Editorials

Tips for Planning a Long Travel Holiday

5 July 2018

By Lauren E. White

While most 18-year-olds head off to Magaluf or Zante for their summer holidays, some choose to do something a little different and disappear from the UK for a month or so. Guess which one I ended up doing? Yeah, the disappearing for a month one. Such trips aren’t as easy to plan as ones to the party capitals of Europe, so I thought I’d help future travellers out with some tips for planning a long travel holiday.

  1. Start early

I genuinely don’t believe you can start planning a travel holiday for an extended period of time early enough. We began in October and officially started planning in December when we bought our tickets. We disappear this summer. So we had a good bit of time, but when you’re planning alongside A Levels, your summer gets put on the back burner.

So, start as early as you can.

  1. Delegate responsibilities

There’s nothing worse than hogs and logs in groups, but they’re always there. Those who do all the work and those who do none. Make sure everyone has a job to do so one person doesn’t get too stressed with organising a whole trip.

It’s fine to have a ‘leader’, but make sure you ask them if they need a hand from time to time.

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  1. Have regular meetings where everyone can attend

If you have a big group of people, meetings will be a struggle. We had five and it was hard work with that. A Levels and jobs aren’t easy to balance alongside planning a month-long trip in the summer. But you need to try.

Have regular meetings where everyone can be there to do actual research and bookings of flights, trains, hostels/hotels and attractions. This means everyone’s on the same page and it’s a group effort.

  1. Pay everyone back ASAP

Chances are, one person’s card will be used to do bulk bookings, which is fine. Luckily, my group are great with transferring money over and it’s important because it shows mutual respect and trust. This will also be important when you go away.

Make sure if you’re not paying with your card that you show common courtesy and decency and pay the person back ASAP.

  1. Make a booklet of everything you’re doing and everywhere you’re going

Organised holidays have an itinerary/booklet of places to visit and see, so it’s important that you have one too. Collaborate on making a booklet of all booking confirmations, things to do in different places and the addresses and contact details of everywhere you’re staying and everyone you’re going with.

It’ll be a life-saver – I promise!

Happy travelling!

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