How to Not Over-Plan in Your Next Travel

A too-detailed itinerary would only stress you out. Planning out your itinerary by the hour would only leave you with a vague sense of failure, in the end. Planning itinerary that is too detailed is a one way ticket to disaster. It’s simply going to stress you out. So don’t!

But most people are also going to be stressed out when they don’t have anything planned. Not everyone can pull of “making it up as you go along”. Usually, it would either end up in anxiety-ridden planning or a half-cooked plan. So find a balance in between. Having plans is almost always better for most people wanting to travel.

Planning itinerary—What to do instead? 

Plan your itinerary using the method of grouping or categorizing. One of the ways of creating a realistic itinerary that you’d actually follow is that when the list of those places or activities are actually convenient for you to do in a set amount of time you have. Plan a group of places or activities that you can do in one area. When your itinerary is realistic, it would be so much easier for you to follow through. This way, you’ll have several groups of todos that you can choose from.

Don’t stuff too much activities 

Give yourself one or a couple of extra days that are unplanned. When you’re planning, you’re in the mindset of creating “an ideal trip” and ideal rarely ever happens. For example, plan only 5 days of itinerary when you’re going on a seven days trip. This way, you can go back to do whatever activities or places you might have missed before. And not having too much things or places on your todos or itinerary would make it easier for you to go back to do it rather than feeling as if you missed something because you’re leaving something else out. Trust me, having so many missed points on your list is never a pleasant feeling!

Where to find inspirations for your activities and places to visit? 

Some people browse flights on places like Google Flights when deciding their destinations. A good airfare deal is sometimes all the push you need. And of course, browse various sites for ideas and inspiration from your best friend. By best friend, we obviously mean the internet. Sites like instagram and Pinterest are great places for you to find visual inspirations. 

Ask around in forums—be clear and specific about what you have in mind 

Generally, people on the internet have a lot of ideas they can recommend. But in order to get the most satisfying replies from those strangers, be specific about what you’re asking. You don’t have to know where or what exactly you’d like to do. But you can and should let them know of what types of activities you find engaging or fun in your past travel, what kind of place do you find relaxing, fun, or worth exploring? Sometimes, you’ll be surprised of what people recommend. They usually speak from their own experience, and what you’re getting would be something of a genuine experience.