How do you plan your international trips?

[Hrhpd]

Only the falling travel agents do it these days.

you owe me a new monitor

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

We have done DIY all over Europe, China and Japan.
We start with Trip Advisor as most said they do as well. I also go to Viator's website, even though I've never booked through them, but it gives me a good idea of what is in each location, costs and duration.
Our most recent international trip was a couple months ago to Iceland. So first we started with the sites mentioned and figured out everything we wanted to do, so we knew how long we would want to be gone. I then add in one extra day to allow for an arriving flight delay, or a day with bad weather and we can't do what we planned.
I then create a google map for the city we want to go to and add in all the places we want to see. Or like Iceland we did a lot of day trips and I listed on the map where the tour would pick us up. This then gave me an idea on where to stay.
So then started looking up airfare for the number of days we wanted to go and hotels that were located near where we wanted to visit.
European cities we don't feel as much of a language barrier as even if we can't speak their language we could at least read info on train stops or street signs.

When we've traveled to China we knew we wouldn't be able to read the street signs as in their characters. So for Beijing we stayed right near Tiananmen Square. We had written directions on how to get everywhere. I mean totally overplanning here. We knew we'd leave our hotel and walk 1 block right then right on next street and Tiananmen would be there. Trains we knew how many stops between various locations. Even went as far as on our printouts we'd have the Chinese characters printed out for the tourist attraction we needed to get to in the event we got really lost and had to hop a cab. But all our planning allowed us to successfully DIY China for 2 weeks between multiple cities and never got lost. We carried around a moleskin little book for each city in China so it wasn't something big we had to pull out everywhere.

In Barcelona we went to some amusement park/overlook place that was through a residential neighborhood and the subway didn't stop right near it. We did google maps street view and "walked" the routes we needed to take even so landmarks would seem familiar. Barcelona in that area had too many winding streets with streets veering off and roundabouts to have turn by turn direction.

Planning is almost as much fun as actually taking the trip for us.

 

[drizzy]

I always use Airbnb, Rick Steves and https://aktis.app/en During my travels, I love to learn about history and art. I love museums and “tourist” traps. Every time you travel a whole new world is opened and a whole new way of thinking. In order to be a productive citizen of the world, you need to learn about what there is in the world and appreciate the life other people live.

 

[eco-muse]

LOTS of research. Research lodging, research food options, research transportation options, research activities (ex. tours, outdoors stuff, museums, etc.). Research some of the laws/customs of the country you'll be visiting.

 

[Magical2017]

I love to read guide books and am also part of several FB groups. One is an international group geared towards traveling with kids, and the other is a Rick Steves Europe group. We don't typically do guided tours and book everything ourselves. Like many on this board, I find the research is half the fun. I love Disboards but most of our travel will be non Disney. There are cruise boards on here and of course ABD, but I wish there was a general travel board (of course that is what the Community Board is for!).

 

[NYCgrrl]

I’m thinking about going with a friend on our first international trip. We found a great deal on flights for New Zealand in September. The only thing is I have no idea how to even begin planning this trip since I know nothing about New Zealand!

How do you guys plan your trips? Are there any tools or resources you use?

When visiting a spot I’ve interest in but little knowledge, I start by reading books about the place both fiction and nonfiction. Newspaper articles are useful as well. A goggle or two about the overall country is useful to learn about the climate which helps in knowing what to pack. Then it’s time to start picking transport. For such a long trip from the states I’d try to find the most comfortable flight that’s reasonable in cost.

 

[mummabear]

I’m thinking about going with a friend on our first international trip. We found a great deal on flights for New Zealand in September. The only thing is I have no idea how to even begin planning this trip since I know nothing about New Zealand!

How do you guys plan your trips? Are there any tools or resources you use?

Pharmgirl123 I live in NZ. Where in NZ are.you thinking of going? I assume flying into Auckland? How long do you want to come for?

 

[Pharmgirl123]

Thanks for all the tips everyone! Unfortunately, the NZ trip isn’t going to happen due to a family situation. My friend and I are going to head to NY for a weekend just to get a break from the situation we’re in!

 

[RUDisney]

So sorry to hear that @Pharmgirl123. prayers for the trouble that you’re going through.

 

[Jillpie]

I went to New Zealand in 2016, it is beyond amazing!!!! My husband works for a travel company, so we went with a tour group. Are you opposed to going with a tour, because that would take all the worry out of everything, no driving, no scheduling, you just meet up and all the details are taken care of. If you need to choose between both islands, do the SOUTH island, it is truly breathtaking. But the North Island is very pretty too. We come from the East coast, on our trip over, we flew to LAX and stayed over one night. Same with the return trip home. Highly recommend breaking up the flights this way. We upgraded to the very back of the plane, there are two seaters (look on Seatguru), soooo much better than sitting next to strangers for 13 hours. You will love NZ!