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How To Plan Vacation

This step might sound scary, but we've broken it down for you so you can create your very own customized travel budget. We're even sharing exactly how we afford to travel and stay on budget. Before you can even begin to plan a trip, you need to take a good look at your finances and figure out how much money you have to spend on your adventure. This will dictate a lot of the future steps including where you can travel to and for how long.

If you have the time before you go, follow these simple steps to save money for your travels. So whether you're planning a 2-week getaway or a journey with no end date in sight, these steps will take you from the brainstorming phase to stepping foot in your destination. We think you might actually fun planning your next trip. That's a dare.

Take a moment to answer this question… Are you going to be traveling solo or with a partner? A group of friends, or with your family and children in tow? The answer to this question can help shape your trip quite a bit. For instance, a solo trip to Tahiti may not be the best choice, as this popular honeymoon destination is going to be swarming with couples on romantic getaways. Likewise, party-centered Ibiza might not be the best place for a wholesome family vacay.

Want a romantic getaway? Romance isn’t just limited to beaches and resorts. Check out our roundup of some of the top romantic destinations for every type of traveling couple, some of which might be a little unexpected.

This step may seem obvious for some, maybe you already know exactly where it is you want to travel and that’s why you’re planning this trip in the first place. For those of you that have a destination nailed down, there are still a few things we’d suggest you consider, you can skip right down to the research step. For those of you that have the itch to travel, maybe even the vacation time set up, but still have no idea how to narrow down just one place, we suggest looking at a map. No really! Hear us out...

Literally look at a map, and start circling all the cities, towns or attractions you want to visit. Look on Instagram for inspiration. Don't limit yourself. What do you want to do? What do you want to see and experience? When planning a route, we typically look at other trusted bloggers’ recommendations. And no need for paper maps anymore, go digital! Here's a great tutorial on how to use Google My Maps. It's game-changing.

We figure out how many nights we can stay in each city and how we’re going to get from city to city. We have many itineraries on our Itineraries page where you can see examples of our travel routes and recommendations. We also suggest taking a look at Lonely Planet travel guides.