If you’re wondering how to plan a trip that enriches your life while making the most of your time, energy and money, here’s a secret: Doing more does not equal experiencing more.
I used to plan every detail of my trips only to get stressed if I wasn’t able to do it all or bummed when something went sideways—and let’s be honest, something’s bound to go sideways.
As I traveled more, and life got busier and more stressful, I wanted to come home from my trips feeling rejuvenated, inspired and fulfilled instead of exhausted with my head spinning. I learned to let go of my maximalist planning style and embrace a slow travel philosophy…and I never looked back.
Why Slow Travel?
The term slow travel simply means to explore your destination in a leisurely, locally-focused way. Instead of jumping from city to city, each only for a few days, dive deeper into one place, stay in independently owned accommodations, eat at a tucked away spot without any reviews and wander with a sense of discovery rather than a sightseeing list or photo op in mind.
While certain destinations may be more conducive to slow travel, it’s really more about your mindset than where you go or what you do on your trip. Some benefits of slow travel are:
Richer experiences. At its core, slow travel inspires a deeper sense of connection—with the local culture and with yourself.
More sustainable. Flying is terrible for the environment. The more we can ride a bike, take a train or even drive a car (over short distances) it’s better for the environment.
Promotes self-discovery. It’s harder to slow down and reflect when you have a tight schedule to keep. Slow travel means there’s more time to cultivate your inner discoveries.
How to Plan a Trip That Enriches Your Life
While trip planning is fun and exciting, it can be an overwhelming process too. My goal for this guide is to share how to plan a trip mindfully to help you reduce planning stress and come home feeling fulfilled and inspired with lots of meaningful memories.
What’s Inside:
Set Your Trip Intentions
Consider Your Travel Personality
Decide on a Destination and Timing
Research Vaccinations or Visas
Book Your Flights
Gather Trip Inspiration
Plan Your Skeleton Itinerary
Plot Your Itinerary With Google My Maps
Book Accommodation
Boost Your Pre-Trip Anticipation
Pack Your Bags
Document Your Travel Memories
This travel planning guide will help you decide on what to do and see, book the perfect accommodation and set yourself up for an enriching escape.
Set Your Trip Intentions
Whether you have your destination in mind or not, it’s a good idea to set the stage for your trip by thinking about what you want to get out of your journey. This may seem a little woo-woo or non-essential but it’s a powerful way to shape how you plan your trip and aligns your expectations with your travel partners.
Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself and your travel partner(s):
How do you want to feel when you return home?
What would a fulfilling trip look like to you?
Related: How (and Why) to Set Travel Intentions
Consider Your Travel Personality
Next, consider your travel personality (and that of your travel partners). Are you an extrovert or introvert? An early bird or a night owl? How far out of your comfort zone do you like to go? How much activity do you like to do each day? Are you a planner or more spontaneous?
Decide on a Destination and Timing
You might have your destination decided already, and that’s great. I’d still encourage you to think about the two steps above as they’ll help shape the rest of your travel plans.
No idea where to go? Here are some helpful things to consider when choosing a travel destination.
What Piques Your Curiosity?
Are you fascinated with a specific type of landscape? Are you interested in heritage travel? Do you have a favorite cuisine or type of art? Think about what you already enjoy and appreciate and how that might translate into a trip idea.
What Are You Craving in Life?
Instead of choosing a destination because it’s popular, think about what’s important to you. Do you want a relaxing trip or a more adventurous one? Do you need to slow down or are you seeking energy and fun?
Browse Social Media and Blogs
Pinterest and Instagram are good places to look for inspiration if you don’t know where to start. Get your ideas flowing by saving photos and articles of places that look interesting. Once you have some ideas, or can at least see a theme emerging, start reading blogs or watching YouTube videos to see if it’s the right destination for you.
Ask for Recommendations
If you have a travel savvy friend, ask them for recommendations. It’s always helpful to get ideas from people you know and whose opinions you trust.
Consider Timing and Cost
This is a biggie! You can gather all the inspiration in the world, but at the end of the day, your destination needs to work with your schedule and budget.
As a general rule of thumb, if I have a week or less, I like to stay within a 5-7 hour flight time and only a time zone or two. If I have more than 10 days, I’m willing to go a bit farther. And if I have two weeks or more, I’ll likely go anywhere. I don’t abide by this all of the time, but I like this framework if I’m having trouble deciding on a destination.
Obviously budget is important too. I believe it’s possible to travel pretty much anywhere on a budget, it just might require more sacrifice or research in some destinations. Think about how much comfort and convenience matters to you versus cost and choose your destination accordingly.
Once you have a few destination ideas, search for flights on Google Flights, Hopper or Skyscanner to get an initial idea of what flight prices are. If you have a flexible schedule, you can also shift your dates around to see which dates are cheapest.
Related: How to Choose the Right Travel Destination for You
Research Visas and Vaccinations
Now that you’ve chosen a destination (woohoo!), it’s time to find out if you need any visas or vaccinations before you go. A simple Google search will get you there, just remember to include your home country in your search for specific guidelines. If you need vaccinations or visas, start looking into those now as some may require lead time.
Book Your Flights
Once you’ve nailed down your destination and the duration of your stay, it’s time to book flights. The tools I typically use are Google Flights, Skyscanner, Hopper and my credit card booking platform.
If you still haven’t decided on a destination, both Google Flights and Skyscanner (as well as a few other platforms) have a “go anywhere” option that will show you destinations ideas by date, length of trip and price.
If you have some time before traveling and can wait to book your tickets, try tracking your flights on Hopper. It’ll show you when’s the best time to buy based on historical trends.
Finally, if you have credit card points, now’s the time to see if you have enough to cover all or part of your trip. I use Chase primarily for travel point collection and can either transfer my points directly to an airline or use points to buy my flight on the Chase platform.
Gather Trip Inspiration
This is the part where you go crazy with inspiration hunting. Fun, right?! My go-to at the beginning of my research is always Pinterest. There’s a huge community of travel bloggers and experts on Pinterest with super helpful tips and information. Create a board for your trip and save anything that looks interesting. You’ll cull it down in the next stage.
Instagram is also a great place to look for inspiration. I still defer to Pinterest because the information is usually more useful than just pretty pictures, but choose whichever platform works for you. Of course, asking a friend who’s been there is a great place to start as well!
Plan Your Skeleton Itinerary
The is where the trip itinerary planning falls into place. Even though I prioritize traveling slowly, I still like to have a flexible base plan. This ensures your must-sees are accounted for and there’s plenty of unscheduled time for wandering and exploring.
First, take a look at all the inspiration you gathered. Are any categories emerging? Cultural sights, outdoor activities, places to eat, etc? Create a document with columns for each category and list everything that interests you from each category. You could also use a spreadsheet or a tool like Trello or Asana.
Now order your lists by the most important activities to least important. If they all feel equally important, go back to the trip intentions you created at the start. Decide which activities will support that intention best and go from there.
Throughout this process, you’re getting clear on what will make this trip truly meaningful to you and aligning with your travel partners, preventing communication hiccups along the way.
Plot Your Itinerary With Google My Maps
Ah, my favorite travel planning tool: Google My Maps. I love this method of travel itinerary planning because I can see everything I want to do categorized visually on a map. This allows me to base my travel days on areas to explore vs just consuming each must see and moving on to the next. This method also maximizes your time traveling from place to place and it’s easy to share with others.
How to Use Google My Maps
- Download Google Maps to your phone
- On your computer, go to google.com/mymaps
- Make sure you’re signed in with the same account you use on your phone
- Click “Create A New Map” and title it
- Start plotting your must-see places from the list above
- Choose a color and icon for each category of activity (i.e. eat and drink, sightseeing, shopping, etc) and apply to each item on the map
- Organize your map into layers. Layers can be turned on and off, so think about what organization method would be most helpful for you on the road. I like to organize by category (same as step 7) so I can quickly see a map of just restaurants or only sightseeing attractions, etc. Another option could be organizing your layers by days.
- For each pin, you can also see or add important information, like opening hours or website.
- Once you save your map you see it on your phone and share it with others. Open Google Maps → Tap the 3 bars to the left of the search bar → Tap “Your Places” → Tap “Maps”
At this point, you have what I call a skeleton itinerary. The bare bones are in place but you’re not locked down to specific days and times for each activity. If you have organized tours planned, plot their starting and stopping point on the map too.
Book Accommodation
Google My Maps helps when it comes to deciding on accommodation as well. Once you have your interests plotted on the map, it’s easier to see what location is best for you.
If it’s a slow travel experience you’re after, look for a homestay over a hotel. However, choosing the best place for your stay depends on your trip intentions and who you’re traveling with.
Also, consider your destination when deciding on accommodation. Are you concerned about safety at night or while traveling alone? You might feel better in a hotel.
Is your destination struggling from overtourism? Residents in these places (cities like Barcelona, Venice and Dubrovnik for example) are suffering because travelers have driven up rent prices so high that they can’t afford to live in their homes anymore. Hotels are the more responsible option in this case.
For homestays, Airbnb is my first stop (use this link to get $40 off your first stay and $15 off an experience). VRBO and HomeAway are also great choices.
Booking.com is good for finding hotels and homestays in one place. Trivago compares hotel prices across platforms and HotelTonight is great for the spontaneous traveler who likes a last-minute deal.
Boost Your Pre-Trip Anticipation
Did you know that according to scientific studies, pre-trip anticipation actually makes us happier than the trip itself? Planning is part of that excitement boosting process, so I hope you’ve enjoyed every step of the way so far.
Life is busy, though, and sometimes it’s hard to truly savor the anticipation stage. That’s why the Discover Journal includes a “Before You Go” section. Travelers love this section because it helps them get in the right mindset for their trip and enjoy the pre-trip excitement stage even more.
Related: 9 Happiness-Boosting Things to Do Before Vacation, According to Science
Pack Your Bags
Love it or hate it, you have to pack. I’m a big believer in minimal, carry-on only packing whenever possible. Not only is it physically easier to handle, but it reduces your mental load as well. Just as a decluttered home sparks joy, so does a decluttered suitcase.
When it comes to clothes and toiletries, think multitasking. As much as possible, you want to bring items that can do double duty. For example, instead of packing clothes day-by-day, create a capsule wardrobe for your trip with a few items that all work together.
My next best packing tips come from the master herself, Marie Kondo. Grab a set of packing cubes and fold your clothes KonMari style (vertically) in each cube. You’ll be shocked at how much you can fit in a small space. I packed for my two-week honeymoon in Mauritius and Botswana in a small duffle bag and half a backpack (sharing with my husband). Kinda nuts.
Related: Minimalist Packing Guide
Document Your Travel Memories
Hopefully, this guide has shown you how to plan a trip to enrich your life, not just escape it. Planning this way will shift your travels from rushed to rejuvenating, leaving plenty of space for exploration while still keeping your must-sees in mind.
Travel always teaches us something about ourselves and about the world. And to experience a trip that enriches our lives back home, it’s important to document the reflections and meaningful memories we discovered along the way. Travel journaling is a powerful way to do both. That’s why the Discover Journal exists.
Your travels are worthy of more than a spattering of dusty memories down the road, or a folder of photos tucked away in the corners of your computer.
After all, the most meaningful travel memories go beyond where you’ve been and what you’ve seen. They remind you of how far you’ve come as a person.
Leave a Reply