My first trip to Europe -and first ever vacations out of my country- was through a touring company. I visited Madrid, Paris, Brugges, Amsterdam & Berlin over the course of 10 days. While the experience was great, the schedules were sometimes too tight and there was little time to explore the destinations on my own. After moving to Barcelona, I began coordinating my trips and traveling on my own. I fell in love with being a solo traveler as it gave me the freedom I needed to go at my own pace and visit the exact places I wanted.
Planning your trips allows you to:
- Choose your exact destinations – when booking a tour with a travel agency, it is very common that these trips have fixed destinations. They may include some of the places you want to visit but also leave others out. Planning your own trips ensures that you are going exactly where you want to.
- Make your own itinerary – you decide where to go and for how long to stay there. Pre-made trips come with a strict itinerary and very few – if any – free days. You will spend a lot of time in the bus and less time walking through the cities. Making your own itinerary will help you assign more time for activities you enjoy.
- Choose the best dates – similar to the destinations issue, travel agencies offer trips on specific dates. This leaves you with few options and might make your trip more expensive.
- Choose your lodging – accommodation can take a big part of your budget. Tour companies often arrange accommodation at 3-star hotels or more. This may be great for travelers who seek a lot of comfort but for the traveler on a budget, it represents an often unnecessary expense. Booking your own accommodation opens more cost-effective possibilities such as B&Bs, Inns, Airbnb apartments or hostels.
- Stay on budget – when you are in control of the details mentioned before, that flexibility often results in a reduction of the overall cost of your trip.
A lot of people are afraid to plan their trips and prefer to hire a travel agency as they think the process is too overwhelming or time-consuming. It doesn't have to be.
Chase the Feeling’s Travel Planner
If you are ready to take on the challenge of creating your next trip, I am excited to share with you my latest creation: Chase the Feeling’s Travel Planner. It is aimed at all independent travelers who want to plan the trip of their dreams without missing any detail.
It includes over 40 pages that you can fill with information about:
- Destinations
- Places to visit
- Price comparison
- Daily itinerary
- Packing List
- Outfit Planner
- Travel checklist
- Budget Planner
Also it comes with checklists that will help you remember what information you should collect, what destination details are important to know and packing list recommendations.
The Travel Planner is available in two designs -for men and women- as the packing recommendations vary. Both versions feature adaptations of my trips' photographs to create a unique design. It is currently available as a digital product so you will get it as an instant download.
Get yours here: Floral Paradise | Blue Skies
Reader’s discount
As a Chase the Feeling reader, you can take a 10% discount on a Planner purchase. Just enter the code LOVETRAVEL18 at checkout until February 14, 2018 at midnight (UTC -4).
I am very excited to launch this travel planner as it is the result of long hours of design to create a useful product. Don't forget to let me know if you like it! 😄 Leave a comment below, tweet me at @krystel_k or visit our instagram @chasethefeelingblog.
