Being confined to home during the pandemic has made a lot of people realize how much they love travelling. If you’ve found yourself itching to go on a crazy fun trip as soon as it’s safe, you might want to start planning now so you have something to look for these last few months of lockdowns and quarantines. Below are a few things to keep in mind when you’re planning your next vacation.
Set a Budget
The first thing you should plan for any trip is how much you want to spend on it. This will determine where you’re going, how long you can stay, and what you can do while you’re there. If you have a small budget, you can keep your trip within driving distance and shorten your trip, but if you have more saved up, you can go on a longer trip to another continent.
Take into account not only the expenses of air fare, gas, and accommodations, but also food while you’re on the trip, tours, shopping, souvenirs, and anything else you’ll need to buy while on the trip.
Figure Out Who’s Going
Once you know what you’re willing to spend on a trip, you can start figuring out who you want to have come with you. If you’re planning on traveling with friends, make sure that everyone is in agreement about important things like how far you want to go and how long you want to stay. Once you know who’s going, you can start to discuss specifics like where you’ll go and when you’ll go.
Figure Out Where You’re Going
Despite the classic sentiment that it’s not about the destination but the journey to get there, you’ll need to decide where you’re planning to go. There are tons of guides out there recommending different cities and countries to visit, so if you’re trying to think of a new place to visit you can find a lot of help from those. Before you really delve into your search for a destination, make sure that you decide the kind of vacation you want to go on, whether that’s a tropical vacation, a relatively local vacation, or a vacation to a European city. There are pros and cons to every possible destination, so make sure to do your research.
Get a Pet Sitter
Once you know where you’re going and how long you’re staying, you should start arranging for a pet sitter or a kennel for any pets you have. If you’re one of the 38.9 million households that owns a cat, you should arrange for someone to come over to your home a few times a day to feed your cat, play with them, and clean their litter box. You should also consider an automatic water bowl since you won’t be there to refill your cat’s water bowl.
Dogs usually require a more hands on approach while you’re away, so make sure to arrange to drop your dog off at a kennel or for a pet sitter who can spend more time with them. Make sure that whoever is watching them knows their normal schedule and is able to work with it — our dogs have already gotten used to you being home all the time during quarantine, and you don’t want them to be subject to too much change all at once.
What Sights Do You Have to See?
When you’re planning a trip, there are likely going to be certain sights that are on your list as things that you have to see while you’re there. You should make sure that you figure out what the best time to go is as well as where exactly it is so you can plan for travel time to and from the destination. If you’re the kind of person who likes having an itinerary, you should have these start as your jumping-off points and go from there. Remember to leave wiggle room in your itinerary though so that you have the freedom to seize any opportunities that may arise while you’re there.
Make Sure to Get Disability Accommodations
If you have any disabilities, you should make sure that anywhere you stay or go has some form of accommodation or prepare yourself to create your own accommodations. For example, if you’re part of the 15% of American adults that report trouble hearing, you should make sure that any performances you go to see have closed captioning. If you have a chronic knee injury, make sure that wherever you stay is on the first floor or has an elevator.
Figure Out How You’ll Get Around
Depending on where you’re going you could need to rent a car, get a metro pass, or just pack some really good shoes for walking. Make sure that you have things planned out before you leave so that you don’t end up in a country where you realize Uber isn’t a thing when you were planning on Ubering everywhere.
If you’re flying somewhere and want to rent a car, you can see if there’s a similar car to the one you drive at home to ease the transition. For example, if you drive a Mercedes-Benz, you can probably find one abroad since they’re manufactured in 30 countries. Having a car that you already know how to drive can help a lot because you can focus on the road in an unfamiliar place and not have to figure out where the controls for the car are.
Look at Common Scams
Any place you travel that often gets tourists will have common scams. Whether that means that they will sell you tickets to tours that don’t exist or pick pocket you, you should make sure that you’re properly prepared. If you know what the warning signs of a tourist scam are or areas where there’s a higher rate of robbery, you can know how to protect yourself against becoming a target.
If you’ve been dreaming about traveling again once it’s safe, you can start making plans for your post-pandemic trip now. With these tips, you can figure out the best way to plan for your vacation to make it as unforgettable as possible.
Where are you planning on going post-pandemic?