The 3 questions to organize a trip: when, where and why
If you are wondering where to start planing a trip, you have to ask yourself some fundamental questions every single time you want to start planning it; regardless of whether it is a day trip or a transatlantic adventure lasting several weeks.
Let us see what these key questions are to define our journey.
When to go on a trip?
I am convinced that the first thing to do is to set some dates. If you do not set a certain date, you always risk postponing and saying “I’ll do it later!” This is not only true for travel but for many things that affect us every day in the life.
When to go on a trip is the first question you have to pose, because it also influences the next question “where to go”.
Going to Dubai in the middle of August means getting ready to be cooked like a tart in an oven: it would not allow you to see anything but the enclosed spaces with air conditioning. I had to go to Montreal, Canada in February: with minus thirty degrees below zero in Montreal outdoors, I hardly saw anything because after a few seconds my face was frozen.
That is why first you decide when and then all the rest.
Just as you have to decide on its duration. Can I go away for just one weekend? Alternatively, can I afford two weeks in the middle of the summer? Unless you buy a one-way ticket to the adventure, it is important to set the dates from when to when, because the duration affects also the destination. If you only have two or three days, perhaps the best choice is a location with a direct flight or easy to reach as not to spend the whole holiday travelling to get to a remote place. The shorter the duration, the shorter your range of action.
Where to on a trip?
Now that we have defined the period and the duration, we can focus on the choice of where to go. It seems like the discovery of hot water, asking yourself where to go, but it is the most important question that you have to answer to proceed with the organization of a trip.
It is the most stimulating question, the one that feeds our desire to see something new. Moreover, how can I answer this question? There are the ones who seek advice on the internet or through Google Maps; there are those who ask an opinion from a friend who has already been somewhere; those who rely on a travel agency for suggestion and those who simply think, “where have I still not travelled?”. Therefore, you can find the answer in various ways.
What I generally do: I take a small note when I hear someone speaking well of a particular place. It does not matter if go there immediately, after many years or never. I keep the note saved in the “place to visit” list, so when the time comes I will already have some basic ideas.
Then, some destinations are always actual: for example, visiting a European capital is already an answer to where to go, and then choose the one that I like the most.
Why go on a trip?
Now that we have decided to go on the first weekend of June (when) in Andalusia (where), each of the participants in the trip, rightly, have their say on what they want to do. Roberto wants to eat paella and try the tapas; Luca wants to see all the historical monuments, from the Alhambra to the gothic cathedral of Seville. Paolo wants to stay by the sea in Malaga enjoying the relaxation. Who is right? Everyone is because everyone wants to do what they like.
It is therefore important to define why you go to a certain place, as our response will influence the creation of the program. The larger the group, the more difficult is to find a program that suits everyone and therefore it will be necessary to compromise, perhaps varying the activities.
Why go on a trip? Because I want to do a food and wine tour, because I want to spend a week locked up in luxurious tourist village, because I want to discover the history of the place or because I have to disconnect from everyday life. If you go back to the choice of the European capital, in general, you can find everything and more, so here is the importance of having a clear idea of why you go to a specific place.
Some people went to Venice to drink a coffee at Caffè Florian: they had a reason too!
Ready to organize the trip
If you have an answer to the three basic questions explained above, you can proceed with the real organisation of the trip, which, in my opinion, consists of three successive steps:
- Logistics: how do I get there? For example, I chose the period (three days), where to go and what to do… but I find out that the flight, from my city or nearby, flies only once a week. Here is the unexpected that makes you start from scratch.
- Find out if there is accomodation availability during yourchosen period. If you choose Munich for the weekend of the Bauma fair, if you are lucky, you will find accommodation over 100km from the city: another unexpected!
- Check what you can do. It is interesting to find out which are the events evolving (or if there are any in fact) in the period you chose in that specific destination. If you have reached this point, then it means that you have already entered the heart of organizing your trip.
Where, when and why. I start organising my trips all in this way.
Do you have other key question to decide on a trip?
