A big part of my reason for creating Inside Laura’s Head is helping people to travel. Whether you’re a solo traveller, travelling with a partner, a friend or in a group, I believe that travel can be practical and affordable for most of us. I’m aware there’s a cost of living crisis, of course, and I’ve written about ways to side hustle your way to paying for a trip, and I do know that for some people you’re struggling to pay your bills, but if you do have or can earn some spare money, you can travel.
Planning any trip can be difficult when you don’t know where to start, if it’s not something you’re used to doing, so this post talks about how I plan a trip, so you can use it as a guide to plan yours. I have friends who will only ever walk into a travel agent to book something, which is fine but often far more expensive. Planning a short trip yourself doesn’t need to be difficult, and I hope this post helps you to start planning your next one.
Setting your budget is the most important thing
Setting your budget is the first thing I’d recommend, and my best trips have been those where I’ve known how much I could spend before I even booked a flight. If you have unlimited funds you won’t need to do this but at the moment, for most people, setting a budget is a must. Make sure you plan for some sort of contingency fund too-if you can afford £350 for a two night trip, for example, you might want to make sure you can access a bit more money if plans change, or you may want to plan to spend £300 and leave £50 as an emergency fund. I’ve done trips on all sorts of budgets and you can absolutely go away for not very much (I went to Dublin with a friend, and spent under £350 for both of us) or you can choose a more expensive destination, a better hotel or fancier food places and spend more, the choice is yours.
Some countries I can recommend if you’re doing a trip on a budget are Turkey and Poland, although anywhere in Eastern Europe tends to be pretty cheap. Kosovo is a great, cheap, off the beaten track country I’m desperate to see more of. Pricier places I’ve been to are Amsterdam and Berlin, but both can be done a bit cheaper if you’re really on it.
Choose a destination carefully when you’re planning a short trip
If you’re planning a trip on a budget, you may want to read the post I’ve written specifically about that for some hints and tips, and bear your budget it mind when thinking about your destination. When I’m choosing a destination, I start with thinking about what I want from my trip. If you’re looking for a weekend of art and culture, you may choose somewhere totally different to someone wanting a party weekend. Consider whether you want to go back to somewhere familiar (I will always return to Amsterdam, for example) or if a brand new place seems more exciting. Do you want a leisurely weekend on a sun lounger, with drinks at your hotel in the evening, or do you want to be out exploring somewhere busier all day? Choosing a destination is the most important thing when planning a short trip, as the right destination can make or break a trip in my opinion.
Check how you can get to your destination, and to where you’re staying afterwards
If you’re planning a short trip to Paris or Amsterdam and you live in London, it’s probably quicker and easier for you to take the Eurostar. If you live in Leeds and you want to go to Dublin, you’re going to want to fly. Those of you who live near a ferry port might want to look at overnight ferries to parts of France or Spain. It’s worth making sure you can get to your chosen destination pretty quickly, otherwise your short trip will mostly be spent travelling and that’s no fun.
I always look at where I can fly to from my nearest airports (Leeds Bradford, Manchester or Liverpool) or where I can get a ferry to from Newcastle or Hull, as I’m willing to drive to either. You can check Skyscanner or Cheapflights for flight prices and availability, and I use a mixture of both. Remember to also check what days flights are-there’s no point setting your sights on somewhere you can only fly to on Tuesdays and Thursdays if you need to do a Friday to Sunday trip.
When you have a city in mind, have a look at how you’ll get from the airport to your accommodation. Lots of airports have a train or metro station so you can get to where you’re going quickly and easily, or you may be able to pre-book a taxi to a resort. Make sure you know how you’re going to leave the airport before you make up your mind-I’ve definitely paid for very expensive taxis before because I didn’t factor this in.
Research your accommodation carefully
Once you’ve chosen your destination, have a look at your accommodation options. I do a mixture of hotels (usually via Hotels.com or Booking.com) and Air B n B, and it tends to work out cheaper overall if I book somewhere with a kitchen so I can do a couple of meals myself. Have a look at your top 3 choices on a map-if you’re doing a city break it’s way more convenient to stay right in the centre but often cheaper to be further out. If you’re staying further out, look at where the nearest bus stop, train station or metro is to make sure you can get into the city easily, regularly and for a low price.
Check how much you’re likely to spend in your preferred location
It’s worth making sure the average daily spend is affordable for you before you go. Consider things like the average cost of a meal out, a glass of wine or beer, a museum visit and public transport. There’s no point finding a bargain flight and cheap accommodation if you’ll have £50 a day to spend and a meal out is £40 on average. When I’m planning, I find a few places I know I’d like to eat (google ‘best places to eat in X’ and read some reviews, look at some menus and work out what looks good) and price up the meal I’d be likely to choose. I then find a list of museums, any other things I’d like to do (like climbing a clock tower for a rooftop view or looking inside a church) and add up how much those things will cost too. I make sure than the amount I think I’ll need each day is a decent amount less than what I can afford, to give myself a buffer. This way, there are no surprises when you arrive, and you’re not disappointed when you can’t afford to do something.
Get booking your short trip
Now you’ve decided where you want to go, how you’re going to get there and where you’re going to stay, get booking. Make sure you also have travel insurance, and if you don’t you need to book this at the same time as your travel and accommodation, in case anything goes wrong and you need to cancel your trip, or you get ill or lose something on your trip. I know too many people who travel without insurance and I really don’t think it’s worth the risk.
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