Hi Reader,

Have you ever noticed how hard planning can be at the start? Or how long it takes?

It isn’t because of a lack of information; it is more about how much planning is required and how many decisions there are to make.

The main questions we see:

• Where should we go?
• How long should we spend there?
• What’s the best route?
• Where should we stay?

You’ll notice it’s easy to jump straight into all the details before you’ve even decided on the basics.

Honestly, it was the same for us when we started out travelling together.

We’d spend hours just researching destinations, looking at accommodation, and trying to piece together our perfect little itinerary.

Over the years, we’ve realised something that has completely changed how we approach planning.

Good trip planning isn’t about answering every question. It’s about answering the right questions first.

What we have learnt is to start at the beginning. Instead of looking at hotels, transport or things to do all at the same time. Instead, we follow a journey from start to finish.

Firstly, we start with these three simple decisions:

Where do we want to go?

This isn’t about creating the perfect itinerary straight away. It’s simply about deciding on a destination or type of experience we’re looking for.

Are we craving beaches, culture, adventure, food, nature, a city break, or something completely different?

Once we have a destination in mind, we then question…..

What’s our rough budget?

This doesn’t need to be worked out down to the last penny right now.

But thinking about a realistic budget range simply helps guide the decisions we make later and helps us focus our research.

When do we want to travel?

The time of year and how long we have available can completely change what destination makes sense.

A two-week trip to Sri Lanka is very different to a long weekend city break, and knowing your timeframes helps everything else fall into place.

These three simple steps can save so much time and stop you feeling like you’re going around in circles.

So, if you’re currently planning your next trip, try this before doing any more research.

Just take five minutes to write down:

One destination idea

One rough budget range

One ideal month to travel

That’s it.

You don’t need every detail figured out today. You just need somewhere to start.

If you’d like to see what we do next, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide that walks you through our entire planning process, from the first idea right through to booking.

​Read our guide: How to plan an independent trip (step by step).​

We’d love to hear from you….

Are you someone who enjoys the research stage of planning a trip, or do you find yourself getting stuck knowing where to begin?

Or maybe you’re currently planning a trip and have a question you’d like some help with?

Just hit reply and let us know. We always love helping out.

Happy travelling

Bev & Shams

P.S. One more thing before you go…

Don’t forget to stay safe online while travelling. We use NordVPN whenever we’re connecting to Wi-Fi abroad, and it’s become one of our travel essentials.

Stay safe online with NordVPN.​

Email: bev@bevandshams.com

Website: www.bevandshams.com​

FREE 5 Step trip planning checklist – It has everything you need to plan your next trip from start to finish

​Download it here​

Useful links:​

Resources: www.bevandshams.com/travel-resources/​