I lay here in bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering what time it was. “Ah, come, man,” I think to myself; just look at the clock. It’ll be time to get up. “No, no, I’m not going to look,” I mutter to myself. It is never the time you want or needs it to be. This is killing me, not knowing; it has to be close. Why do I feel so nervous, I’ve been on tons of flights, and that wind blows the trees around, and scratching the side of the house is driving me nuts. “Ok,” I think. Have I forgotten anything? We are all packed. The passports are ready, right?

“Oh man, that’s it,” I exhaled, sitting up. I grabbed my watch and checked the time. “OH Man,” I sighed; we still have three more hours before we need to get going. Ok, I can do this. I lay back down in bed and looked over at my wife, jealous that she could sleep so soundly before a trip. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP! “Ah,” I cried, reaching for my phone to silence the alarm. “Yes,” I called out to my wife, but she was already up and heading to the bathroom to get ready. It’s vacation day! I slowly sit up and throw my legs over the side of the bed, with my arms at my side, push up to stand, and think to myself. One, I cannot keep having nights of anxiety before a trip, and two, did I plan everything?

Planning a trip? Well, let’s talk. I don’t have a lot of travel under my belt, but I have been to my share of places. Now I think planning is one of my favorite things besides the actual travel. So I will walk you through my process with my wife (get one of those they help). She helps a lot and has a knack for finding these great boutique hotels. Me, not so much. I will cover all of our trips’ good and bad (mainly me). With all of the recent pandemic stuff, all I can do is plan trips and, of course, cancel some trips. Well, all of our 2020 trips, for that matter.

Well, first things first, do you want to travel? Do you have the desire to get out and explore the world? I know it seems silly, but I know people who dislike leaving their houses. I am going to assume that you want to travel. The first question is where that will really tell you how much planning you will need to do. If you are headed to places like Vegas or Disney, your planning needs will be less (sort of), they will just be different. Now, if you are headed to Europe, Hawaii, or that trip of a lifetime, those need some planning. So let’s get to the fun part of vacation planning.

Let’s use Paris as an example. As I said, this is a group effort between my wife and me, but this could be accomplished by yourself. The first question you must ask yourself is, where do I want to stay? If Paris were your example, I would look at the 5th, 6th, or 7th arrondissement. Why, you ask? Well, that is another step of planning. Wait, wait, I am getting ahead of myself. So we are talking about Paris. Some of the first things you will want to do in our research.

Try reading some books, like Lonely Planet or Rick Stevens, which are great resources (well, my wife finds these to be good); I am a visual guy. I tend to go to Google Maps. I am a map guy, so I find looking at the landmarks you want to see on a map helpful. Most of my planning is done this way. I like the visual. Take the Eiffel Tower. When I look over the map, I will search for restrooms, food, and transportation. Whatever your needs are going to be, I try to find them on the map. Will it be within walking distance, or will you need a cab or metro? 

First, you need to figure out what you want to see, museums, famous landmarks, or are you there to go shopping or eat. It could be a combination of all. These are some of the first questions you need to ask yourself. Knowing this will help dictate where you are going to stay. Plus, this will be dependent on how long your vacation will be. If your vacation is long, this will play into what kind of hotel you’ll be staying in. As well as your budget, if you have a big budget, then your hotel options will be different. For this example, let’s keep it budget-friendly.

Another thing you need to keep in mind is transportation to and from your hotel and the things you would like to see. If we are talking about Paris, they have a great subway system. The downside to the subway is you will not see much when you travel. Taxis are great because you will see lots of the city, but it is expensive. Finally, cities like Paris or London are walking friendly. My wife and I do a hybrid. We will take a taxi or subway there and walk back or vice versa. Again this will be greatly dependent on your budget and health. The last time I was in Paris, my son and I walked about 80 miles in 6 days. 

This starts the fun part when you figure out the general area you want to stay. You can do this solo, but I find if you have a partner in crime it makes this faster. I will have some maps open. I prefer Google Maps. Google Maps seems to have the most info, which I find up-to-date. Really any map app would work. Now my wife starts looking for hotels, using booking.com, hotels.com, or various online booking sites. At the same time, I start looking at hotels in the general area where we want to stay. This way, we can find out who has the best price using a booking app or booking directly through the hotels’ website.

Along with finding a hotel on the map, you can find directions for what you want to do. Also, you can find out what other amenities are nearby, like coffee shops, restaurants, movie theaters, and grocery stores. 

Using Google Maps, you can understand what the neighborhood looks like using street view, which I like. 

Now that you finalized your hotel, we can start the rest of the vacation planning. Another big decision is how you are going to get around. Renting a car is a reasonable way to get around unless you go to Europe or elsewhere. I personally would not suggest this in Europe, the traffic laws are crazy, plus the traffic is insane, especially in Paris and London. But if you are going to rent a car, that’s great. Just know they are some things to consider, like renting a car in L.A. We’ll rent a car if you fly into LAX.

This I would look into for sure. A lot of airports now have a car rental center. The one for LAX doesn’t seem to be near the airport, and the bus ride is not short. When you get to the car rental center, the lines are long, delaying your vacation by hours (or at least it will feel like hours). Las Vegas is the same way. If you want to rent a car and are flying into L.A., fly into Long Beach. The airport is super tiny, and the car rental center is across the street. Lately, when my wife and I go to Disneyland, we fly into John Wayne and use Uber to get to the park.

We have found using Uber quite nicely. One of the best things about using Uber is that you will not have to pay for parking at your hotel. There are some nice things about having a car rental, but unless you will be leaving your hotel, save the money and take an Uber. I don’t think you will regret it. On the flip side, there are some places where a service like Uber is unfeasible. The wait and the cost of an Uber would be a massive waste of money. Hawaii is definitely one of those places. Well, at least at a place like Maui, where things are not very close together. Las Vegas is another where you really don’t need a car. I would definitely think about the type of trip you are going to take and how much driving you really think you need to do. 

Honestly, if you really want my opinion, walking is probably your best option. That is, if your particular destination is walkable. L.A. is not walkable; Paris, New York, and London are very walkable. You really get to see the city, or if you are in a place like Yellowstone or Iceland, walking gives you a new perceptive. Since we are talking about transportation, we use booking.com for many of our hotels.

Along with hotels, you can book airport transportation. We had an excellent experience. Most of the time, they are waiting on us. Rome was the only time I could think of a time we needed to wait for our transportation. I highly recommend using Uber if you are staying in Disneyland’s hotels in Anaheim. Unless you plan on leaving, it saves you some money on parking. Not sure when resort fees started including parking, the first time we had to pay for parking was one of our trips to Maui. I started that sentence confidently like I knew exactly which vacation it was. It was years ago, so when I hear people complain about a place like Disney charging for parking, I laugh. 

My final thought about vacation planning is going on a tour. We were always very much against it. As we were planning our Italy trip, there were six of us going. So getting everyone to and from places to see and in the door was daunting. I don’t like lines or queues, depending on where you are from. While researching places like the Vatican or the Colosseum, we saw skip-line tours. Well, I can absolutely tell you without a doubt that they are worth it. Not only do you get around quickly, you really learn a lot. Remember, if you do take a tour, make sure you bring some cash for your guide. They truly deserve it. 

Just remember, when planning your vacation, trip, or little family get away, make sure you know why you are traveling. That will be different for every person, couple, or family. Some people just go to the beach and drink for a week. If that floats your boat, more power to you. When you do travel, just remember that not all people have the values you may have. I know you will hear that people in France are rude. Are they rude, or do they just not smile and say hello to strangers? In the U.S., that is quite common. In London, very similar to the U.S., I have had some great conversations with some people there. My biggest advice to anyone traveling is this:

• Don’t take yourself too seriously.
• Learn from other people.
• Above all, make people laugh.

That will get you far.

Some final thoughts. Know your budget, especially when it comes to food. You can drop some serious dough on food in Vegas. Regarding food, I would suggest at least one nice dinner. Just beware of any dress code the restaurant may or may not have. Finally, plan, preplan, and plan some more. I mean, that is having fun. The planning is for some dreaming, and to make sure you can afford the area you want to stay in. Plus, remember what kind of vacation you want to go on. Are you taking a solo or a couples trip with friends or family? This will change a lot of things about a journey. Have fun, and plan what you can because things can go wrong. No worries, right? You planned and can adapt that key. Now wake up, grab your stuff, and get out there.