Travel Planning
As the world starts to open up and traveling becomes easier, you may have started thinking more about what your next trip will look like. Since travel can be quite a costly expense, planning your trip(s) in advance can help you save money and ease stress when you get to your target destination.
I recently recorded a Making Cents of Money podcast episode with Nikki Giancola-Shanks and Jake Hamilton about planning travel and keeping your money safe. As a result of that recording, I wanted to put together a few templates based on how my partner and I have planned our trips over the years. To provide some additional context to the templates, I wanted to outline our general travel planning process:
- Brainstorm destinations & activities (This is where we'd look at considerations for traveling with pets)
- Decide general dates (The earlier we plan, the more flexible we can be)
- Determine transportation (We like to roadtrip since we take our greyhound)
- Research & compare lodging options
- Book lodging based on total cost & convenience
- Map travel route to destination with potential locations of activities
- Create a meal plan for the trip
- Check CDC & local alerts for COVID, weather, etc. (Good to check throughout planning process)
- Pack (Having individual packing checklists can help prevent forgetting things like your toothbrush)
- Start your travel adventure!
You can download the Microsoft Excel version or check out the Google Sheets version online.
Happy Planning & Safe Travels!
