Travel Guides

Five benefits of planning your travel route

Tuesday 10 August 2010

By Dominic Welling

dominicwelling@consumerchoices.co.uk

Forward planning is a good idea whatever you are doing, but if you are travelling around the world then it is practically essential.

You’ll need to figure out some fundamentals before you set off to explore the planet - Where are you going to go? How are you going to get there? How are you going to pay for it? What essentials do you need to take with you?

The main thing to remember is to plan for your trip at least one or two months in advance as this way you will get the best rates for things like hostels and travel fares.

So although there are many things to be thinking about here are five key things to consider.

1. Where to go?

Where to go is clearly entirely up to you, it is after all your dream trip, however no matter where you want to go - be it Latin America, Europe, Asia or Australia - planning your route is a necessity.

Take a couple of months to research the countries and cities you are headed to and research how to get from place to place as well.

Seek out the quickest routes if you have time constraints, or find the more scenic and off the beaten track ways to get there if you have all the time in the world.

It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you have a plan in your head before you set off. Figure out how long it takes to get from place to place, and how much you want to do and see in each place so you know roughly how long you are likely to be spending there.

By planning a route you will maximise your time and probably head off any unwanted additional expenses at the same time.

2. Getting there?

So now you’ve established where you are going, the next phase is to figure out how you’re actually going to get there...

Air fares – The likelihood is that you will need to fly somewhere at some point on your trip, and again, the further ahead you plan and book, the cheaper the flights will be.

There are a number of companies out there that cater for students when it comes to finding decent student airfares.

Probably the most well known and reliable are STA travel (www.statravel.co.uk) and Endsleigh (link), which are specialist student travel agencies, offering many good deals – just so long as you can prove you are actually a student or under 26.

Train tickets –Trains are a great way to get around when you are travelling, not least for the amazing views you can get from passing through different landscapes, but they also tend to be reliable and less expensive.

You can also book your train tickets well in advance meaning they are even cheaper and you don’t have to worry about keeping cash aside for each leg of your journey.

Special student travel tickets come in all shapes and sizes.

If you are travelling around Europe for example, the most common is an InterRail ticket.

This comes as a book of prepaid tickets for certain zones in Europe and is valid for certain time periods. You simply fill in the route as and when you get on a train. (Be warned though some high speed trains can be excluded from these tickets.)

To give you an idea of prices, a 2nd class student InterRail ticket for one continuous month covering the whole of Europe costs around £335 (€400).

On another note, InterRail tickets are for European citizens only.

For those who are not European citizens the equivalent is a Eurail pass, which essentially works in just the same way.

It is also worth remembering that these tickets will not cover journeys on the Eurostar, which will cost extra.

Obviously there are other train ticket deals throughout the world, too many to list here, but that is where taking the time to do some planning before setting off travelling will pay off.

Coach/Bus– for those who do not fancy flying or taking the train, there is also the option of taking a coach or bus.

Similarly to trains, there are many different types of tickets which will end up saving you a fortune.

Alternatively there are also companies such as Busabout, which provides a hop-on hop-off bus service throughout Europe.

Across the globe there are a number of other companies worth checking out as well such as Eurolines, Megabus, and Greyhound – all of which will offer student deals.

Once again aim to book in advance where possible to cut down costs.

3. Accommodation?

Your best bet will be to hunt out some hostels in each of the places where you plan on staying before you set off.

Hotels will cost too much and are not really necessary for a backpacker.

That said some more obscure places will probably not have a hostel in which case you may have to find a budget hotel.

Remember you can even camp in some places, which is definitely worth doing where possible – again this is all about research and planning before you head off.

So see what the options are and plan your trip accordingly - by booking in advance you will again cut costs significantly.

Take your time, research the different hostels, and look at customer reviews – interestingly some budget hostels can be of better standard than run down pricy hotels.

Another thing to think about is whether you have any friends, family or acquaintances who live anywhere along your planned tour of the world.

If you do then call them and arrange to stay with them – this will save you some cash and you will also be able to reap the benefits of some local knowledge.

Another thing worth looking out for is couch surfing – www.couchsurfing.com – which is a worldwide network that connects travellers with members of local communities, who offer free accommodation. It will save you heaps and you get to meet new people at the same time. But take all the recommended safety precautions.

4. Money issues...

Maybe you have saved long and hard for this trip and worked all sorts of hours for the last year or so to afford it.

Maybe you have simply saved enough for a plane ticket and plan to find various different temporary jobs on your travels to keep you afloat.

Or maybe you are one of the lucky ones who have been given money for your trip as a gift.

Either way, you will still have to budget and make the most of whatever money you have.

This is where planning ahead can come in very handy.

Know which countries more expensive than others for things like food, drink and accommodation and also how long you are likely to be there. At least this way you can have a rough idea of how far you money will go.

Also factor in whether you’ll need to buy extra bus or train tickets in certain places, not to mention trams and metro tickets and even taxis - it all adds up.

Another thing to research is what different currencies you will be using during your trip.

Check out the sort of exchange rates to expect - not only will this help with budgeting for your trip but you can then start thinking about what you will take with you in terms of credit cards, debit cards, travellers’ cheques and cash.

5. Insurance

And finally don’t scrimp on insurance. Plan what activities you will be doing on your travels and make sure they are covered.

There are hundreds of different travel policies out there so compare backpacker insurance to help you find the right policy for your trip.

It might cost slightly more than you had anticipated but at least it will actually cover you unlike a lot of cheap policies and it will be worth it when if you do come a cropper on your adventures.

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