What's Your FIRST Travel Planning Step? Airfare, Budget or Must See (or Other)?

Sometimes panic buying great priced airline tickets works because now you know where you are going. And you figure the rest out.
The negative with a round trip vs multi-city trip is if you want to leave Iceland to see someplace else, you have to get back to Iceland from that someplace else, maybe negating the initial cost savings and definitely losing precious travel time by being inefficient with your travel time.

The problem for all of us is thinking that we've made it all the way to Europe so we must see as much of it as possible. Depending on the time you have, how many you are traveling with, I'd figure out 1-3 main destinations and go from there. Can't tell from your post if you truly have 5 weeks, or if you have a dreamy teenager who watches Emily in Paris, so it's hard to give specifics.

And lastly, these are great problems to have!

In the past it seems to have gone something like this:
--discussion of a place we both want to go
--how much does it cost to get there (plane flights) and if we can get there in a reasonably affordable way, how expensive is the actual country?
--if we can't afford one or both, start over
--if we can afford both the travel and the country then...
--how long can we go for? (usually not very long)
--how much do we want to try and cover while we are there, given our time constraint?
--lodging research
--activity/outings/side trips/sights research
--begin purchasing transportation, reservations

First we decide where we want to go. Based on that, and any special event thaf may be date specific, we decide on a broad time of year (spring or fall- we're retired, so can travel any time but prefer not to travel in summer). Then we rough out an itinerary, estimating how many days we want to spend in each place. A more detailed day by day plan can wait until later. Or if the trip involves a tour, we decide how many days or weeks before and after the tour we want. That tells us how long the trip will be.

Nothing gets booked until we've researched price estimates for flights, accommodations, internal transportation, and or tours. We have an annual vacation budget, so the trip may be adjusted at that point if necessary to fit within the budget. Only then do we consider making any bookings. Until then we would have no good idea of dates, or whether we would need a round trip or multi city ticket for flights. Accommodations dont get booked until we've made our list of things to see and do in each place, so we know how many nights we need.

Being just a couple makes it so much easier -- kudos to all of you who take kids (and especially young adults) along with you!

We always travel at the same time, and our budget has moved up incrementally over the years but not really by much. It usually starts with, "Can we tear ourselves away from Italy/the Mediterranean?" It usually ends with no, and we buy airfare and take it from there.

Too many voices. I would just announce where I was going and ask if anyone wanted to come. Of course I have been divorced multiple times .... so maybe it didn't work too well? But I've had a blast traveling.

There is no one right way to plan a trip, please don't beat yourself up. It's a process, kind of like Tetris - sometimes the pieces drop in to place easily, other times you just have to go with what you can fit before the next piece falls. I've yet to go on a trip where something doesn't go to plan, so you can plan all you want and still have surprises. Just know that you're learning what you don't want to do again and will do better next time.

For myself traveling solo, it's usually picking destination(s) or a specific tour first. Then I research flight options and track prices for awhile - when I was working I planned trips 9-12 months ahead due to work commitments so there was time to do that. Once destination is set, I start researching lodging and must see things, noting if they need advance reservations and putting reminders on my calendar for those. I might book some refundable hotels before I have purchased flights, but those two things usually happen about the same time. I have been lucky that I don't have to tightly budget, but I do keep an eye on costs as I go along and an internal cost/benefit analysis I have honed over the years.

I don’t start planning until i have the money for a trip. When i do, this is how i’ve always done it, even when traveling with my family…

1. I/we decide where to go
2. I/we decide what day to leave, what day to come home
3. I buy plane tickets
4. Create an itinerary
5. Reserve hotels
6. Reserve rental car

When planning where to go, we watch lots of YouTube videos to see what appeals and what doesn’t.

There are preliminary steps and final steps. The first preliminary steps you can do in a day. Place, airfare, hotel are things can look at so easily. Get a feel for the possibility.of it all. Not book anything, a look see. Information you did not have that morning, you can attain by dinner.

After deciding where I'm going (no teens, no husband to take into consideration):

I figure out how many "major sights" interest me: each gets allocated a morning, with the afternoons filled with whatever else.

I have settled on 2 sources to identify my personal "major sights" in each city:
- the Rick Steves "At a Glance" list
- the Crazy Tourist website, which usually has a "15 Best Things" list

If it's a major city, I might add 2 add'l days; smaller places might get +1 day.
Add flights and +1 day for each city transfer. (Short transfers equate to bonus sightseeing time.)

If the total is in my usual 3.5 week trip range, I book flights and hotel. Otherwise, add or subtract cities, save those for another trip.

For places I'm going back to, I just pick a number of nights and find things to fill my time. So easy!

Oh Mel I hear you. I am sorry this is proving so tough. I hope you find solutions you can enjoy.

I personally always book flights first. One year, I found an incredible bargain on round-trip flights to Amsterdam. I booked them even though Amsterdam was not where we wanted to visit. Trains are cheap, and we went on from there. We actually ended up making two trips to Europe that year because that first set of flights was so (comparatively) inexpensive.

Booking.com is a good place to get a quick-and-dirty feel for lodging costs in places you are thinking of going. You don't need to book rooms there, but it's very easy to get an idea of whether it's going to be too costly to house your family in a place you're thinking about. Maybe you could make it work by reversing your sketchy itinerary, so try some other dates. Think of this as a sort of early-warning system about a potential serious budget overrun.

I don't have just "one" first step. I would be surprised if many people do.
Once I saw a terrific airfare RT Seattle to London. That was the catalyst for trip planning.
Once my son and his wife invited me to go to Germany with them. That was step one.
Once I decided that since I had wanted to go to Kennedy Space Center my whole life, I was going to go.
More than once, a terrific bargain cruise was offered and I pounced. Norway last summer, Turkey/Greece this fall, and Japan in Spring of '25. All places I have an interest in, but at a price I couldn't turn down.

Then I begin building a trip. For example, for Turkey I decided that a cruise just wouldn't be enough to do the country as much justice as it deserved when I was traveling so far. I found a 2 week Gate 1 tour that ended in Istanbul the day my cruise began and (thanks to a tip off on the forum) was able to purchase it without paying a single supplement. Then I looked at airfare. I was able to manage Turkish Airlines Business Class non-stop from Seattle on credit card points! Athens (where cruise ends) to Seattle was a connecting flight in coach on KLM/Delta through Amsterdam. Also on frequent flier mileage. I ended up with a 25 day trip that includes a 2 week guided tour of Turkey, 1 seven night cruise on a small luxury ship (excursions in every port), my airfare/transportation costs, and a few extra days of hotels at the beginning and end of the trip.

A trip always starts with an idea, a deal, an invitation, a dream. Then I build from there.

Traveling solo and being a little timid, I try to be as organized as possible. I know I will travel late Spring or early Fall. So here’s what I do:

1) Decide where and when I want to go.
2) Find a RS tour that fits that goal.
3-6) Change my mind about 1 and 2.
7) Sign up for the chosen tour.
8) Plan pre-tour # of days and where.
9) Plan post-tour # of days and where.
10) Buy refundable plane tickets because i start planning 10-12 months before the trip and life changes.
11) Find lodging in each city, reserve cancellable rooms.
12) Rough plan transportation between cities, book 2 months in advance.
13) Plan, change mind, replan daily itinerary, book timed entries as available.
14) Go and have fun.
15) Start sifting through ideas for the next trip.

melT--I have been in those same shoes so many times, so don't worry. We always traveled with the kids, and still do. even though they are adults and own their own homes, lol. Now though, I figure out where interests me and ask who wants to come along. My last trip, last month, to Iceland and Amsterdam, my husband was not keen on Amsterdam so my daughter came along. My husband I much much prefer Icelandair over Delta etc so we both are always checking their specials. So the trip last month was initially booked with Delta, but 2 days later Icelandair had a sale for less than half (almost 1/3) the cost, so we booked with them and took the Delta credits. Those credits had to be used by September, so I looked at numerous destinations to see where we could go that was the same amount as our credits, and that turned out to be Norway. So even though we travel a lot, we still do things on a whim and just go with it.

So yes, we buy tickets first and then figure the rest out. The only exception was my husbands expedition this summer. Once he was accepted, we bought his tickets and with wiggle room in case the boat is not back in time. This is to Iceland, ironically, so he can just figure out what he wants to do for his extra days before and after the expedition.

For me it's easy as I usually travel solo. I pick the destination, then find flights and go from there. However, I am planning a trip for my 2 grandkids (age 10 and 14) for next year. I wanted to take their likes into consideration but since I was the one handling the logistics and paying for it, I decided that I would make the final decision.

Therefore, I asked them if they would like go to London for 2 weeks with the possibility of an extra side trip to Paris. They both loved the idea and so we're set for next year. As soon as I get back from this trip, I will start working on that one.

Keep in mind that teens/kids do not really know that much about Europe and their suggestions may be based on something that they saw in a movie or read about but that is not really realistic. In my opinion, whoever is paying gets to make the final decision.

I just posted on your other thread about Paris itinerary, so won't repeat that.

I am taking my 2 adult sons to Japan. I asked them for a list of MUST haves. I have attempted to work all of those in. Actually, I managed almost all of them. However, I told them-- I am paying, I make the final decisions. I think it helps them with their expectations. They are excited and happy to go, they know they will get to see/do some of the things they have dreamed about and they don't have to plan anything. They both hate planning and I love it. I believe they will be surprised about how many of their wants that I have incorporated into the trip.

Have a great trip! We loved Iceland.

My husband and I are retired and have a running list of places/areas we want to go and we're working through them. Once we decide which one is next, we do some preliminary research to figure out where we'll fly into, whether a circle tour or open jaw makes more sense, and how many days we need. We prefer a trip of 2-2.5 weeks, no longer and usually stick to spring or fall. We also make sure we won't be hitting major holidays. We then go through the area and make a list of things we may want to see. There's a lot of back and forth at this preliminary stage as we try to come up with a general idea of where to stop and for how long. We also look at open days of things at this point and availability of tickets. If there's something specific we want to do, we want to make sure we're there the right day.

At this point I check airfare and see what it looks like. If there seems to be reasonable flights, then I'll continue planning. I'll make fully cancelable hotel reservations at each of our stops. I've run into situations where I can't get a hotel somewhere for an unknown reason, so now I do that before airfare. If a car is involved, I might do that here too. Then I book the airfare.

Once I start on the planning process, I'm kind of obsessed, so all of this tends to happen within a few days.

Budget doesn't really enter into it much. Not that it's unlimited or anything, but we know we can afford 2 or 3 moderate international trips per year of our preferred length, so we're not thinking about it in much detail.

Patricia, my wife and I have a similar approach to yours, though apparently we're on more of a 4-month plan instead of 2-week. But we're working off a list of places we want to spend more time in, largely selected based on cruise experiences. We've kind of used cruises as a way to identify places we want to learn more about, and we may not take another one. (I'd love to take a cruise along the coast of Africa, but I doubt it will happen.)

I personally think I'd like to move permanently to Europe, but my wife would not. Therefore we won't. :o)

I have a list in my mind of interesting places I might want to see someday. I'll take a look at booking.com and/or airbnb and get a feel for the housing costs and if I can even afford the location. If it's a really nice place I would love to visit, I'll get creative and start looking at hostels, renting a room in a house, camping....

Next, I will start watching flights and have multiple google flight alerts. My husband is a teacher, so not as flexible on dates. And when that great airline flight shows up, I grab it.

Then, I do a quick google search on how many days in each place and top 10 sites. Take a quick look at transportation between places and then start booking refundable accommodations. I find the earlier you book the places you plan to stay, the cheaper they are.

Finally, I take a look at sites that need to be booked way in advance (Last Supper, Alhambra, etc.) and when those tickets will need to be bought.

Now I know I have a future trip and as I find time, I'll adjust the accommodation etc. Or if I don't find any time, well, I still have the basics taken care of and will have a blast anyways.

These inputs are invaluable and a great resource for my next trip. It helps that some of you have set approaches and others have different triggers based on the situation!

My number one mistake was not starting the planning sooner and using this forum in the most productive way. I will use this forum earlier, BEFORE buying any airfare, to get a sense of what is realistic and logical next steps and destinations. There's too much information to wade through in guidebooks, that folks on this forum know, by experience or intuition. I feel like the guidebooks are better after your destinations are set.

I think booking hotel (fully cancellable) before airfare also makes sense as I've had problems matching availability (or my pricing) for lodging and had to rearrange order of our destinations multiple times (and change flights, which was painful). Until I'm required to make a reservation, I keep re-figuring and get no where, or really, still everywhere. l can see now how the very early refundable hotel reservations focus the site seeing and transportation needed, which in turn informs the duration at the destination, and how many destinations are feasible and finally, the location of the flights. Open jaw or not.

But I can also see the benefit, if you know how long you can be traveling, of just buying the best airfare and filling in what makes sense and works with the budget.

I don't want a robotic approach, but a sensible framework would be nice! I think I'm closer to that, thank you ALL!

We have done it about every way. Usually it starts out with a short list of trips we have, not really a bucket list, since many of the places we have been before, but just a thought or theme for a trip. Last year was Cornwall and South Coast England, April will be South Coast of Portugal and Spain, with lots of just sitting and relaxing. Most of the time, we start with a list of things or places that we want to hit, we assume it will be 3-4 weeks, we target April/May and/or Sept./Oct..

We might have several trips developed to this point, then shop tickets, if we find a good airfare, we go with that.

Our trip in September for 4 weeks is a departure, something we muddled now that we are retired, we noticed Delta had cut prices for some periods, we found RT tickets to Amsterdam for under $750, Main Cabin, in September, from our regional airport. A great price, so we snagged them.

Then pretty much the same day, I suggested my wife check her itinerary for our April trip (we have different itineraries) and she found the same flights for about $600 less. Long story short, between good prices and e-credits, she is flying to Europe in September for $99.

For the September trip, we really have no plan, other than being near Schiphol airport for arrival and departure. It will fill in over the next couple months. We might hit some wine and beer fests in Germany, might catch a flight to somewhere in Greece, or Malta. or Croatia, who knows at this point.

If flying to Iceland is the only way you can get overwater from where you live without stopping, it is a good choice. Hope you do have a long-ish trip (3 or more weeks) making the repositioning to and from Iceland less frantic.

We generally know when we want to go, for how long, and the destinations are in mind without specifics when I book. Without many specifics I will book flights, then start by outlining a desired itinerary and fine tuning it as I explore connecting transportation. For example, sometimes I change the order of our stops based on undesirable train connections or the need for car, which we seldom-if-ever bother with any longer.

There's no one right way. Now that you have flights, pencil in your desires and tell the family not everyone will get everything, as in the rest of life.

We've been going to Europe annually since 2010. Until this year we had a British Airways Chase Visa card which gave us a "companion flies free voucher" after we used the card for $30K in a calendar year. (We used it for everything.). This is especially cheap for us since we're flying from Los Angeles. The "catch" was that they only have a handful (6-10) seats that they allow this voucher for on every flight....and there's only three flights a day from LA. So our planning went....

1. Figure out where we wanted to go. (It's just my wife and I.)
2. Figure out when we want to go. (Recently it's been in June as soon as our grandchildrens' school is out.)
3. The HOUR those Brit Air tickets go on sale (roughly 350 days in advance) we pounce. We also pick our seats because we have our favorites.
4. Then we book refundable hotel reservations.
5. Then we look at Rick's books (as well as others), watch videos, etc. and plan what we'll see.
6. Then we book restaurant reservations.
7. Then we buy tickets in advance for the museums, shows, etc. that allow that.

It helps if you enjoy the planning part. I did this entire process 4 times (and cancelled everything 3 times) during the pandemic. On the 4th try, we noticed we could change planes in London and go on to France even though England required a 10-day quarantine if you left the airport. We changed our tickets and were able to spend 17 days in Paris and Brittany. I can't tell you how happy we were to be there and how happy the B&Bs, hotels and restaurants were to see us.

If I was going with a group like yours, I'd discuss with my wife where I think the group would most enjoy going and for how long. Then I'd say something like, "We're going to London, Paris, and Barcelona. Linda and I are doing the planning. Who wants to go along? No whiners allowed."

When I was working, and I had a specific number of days, I started by deciding where to go, then bought the plane tickets, then worked out the itinerary.

Now that I'm retired, I start by deciding where to go, then work out the itinerary, then buy the plane tickets.

Post-retirement:

I check local festivals in a country we’re considering. As an example, we knew we wanted to try southern Spain for a winter break and had a couple of places in mind. Finding the Cadiz Carnaval gave me specific dates to work the whole itinerary around into a plan.

We don’t look at budget as a pre-plan unless it’s like a Scandinavia or Switzerland destination. I’ve been tracking each trip’s expenses in Excel graphs for several years, so we have a good idea what a trip costs with our normal choice of lodging location, budget style and Economy Plus seats on flights.

The reason why lodging is tentatively booked before the flight is purchased is that I like to stay in the smaller towns, and some hardly have any options if not booked early. An unavailable city can suddenly change the order of the itinerary.

1. We (I, if solo trip) choose one country to visit. Occasionally it’s two adjacent countries.
2. I look at festivals or special concerts to determine any solid dates.
3. I reserve free cancellation lodging for each city months before as my first pass.
4. I complete a lot of research planning and may occasionally tweak the number of days at a location or switch around cities, if needed.
5. Then a few months later, I look at flexible dates for flights. That may add an extra day or two at our first/last cities.

Pre-retirement:

1. We chose one country to visit. Occasionally it was two adjacent countries.
2. We chose the exact weeks we could be on vacation from work.
3. I researched the country for a month and shared ideas of any things to do with my husband. Also, I drew a map with lines labeled with how many hours it takes on a train between every city in the idea list.
4. We chose our favorites that also kept train times between locations reasonable.
5. I reserved free cancellation rooms on Booking.
6. We bought our flights. I always tried to return on a Wednesday, so we could push through working two days and have a weekend to be back to normal on Monday.

My wife's hobby is finding cheap flights. When she scores on flights that are 50% or 60% or less of what other travelers are paying, she'll run a trip past me. We figure out where we are flying into and where we're flying home from--and the dates.
I take over the planning from there. After traveling Europe for 53 years, the chances are we'll be traveling to some cities I already know intimately.

But the last couple of years have been so crowded in major cities and major tourist sights have just not been comfortable. And Europe has had worse inflation than the U.S.--and rooms and food in many major cities have been priced out of sight. I'm looking for future travel to be to off the beaten path to places and countries that are not so crowded and those that are less expensive. High costs mean we're not traveling in Scandinavia and probably sticking south and farther east. And since my wife has had some mobility issues, we're not above taking a cruise for part of our trip.