4 ways to make travel planning way less stressful
I know how stressful traveling can be. I’ve had my fair share of scares of missing flights (and actually missing flights), worrying I forgot something (and forgetting many somethings), and general pre-travel anxiety (eh, it’s normal!). Luckily, I’ve been able to create a supportive planning system to make travel planning and traveling run as smoothly as possible. But it wasn’t always like this...
For my first vacation as an adult, my best friend and I flew to New York City for a long weekend in January, shortly after we graduated college. Given our age and our newness into the workforce, this was what one would call a “low-budget trip”. Our plan was to crash on our friends couch in Hoboken, NJ, walk or take the subway as our method of transit, and do whatever ‘free’ things we could find, so obviously, checking a bag for the flight was definitely out of the question.
I remember packing my carry-on so fully that I had to sit on it in order to zip it closed. I mean - I was a Floridian heading to New York in the dead of winter...I had to pack all the sweaters despite the fact that we were only there for 3 full days.
Since that trip, between personal vacations and work trips, I have gotten on many planes and taken countless trips. And I have refined my travel planning strategy to make planning and being on vacation nothing but delightful. That means less anxiety, fewer squabbles with my husband, and more time enjoying the destination.
Keep reading for three ways that I have made travel planning less stressful:
Find a place to house all your information
Most of my career has been spent as a project manager. That means, I’m enthusiastically (because I don’t like the word ‘obsessively’) organized. I like to have all of my information in one place that is easily accessible. That includes travel information (flights, accommodations, car rentals, etc.), itineraries, and packing lists. Having a single place to go to for all information soothes my soul in ways I can’t even describe.
There are different ways you can go about this. Maybe you feel more comfortable with having physical documentation. You can write everything down, print your tickets and your hotel or car information and put it all in a folder that you bring on vacation with you and one person in your household is put in charge of keeping it all with them.
My Millennial self prefers going fully digital. The thought of fumbling through papers stresses me out, and thankfully I have found Notion, a super easy platform that I have customized to help me store everything I need to plan travel (and basically my entire life). I created a template just for travel that includes travel dates, itinerary list, packing lists, accommodation information, and maps to destinations (for road trips). The only thing I don’t keep there are my airline boarding passes - I add those to my Apple Wallet on my phone for easy access at the airport. Notion has an app for your computer and your phone so you can pull the information up anywhere. Since I started using it in 2021, I’ve planned a beach vacation in Mexico, a six-week long cross-country roadtrip with my husband and two dogs, and a multi-family nature-focused/hiking trip to Moab.
Having this single place where I can house all of my travel information is chefs kiss just the best. Best of all, Notion is free for personal use!
Establish a pre-tip to-do list
The older we get, the more responsibilities we seem to have, amiright? That means we have more things that we have to make sure are taken care of before we hit the road. Are all the dishes clean and trash taken out? Do we have a dog (and in our case, chicken) sitter? Is everyone up to speed on the plan? You know...just basic stuff to make sure all living beings stay alive, the house doesn’t burn down, and you get to where you’re going in one piece.
That’s where the pre-trip to-do list comes into play.
Make a list all the stuff that needs to happen before you leave. Big or small, if it’s in your head, put it on your list. Now my husband and I both work full-time so generally we split all responsibilities 50/50 (except for the planning - I do all of that). When I make our pre-trip to-do list, I just list everything out. I don’t make assignments - I get to what I have time to get to and so does he. That’s what works for us. However you may want to assign specific tasks to different members of your household and that’s cool too.
The point here is to just get all of those swirling, anxious thoughts out of your head and onto a piece of paper.
Don’t expect to “do it all”
The ability to travel is a huge privilege and a luxury (no matter where we go). So when we travel, especially to a new or bucket list location, we want to see and do it all! The museum, the park, that really cool hike, the top 10 restaurants and coffee shops, the secret bar, the walking tour...
There’s just no way.
The first time I went to Europe, the plan was to go to four countries in 15 days. And we did it. But we were EXHAUSTED the entire freakin’ time. There were days where we couldn’t even enjoy what we were doing because we were so tired from doing all the things - and we didn’t even do everything I had planned. I absolutely learned my lesson on that trip.
Less plans, more space to just be there.
Fast forward to now - my itinerary planning is me writing down a bunch of activities or sites me and my travel crew would be interested in doing/seeing and then deicing what sounds like fun to do once we get there. I only book something if I know it will sell out (like a tour). This really leaves space for to figure out what feels good once you’re there and has the potential to make your trip way less stressful!
Work on lightening your load
I know a lot of y’all are going to read this part and object, but I’m going to say it anyway.
Pack. Less. Stuff.
I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that a little bit of effort up front will save you from outfit paralysis while you travel. Like when you’re getting ready for dinner in an open air restaurant on the beach and you can’t decide which of your 5 dresses to wear. 😀
Bringing less with you has a few other benefits:
More mobility - your luggage is easier to move around
More flexibility - no waiting around for your luggage to come down the conveyor belt
Less expensive - no need to check your luggage!
Easier to re-pack!
Space for souvenirs for your house sitter ;)
So if you usually find yourself scrambling when getting ready to travel, try one (or all) of these four tips to make travel planning less stressful.
