This month, we travel to Asia for a 3 week trip. We land in Bangkok airport on a Saturday afternoon and we leave the same airport 3 weeks later, I have a short list of ‘if we get time I’d like to see’ but we are going with the intention of seeing where the wind takes us.
Free-styling our trip got me thinking, how many people are comfortable to travel with no concrete itinerary? So here I’ve put together my top tips of how to plan for an unplanned trip abroad.
1. Visa’s – It’s important to research your Visa requirements prior to taking flight, if your visiting Asia and hoping to visit Thailand, Laos & Vietnam then your best chance is to make sure you’ve applied for all required before your trip. I use this easy website when researching entry requirements http://www.projectvisa.com/
2. Event Dates – if you’re travelling to a particular country in the hope of catching an event whist your there then your best to work around that date. We want to visit the Full Moon Party in Thailand so although we don’t plan anything else, we allow time and travel for getting to the area for the dates required.
3. Hotel Apps – download all the helpful hotel booking apps to your mobile. I personally have Booking.com and Expedia downloaded on my phone for easy booking when we need them.
4. Packing – keep all your travel belonging in your day time bag, that way you’re not scrambling for documents in your hold all whilst you’re sat in the local cafés.
5. Currency – take a small amount of currency for each of the countries you intend to visit, that way if you don’t get the time to stop for cash before you catch a flight you’re not caught out with no money for food or a cab.
6. Trip Advisor – utilise the ‘photos taken my travellers’ section when looking to book your hotel, you don’t have a great deal of time to research so a quick flick through travellers comments and snaps is ever so helpful!
7. Phone – keep a smart phone close by, that way you can keep an eye on your flight times, bus & train timetables, hotel addresses to show the taxi drivers and Google Maps for when you go it alone.
8. Camera – unplanned trips often lead you off the beaten tracks, that’s where you’ll come across the most beauty! Keep a camera for unscheduled photo shoots!
Have you any tips on this topic! We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Just letting you know that there is a typo in the image – How to plan AND…
Thanks Joe! Nice spot, I best get that sorted asap 🙂