How To: Plan a Quick Trip
If you’re like me, you can’t wait to travel again. I know we can’t travel right now, but that doesn’t me we can’t plan out our next trip! Most of the trips I take are short because let’s face it, we all have many things going on, responsibilities and work. This is why I have to plan out my trips before I get there. I don’t want to waste the little time I have!
If you want to know how to plan out a quick trip, you’re in the right place!
Here is how I plan my quick trips:
Price Shop
Hey! I like to save money! Before I book any flight or hotel I price shop.
Flights
I use google flights to see how much flights are for the location and dates I plan on going. The great part about google flights is that it tells you if flights are low, average, or high than they typically are for that flight. You can also see the prices for different airlines! Once I find the flight that I like, I go to that airline’s website and book directly through them. I’ve found its always slightly cheaper than what Google Flights has.
(Plus this helps you to earn more points if you use your airline credit card and book using that credit card directly through them)
Hotels
If you have a favorite hotel brand, I would recommend starting with them looking at their website. My favorite hotel brand is Marriott. I enter in the location I want and then search through the different hotel options, locations in the city, and what types of hotels. I compare prices of the different hotels and weigh my options including what perks I may get from the hotel (free breakfast, concierge lounge, etc).
Look at their drop down menu for “Special Rates”. If you have a corporate code that gives you hotel discounts, are government or military, a AAA member, or a senior citizen you may get a cheaper rate. But I always do a search without any special rates, look at the prices and then do a search with the special rates I am eligible for and look at the prices. There have been times when the rate without a corporate code is cheaper! Typically the military or corporate codes are a certain price, no matter the time of the year (this is good when rates are high during popular times of the year, but bad for slower months). So check all of your options!
If you don’t have a hotel brand preference, I would use any hotel booking site to price shop first. Once you find a hotel and price you want there, go to the hotel website and see how much it is there, often times you’ll find that if you book directly with the hotel it will be cheaper.
Determine your Transportation
Rates
I look into rates of public transportation and Lyfts and Ubers before going on my trips. It’s good to know how I’ll be getting to the places I want to go. Sometimes trains or subways are cheaper and sometimes its more worth it for Lyft or Uber. I price out the trip from the airport to the hotel ahead of time to see roughly how much it will cost. I do this by entering the starting and ending location in my Lyft or Uber app a few days before to see the rate around the time that I will be landing (and then just don’t call for a ride, of course)
Time
Time is another factor. I use Google Maps to see ahead of time how long it typically takes from the airport to the hotel at the time I will be arriving. Sometimes a train or subway is actually faster than driving because of rush hour (this was the case in Chicago), or sometimes the train/metro is cheaper but will take much longer so spending a few extra bucks on a Lyft is worth the time saved (this has been the case many times in DC).
Find Things You Want to Do/Places You Want to Go
Maybe you already know what you want to do in the location you are going, and that’s great! Most of the trips I go on I have a few things I absolutely have to do, but I don’t know where I want to eat or things I want to do in between. I also like to find not so touristy things to do, or lesser known places that look cool. How do I do this? Research on different platforms!
Google Search
The typically Google searches I do are “Top 10 things to do in insert city“, “Best non-toursity things to do in insert city” and then whatever I am looking for like “Best Italian food in insert city“.
Resources I use
-My favorite websites to use are Thrillist and TimeOut! They have great lists of things to do in many cities including non-touristy and lesser known things. They also stay pretty up to date!
-I often look at Tripadvisor as well for their “15 Best Things to Do” lists for the places I am going.
–Instagram! Search for the place you are going under “places” in the search bar and scroll through the pictures. This is a great way to see what things are popular right now, and were the cool photo spots are. Sometimes this requires a little more research to pin point exactly where things are at unless they share the exact location.
–Snapchat! Ive been looking at snapchat a lot recently for trips. Snapchat is a great resource to use because of the map feature. From the part where you take a snap, slide down to open the map, zoom out and find where you want to go on the map and check out the snapchats from that location. Some may just be people at their homes, but others will be people at tourist attractions, or out and about. If there is a red dot in the area that’s where I look first (this means a lot of people are snapchatting in that location). You can see what looks fun and I personally look at what people are wearing (I never like looking like a tourist). This will also take some research to find the location unless its a well known place.
Find Where to Eat
I always use Yelp, it has never steered me wrong! I look at photos of the food and menu before going to places to make sure it is what I would like to eat.
I typically make a note before the trip on my phone of places I may want to eat broken down by the type of food so I can use it as a quick reference when I’m actually on my trip. Other times I just Yelp the food in my location at time.
Now Plan Out What to Do and When
Now that I have ideas of what I’d like to do, I try to kind of make a schedule or at least an order of what spots I’d like to hit. I do this so I can group things together based on location (instead of hopping around all over the city). If there is a big thing I’m doing that requires a ticket at a certain time, I plan around that and find things to do in the area before or after.
I don’t plan everything out at scheduled times to give some flexibility! Plans change! Feelings change! So I always allow room for changes. It’s just nice to have a list of things to do and eat in the areas that I know I will be in so I can enjoy the moment and not have to be constantly looking things up while on vacation.
While on the Trip
If I get a Lyft or an Uber I ALWAYS ask what they recommend and ask where the locals go. I like to get locals recommendations and their opinions on places. I may or may not go to those places depending on how interested I am in the same things, but it is always good to get recommendations from people who live there. You can also ask your server at a restaurant or the hotel workers what they recommend. Typically the servers know good food places, and the bar tenders know good drink places! I’ve also received great service at places they recommended when they tell me to let them know who sent me!
Hope this Helps!
This all may sound crazy, but I’m always prepared for my trips and I really get the most out of each day. So even though my trip may be short, I get a full experience! You may not want to do this insane amount of research, and that’s ok!! I just wanted to share how I plan my trips, and hope that maybe you’ll be able to use some of this information in the future!
In the future, I am planning on making little guides for different areas of the cities I visit with things to do and places to eat! Would this be helpful for you? Let me know if you’d like me to make these!
