How to plan

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Planning a trip is probably one of my  favourite parts of travelling, there is nothing I love more than staying up really late trying to piece together new adventures.

I have a process that I follow for booking all of my trips,  I'm going to explain in brief below how I do this but if you want even more details you can click on the icons below to delve a little further.

Step 1 - When deciding on a new trip my first port of call is always skyscanner I have been using them for over 12 years to search for my flights (see 'flights' icon below for more info)

At this stage I do not book a flight until I have completed Step 2 and 3

Step 2 - Once I have found some flights that fit into my dates I then move onto hotels, I have a quick look on booking.com to make sure the hotels in the area are affordable, I tend to try and stick to a maximum of £50 per night and I usually favourite a few hotels I like and then move onto step 3.

Step 3 - After checking flights and checking for affordable hotels I then research the area a little further such as local things to see and do, is it safe, do they have good public transport, would I need to hire a car and any other nuggets of information, from this point I decide what kind of trip is it going to be? A single location trip or a road trip?

Step 4 - Once I am happy with all of the above I will then book my flights however at this stage I do not book my hotel, I usually book my hotel on the day I travel, I have done this since the beginning and have not yet ever had a problem trying to book a hotel last minute. (see hotels icon below for more info) 

Step 5 - I then start thinking about what I want to see and do, take a look at itinerary planning for more info

Step 6 - I pack my bag (under seat rucksack) check out how to pack for tips to pack light.

Once I have found a flight I will look on google maps to see what is around, this is where there is a little bit of research required and to be honest it is one of my favourite parts of planning a trip.

The main things I am looking for when deciding if I want to hire a car or not is the following:-

• Is the public transport good?
• How far do I want to travel
• Is car hire in that area affordable
• How many different locations do I want to visit
• How much is there to see or do near the airport I am travelling to?
• Are there a few thing nearby that looks great to visit but would just be made easier by having a car

Click the links below to find out more about each type of trip