Travel with a Plan - Sabse Important Plan (SIP)

I love traveling and my work as a blogger often takes me to different places. Therefore, I will not shy away from saying that while looking at long queues outside ATMs in Delhi, I have often been thinking how demonetization has impacted my short and long term travel plans. It may sound irrelevant here but there is no denying the fact that it has impacted all our lives. Money is what makes the world go round, and it’s also what makes you go around the world. Demonetization is a great step but it could have been implemented in a much better way. What is your view? Could there have been a better plan? I would say, ‘Yes’. In our simple plans, we really can’t take the risk of experimenting each day.

Failure in planning makes or mars the impact of big decisions. Be it short term or long term, one must never loosen the reigns of planning. Birla Sun life wanted me to guide you through my ‘Sabse Important Plan’ (SIP). Now when I sat down to think about it religiously, I realized that my life as a blogger is very close to my heart. It makes my biggest strength. And now after quitting my job, my dream and my most important plan revolves around the big trips that I wish to do in my life. The finances have to be gauged to be able to do them in future. I do not want to tick off events off my bucket list because there is no fun in doing that. The dream is to do long travels, pick on unique experiences and be able to make beautiful itineraries for myself and others. To be able to do all of it, little plans and a solid long term plan is absolutely necessary.

Here are some excerpts from my ‘Sabse Important Plan’

Now, some people would say why do you need to plan a trip. I would like to tell them specifically that planning helps to save a lot of time. There is lot of trivial stuff that that must be take care at home before the trip. Why miss some of the great things when a little planning can enhance the whole adventure/holiday. Here are some tips you should remember while planning your travels.

Savvy Tip for Beginners

First save a little, Invest a little and then ‘Go Traveling.’ The key here is having the discipline to set aside money to go into your travel fund. Look for off-seasons, travel well, and save more. The other way to save money is by not travelling in the most expensive countries.

Destination, Visa, Flight Tickets

A trip begins right there when the first thought of it travels to your mind. Rest is all about following your heart. Start from deciding the destination. There are times when I don’t want to go to places which have hassles over visa processing. I am someone who loves to compare between flight options.

Decide and then hold on to the no. of days!!

The most time-consuming aspect of planning my trip is agreeing on number of days. Now that I have had the luxury of exploring destinations for more than four weeks at a stretch, one week is never looks enough to me.

Always decide and then go because there are such amazing places from where you would never want to come back from.

Pin your Budget

Every time I book a trip, I always think of ways of saving money and not overdoing my budget in hand. Get a rough idea of how much it is going to cost your from starting to returning back to your location. If you have plans to go from city to city, you must work on the numbers involved. It might look easy but it it’s complicated.

Itinerary

An itinerary is important. Period!

You don’t have to plan out every hour of the trip, but a little homework really comes out to be very handy.

Read and be informed

There is no dearth of information these days, therefore always read the latest news and location of the place you are visiting. This is very helpful. Sometimes Google puts you on the most risky roads. I realized this only when I lived in South Africa.

Carry at least two credit cards

I have had my adventures and I know in the most panicky situations, the credit card that you have trusted forever doesn’t come to your support. Keep a backup plan when traveling outside your own country. In Dubai, one of my Amex card did not work at all and thank god I had a visa card too.

Insurance is important

Any kind of loss dampens the finances. Trips always lead to some kind of surprises. Mostly they are good but they could be bad too. Keep yourself insured, rest will be taken care.

Look for your safety first!

Despite of all the planning you can never plan enough safety. Travel is an adventure and it attracts thrills. Stay alert, stay fit and take up things only when you know you want to do it.