Planning basics
How do you plan a trip step by step?
Plan a trip in five passes, and keep them in order. Dates and a budget ceiling first, then the destination, then flights and the first night's room. Build the days around one anchor each, and reserve the few things that sell out last. Running the order backwards is what produces an itinerary you can't book.
The order matters more than the tooling. Most people start by picking a destination they're excited about, then discover the dates don't work, the flights cost double what they assumed, or the one restaurant they planned the trip around is booked for three months. Deciding dates and budget first narrows the destination list to things that are possible, which is a much shorter conversation.
Once you're on the ground the plan should be loose. A day scheduled hour to hour breaks the first time a lunch runs long, and then you spend the afternoon feeling behind. One anchor per day with the meals mapped nearby holds up better, because a delay shifts the day instead of wrecking it.
Step by step
- 1
Fix the dates and a ceiling
Pick the window and the most you'll spend. Both constrain everything after this, and neither gets easier to change later.
- 2
Choose the destination against those constraints
Check typical trip length and season for each candidate. A city that needs a week doesn't fit a long weekend, and a place at the wrong end of its season is a different trip than the photos suggest.
- 3
Book flights and the first night
Flights set the real shape of day one and the last day. Book the first room so you have somewhere to land even if the rest stays open.
- 4
Build the days
One anchor per day, grouped by neighborhood, with food picked near each anchor. Leave one unplanned block a day.
- 5
Reserve what sells out
Timed-entry attractions, tasting menus, and shuttle tickets. This is the only part with a real deadline.
Do it in Arriv
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