How to prepare for a trip- travel plans drawing

How to prepare for a trip- travel plans drawing

Our planet Earth is calling us to explore it, and many of us follow this dream. We look at the map, enjoy beautiful photos, read or listen to travel stories, and we build images in our minds about favorite places, bucket lists, and adventures. In the beginning, it is only inspiration. Then, for those who are more serious, it becomes a beginning of a specific plan. And everybody who has been on a trip knows that drawing such travel plans is sometimes more complicated than it looks. So, I hope this article can help you with some important tips and advice on how to plan and fulfill your travel dream.

Life of a trip

I don’t know about you, but for me, every trip has three parts.

Part 1 is the time from the decision for going on a trip to the day I leave home. This is part of preparation. Although I am physically at home, the preparation is already exciting, full of expectations.

Then comes Part 2- the real, physical trip. Of course, this is the “core” of the trip. This is when all the inspirations and preparations produce their real fruit- the time from leaving your home to the time when you back home. Or it can be not your home, but another point between two trips.

Finally- Part 3- the “big sharing”. This is the time after the trip when you share photos, stories, gifts, and everything else from the trip. It usually stops gradually, or at the moment when a new “Part 1” of a trip is born.

How to prepare for a trip- travel plans drawing

Now, let’s focus on Part 1. It can vary greatly, depending on the type of the coming trip, its length, the local conditions of the destinations, and of course, your personal travel style and preferences.

Travel without limit

Some people don’t like travel plans. They just want to leave and travel “wherever the wind carries them”. It is how usually people travel in fairy tales. And yes, it is somehow romantic, sometimes it even works. But only for those who don’t care too much whether they will see this or that place, or try this or that activity. They just practice a kind of “travel gambling” and that’s what makes them excited.

And why not? In fact, the first explorers who discovered America, Australia, or Antarctica had no choice but to travel in this way. But again, even they have prepared, at least according to the information and knowledge that they had.

Why you should prepare for travel

Unfortunately, the world we live in today is intolerable to “travel without limit”. First, we often have time limits- if we use a holiday to travel, we have to back on time for work. Even if we are free of this, we still have many other limits- visa duration, public transport schedule, budget, and seasons.

Without any preparation, your trip can fail from the very beginning. It happened to us before- they didn’t allow us in the airplane, just because one of our passports had a little less than 6 months before expiration, and I don’t know why we neglected this tiny but fatal detail.

So, I don’t like travel gambling. I want to see and try as much as possible, especially those things that I can’t see and try at home. And if you have the same thinking, go on to read this article.

Types of trips and travel plans

According to a lot of criteria, there are so many types of trips. A trip can be short or long. It can be slow or fast, more adventurous or more “civilized”, budget or luxury. It can be focused on one or just a few destinations, or on a particular route, or as more are possible destinations or a combination of these.

There are various kinds of tourism, and some of them are even difficult to be defined as “travel”. It is impossible to cover all those kinds, at least not in this article, and not in detail, but let’s focus on the geographical type of travel, where you want to see, touch and try as much as possible, like an explorer.

What is a geographical type of travel?

Shortly, this is a journey to a destination (or many destinations), a route (many routes), or a place to try a local activity (or many activities), first with educational, then with recreational purpose, including adventure experience. In other words, the destination, route, or activity is the main focus of the trip, not the hotel, relaxing, luxury, comfort, parties, or things that you can have at home.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that these things are excluded from the trip, it means simply that they are not the goal, but only tools to explore the main goals (destinations, routes, local activities) or just “additional accessories” of the trip. So, now we will get into detail about how to prepare for such kind of travel.


A geographical journey can be different in length. It can be just a few hours hike in the mountain with visiting a cave, walking on a specific route, or going to a village to explore a unique local festival. Or it can be a few months-long expedition including all of the above.

Its length depends on your time, your budget, and of course, your personal plans and how you would include such a journey within them. And the longer the journey is, usually the longer the preparation, its “Part 1” is.

How to prepare for a trip- travel plans drawing

Main elements of a trip to prepare

When you design your coming journey, there are several important things you have to plan and prepare. Some of them are crucial- without them, your trip can be unrealizable or can fail in the middle or even in the beginning. Other details are not so crucial, but without them, the quality of your trip can be lower.

These crucial elements include the travel documentation (passport, visa, permits for special areas, etc.), air tickets, some important train or ferry tickets, some important accommodations, and some important travel equipment. And the other things of less importance include details like where to eat for lunch, easy to arrange transport and accommodation, additional activities, additional things to bring, etc.

Naturally, the crucial elements of the trip should be arranged first, like its foundation. Once you set it up, you can build its lesser details. But of course, before you start doing this, you have to make some research and draw an outline of your trip.

Initial outline

Every trip starts with a dream and idea. First, you choose the country, the area (province, geographical land, etc.), the route, or the single destination. And then, the first and the best thing you can do is to open some useful websites and the map and to identify the key places you want to visit.

Then, you can get an initial idea of how long would it needs to visit and enjoy these places and everything they offer. Little by little you adjust your mind to the reality of the place where you want to travel. Now, you need to get more specific.

Places, routes, and activities of interest

In every country or area, there are more popular, less popular, and (almost) unknown, off the beaten places. And usually, the more popular places are more touristy and can be crowded. But that’s a reason for this- they are more representative, more essential for the area you want to visit.

On contrary, the off-the-beaten places are usually less representative, but they are less touristy, never crowded (unless by local people), more authentic, and can offer more adventures. For a geographical journey, I personally would advise a combination of all kinds of places, especially if you come to this area for the first time.

An example- a trip to the Philippines

Let me give you an example. Let’s say you want to explore the Philippines (I chose this country because planning a trip there is a bit more complicated and useful for the purpose of this article, due to the specific geography of the area). You identify the popular places in the country: Manila, Palawan Island, Boracay, Bohol (and the Chocolate Hills), and Cebu City (and the whole island).

Then, you know that the Philippines is a country of tropical islands, stunning beaches, coral reefs, volcanoes, waterfalls, and unique local culture. So, you try to identify specific places that best represent these features. If you are looking for the best beaches, besides Boracay and Palawan, you can find Manjuyod Sandbar. For the volcanoes, you can focus on Pinatubo, Taal, and Mayon. Some of the best coral reefs and lagoons can be found on Siargao Island.

So, you identify all these points and mark them on the map. There are even more hidden, off-the-beaten places, but there are usually more difficult to find, so now start with the places above. Open websites like Wikitravel, Lonely Planet, and for more geographical info- Wikipedia. And of course- Google Map.

Connecting the points

Now, if your journey consists of many destinations, it is time to connect them- to draw a route that passes all of them. Again, this is only an initial drawing- later it can be changed, but at least you have to start from somewhere.

Normally, before you go on a trip, you have some idea how long it will be. If you don’t have too much time, from all the places you have marked you have to exclude some. You have to make a selection and to do this, you have to rank the places according to their importance. Then you can open the map and just connect them in a route.

How to prepare for a trip- travel plans drawing

An example- again in the Philippines

In our case in the Philippines, I wanted to include Palawan, Cebu, Mount Pinatubo, and Siargao Island, along with the other destinations. But as you can see on the map, their locations are too scattered. Our time was limited, so I had to exclude some of them, and I chose Palawan because all of the others could be more easily connected. I decided that Palawan can be included in another trip.

So, when I marked the important points, I could easily add more points that are located on the same route (including some destinations north of Mount Pinatubo). At the same time, I don’t like to back on the same way that I have already traveled, I prefer a circle route, and here was the result:

After that, the trip had an initial outline, and it was time to arrange the crucial elements of the trip- travel documentation, basic transportation, and basic accommodation. Let’s start with the travel documentation.

Travel documentation

Our modern world is not like in ancient times- just a surface of the Earth where you can go everywhere, except special places surrounded by walls or protected by an army. Today the surface of our planet is divided into countries with borders, and on top of that, there are some restricted territories within the countries that you can’t enter freely.

We travelers don’t like it, but that’s the reality today, and we have no choice but to adapt to it. And to adapt, you need necessary travel documents that can “open the door” for you, where they are required.

Passport and visa

Besides your personal ID, if you go abroad, you usually need a passport, unless you are an EU citizen and travel within the Schengen area of the EU. Then, many countries require a visa (it can be pasted on your passport, or sometimes just a separated printed document), and it depends on which country citizen you are, and which country you go to.

Every country has a different visa policy, and the best way to check it is again in Wikipedia- just search for “visa policy of That country”. And for more details about it look on the websites of the country’s embassy. If there is no embassy of that particular country in your home country, then look for the nearest embassy’s website. Or you can ask a travel company for help too if you want to go on an organized tour, but I will explain more about that later.

Here I’d like to warn you (as I mentioned above)- if the country that you go on a trip to doesn’t require a visa but only your passport, don’t forget to check whether everything with your passport is ok! Many countries would not allow you to enter if there are less than 6 months before the expiration of your passport, so don’t forget to check for this detail, otherwise, you risk to be not allowed on the airplane and your whole trip fail!

How to prepare for a trip- travel plans drawing

Other travel documents

In some cases, for some areas on the Earth, only a passport with a visa is not enough. An example of this is the Tibetan Autonomous Region in China. Although this area is in China, foreigners are not allowed there independently, but only by an organized tour and a travel permit (arranged by a local travel company). So, if you want to travel there, you have to arrange it in advance. Other examples of such areas are some autonomous republics in Russia.

Other restricted areas are some reservations (natural or human minority reservations) or islands. Again, to enter there, you may need a special permit, and you have to research how to obtain it- sometimes it can be very difficult or even impossible, or it can be very expensive. Finally, the high peaks in the mountains require a climbing tax that you have to pay if you want to reach them.

As a result, there are some very difficult, in reality almost impossible to enter areas. Such an example is a 6000 m high peak in the northern part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR): you need a passport with a Chinese visa, an organized tour with a travel permit for the TAR, another permit to enter Chang Tang reservation, and a climbing tax to reach the peak. If you are lucky to obtain all of the above, it can be US$ 30-50K or even more!

Health restrictions

This is another issue, especially actual and popular today, with the Covid-19 pandemic. So, before you go to another country, you have to check the Covid restrictions and requirements- not only for the specific country but also for the airline and other kinds of transportation, as well as the specific destinations- are they open or not, etc. Obviously, with so many restrictions, currently, you have to make serious research before going on a journey.

Apart from this, some areas may require vaccinations against other diseases like malaria, dengue, or something else, so you have to research in advance about it too.

Now, after you make all the travel documentation research, it is time to start arranging these documents, and at the same time, to focus on the next important element of the trip- transportation.

Basic transportation

In most cases, this can be crucial for your journey. Yes, if your plan is to travel by car (especially your own car), it is easy. You just need money for fuel and road taxes, and just go, whenever you want, as long as you want. Or, if it has to be a 100% biking trip, again, you don’t need to worry about the transportation, you just prepare your bike and go.

But most of the trips are not such simple. They can involve public transport, your own transport (or rental car), or a combination of both. In this case, you have to consider some important details.

How to plan a trip- travel plans drawing

Initial booking

If your trip starts from a point that is too far from your home, and you can reach it only by plane, one of the first things you should do (after you obtain the necessary travel document) is to book your flight. And if you want to get the best price, you have to find the best moment for that, because air ticket prices usually increase, if you book them too late. It is even possible to find no free seat for this flight.

It can be similar to a train or a long-distance bus. Usually, their prices remain unchanged, but if you try to buy a ticket too late, you risk no free seats. If there is only one train or bus per day (or even less), the whole trip has to be postponed, which leads to more consequences. And if your time for the trip is limited, you have to shorten the whole itinerary, skipping some initially planned destinations.

And today, due to the pandemic, many airlines, railways, ferries, or buses may have various requirements for passengers. So, you should not only book the tickets at a proper time but check and prepare for every requirement!

Transportation between points- public transport

This is very important if you want to build a stable itinerary. After you connect the points, it is time to investigate what kind of transport you can arrange. If you want to travel by public transport, check the schedules. And if there are buses every 15 min, you don’t need to worry, if you miss the bus at 8:15, you can take the bus at 8:30. But if there is only one bus or train for the whole day, it can be critical. You better buy a ticket online, in advance, if possible.

Check for air, train, bus, or ferry ticket from HERE!

Let’s back to our example- the Philippines. Here the situation is even more complicated because if you want to jump from one island to another, you need a ferry, or domestic flight if there is such. If you miss a bus or train within the same island, you can find some exotic alternative ways- taxis, jeepney, tricycle, etc.

But if you want to travel to another island, usually you can’t find any alternative option. You miss the ferry, you waste a whole day of your itinerary, and if you have booked the next transport, hotels, or something else, you have to cancel it and rebook for another date, if available at the last moment. So, try to book the crucial transportation online, in advance, or at least as early as possible.


This is a great way to achieve more freedom on your trip. You are not limited by schedules, except the deadline when you have to back to the car. If you travel alone, it can be expensive. But if you are a family, or travel with friends, you can share all the expenses, and eventually, it can become cheaper than public transport.

But again, if you want to get the car that you desire, you better book it in advance, especially if you travel during the high season. And before you plan it, first check the requirements for the specific country that you travel to. Some countries don’t accept your international driving license. For example, in China and Vietnam, you can’t drive a car unless you have a local driving license.

Check for rental cars from HERE!

Finally, you check the local traffic. In some countries, traffic is on the right, in others- on the left. And if you haven’t used to drive on the opposite side, you may have problems on the road.

Other ways of transportation

If you anyway miss an important bus or train, sometimes you can find some alternative options. Or you can especially plan your trip for such options. In many countries, you can find local ways of transportation, such as vans, tricycles, jeepneys, motorcycles, or even trucks. Such kind of travel can be exotic and exciting, but you have to be ready for the fact that it is unstable. You can’t book any of these in advance (unless you find a contact of a driver and call him to wait for you). So, if you plan something like this, be flexible and ready for “Plan B”.

How to plan a trip- travel plans drawing

Sometimes, you can take a taxi, but it would be too expensive. And again, you don’t know whether the taxi driver would agree to take you to another destination that is out of his city. Finally, you can hire a motorcycle or a bicycle, but needless to say, if you plan a long-distance trip, it should be longer.

Local transport

This element is much easier and not so crucial. But you still have to research and prepare for it. You just don’t need to do it 1-2 months in advance, but in the last few days would be enough. Here I mean, for example, how to travel within a city- within the railway station or bus terminal, your accommodation place, and the places of interest. You can’t book it in advance (except the service Hop On Hop Off), but you can be just better prepared when you arrive in the city for the first time.


Now, after you have arranged all the travel documentation and the transportation, your trip has a much clearer design. But you still have to arrange your accommodation. It is not that crucial, especially if you travel alone or if you are an adventurous group of backpackers (who can sleep in a tent or even…wherever you can find). But if you are a family with children, it can be important.

So again, you better book your hotels (hostels, guest houses, or other types of places to stay) in advance. You can do it by platforms like Booking, Agoda, or Hostelworld. An interesting option can be booking on Airbnb, where you can have a chance to be closer to the local people and their daily life.

Prepare your accommodation by Booking! Prepare your accommodation by Agoda!

Alternative ways of accommodation

In some cases, you can’t book anything in advance- you just go to a town or a village where the local places are too “off the beaten”, and their hosts haven’t registered on any platform. It is exotic, but you don’t know what can you find (it can be spotted on Google Maps, but that’s not for sure). So, be ready for adventures eventually.

A very independent way is to bring your tent and sleep wherever you can. But it is not always convenient- if you are in a city, most probably you would be not allowed to set up a tent. If you are in a village, in the mountain, or on the beach, you can do it, but it can be dangerous. However, if you are in the city and there is no hotel or other place, you can just sleep in a railway station or something like this- it is inconvenient, but you may not have a choice.

Finally, you can just arrange your trip in a way that you spend the night on an overnight train, bus or ferry. Thus, you can move ahead while you sleep and you can save money for accommodation.

Check the hotel in advance

If you book a well-known hotel, you normally don’t need to worry about anything. But if you choose a cheap hotel, I would advise you to contact them in advance. It happened to us before- we booked a hotel in Xining, China, and when we went there to stay at night, we discovered that this hotel no longer exists, but their information still remained in Booking. So, we had to search for another hotel. Fortunately, there were many other hotels nearby and we didn’t have a problem with that, but you don’t know how would be the situation in your case.

How to plan a trip- travel plans drawing

Also, there are some countries like China where some hotels don’t allow foreigners. It is because foreigners have to register for tonight, and some hotels (usually the more expensive ones) have this license to do it at the reception. But other hotels can’t do it- you have to go to the police station with the hotel owner, and normally he would refuse to do to it. So, communicate with them in advance about it too!

Food and drinks

This is the next element of the trip. But it is not so crucial (unless you go on an expedition crossing Sahara or Antarctica). Usually, wherever you go traveling, you can find food everywhere, in every city and in most of the villages, as well as in roadside restaurants, fast food, and other places.

If you are a budget traveler, probably you would want to want as cheap as possible food. And usually, you can find it in local supermarkets, on street stalls or some cheap fast food. That’s good, but just have in mind, that in some countries hygiene is a bit low, so, eating such kind of food can be risky.

The best thing you can do is to find local food. Local food is not just for satiating hunger, but it can be an essential part of travel. It creates a specific memory, and after you back home and try it somewhere else, you can say: “it is yummy, it reminds me of our last year trip”! And it is not necessarily expensive. You don’t need to search for McDonald’s or KFC, you can usually find it in many budget restaurants and fast food.

Money, currency

From the beginning of your travel plans, you know your budget, and when you arrange all of the things above, you always have it in mind. Now, when the trip (its “Part 2”) is coming soon, you have to prepare your money. If your trip is within the same country, that’s easy- you just prepare some cash and some money in your credit or debit card, and you are ok. But if you go abroad, you have to prepare better.

Money exchange

Unless you travel within the EU, you have to exchange your money into the local currency. And if this local currency is not USD, EUR or GBP, it can be more difficult. Usually, the best way is to travel with USD (and you have to prepare it before you go), because it can be easily exchanged almost everywhere in the world.

So, go with some USD in cash, and prepare your credit or debit card too. You’d better check in advance, but normally, you can find ATMs in most of the countries in the world. But have in mind that you can’t find ATMs in the wilder and off-the-beaten places- villages, jungles, deserts, wild mountains, etc.

If you arrive by plane, don’t exchange all of your USD in the airport (the exchange rates are the worst in the airports), but exchange only a little bit, just for the transport from the airport to the city. Then, you can exchange more, but again, not everything, just a significant part, depending on your itinerary.

Mobile and internet communication

Again, it is not crucial for your trip, but you would want to stay connected to the world (unless you prefer to travel like 30 years ago). For this, you just need short research on the internet about the best SIM card for your trip duration, as well as about the quality of the local Wifi.

When you arrive in a new country, you can buy your new SIM card and you can use it. You can use Wifi in most of the hotels, hostels, Airbnb’s, and guesthouses in the world. But if you go to the wild parts of the Earth, it can be difficult. There are vast areas without any mobile signal or Wifi- deserts, mountains, polar regions, jungles, etc. And if you still want to be connected to the world there, the only way is by satellite phone, with solar panels for recharging.

Local culture

It is good to know about the local culture in advance. Yes, some nations are very tolerant and if you do some “strange” for them things, they would just say “it’s normal, he/she is a foreigner”. But in other nations, your behavior may offend them and you can get in trouble, especially if it is related to politics, religion, nudity, or other sensitive topics. So, read about the local culture before you go!

How to plan a trip- travel plans drawing

Also, it would be good to learn some basic local phrases. It can be useful, especially in places where locals don’t know English. Today, there are thousands of videos on Youtube with some basic language lessons, sometimes, learning some words can save you from trouble.

Learn about the places and activities you are going to see in advance. It can be exciting, and at the same time, when you go there and see them with your own eyes, you would be enough familiar to know what exactly you are looking for. It can increase the quality of your trip, not only from the educational point of view but just as a richer experience.


Travel should be happy, right? Nobody wants to think about problems. But unfortunately, we live in an unsafe world. And many bad things are not too far from travelers. They can come in various forms, but if you are prepared in advance, you can significantly decrease the chance of misfortune.


Nobody wants to be sick during a trip, especially with some “exotic” virus, bacteria, or parasites like malaria, dengue fever, ebola, or other horrible diseases. But these are not far from people, including travelers, especially in tropical countries. So, check more about it, and prepare in advance- get a vaccine, or take medicines with you!

Traffic accidents

It can happen, especially in the traffic. Accidents can be caused by you (by your car or motorcycle), or just when you try to cross a road with intense traffic. So, at least learn about the traffic habits of the locals- red light is not respected everywhere in the world!

Accidents in the wild nature

Same with nature- although it is beautiful, it is not 100% friendly to people. You can be bitten by a snake or by a venomous insect, or you can be attacked by a carnivore. Other types of accidents can be falling from a rock, breaking an arm or a leg, freezing to hypothermia, altitude sickness, or eating something toxic or at least unhealthy. A medical first aid kit would be very useful for such cases, so, let it be a part of your luggage!

Crime, scams

Nations in the world are always hospitable, almost everywhere. But it doesn’t mean that everybody in a nation expects you with love! There is crime everywhere in the world, more or less. And some local people think about travelers: “they are too happy and unaware, they are stupid, they don’t know anything about here, at the same time they have money (otherwise they wouldn’t be able to travel )”. And there are such people even in the most hospitable nations in the world!

They are smart, and they can create various kinds of scams. From the false taxi meter to the hidden shop with fake watches, from a false (and extremely expensive) “tea ceremony” to the theft in a night club after secretly putting drugs in your drink, accompanied with some “beautiful girls”, they can not only ruin your journey, but they can put even your life at risk! So, don’t forget to read about the local dangers in advance, and be always cautious when you travel!

Unrest and war zones

Needless to say, try to avoid such destinations. Usually, tourism is blocked in such places, and only some adventurous travelers go there, often with risk for their lives. These areas are sad places, sometimes with a lot of death and destruction, just because some “brain infected” people with crazy ideas have decided that they can take what they want by violence.

In such places, you can easily become a hostage of the “infected”, or just can be killed on a battlefield. By the way, most of these places are completely closed for foreigners, no visa or other travel permits are issued, so, you better just be patient until the epidemic of madness there is over.

Breaking the local laws

Normally, unfamiliarity with the law can’t be an excuse. Fortunately, most of the local laws are the same everywhere, so if you just behave normally, you wouldn’t be in trouble. You just have to stay away from crimes that are crimes almost everywhere- drugs, theft, frauds with credit cards, etc.

At the same time, there are countries with specific regulations that you must follow, otherwise, you can go to jail. For example- don’t try to go secretly in border areas, military zones, or other restricted places. Be careful if you travel to North Korea- just follow what they require from you, to avoid troubles!


This is a good idea, especially if you go to places with higher risks. Currently, the best travel insurance is by World Nomads, because it is designed by travelers for travelers- they know much better about every danger during a trip and have made it to cover as many as possible kinds of accidents. Yes, for this reason, it is a bit expensive but can save you from a lot of troubles. But anyway, nothing can be compared to your cautiousness, and no insurance can save your life in a deadly accident!

How to plan a trip- travel plans drawing

Packing list

This is not crucial, but still a very important part of the trip. If your trip includes only cities, and if the place you travel has a similar climate as your homeland, it would be easy. But if the climate is different- if you live in the tropics but want to visit Canada in winter, you have to prepare a lot of things that will never use in your country.

If your trip includes traveling in nature- a desert, a high mountain, a polar glacier, an equatorial rainforest, or just islands, beaches, and coral reefs, nature has a higher requirement from your packing list. Some specific things that you would need are just to make your trip richer (for example- a snorkeling set, if you go to the beaches in Southeast Asia). But other things are very important and can save your life (for example- crampons and other climbing accessories, if you are going to the Himalayas).

The main problem is that you have to find a balance between your travel needs and the volume (and weight) of your luggage. As you know, there are luggage limits on airplanes and you have to pay additional taxes for overweight. Also, bringing too many and too heavy things can be highly inconvenient. So, if possible, try to use options like shipment, buying some accessories from locals, keeping a part of your luggage temporarily in the hotel, etc.

Plan B

We live in an unstable world. Even if you plan everything to the last detail and arrange everything perfectly, it can always fail somewhere. A typhoon can cause closure of ferries and planes, a new regulation can be applied at the last moment (especially during the Covid pandemic), damage in your car can let you stay one more night, or due to traffic jam you can miss an important flight, train, bus or ferry. Or, you just can discover something very interesting that you haven’t noticed before the trip, and want to stay one more day to enjoy it.

So, let your travel plans be flexible! When you plan a trip, try to predict other options, just in case! When you book a ticket or a hotel, check their cancelation policy, and if there is a way to find something with a better cancelation policy, choose it! Or when you draw your route, be ready to shorten it if something happens!

Traveling by a travel company?

If you don’t know how to design your trip, a travel company can help you. This is their job- to design travel plans for tourists, and to organize group tours with a guide and everything else well-arranged. So yes, it can be a good option, but it has its pros and cons. And for travelers and explorers, cons are more than pros.

Here we touch on the topic of the difference between a tourist and a traveler. First, you limit your freedom and flexibility. You just follow their plan, not your plan, and if you are in a group, you have to follow it always. Yes, many of them can arrange a private trip, only for you, but it would be more expensive because you have to pay for them.

For travelers and explorers

I don’t know about you, but I prefer full independence and zero responsibility to someone who would arrange my trip. And most importantly, I am a traveler or an explorer. An explorer can’t use a service of a travel company (unless a government requires it in some sensitive places in the world), otherwise, he just turns into a “lazy” tourist. Besides, there are many wild and difficult places on the Earth where no travel company would organize a trip!

So, if you are a traveler, or an explorer (in fact, both terms are very close), arrange your journey by yourself, following your taste, and your dream. And I hope these travel tips can help you to get the best from your journeys!

Check some travel books about planning a trip!



A guide about designing travel plans- travel tips, useful information, and steps how to prepare for a journey. A guide about designing travel plans- travel tips, useful information, and steps how to prepare for a journey. A guide about designing travel plans- travel tips, useful information, and steps how to prepare for a journey.

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