How to plan a trip – download our free Travel Planner!

Preparing for a trip is not just about packing! It’s also planning the trip, writing down the budget, looking for attractions on the spot, embracing transportation, hiring interesting restaurants and cafes, as well as closing various topics before the trip, asking someone to help out while you’re away, etc. etc. There’s a lot of it, so today we’re extending a helping hand and giving you a Travel Planner, ready to print!

How to plan a trip? Are you having trouble preparing for your trip? Do you happen to forget to do something before you leave? How about suggestions on what to do locally and interesting attractions you write down in different places and later can’t go back to them?

We know it!

Admittedly, the more you travel the easier some things come, but it’s still a good idea to write down certain aspects for yourself in one place so you can easily return to them.

Planning a trip is also about packing!

The same, moreover, is true of packaging. It used to be an ordeal for us…. Postponed in time, left to the last minute, and then you know: packing in stress, hurry, not to mention how many things we forgot. Nowadays, we can’t imagine packing without a packing list (you can find a free packing list here, and our post“What to pack for a trip, on vacation” here). Before longer trips we print it out to make sure we have everything, and before shorter trips we review it on our phone or computer, because the packing process itself is faster and shorter as well.

Anyway, until now, packing is, in our opinion, the worst part of traveling, and that’s why we find a lot of ideas and ways to make the whole thing easier for ourselves. Anyway, about the whole packing process, how to make it not so tiring we wrote an e-book, which you can find here: “Family Travel – Packing” “

But it is not about packing that this post is about, but about general preparation for the trip. And this starts as soon as the idea for the trip….

Travel planning – we start with an idea!

We start looking for flights, ready-made vacations, accommodations, check how long the car trip takes, how much it will cost, etc. We browse a lot of sites in search of inspiration, interesting places to visit, good and recommended restaurants, talk to people who have been there before and gather a lot of material to process.

It is worthwhile to start collecting everything in one place at this stage. Despite the ubiquitous technology, smartphones overflowing with apps, we still go back to our roots in such a case, that is, we take out a piece of paper, a pen and write everything down. Sometimes we use a printed calendar, and sometimes more detailed planners come to the rescue.

And we have to admit that we like technological innovations, we use a lot of tools that we share online and look into during our travels, but nevertheless, we have more than once had situations where we regretted that we did not have printed notes at hand on which to add something, make quick changes, add something.

So we have a suggestion for you today to try to plan your next trip with Travel Planner. Whether you are going away for a weekend or for 2 weeks, somewhere near or somewhere far, flying by plane or driving by car – the templates we have prepared will help you prepare for your trip.

Free Travel Planner

We have prepared two versions of the planners (both printable):

1. The basic version FREE, in which you will find 7 printable pages – download here “.

2. Extended PAID version containing the same pages that are included in the basic version plus 14 additional pages (a total of 21 pages waiting for you!) – see here “.

How to use the trip planner?

Once you have selected a planner, we will send it to you in pdf format ready for printing. It’s up to you whether you print it in A4 or A5 format – either will be ok, but it’s worth noting that the printout should be without margins (if your printer doesn’t have this option it will still look good, but you will be left with a white margin on the right side).

We’ve left a larger margin on the left side giving you plenty of opportunities to join all the pages together – you can use a hole punch and keep everything in a binder or folder, you can bind or simply clip together with a stapler or paperclip. Do it the way that is best and most comfortable for you.

Note, you don’t have to print the entire Travel Planner! But of course you can ;) The idea was that you can choose which pages and parts are most useful to you and only those you print. Some pages are designed to print several times depending on the length of the trip and individual needs.

For example, you can print the Plan of the Day in 3 copies if you are going on a 3-day trip and want a specific plan for each of those days. You can even print it in 14 or 21 copies if you go for 2 or 3 weeks – the sky is the limit (or rather the ink in the printer ;) ).

It may seem that some pages are duplicated, but they always differ in something. Why did we do that? To give more flexibility and more customization. For example, there is a general page with the budget, but there is also a page with categories to which each expense should be assigned. There is a ready-made, general note for the person coming to look at the house or apartment, but it is also with specific indications of what needs to be taken care of while you are away.

Individual pages can be printed as needed!

What can you find in the Travel Planner?

Below is the full table of contents of both versions of our planners for travelers. In each version you will additionally find a cover, and in the free version you will find the last page with information about the extended version.

Basic version:

1. Important travel information – airplane
2. Places to visit
3. Daily schedule
4. Weekly plan
5. Packing list
6. Planned budget
7. Notes

Expanded version:

1. Important travel information – airplane
2. Important travel information
3. Accommodation
4. Transport
5. Flights
6. Places to visit
7. Daily schedule
8. Weekend plan
9. Multi-day plan
10. Weekly plan – hours
11. Weekly plan
12. Monthly plan
13. Packing list
14. Luggage
15. Planned budget
16. Planned budget – categories
17. Pre-departure tasks – one month
18. Pre-trip tasks
19. Note for absence – categories
20. Note for absence
21. Notes

Both lists are available in our online store: Basic Version & Extended Version. Feel free to download and purchase!

Some simple steps on how to plan a trip:

The planner will definitely help you a lot in planning your trip. In addition, however, we toss you a short checklist of what to keep in mind when planning your travels:

1. Determine the destination of your trip: Before you start planning your trip, it’s important to decide where you want to go and what you want to see while there. This is where it is ideal to more or less plan the number of days and what we want to do each day, so that we know if there is enough time :)
2. Determine your budget: Determine how much you can spend on your trip. Depending on what your priorities are, you can opt for more or less expensive hotels, transportation or attractions.
3. Choose the right time to travel: Consider what is the best time of year to travel to your destination. Pay attention to weather conditions, peak tourist season and possible events such as festivals or sporting events. We will definitely still write about it, because from our perspective it is very important. We ourselves once in the United States hit Miami for the final of the Super Bowl, which made hotels a hell of a lot more expensive :) Or when planning a stay in Las Vegas, it is better to avoid weekends because hotel rates then increase even several times!
4. Choose your form of transportation: Decide what mode of transportation you want to use to travel to your destination – plane, train, bus, car, as well as what you want to get around with once you are there. Pay attention to prices and routes, as well as what amenities each mode of transportation offers en route to your destination.
5. Find the right accommodation: browse accommodation offers and choose the one that best suits your needs and budget. You can opt for a hotel, hostel, apartment or Airbnb apartment rental. Sometimes you just need a bed, and sometimes you want a beautiful house right on the beach :) Here, too, a planner will work perfectly, especially if you will be changing accommodations during your stay and want to have everything written down in one place.
6. Plan what you want to see locally: Find information on tourist attractions in your destination and plan your route. Ticket prices and opening hours are also worth noting. All this you can note down for yourself right in our planner!
7. Organize your documents: Make sure you have all the necessary documents, such as your passport or ID card, visas and travel insurance.
8. Pack accordingly: We’ve already written about this above, so just to be sure, we’ll leave this point here :)
9. Book everything (if you can) in advance: Book your air, train or bus tickets, as well as accommodations and tickets to tourist attractions in advance to avoid unnecessary stress and unpleasantness. I know, you can’t always do or want to. However, it makes it much easier to plan a trip and avoid stress on the spot.
10. Enjoy! That’s the most important thing :)

Summary

We hope that these simple steps and the materials we have prepared will help you better plan your upcoming travels and make it a successful and memorable experience, and the planner will further make the process even easier and more enjoyable.

We have quite a few more ideas in our heads for such products, so if you have any feedback, comments, or just ideas of what else you would like to see from us then be sure to let us know in the comments!