Let’s plan a trip!

This email will be one massive example: I’m going to randomly pick a city then plan a trip there. I’ll walk through the whole process and then, at the end, I’ll put together a conclusion and a list of steps and tips (if you just want to see the bullet points).

I used ChatGPT to give me a randomly generated city in either Europe or North America with a population of at least 250,000. Let’s go to…..

Lyon, France

This will be fun.

Just for this example, I searched for the best time to visit France, and Google told me the best weather is April through October. Not super helpful. I then looked up what times are least crowded, and I got Spring and Fall. For this example, I decided to pretend like I’m taking this trip for my birthday (not quite Fall but close enough):

August 23-30, 2023 - Find a flight

I like using Google flights for this. Below is what that looks like. Price for those days is $1,194 for one person.

When I click “price graph” it shows me this sort of bar graph. Each bar represents a different departure date. You can see that if I travel about a month later, the price drops to $840.

Another thing you can do easily here is change the number of days for the trip. Here it is after I change it to 6 days. You can see right away that the cost jumps up to $1,784. Whoa. Let’s stick with our original dates, eh?

Step 1: Make a MASTER LIST

When I plan a trip, I do a lot of Googling. For each Google search, I click 1-3 of the results. (You’ll get a feel for it - start with 3 at first!) I look for things that are not sponsored and also 1-2 small blogs. If I see something from Trip Advisor or Yelp, I’ll check that out too.

NOTE: Don’t try to plan a trip in an afternoon! Take your time!

Here are some things to search (for each of these, add “in _____” for the place you’re headed):

• best things to do

• best things to do with kids

• best free things to do

• non touristy things to do

• best playgrounds

• best parks

• best outdoor things to do

• best rainy day activities

• best photo ops

• best local food

• best dessert

• best coffee shop

• calendar of events

• tourist traps

• things tourists should know before visiting

• things not to do

• coolest things to see nearby (I’m skipping that for this example, but it’s especially great if you’re road tripping!)

This list is not complete! I add new things each time I plan a trip, it seems. But it’s plenty for planning a great trip.

I will not break down every single one of these, but I’ll go through the first one in detail, for this example. The rest of them, I will show the end result only. Don’t worry: this will be an almost-fully-planned trip by the end of this email! (Just no lodging!)

Best things to do

When I Googled this, here’s what popped up for me:

That first result, Trip Advisor, is jam packed. There are a ton of suggestions and all have ratings, which is helpful. This is highly personal. Since this is an example for me, I’ll stick to things I would actually want to do. One option that came up was a half-day walking food tour: that sounds great if it were just me and Cam, but I think the kids would either get bored or restless. There are plenty of other options, so we’ll skip that one.

I right-click and open each of the top choices in new tabs.

Read reviews. Read descriptions. What works for you and your family? Write ‘em down in an online document. I have made the mistake of saving an itinerary in a document on my computer, and then I forgot to send it to myself! So all my hard work was gone when we actually took the trip.

Repeat that process for the other Google results.

Here’s what I had so far!

I will do the same process for every one of the Google searches I mentioned above. This step takes me about 2 hours, usually!

Here is what I have after going through all the Google searches:

I don’t know about you, but I really want to take this trip now!

NOTE: I’m not going to look for a hotel. What I usually do is use Priceline, Expedia, Airbnb, or Vrbo, and I start by selecting 2 bedrooms and a pool. Then I deselect the pool if there aren’t a lot of results.

Specific note about Lyon: Everything is saying to stay near the Centre of the city for lodging! I’d be sure to include that location in my lodging search parameters as well.

Step 2: Pare down your master list

There are a few ways you want to do this.

1. Take note of the MUST DOs for you. I used an asterisk for them in my master list.

2. Go through every single thing and find out the hours of operation and admissions. Some things are closed on certain days.

3. Don’t over-plan! Leave some wiggle room. Edit edit edit. For this trip, I’ll pick about 5 big things plus a few little things.

As I was doing my searches, I saw the same suggestions pop up many times, from various searches. Those jump out at me, and I added the asterisk to them. Also, if I see amazing images and descriptions, I’ll take a mental note.

Do NOT delete things from your master list. Just make a new list or bold the pared down items. That way, you will not lose your work, ya know?

Here’s my pared down list. Notice that I added any hours, prices, or anything that is helpful to know. (It isn’t too much different, really!)

Step 3: Make your itinerary!

Use everything you’ve gathered to create a LOOSE itinerary. But coming up with a plan that’s got 1 big thing and 1 small thing per day really helps. It gives us things to look forward to and also makes sure we aren’t trying to cram too much into any one day.

I try to start big and end big. What’s one thing I think we will LOVE? I start with that. And I save one big thing for the last day as well. Additionally, if time allows, I set aside one day for just wandering. It gives us some room to breathe and to relax. If you’re a go-go-goer, then just plan to your heart’s content!

It seems that Lyon is easy to get around without a car, so I am not terribly worried about where things are on a map. If you’re traveling to, say New York City, you don’t want to plan a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge AND a trip to Harlem in the same day because they’re pretty far apart. You’ll waste a lot of time just traveling. It’s good to mark all your pared-down stops on a map just to get an idea of how to plan your days.

Here’s my Lyon itinerary:

That’s it, folks! It takes some time and thoughtfulness, but you can do it. It helps me feel prepared and excited for our trips!

Conclusion and bullet points

If you skimmed all that and just want to hear the condensed version, here are the steps:

1. Determine your destination.

2. Figure out the dates.

3. How will you get there? Find flights or a route. If you’re road tripping, see a few additional tips at the end!

4. Find a hotel. Use the internet to search for the most interesting and also the safest neighborhoods.

5. Create your master list! I’ve got a lot of suggested search terms earlier in the email. For each search, click 1-3 results. Read through the suggestions and write down the ones that sound best for your family.

6. Pare down that list. You can’t do it all. What do you REALLY want to do?

7. Check out hours of operation and admission costs. Use that info to pare down your list a little more.

8. If you’re staying in a big city, use a map to figure out which spots are close to each other.

9. Use all that info to create an itinerary!

NOTE: One more good idea is to see if any of your social media friends live in the place you’re headed. They can offer some insider information! The only possible negative is that they might want to hang out with you, and you may not want that. But if you’re up for the hang, then there you go!

Bottom lines

This plan is to help you, not to stress you out!

You can’t do it all. This helps set you up for success, but it’s okay to change things and go with the flow.

You will miss something. No matter how much you read or research, there’s going to be a “can’t miss” restaurant or museum or whatever that you just didn’t find out about or somehow overlooked. That’s okay!

Have fun - it’s about fun, not about cramming in every last thing. If you don’t rest, you get grumpy, and then no one has fun.

A few more tips, for road tripping

If you are driving to your destination (which is what we usually do!), here are a few additional things I do.

1. Look at the possible routes on a map.

2. Plan a stop every 2-3 hours. If the route is 6 hours, plan to stop at least once.

3. I like to zoom in on the route. Then I slowly make my way along the route on my computer screen and whenever I come across a bold city name, I Google it. One way I tend to find a good stopping point is this: “best coffee shop in ______”. Another one is “best playground in ________”. A good stop for us has a nice coffee shop and/or a great playground. You can also look for “interesting thing to see in _______”. We once found a massive, weird slide in Tuscaloosa Alabama!

4. You can also try searching “best places to eat on I-20 West between Shreveport and Dallas”. The timing doesn’t always work out, but it’s a good starting point! (I’ve heard that ChatGPT is great for this as well.)

5. One more thing: Roadside America. If you’re in the USA, please check this out! There are SO MANY quirky things to see all over the country. You might find something that’s close enough to your route that it’s worth the detour!

I think that’s all!😅 I’ve been planning trips for us for over a decade, and I’ve finally gotten pretty good at them.

I hope this helps some of you!

Happy adventuring 🥰
Bethany

P.S. If you are from Lyon or France in general, please go easy on me. I did my best using the internet!