I'm going to take a wild guess here and say you probably have a general idea of where you would like to travel to. Maybe you've always wanted to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu or attend a full moon party in Thailand. Regardless, you'll need to plan a route.
Now, there are several ways to do this but my favourite is to use a site called Traveller's Point (travellerspoint.com). This site is excellent. It has many great features including my personal favourite: the ability to visualize your trip on a map. At the moment, this is the stage I am in, planning my trip this summer to Europe. I have many places in mind but do not know exactly what order I would like to visit them in. So, over the next day or two I will be inputting these cities into the software. I can view these as both a list and a map, depending on what planning stage I am in. At the moment, I am using List Mode because I am still choosing cities and countries. Once this is complete, I will be moving to Map Mode, where I will 'connect the dots' between cities to make logical stopping points, taking into account train schedules/times and the availability of flights. Here's a screenshot of my Travel Map from last summer: As you can see, I didn't always travel in a straight line. This is due to one simple reason: Sometimes it's easier and/or cheaper to fly 600 miles than take a bus/train/ferry 50.
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t's 11:30PM on January 21st, 2016. Looking at the mess of windows, maps, tabs, and documents open on the computer monitors in front of me, one might assume I'm working a case for the FBI. In reality, these six windows and fifty tabs are all open for a single purpose: planning my travels for this summer.
The window next to this one contains six tabs, all of which are different combinations of flight times and prices between Sri Lanka and Heathrow, Sydney and Sacramento, and Bangkok and Sacramento. Yet another window is littered with tabs regarding train travel between cities in Europe: seat61.com. This site has been my go-to for all things train (or ferry) for my travels throughout Europe these past two summers. The site is so simple to use: simply enter your origin and destination from the home page and you will be shown exactly how to book your tickets, including how much you should expect to pay. On this note, I would like to take a moment to talk about timing. When booking trains, booking as early as possible will get you the best price. Here's an example from last summer: In March I booked a night train from Zurich to Prague for €19. When I was waiting to board my train, I was chatting with someone who also happened to be taking the same night train. She mentioned how expensive the ticket was and that she should have flown instead. She informed me she had paid €135 for the same class as my ticket. In fact, she ended up sitting next to me. she had booked her ticket 5 days before. I had booked mine 4 months. Of course, booking ahead may not always be an option for some people. But if you are planning an extensive trip with many stops (my trip last year had 22), not only will you save a ton by booking early, you will have peace of mind, able to enjoy where you are instead of worrying about booking your next train, flight (more on that later), or hostel. Speaking of Hostels, the majority of travelers I have met only booked their hostels a week or less before check-in. While the prices are basically the same whether you book an hour or a year in advance, keep in mind that availability at those top-rated hostels can vanish quickly. (Looking at you, Carpe Noctem Budapest!) Side note here, this is one of the most amazing hostels I've ever stayed at. When in Budapest... |
AuthorKevin Catarella ArchivesCategories |