Planning a Trip? Here is what you need

Planning a trip is a big issue with us and a person would be lying if they say he hate traveling. Traveling is the best get away that anyone can have from their day to day life. But people make their biggest mistakes just while planning a trip. Planning a trip is an important task that many of us take for granted. There are three main things you need to remember

• Information

So let’s cover the main part, Information. We tend to find some information about the places they know that are famous. But always remember, the best places that can be visited are the ones that are rarely shown on the google. These places are mostly known by the locals. For example, take the town of Ooty in Tamil Nadu. This place is famous for its beauty and as a hill station. The best places to visit there that are on the internet are some gardens. But these places are pretty crowded. But the best place to visit there is this untouched natural place called Pykara Lake and laces around it. This place can be way better than the places that are usually stated on internet.

Information can be taken out of the internet, no doubt. But the best places you can find that are through the blogs that travelers write, just like this one. Stay tuned for travel guides for various places to visit will be coming out soon. Try to contact the locals’ through phones and emails. They have the best knowledge about the places to visit nearby. The best option you can have is to call the hotel owners that you will be staying in or planning to stay in.

Many of you won’t prefer to take information through any virtual media. For people like this, the best solution is to talk to the person on the reception of the hotel they stay or especially the owners. But the trick to get the best and unbiased information is to talk to them first rather than directly asking any info. Get to know them, their town and have a good talk about their life. This will help you with getting an honest opinion.

• Transport

Transport doesn’t seem a big deal but it surely is. You got to figure out the best transport. Many of us love driving but it is not possible to drive your own vehicles to places that are far away. There is a solution for this now. There are many companies that provide you with self-drive cars. One of the main being Zoom Car. They rent you cars at an affordable price with an hourly kilometer system. If you exceed the limit, you need to pay by the distance. This is good for the people who are traveling for more than two to three days.

Some prefer for personal transport but with a driver. Here the rates vary for each place. But the average rate for any car or a mini bus is about  ₹8-₹15 per kilometer. The rules can vary from every vendor. You can check out with the locals or the best option is to talk with the hotel owner. They themselves have some ties with many agencies. A person who has good bargaining skills should talk as the rates can come down (I hope you have a ‘Marwari’ or a ‘Gujju’ friend[not being racist]).

Public transports are the best means of transport but you need to know the timings and the routes the public transports travel. IRCTC gives you a brief idea about trains. Buses are a better way depending upon the travel distance and the destination. If you are going to a renowned place, you won’t have a problem with the bus. But for a remote area, you have to search for a while. The best way to find the routes and the timings are the blogs and the videos of the place you are visiting (like this site may be :P).

The most important thing you need in transportation is a backup plan. Problems don’t call before they come. If you are traveling on a long route on your personal transport or a self-drive car, carry a puncture kit just to be safe. And If your destination is a place where you rarely get a shop, carry some essential car parts that are likely to be damaged. If you are preferring bikes (for trips like ladhak), carry a support car with you which will have a mechanic. Check the air pressure and the fuel regularly. You have to have a map or google map just in case. Download the offline maps if you are traveling through remote areas. The most important thing to carry is the food. You have to have ample supply of food and water, especially if you are traveling through some remote areas.

• Stay

The stay is the most versatile topic. It’s the preference that matters. But I recommend that the stay should match the type of trip. In an adventure trip, the referred stay would be tents or home stay. If you are going on a family trip, prefer to stay in hotels. Luxurious trips should include high end hotels.

Let’s cover the tent stay. First you need to figure out the size of the tent. When you buy or rent tents, look at the capacity. The smallest tent can be for 2 persons and can go up to 15-20 persons. But it’s unlikely that you would take it. I would refer a 2 person tent as it is easy to carry. Then comes the main part i.e. building the tent. The basic accessories you will need are the head torch or a simple hand-held torch and a sleeping bag (depends on the person’s preference). Avoid any objects that cause fire into or close to the tents.

Hotel stay is a pretty easy process nowadays. Online hotel search can be done in almost every place and you can have visuals of the room before booking. But booking hotels online should preferred when it’s the season to visit and the availability of hotels. When you go to a place where there are ample of hotels to choose from, try not to book hotels online as you can find a better hotel there when you reach. The rates are also a bit on the higher side on the website as the website has to earn through it.

“Kya aap ne kabhi online hotel book kiya hai?”. If you are looking for online booking, I would really recommend you using Trivago (the man in the advertisement is surely annoying but he has a point). You can get the best rates here. Onsite bookings give you better option of choice of rooms but here you have to have the energy of searching the hotels physically which is rare thing seen in people as they are already tired of the journey. One more advantage of onsite bookings is modification in your plan. If you are on a trip which has more than a 2 day journey, you can skip the earlier planned city or place to stay and go a few miles ahead and stay there. This will let you have a bit more of time the next day. And the more the time to rest, the better the trip.

Summing up this article, these are the essential steps to plan your trip. Hope you liked it. Please leave a comment if I have missed anything.