How to Plan a Round-the-World Trip
If you are planning a trip around the world, the two things you can always be sure of is that you need to start your planning early and you need to be flexible in case you can’t get the exact dates for travel and accommodations to match up. A trip around the world with several stops along the way will take a great deal of preparation, so be ready to spend a good deal of time making your arrangements. While you could always go through a travel agent, you are likely to find that you can get the best deals by booking on travel sites because the prices won’t reflect the commission travel agents make.
Map Out Where You Want to Stay
While some people take an entire summer to travel around the world, a much longer trip is actually a nicer option. For this reason, many people wait until their retirement to plan their journey around the world because it gives them enough time to stay in the places they most want to see, at least once in a lifetime. The first step in planning your trips is mapping out your step-by-step destinations so that they make sense.
Decide How Long You Want to Stay in Each Location
Next, before booking any travel arrangements, decide how long you want to stay at each stop along the way. Some places may be of more interest to you, so you may wish to stay a week or two while other places you might only want to visit for a few days to get some shopping in or take part in a festival at that time of year. Give special attention to those places which are most important to you because, for one reason or another, you may need to omit a stop or two. You will also need to find affordable accommodations in those places.
What Mode of Travel Do You Desire
One of the most interesting parts of the journey you’ll plan will be how you will get from place to place. While you may take a cruise out of New York to London and fly the next few legs of your trip, it is important to decide which legs you want to travel by air, land, or sea. For example, you can book cheap flights from Kolkata to Bangkok (India to Thailand) and then take a cruise down the Gulf of Thailand to Singapore. The one great thing about an extended trip around the world with several stops is that you aren’t limited to train or plane or ship. You can do it all, so why not?
Finally, once you’ve chosen where you will stay and decided for how long at each stop, it’s time to really start nailing down your itinerary. Make sure there will be lodgings open on the dates you intend to travel and then match those dates with travel plans. You might need to do a bit of juggling with dates and timeframes due to availability, but your time spent now is well worth the effort when you get to see what a big and beautiful world we live in. If you’ve come this far, make sure you can spend as much time as possible. This is, after all, probably going to be a once in a lifetime trip so spend as much of that time as you can on your trip around the world.
