Do You Plan Your Trips?

Discussion in Travel started by gracer • Feb 3, 2016.

  1. gracer

    gracerActive Member

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    Every year, my family would usually go on a trip to unwind for awhile. Whether domestic or abroad, we search online for good places to travel to and for ways to save on our trip by reading travel blogs. We plan around 3 months or more before the trip so we would be sure that everything would be fine and ready by then.

    Planning early and booking ahead of time also gives us the chance to save more because there are promos when it comes to early booking on some trips so we have already gotten used to doing our plans way ahead of time.

    How about you guys, how much time do you spend planning your trips or family vacations? Do you think it's better to plan ahead or do you just travel whenever you can?
     
  2. roarzie

    roarzieMember

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    Planning the travels usually saves a lot of cash, you can study the prices on different hotels and book early to get discounts, plane tickets are cheaper when bought in advance, and you can set a certain amount of cash that needs to be raised until then.

    All in all, planning trips leads to less cash spent on traveling, which means you can spend more on having a great time when you get there!
     
  3. isabbbela

    isabbbelaWell-Known Member

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    I will usually plan the basics. You shouldn't travel with a minor planning! However, planning all my trip scheduling everything - trips, places, times, not only it's time consuming but makes the trip a bit boring for me.
    Part of the fun of travelling is being spontaneous about places you go, what you find along the way, who you meet, what you find out. Some of that gets taken away if everything is meticulously planned.
     
  4. Denis Hard

    Denis HardWell-Known Member

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    Planning trips certainly can save you money because you'll know how much money you'll be spending, what you'll be spending it on, etc. When I used to travel a lot, I never used to plan my trips and usually spent more money than I wanted to and at times I'd have to cut short my vacations because I'd spent most of the money.

    These days I don't need to plan because I hardly ever travel far. A weekend out of town camping — you don't need a plan for that.
     
  5. Lushlala

    LushlalaWell-Known Member

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    Yes, I do plan well ahead. I don't like to find I've forgotten things and not done something essential, because it may very well end becoming a very expensive trip. Planning ahead means I'm well prepared for almost all eventualities and can save a pretty penny. Maybe the only time I don't plan is if it's a spontaneous, random short trip which doesn't leave me much time to plan.
     
  6. Rosyrain

    RosyrainActive Member

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    One of my co workers actually pointed out to me today that you can actually reserve activities and pay for some trips on a payment plan so that you are not hit with all of the costs at once. If you plan to go to a certain city and want to do activities while you are there, you can actually go online and pay for the activities when you have the money ahead of time. I really never thought of doing this before she mentioned it to me, but it is a good idea. Just make sure they have a refund policy in case you end up not being able to take the trip for some reason.
     
  7. ReadWriteLearnLove

    ReadWriteLearnLoveActive Member

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    I like to plan our family trips, but, then again, I used to be a travel agent some time ago so it's something I am pretty good at! I have traveled with some people who like to have every minute planned out before the trip; I prefer to have some unscheduled time so that there's room for spontaneity or for things that happen.
     
  8. thenextGeek

    thenextGeekActive Member

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    It is always better to plan ahead so you can book hotels and flights ahead of time when the prices of rooms and tickets are at their lowest. Booking a flight when you are near the date of your trip will cost you about 2-4 times the amount you could have paid when you booked your flight earlier. It's also better to plan ahead of time so that you have the time to plan the best route for your trip.
     
  9. Briannagodess

    BriannagodessActive Member

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    For out of town trips or out of the country trips, we plan ahead. There's the booking of the flight, checking of the weather in the destination and hotels as well. We also plan ahead what we're going to bring and not bring. We try to create a list of the activities we can do there as well.

    But with trips within the city or nearby towns, sometimes this happens by accident. There is no time to plan and sometimes, we leave things behind. Good thing that convenience stores are all around so it's quite easy to buy the necessities we leave behind.
     
  10. djdontpay

    djdontpayActive Member

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    I do a bit of travel hacking and so we plan out in advance and then I spend the next few months finding the best deals, earning extra FF miles, and making sure that all the family members do the same. I am also a bit paranoid in that I can't simply go to a place and say, "Now that we are here, let's do something." I usually plan every last detail and then we ask ourselves whether we want to do something or not, because at least if no one can think of anything, we have a backup plan.
     
  11. prose

    proseActive Member

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    I plan our family vacations months in advance. Planning ahead of time saves a lot of money on accomodations, but also is necessary in order to make sure that everyone going on the trip can get time off of work to be able to go. For example, this year we are planning a trip with a large group, which means ten adults who work will need to make arrangements to have the time off to go on the trip. Planning the trip 6 months in advance allowed us to save on accomodations. We were able to find a cottage on the beach large enough for our entire group and reserve it in advance. Usually the longer you wait to make reservations, the more money you will pay if reserving a vacation rental such as a cottage or a cabin. I did an extensive search online, read reviews, and compared numerous vacation rentals before choosing the one we reserved. I typically do the same thing when planning a vacation that involves staying in a hotel. It's nice not to have to worry about whether or not you are going to find somewhere to sleep while on vacation.
     
  12. Corzhens

    CorzhensWell-Known Member

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    What a coincidence. Yesterday we were at the travel expo to buy discounted plane tickets. We were able to purchase cheap plane tickets for Bangkok, Thailand for March and Singapore for October. We could have bought more but the schedule of the trip didn't coincide with our free time. Yes, we always plan our trips particularly trips abroad because we have jobs and we cannot just be absent.
     
  13. Parker

    ParkerWell-Known Member

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    Yes, I plan my trips well ahead.This saves me lots of money. I also have time to put away a little money each month to spend on my vacation. My vacation goal for 2016 is to travel to Peru. It will be a group trip so we are getting a great discount. I have already started saving for my spending money. Even though I like to plan ahead, I don't like to plan out each hour of the time. I do have things that I want to see and do, but I like to keep things open.
     
  14. gracer

    gracerActive Member

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    This is a nice idea. Paying for a trip on a staggered basis makes it possible for a person to travel to his/her dream destination without the pressure of having to provide a large amount immediately.

    Good for you guys! How much did you actually saved on your plane tickets? I've also been looking at some travel sites for discounted tickets to these destinations and I'm still weighing my options. It really saves a lot to be able to get discounted tickets for vacation trips.
     
  15. DrRipley

    DrRipleyExpert

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    We do plan ahead because it's the best way to get savings. Booking early often gets us discounts and we usually just plan our outings around the promos instead of doing it otherwise. I think it's a great way to get luxurious trips for a fraction of the price. We always get notifications for coupons and promos from our favorite travel sites and occasionally there will be dry periods but often there is a promo waiting to be had and it's up to us to choose if it's worth it or not.
     
  16. Corzhens

    CorzhensWell-Known Member

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    The discount is not much this time. The Manila-Singapore ticket that is regularly priced at 14,000 pesos was discounted for us at 9,000 pesos. Last year we got that for 6,000 only. But we bought from the same travel agency, it's just that maybe the airlines didn't give a bigger discount this time since so many are now buying discounted tickets. For the Bangkok trip, it is definitely a bargain since the last time it was expensive. I just got a booking in Gateway Hotel for our Bangkok vacation next month.
     
  17. sidney

    sidneyWell-Known Member

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    Planning your trips does save you some money, so it's better to always devote some time to research the cheapest hotels and airplane tickets in advance. Also if there are any promotions going on in some airline companies then you should avail of that.
     
  18. gracer

    gracerActive Member

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    That's already a great deal. I remember my cousins who availed of discounted plane tickets for Singapore before and they were able to go as a group because the saved money from the discounted tickets was used to buy additional tickets for the members of the family who were not supposed to be part of the trip initially.
     
  19. djdontpay

    djdontpayActive Member

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    You can keep looking for such discounts. Finnish airlines (yes Finland has an airline) is one of the most "generous" international airlines if you can find a flight with them. They are cheap to start with and they part of most airline alliances so you can use your FF miles or points or other offers to get a really low-cost flight on a great airline.
     
  20. GemmaRowlands

    GemmaRowlandsActive Member

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    You can certainly save a lot of money if you plan your trips in advance, as it means that you are able to compare all of the best deals that are out there. If you book everything at the last minute you won't have as much choice, and this means that you could really struggle and could end up paying a lot of money. As with most situations, the best thing to be is organised, as things will be much cheaper if you do this.