Adventure is a State of Mind
This article is a part of the BWT Adventure Guide series. The BWT Guides are designed to provide a quick and easy overview of information found on the Brave Wise Traveler website. They can be used as a guide in and of themselves. Or if you come across a topic and want to dive in deeper, there are links to articles that will help you to do just that. Hopefully this guide helps you to become a more confident and knowledgeable traveler – a Brave Wise Traveler!
Oh, the places you’ll go!
Dr. Seuss
The Dream… and the Limits
- Choose your location
- Identify your reason for traveling
- Identify the type of travel adventure you desire
- Assess you resources (your budget and how much time you have available)
- Identify your travel companions, including your partner or not
From Dream to Destination
- Flesh out where you want to go and what you want to do
- Identify your goals or themes for your trip
- Consider love languages
Initial Research
- Start with broad research
- If using AI, double-check recommendations
- Begin to map out locations and amount of time needed
- Discuss goals and plans with travel companions
- Choose your travel dates
- Before committing, check for any conflicts or problems with your dates
Getting Specific With Research
- Research places to stay
- Decide where to stay and consider creating a home base
- Use reviews thoughtfully
- Consider safety issues
- If traveling with pets, consider their special needs
- Use Google maps to explore the area you plan to visit
- Research transportation
- Use Google flights (or other consolidators) to compare routes and prices
- Be creative with your flight arrangements to get the most for your money
- Compare the different types of transportation available to you in the area and don’t be afraid to use public transportation
Develop Your Itinerary
- Plan your days with a balance between scheduled and unscheduled time and try to create opportunities for special moments to occur
- Decide how you want to pace your days
- Schedule to make the most of how your brain makes memories
Practical Considerations
- If traveling out of the country, make sure you have a passport and it will be valid during the time you are traveling (or longer if required by the country)
- Research whether any additional travel documents are needed, such as visas
- Consider other “documents” you may need, such as a credit card or proof of vaccination
Pro tip: As soon as you start planning, create an organization system that works for you. This can include printing out information and reservations and keeping them in a folder or creating an online document with digitally saved information that you can share online with all of your travel companions. Planning a significant trip takes months of preparation, so having one place to keep all of your related information can save you a great deal of time (and tears) when trying to track down a reservation you made months ago.
If you’ve never traveled, or you’ve always allowed others to plan your travel (whether it was your parents or a tour guide), independently planning your first travel adventure can seem like an overwhelming task.
Heck, even if you’ve planned lots of travel adventures, figuring out where to start can feel overwhelming!
When we’re planning our unique travel adventures, we don’t want anyone telling us what to do. But sometimes we’d like someone to tell us how to do what we want to do. Hopefully this guide will help you figure out how to plan your special travel adventure.
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