5 Questions to Ask Before Planning Your Trip

So you've decided you want to vacation in Europe.  Maybe you've heard great things about one city or another, but you're about to spend a lot of money on a long flight, and you want to make it count.  Here are some of the things to consider on deciding where to go on this long trip.

1. Why are you going?
The most common question I get from people is where should I go?  My response is as equally general - why do you want to go?  I can offer great details on places to go, but you will always be disappointed if you don't satisfy the real reason you're traveling, so let's be honest for a second why do you want to travel?  And keep in mind that a lot of these come from unresolved issues in our lives, but that doesn't make the reason bad.  Truth is - life's hard, and we travel to get away and enjoy it for a change.  See my post about the 7 Types of People who Travel to see what kind of traveler you are.

2.Who are you traveling with?
This question goes along with the first.  You need to not only understand your reasons for traveling but those of your partner or group.  This is one of the easiest ways to completely destroy a vacation if you haven't communicated properly to your fellow travelers.  Personally, I have had this happen on a few occasions, where I have planned a great trip, but haven't communicated it effectively and have paid the price because I didn't plan for the other person.

On the other hand, don't let a little friction between colleagues or fellow travelers get you down.  People travel for different reasons, and sometimes the greatest thing you can do is be open to that fact. I really think travel is all about trying new things and opening new horizons, sometimes the easiest way to do that is being open to the ideas of people you're traveling with or of travelers you meet on the way.

3.Do you think you'll come back?
Another important questions on where you should go and what you should do.  Do you want your vacation to be high paced?  If you are not planning on returning, it probably should be so you can see all you can.  If you plan on coming back, then you should definitely take more time and go to fewer places.  This can also work in the way of countries and continent.  Do you plan on coming back to Europe?  What about Spain?  I would say hit as many places as you can the first time you go, the second time you can really think about this and go to your favorite country and on and on.

4.What time of year are you going?
Most people don't really think about this since part of the problem is you found vacation time right then, or you found a really good flight deal, but this can really change where you plan to go on a trip.

For example, let's say I found a great travel deal to fly to Paris is early December and without thinking, I bought it.  Well, Paris is kind of ugly in early December.  So I'd go ahead and buy a cheap plane ticket from there to somewhere farther north or to mountains where they'd already have snow.

Your trip might look like this

5.How do you want to travel?
Another usually neglected aspect of travel is how you want to get around.  People often just think well I can take a bus, or rent a car, or take taxis, but figure out how you want to travel because maybe you're going through Switzerland, and it really is worth spending money on a train pass because you want to take the awesome train through the Alps.

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