Travel Guides for Your Vacation Planning

Whether you are a seasonal traveler or the one who just loved to travel. The recent COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have placed many activities on a halt. The majority of the affected nations closed their international borders hoping to curbs the spread of deadly diseases. It might take another few more months or maybe years to ensure that the virus was eradicated or when a herd immunity situation was achieved. 

 When the traveling and holiday vacation activities are allowed to reopen again, I am pretty sure that the tourism industry will rise high to its peak again as everyone would like to be the first one to witness the "new birth" after nature has rejuvenated anew to its most beautiful display.

Like all my fellow readers in the travel committee, who may have been a frequent traveler to many tourist destinations locally and abroad. They will agree with me that to ensure a smooth and successful holiday vacation, proper and careful planning is a must.

All these years, I thanked GOD for granting me the opportunities to travel globally whether for a mission trip to the Lichfield United Kingdom, family vacation to Thailand and Taiwan, guided group tour to Guilin China, South Korea, and Japan, a worked-related trip to Colombia and Christchurch New Zealand, or as a solo traveler to Paris, Melbourne Australia, and Tasmania. Here, I humbly would like to share with you some traveling tips that I have learned from my traveling experiences. Not forgetting to cite some useful travel tips from Eagle Creek in its article: What to pack for your vacation.

In this travel guides series, I will try to provide as much information, tips, and an explanation on the pro and cons, benefits and risks, safety, and potential dangers when decision-making is crucial. It will cover a broad range of the entire preparation levels from the very first moment when the destination was confirmed until the safe return to your home. The full 8 series travel guides are listed below:

Travel Guides 1: Where to start

Travel Guides 2: Choose the right travel bag

Travel Guides 3: Organize your clothing packing list

Travel Guides 4: Packing for your toiletry bag/travel health bag 

Travel Guides 5: Packing for personal item carry-on bag

Travel Guides 6: Packing for important travel documents (Passport/ cash/ credit cards/travel insurance)

Travel Guides 7: Consider travel security 

Travel Guides 8: Prepare your home

(Photo taken from Unsplash)

Travel Guides 1: Where to start

The whole vacation planning started from the moment a destination is confirmed. It is important to determine whether it is a family vacation holiday, group holiday, or a single traveler. The reason behind this is that the strategic and comprehensive planning will be much different between all the three categories like in the issues of:

Holiday budget

-       The solo traveler will have to pay extra compare to the family and tour group as bulk expenditure is much cheaper in big quantities. Usually, a discount will be given to the family who is traveling with kids or senior citizens and travel agencies.

Itinerary

-       The single traveler will have the total freedom to arrange and change his or her itineraries anytime even during the holiday without getting worried about any suggestions or objections from others.

-       As for traveling in a group, itineraries will have to plan well ahead and each member in the group will have to give their agreement beforehand. Any last-minute amendments will incur penalties in terms of money.

As for single traveler and family tour groups. There is a need to do some internet searching to get more information on the destination of their choice. For my past single traveling experience, I like to log on to Wikipedia and TripAdvisor to get to know more about my vacation destination before the departure.

(Photo taken from Unsplash)

Wikipedia and TripAdvisor are among the best websites that will provide more thorough details on:

-  History

-  Destination geographical location.

-  Climate and when is the best time to visit.

-  Political ideology/situation (current political updates as you do not want to get involved unknowingly. )

-  Available airlines (budget airlines)

-  Pre-entry requirement.

-  Tourism board

-  Culture

-  Transportation services available

-  List of things to do (tourist attractions, local tour packages, etc.)

-  Traveling tips

-  Things to avoid

After getting sufficient information and details about the vacation destination, only then you can proceed with:

For family tour and single traveler

-  Purchasing of airlines tickets

-  Arrange for pre-booking (hotel, hostel, homestay, and other accommodation).

-  Arrange for airport transfer and sightseeing tour.

-  Start a packing list for your dream vacation.

-  Prepare other essential travel documents.

For group tour through the travel agency,

all the above arrangements are handled by the travel agency, except:

-  Start a packing list for your vacation.

-  Advanced payment is required

Now, you are ready to proceed to Travel Guides 2: Choose the right travel bag after you have confirmed your vacation destination, chosen your tour category, and after making the necessary pre-arrangement.