How to PLAN
Let me get this out of the way – I am a planner. There I said it. If you know me, then you just laughed out loud. My husband and I are often teased by our friends because we are usually planned out for up to a year for our trips. And they really laugh at us because we make sure to have dinner reservations in place at some of the restaurants that we really want to try.
For me and planning, it is often figuring out my destination that is the hardest part but that is because I traveled 120 days in 2024 between business and personal travel. Some of my trips are domestic and some are international as well as some are short (around 3 or 4 days) and some are longer (up to 2 weeks). So how do you plan, what do you do first and how do you use those freebies that we talked about last?
Some trips are set dates especially when it is business travel to meet with a client or attend a conference. That type of travel is easier because you know the dates, there might already be a conference hotel to book, so it is often just figuring out the flights. Again, when booking this type of trip, think about your preferred airline and look at their fight schedule first. Don’t assume that the conference hotel does not have a rewards program. You would be surprised how many hotel “brands” can be part of a major hotel rewards program. For example, IHG brands include Kimpton, Intercontinental and Holiday Inn. Hilton and Marriott also have multiple brands. And the brands also have locations both domestically and internationally!
When it comes to personal travel, especially for an extended vacation, I figure out the location from a big picture and then research where I may like to go. I mentioned Spain where we traveled in September of 2024…we knew we wanted to start and end at major cities for ease of flights, so we picked Barcelona and Madrid to start and end the trip. But we wanted to make another stop since we would be there for almost 2 weeks. We talked about many smaller cities but some of them (like Seville) sounded amazing but were far away from both Barcelona and Madrid, so that settled us on Valencia. Valencia ended up being an amazing stop in the middle of the trip as it was a beach city and a smaller city so that allowed us a bit of down time (beach time) but still had some amazing things to see and do!
So now you have figured out the location(s), where I usually start is with the airline and booking that piece of the trip. Again, I always go to my favorite airline and start with them. I look at potential dates to travel to and from and see what the costs look like. There are often some price differences depending on the day of the week and time of year, so it is worth exploring if you have some flexibility in your travel dates. When flying internationally, also be aware that your in-between travel might be better accomplished via train or another transportation form vs a flight. In our case in Spain (and we have discovered in Italy and Scotland/London), the train from Barcelona to Valencia and then from Valencia to Madrid was easier, cheaper, faster and overall, more convenient.
Once I have the flights locked down, then I start looking at hotel options. I told you that we often use our American Express Platinum Card for travel for many reasons. I research hotels typically using 2 sites, the American Express travel site and TripAdvisor. When using American Express, I get many benefits from booking through them. Not only do they have some protection in case I have a problem, but they also have some added “upgrades”. I might get an early check-in or late check-out from them along with a free room upgrade if available. When we were in Vienna several years ago, I booked a regular room at a well-known hotel that was right next to the Vienna Opera House. When we arrived, they told us a room upgrade was available for us, and we ended up in the Opera Suite which was 1,500 square feet with a view that overlooked the Vienna Opera House…and we only paid 300 euros a night for a room that regularly went for 3,000 euros a night! Now that is an extreme example, but we often get upgraded when using the American Express travel for our hotels.
If American Express doesn’t have an option that I love for the city I am traveling to, I will then also look at a map and look at the hotel partners that I have accounts with and see what hotels they have in those areas. I also mentioned TripAdvisor which I use to see ratings for the hotels and reviews. Location is important, which is where the map comes in. For example, this summer we are going to Rome (will post about that as we get on that trip) and I booked through IHG at the Hotel Indigo Rome which is one of the IHG international brands. It got great reviews, and we loved the location as it will be convenient for the places we will visit!
If you get the air travel and hotels locked down, you are well on your way to a fabulous trip. Next time we will talk about planning for Disney travel!
