Last week, we covered the basics: pick dates, pick a place, and book the main transport. If you’ve done that—congratulations, you are going on a trip!
Now comes the fun part, and where 27 years of trial and error comes in handy. How do you take a basic booking and turn it into a memorable “Global Husbands” style experience?
When we first started traveling, we relied on guidebooks and our planning relied on entries in those books, words of wisdom from friends and family, or “playing it by ear.” We saw a lot, but our experiences were somewhat lacking. Today, we aim to trying to find a balance in our planning so that our experiences are more meaningful.
Research Neighborhoods, Not Just Hotels Don’t just book the cheapest hotel in the city center, or the most expensive because it is on the beach. Look at the neighborhoods, the transport options, including walking. Where are the best local coffee shops? Is it walkable? We’d rather be in an interesting neighborhood a short transit ride away from the main sights than right next to a tourist trap.
The “One Big Thing” Rule We used to try to do five things a day. Now, we try to find one major activity per day—a museum, a specific tour, or a major sight. Often, there are plenty of options to discover many other places along the way, but this also allows us time to wander around, find a wine bar, grab a bite and just relax.
Leverage Technology We use apps like Notion and Google Drive to keep all our confirmations in one place. Other friends use other tools as effectively, and the goal here is to find what works for you. Part of our planning also includes saving places into a Google Maps list for that trip or that location, and we normally include places to eat, drink or interesting sites that we have learned about as part of our planning. YouTube has provided us with numerous great finds that have become part of our experiences, and has become an integral part of any of our planning.
This map shows many of the food joints that we want to try in and around New Orleans. Using Google Maps to find places and then saving them to a list for future reference, really helps visualize the “other things” you may get a chance to do when you are walking to, or finding your way to your “one big thing” you have planned for the day. We may not get to all these places, but they are there for when we are back in that area. I like to use to note feature when I save places about why a place has been added.
The goal with this is not to tell you exactly what you need to do to create the travel experiences you want, but to remind you to find what works best for you and then plan to do it. As Benjamin Franklin once said (or is widely credited to have said), “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”.
Do you prefer a rigid schedule or total spontaneity when you travel?
