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Learn how professional travel advisors plan amazing vacations for their clients. Step-by-step guidance on how to plan a trip like a pro including resources and links to help you every step of the way.
With COVID playing havoc with travel this year, it's never been more important to be super organized and careful with planning. This is how pros plan around COVID restrictions to make travel less stressful this year.
Mentioned in the video:
How to find cheaper flights - https://youtu.be/-SYrU2B_WBw
Google Explore Tool - https://bit.ly/3sz6IzU
Priority Pass (Airport Lounges) - https://bit.ly/3yKcSi4
Luggage Shipping - https://www.lugless.com/
Travel Insurance Article - https://www.craftedtravelco.com/travel-insurance
Planning books and resources - https://www.craftedtravelco.com/products-services
Chapters:
0:00 Why You Need to Know How to Plan A Trip Like a Pro
0:42 Two Options for Travel Planning This Year
1:34 Travel Planning Resources
1:50 Pre-Planning Steps That Make a HUGE Difference
3:34 How to Get Destination Inspiration
5:30 Find COVID Travel Requirements
6:14 How to Research Your Destination
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0:00
So if you're thinking of going on vacation, unfortunately, long gone are the days where you can simply pick a package online or sign up for the latest deal you saw on Facebook and then just call it a day
0:10
With COVID travel today, you have to be far more deliberate in your choices and in how you plan your vacation
0:17
If not, you might find yourself turned away at the border or getting stuck in quarantine or having some cancellations or delays that cause you a ton of money that you don't end up getting back because you've maybe chosen the wrong supplier to go with
0:30
It can be an actual nightmare right now. But if you have the right process and you know what you're doing, you can plan travel and
0:39
have it run as smoothly as possible. So when it comes down to what, you really have two options
0:45
Either use a professional travel advisor because they are experts in travel and know what to
0:51
look for and how to make sure all your eyes are dotted and your T's are crossed
0:55
They know which suppliers to go with that are reputable that will actually take care of you
0:59
if something happens, or if you want to do it yourself, then do it like the professionals do
1:05
And so that is what I'm going to be covering for you today. In my 15 plus years of being a travel advisor, I have created certain methods of how I plan travel
1:14
that allow me to craft really great vacations for my clients. And as COVID has happened, I've adapted those to include all of the different COVID travel
1:22
restrictions to make sure that everything is covered. I've taken all of that knowledge and I have boiled it down into 10 steps
1:29
for how to plan your trip. And that is what I'm going to share with you today. So let's go ahead and dive it
1:34
Now, real quick, before I jump into each of the 10 steps, I have created a resource for you that
1:39
walks you through all of this and includes some worksheets and some planning pages, as well as the
1:45
guides and the resource links and everything that you need. I'll talk about that again at the end of
1:49
the video, so stay tuned. All right, step number one is the pre-planning stage. What I want you to do in
1:54
this stage is to visualize what you want. You need to be 100% clear of the vacation. You need to be 100% clear
1:58
of the vacation that you are wanting to take. So that includes everything from do you want it to be
2:04
relaxing? Do you want to have activities every second of the day? Do you want to be in a mountain
2:09
location, a beach location? Do you want to experience one of the seven wonders of the world
2:14
Sit down and take some time to really think about what your dream vacation is going to be
2:21
We've all been stuck at home for so long. This first vacation, and if you're lucky enough that this is
2:26
maybe your second or third vacation since COVID started is so important for our morale and for
2:32
everything else. So take some time and make sure you're visualizing and really thinking about
2:37
what you want this vacation to look like. Because as you start looking at options, there are going to be
2:42
so many choices available. It's going to be really easy to fall down the rabbit hole and end up
2:47
far away from what you really want. So take the time to clarify what you really want so that as you
2:53
start researching your different options, you can zero in on the items that actually work for your
2:58
needs. The next step is to decide on your budget. Know in your head how much you can afford
3:03
how much you're willing to spend on your flights, your lodging, the activities, food, buying
3:10
souvenirs, all of the things you want to do. Sit down and plan out the ballpark of what you're
3:15
wanting to spend. Because again, once you start looking at the different options, it's going to be
3:20
really easy to see something a little nicer and a little more luxurious and a little nicer
3:25
And then the next thing you know, you're going to be spending a lot more than you intend to. So take the time to write down and think through about how much you're willing to spend for each of
3:33
the items on your vacation. All right. The next part of this is to be inspired
3:37
Unless you already know where you want to go, one of the greatest ways to think of some new
3:42
ideas within your budget is to go to Google Flights. And I actually have that right here for you
3:46
And the reason I like using Google Flights is for this feature here, which, is the explorer destinations. What this allows you to do is to set your price point, and let's just
3:56
say you are willing to spend, let's say, 500 on your flights. And then you can say what you're
4:02
leaving airport is. I'm just going to say LAX for our purposes. And then you can also say how long
4:08
you want your trip to be, because it's going to depend. If you're gone for a weekend, that might be a
4:13
different price point or a different combination of prices to look for than if you're going
4:17
for a week, Google's going to look for a different combination of prices for you
4:22
So for these purposes, what I'm going to say is look out for the next six months
4:26
I could travel any time these next six months. And I'm going to go for a week
4:30
And we click done. And what this is going to do is tell me what the best rates are within that price point
4:36
that I have created in all of, in this case, it's America
4:40
But if I were to zoom out, it gives me the entire world. So this is a great way to look through and say, okay, where can I go for
4:47
about $500 if that's what I was wanting to spend. And if you see here over the next six months
4:52
you can actually go to London, you can go to Tokyo. Now, I mean, it depends on what COVID is
4:57
but if COVID's not a situation, these are all of the different places that you could visit around
5:02
the world. And then over here on these, over here on this side is where it's going to give you
5:07
some more information about that flight. So for instance, the flight to London, it'll let you know
5:12
what airlines are available for that, and then a little bit about what you can do in that level
5:17
So I love using this as inspiration to help me find out what's possible for my vacation or my
5:24
clients' vacations based on A, what you're visualized and B, what your budget is going to be
5:29
All right. The last part of the pre-planning stage is to check your COVID and travel requirements
5:35
So say you decided, okay, yeah, I want to go to London. You want to look at the travel restrictions there and make sure that you are a willing to do it that you have what you need in order to go and that you comfortable doing what it is that they want you to do So as you know right now there a ton of requirements for vaccinated individuals
5:52
Sometimes you can get in if you're not vaccinated with testing. And there's also sometimes testing once you arrive
5:58
Sometimes there's quarantines. You want to look at all the information now and decide if it's worth it for you to go or
6:06
if maybe you should pick a different destination. So take that information and start to narrow down where you think you want to go based on all four of these steps
6:15
Step number two is to begin researching your destination. So what you're going to do at this stage is you've already looked at what the travel restrictions are and you're okay with those
6:24
But the next thing you want to do is start taking a look at the specific destination
6:29
If we're using London again, what you want to do if you've never been there before is start looking at YouTube and Google and looking for videos
6:37
on YouTube or blog posts on Google that talk about London, talk about the different neighborhoods
6:42
talk about the things to do, talk about where to stay, what hotels are good, what's bad
6:47
safety concerns, currency, all of the details regarding the destination that you're wanting to go to
6:52
This is where you're going to take all of the information that you find and start making notes
6:57
Note done anything of interest, anything that you see that you really want to do, any tips that
7:03
anybody has shared with you, you want to have a big brain dump and write everything down
7:07
And if you're trying to decide, for instance, if between London and Tokyo, do it for both
7:13
And then you can start, you'll start to get a feel for which one is going to be the better fit for you based on what you're seeing in your research
7:20
All right. Now you've done all of this research. You might think the next step is to start booking
7:24
And now is not the time to start booking. You want to hold your booking and reservations do not do anything yet
7:33
Instead, what we're going to do is we're going to start a rough draft of our I
7:37
Now, the reason I do this is because a lot of times I've sat down to craft an itinerary for a client
7:43
and lo and behold, I find out that there's a specific activity they're wanting to do, and it happens to be closed on when they were wanting to go, and I have to rework everything
7:52
Or we think we want to stay in this hotel, but it's actually really far away from all the activities we want to do
7:59
So we might want to switch the hotel to something closer. Or we might find that an airport that we're flying into is way far away from where we want to be
8:07
And there's another airport that might work better, or at least open up the options of other
8:12
airports, which is one of the secrets to being able to have cheaper airfare is to be more
8:17
flexible on your airports and your dates. But that's another video, which I'll link below
8:22
So that's why I want to create it as a rough draft first, before I reserve anything
8:27
because I don't want to lock myself into anything until I know exactly what I want and that
8:32
everything is available and everything is working the way I need it to work based on my, my
8:37
vision of what I want my vacation to be. So one of the things that you're doing when you're doing
8:41
your itinerary rough draft is all of those notes you had, you probably had, you know, 50 different
8:46
things you wanted to see in a bunch of different hotel options. You want to play around with that
8:50
Play around with the different options. If you're going to certain activities, you want to check
8:54
and make sure they're going to be open when you're there. If you have to have tickets ahead
8:57
of time, if there's reservations you can make. Because during COVID travel, you need to make sure
9:03
you're making all of your reservations, buying all your tickets, appointments, everything ahead of time
9:07
If you wait until you get to that location, it might be sold out, they might be closed
9:11
the hours might change for COVID, something like that. So you want to, when you're making your rough draft, your itinerary rough draft, you want to make
9:18
sure you've done all that pre-work and know exactly what's open, what's available, and what you
9:22
can do. The other thing when you're making those itinerary rough drafts is if you are going to someplace
9:26
day like Spain that has siesta's, making sure that you're not planning anything during
9:31
the siesta, little things like that. Or if there's a national holiday that you need to plan around, or if you are going to
9:37
somewhere where the time change is significant. For instance, if you are on the mainland of the
9:42
U.S. and you're going to Hawaii, you're going to probably wake up early that first morning
9:47
So planning those early, early morning activities would be perfect on that first day. So consider all
9:54
of those things when you're crafting your itinerary because they will all make a huge difference
9:58
in the ultimate experience that you will have of your vacation and how smoothly everything runs
10:03
All right. So don't book it yet. Still, just hold on a second. I have two more
10:07
steps I want you to take before you book it. The next one is to call your concierge at the hotel you're
10:13
going to or you think you want to go to or honestly any of the hotels in the destination that you're
10:19
wanting to go to. The reason you do this is to get a treasure trove of information. You can find out
10:25
more information about places that they recommend, activities, things to do. You can find out about
10:30
local customs as far as, for instance, a currency. If you are going to a foreign country, can you
10:36
use credit card. Do you need to have cash? Transportation. Can you walk places? Do you need a car? Do you need
10:41
a train? They can give you that inside information to really help cover all of the logistics
10:47
all of the little things you might not be thinking of that will help make your vacation far more
10:52
smooth and far less stressful rather than getting there and not realizing, well, crud, I needed this
10:58
I didn't even know about it and I didn't bring it. So call that concierge ahead of time and pick
11:02
their brain and find out exactly what it is, the extra things that you should know to make
11:07
your vacation amazing. All right. And then the next step is to plug all of that information
11:10
you got with the concierge, plus all of the work you did on crafting your itinerary and come up
11:16
with your final plan. This is your adjusted final plan of what you'd like to have happen
11:20
All right Now that you have your entire plan and you know exactly what you want to do now is the time to go and book everything And I mean again everything that you possibly can When you booking your flights I made a video earlier about
11:32
how to find the cheapest airfare. And I'll link that below or above somewhere for you. If you want to
11:37
look for ways to be able to save even more money on your airfare, also book with reputable airlines
11:42
Right now, there are some airlines that are very good about cancellations and COVID and changes and
11:48
things like that, which are typically the U.S.-based airlines are typically very good, except for the
11:54
really cheap ones. For instance, Spirit is terrible at cancellations and changes. I would not go
11:59
with spirit. Some of the foreign airlines are a little bit behind. I know Aeromexico is a little
12:05
behind. I'm getting any kind of a refund. Even Air Canada, I hate to say it, but they've been
12:09
behind on giving refunds and helping with the changes. So just make sure you're going with a solid
12:14
reputable company that has had good policies with regard to cancellations and changes because
12:21
you're going to want to have that protection if something happens and you need to change these
12:26
So go ahead and make your flight reservations, make your hotel reservations
12:31
If at all possible, do the hotel so that you don't have to pay until you arrive, so you're
12:35
not paying now because you want to whenever possible have refundable reservations
12:40
Because as you know, things could change. everything changes. So if you could as much as possible, make them refundable reservations
12:48
And then for activities, even restaurants, things like that, you'll want to go ahead and make
12:52
your reservations. You'll want to buy tickets ahead of time if that's possible. Make appointments
12:57
ahead of time if you're doing like a spa or something like that. Make all the plans you possibly can
13:03
and then make sure you have all of that information recorded in a nice, easy place so that you can access
13:08
it easily when you're on vacation. All right. So you're almost there. Now that you've booked
13:12
it, you really want to start thinking of, okay, have the trip. How can I make this just a little bit
13:17
better, a little bit smoother, a little bit more comfortable for everybody that is going on this
13:22
vacation with me? And the answer to that, and honestly, this is the biggest trick that
13:27
travel agents can offer is knowing this. It's logistics. It is going over all of the tiny little
13:35
details that if you were to have just bought a vacation package on Expedia, you wouldn't think
13:40
of these things or you wouldn't cover these things. But these little tiny details is going to be the
13:45
difference between arriving and being stressed out because you didn't know about something and just
13:50
already having it planned and smooth and ready to go. And so when I say logistics, I mean all the little
13:55
details. Think through your vacation now that you have your itinerary. Think through every single day
14:01
and start thinking about what you want to experience each day. So from the moment you leave your
14:07
your house and you go to the airport, what is going to make that process smoother
14:13
Getting to the airport early, for sure, because lines are insane right now
14:17
But could you maybe ship your luggage ahead of you? There are shipping services that will ship your luggage to your destination so you're not
14:25
lugging it through the airport or dealing with overhead bins or checking in and all
14:29
of those different things. Would that be a service that would be helpful to you
14:34
Would you like to use one of the first class lounges in the airport? There are services such as Priority Pass, which I have a link for down below, where you buy a membership and it gives you access to several different first class lounges all over the world
14:47
So you can have a first class lounge when you're leaving, when you're returning home and any place you stop along the way
14:54
Would that be something that would help give you some comforts, some more relaxation and just set the tone for a far better vacation
15:03
And then once you arrive, have you made transportation arrangements? Do you know how you're going to get from the airport to your hotel
15:11
Do you have money for a tip? Will you need a credit card? Will you need cash
15:15
What the currency is and how you're going to plan for that? Safety
15:19
Is it going to be safe for you to walk to your hotel or to the activities
15:25
Think about each day and the activities you want to go to, make sure you have the transportation covered for how you're going to get everywhere
15:32
that you know any safety issues, you know what cash or currency you're going to need
15:36
or credit card you're going to need. Also, anything of convenience. Is there anything you can plan
15:40
for at the hotel that will make that stay more convenient for you? Any reservations or appointments
15:46
that will help you to have it planned ahead of time and reserve so you don't have to worry about
15:50
not getting access once you arrive. Just again, think of every single day and what you could do
15:56
to add to it to make it a little more special, a little more comfortable, and stress-free. Another
16:02
thing you will want to do is leave copies of the important information with someone you trust
16:06
at home. Copies of your passport, your credit cards, anything of importance of your it
16:11
itinerary. Leave it with someone you know at home. That way, if they get lost or stolen or
16:16
something happens, you have copies that the trusted person at home can send to you if necessary
16:22
It's just a little safety trick that we've always recommended to everybody just in case
16:26
Hopefully you'll never ever need to use that. And then the final logistic, and I swear to you
16:31
the most important logistic that you need to do, I highly recommend this
16:36
And that is travel insurance. If you're not sure, depending on where you're going, if you need it or not, I've actually
16:42
created this article on our website, which I'll share a link for below
16:46
But it talks about whether or not travel insurance is necessary. And it walks you through your situation, what travel insurance covers, what it doesn't
16:54
But the bottom line is if you're traveling internationally this year, get travel insurance
17:00
period the end. You need to have travel insurance. It help cover you if there are cancellations or you changes to your travel plans they will help you get that new flight They will help you get that refund They will be your advocate in making sure everything runs smoothly If something gets lost or
17:16
stolen, they will give you money to help replace that. They will help you to get, say, for instance
17:21
a new passport if your passport is stolen. If something happens with COVID, they can help you to get
17:26
medical care. They can help you to get home. It's you just, I cannot stress enough, especially if you're
17:33
going internationally, how vital travel insurance is. And if you talk to any other travel advisor
17:38
if you talk to any supplier, if you talk to any embassy, they're all going to tell you the same
17:42
thing. Especially right now with COVID travel, you really, really should protect yourself and buy
17:48
travel insurance. The article that I'm going to share with you has how you can purchase
17:53
insurance and what your different options are. We have one that we recommend. If you're interested
17:58
in them, I've linked them below. The reason we recommend them is they do have some COVID protections
18:02
not all of them do, but this one does. And they also have some protection against certain activities
18:07
which not all of them do. So you do want to read the fine print when you're making your decision
18:11
Again, this article is linked below and has all of those links and all of that detail. So now you've settled the logistics. So the next big step is going to be taking care of all of your COVID
18:21
your travel restrictions, your COVID travel situation. So that is getting all your testing done
18:26
Even if you're going to a country that does not require testing, like say you have a vaccine and you're going somewhere
18:31
and they don't need testing in addition, we highly recommend that you get testing anyway
18:36
Just in case, if you are tested and you get there and someone has a question about it or doesn't
18:41
know if you have symptoms or something, you can have a negative test you can show them. It's just good to know for yourself
18:47
So you also know that you're not transmitting anything, but it's just kind of an extra piece
18:51
of security to make sure that you have all of your bases covered. So getting your negative testing, and usually it's within 72 hours, sometimes even sooner
18:59
but you should know that because you've already done your COVID. You already did your travel restrictions and you know what is required
19:05
If it's finishing up your vaccine, a lot of countries have requirements as far as either a health form or a travel form or a passenger locator form
19:15
In Hawaii, it's the safe travels form. There's a lot of pre forms that you need to fill out before you go with all of your data and information
19:25
And it's usually for every passenger that's going. make sure you complete all of those right now. And then printing out copies of your, well, bringing
19:34
your original vaccine card, if you have that, printing out copies of your test. If you have registered
19:38
for those passenger located forms, things like that. If there's a confirmation page, print that out
19:43
because if they can't find it, when you get there, at least you can have a printout of it and show
19:48
them that, no, I did register. Here's the confirmation of it. Here's the proof of it. You want to do all
19:53
of that right now and make sure you, or if you're testing, if it's, if it's, you know
19:57
know really early and you can't test yet, at least make your appointment. Make your reservation, find out where you want to test so that you have it all ready to go and you don't have to
20:06
rush at the last minute and not be able to find a place to get your test results in time. So take care
20:10
of that. Now, here's the other thing with COVID travel is you check the travel restrictions now
20:15
and but say you're not leaving for three months. You need to keep checking them because as you
20:20
know, COVID travel, COVID restrictions change literally daily. So make sure you're checking consistently
20:26
all the way up until it's time to travel. And quite honestly, once you go on your trip
20:31
keep a side eye on it because it might change your requirements coming back. Just so you know
20:36
if you're going internationally and say you're an American or any other country, honestly
20:40
you're going to have to test in order to get back into your country. Right now, if you're
20:44
American, you do have to have a negative test to get back. So just know that. And if you're
20:48
Canadian or Australian or British or whatever you are, chances are there's something you need to do
20:53
to get back into your home country. So make sure you're also, making your reservations to get your test in your destination so that you're ready to return home
21:02
So little things like that, make sure you're wrapped up tied in a bow. All your eyes are dotted and tees are crossed when it comes to COVID because that is going to be
21:09
the biggest resistance or the biggest issue of if you get turned away at the border or you get stuck
21:15
in a quarantine or you get stuck in another country and can't get home. All right. And my final step to all of the travel planning is to bring hard copies of everything
21:24
and again, all of the things I said for COVID, but also your hotel reservations, any activity
21:30
reservations or appointments, you'll want to print everything out and have hard copies
21:34
Because things are happening when they get to the airport and say your phone dies
21:39
say the scanner isn't working. Some of the countries are wanting to see hotel reservations
21:43
when you enter. They want to make sure you have hotel reservations. So it's just a good practice to be able to have all of those things printed out and ready to go
21:52
We actually have some resources to help you through everything I just said
21:55
It walks you through all of the steps. There's planning pages. There's worksheets, budgets, packing lists, everything
22:03
We've put it all into one place, including the resource links, which are QR codes
22:07
so it's easy to scan, and you can get everything that you need. And I have it in two different forms
22:12
And the first form is a digital form here, just a digital download that you can print out
22:17
And then the second is actual physical books that we have available on Amazon
22:21
if you would like to have an actual physical hard copy. The difference with the physical books is they have a journal at the end
22:27
so that that way if you keep a journal kind of person, at the end of your trip, you have a nice little keepsake of your vacation
22:34
I will link that below if that is something that you're interested in, or if we can support you in any way and offer you any kind of help or guidance
22:42
please feel free to reach out. These videos here will help you if you're planning any kind of vacation
22:46
and give you some guidance on what to do. And I want to thank you so much for stopping by
22:50
And other than that, we will see you on the next video. Take care. Bye-bye
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