, students, retired tickets or organization's
tickets owners just as AAA.
Accommodation
Accommodation is a very important element in the success of the
trip, both in terms of rest, and in terms of optimal utilization of
the duration of the trip. You need to take in account that the date
of the trip won't be in the vacation season, won't be in a very popular location, and won't it be in a period when festivals or
conferences take place in the area, because the prices are
enormously expensive and vacancy could become a problem. If
everything is fine, there is no problem in finding somewhere to rest
by the end of the day.
Today, in the internet era, it's very recommended to reserve a place
ahead by email. It doesn’t require or need any payment in advance in
most places (just don’t forget to inform the cancelation, in case
you change your mind), so you could remail calm and allow yourself
to walk until late evening, without the fear of not finding
accommodation (in the site of every city you can find a section
about it).
There are those who advocate in reserving accommodation during the
trip, and there are those who advocate the opposite. Each one has
it's own advantage and disadvantages. It's best to combine both of
them: the first 2-3 days and the last one to reserve in advance, and
the other nights to reserve during the trip. This methos is good for
those who want to adjust and be properly prepared for the return
without being tired. Searching for accommodation needs to be done
during daylight, so you need to consider sunset's hour.
If you choose the star trip, you need to select centered
destinations to rest in a few nights in a row, and from there
perform daily travels, and by so save days moving from one hotel to
another. You need to take in account that it's a waste of fuel, but
if you plan it right, you can achieve
optimal that will justify this accommodation. When there isn’t a
car, it's recommended to live in the center of the city, in the
vicinity of public transportation.
Transportation
Renting a car is desirable for those who travel not in a central
city. If you are staying in such city, it's preferable to reserve a
hotel close to the city's center, and walk around. Driving a rented
car in central city is not so easy and makes the trip much more
expensive, not mentioning the parking problem. In these cases you
should use public transportation.
If you plan to visit a central city and to continue visiting in the
remote area, you should rent a car only at the day you leave the
city ( pay attention to the hour you got the car, because you will
mostly be forced to return it at the same hour). Learn and get to
know the means of transportation and schedules available where you
visit: air and sea ports, trains, car rental agencies and ferries,
also find out if they could bring you to your exact destination.
Daily Plan
Remember that every plan can be changed. Even if you made a specific
plan for each day, sometimes you can't execute it precisely for all kinds
of reasons. At the end of the day, go back and check what you have
done and what's left, and plan the next day according to it. The
average traveling distance for the independent traveler, without
children, is about 250-300 kilometers per day.
You can leave the shopping subject to the end of the trip,
considering weekdays. It's shame to carry heavy stuff during the
entire trip, but if you see something you really want to buy, buy
it, because you can't be sure you will ever see anything
like it in other places during the trip.
Packaging and equipment
For those who travel abroad a lot, it's worth buying a good quality
luggage, probably rigid (it keeps its content from braking or
frowning), with a removable carrying handle good wheels which saves
the need for looking after luggage carts. The luggage color should
be prominent, or rather wrap it with a colorful belt you can buy at
every traveling equipment store. It helps identify the luggage
easily when it moves on the moving conveyer.
It's always good to take an extra luggage, for storing the shopping
when you run out of space in your own personal luggage. Don’t forget
to take a set of clothes, underwear, toiletries, regular medication
any other important things in your handbag, the one that goes with
you to the plane, in case the big luggage won't reach its destination safely.
The handbag and luggage are limited in weight and size. Make sure
the details are accurate according to the traveling agencies and the
ticket since they vary from company to company. You need to remember
that airlines are very careful about the content of your handbag,
and doesn't allow sharp objects such as penknife, scissors, or
bottle opener in the plane.
You should obtain a small handbag with padded and comfort straps for
daily carrying, where you can hold some money, maps, information
pages about the location, basic first aid kit, second aid kit,
digital camera, batteries and water.
More important issues needed paying attention
You need to
check for problems or delays before you leave the country
(execution, etc), and fix them as soon as possible. Prepare every
passenger's visa to the countries that demand it in advance, make
car, flights, hotels and sites tickets reservations only after you
get vista confirmation. In case your vista won't get confirmation, any cancellation
by each of the above factors will drag fines.
Students need to have their valid student's certificates.
Electricity: you need to remember that the sockets or voltage aboard
are not always compatible with the Israeli standards, and therefore,
we recommend those who plan to take electric products with them
(cellular phone charger, electric spoon, etc), check which kind of
sockets and voltage those countries use and buy compatible ones.
I recommend printing this article.
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