Plan your next vacation. Everyone needs a vacation and in the United States, people rarely take them compared to the rest of the world. Each day plan a different part of the trip. I'll give you an example of how you can separate the week. Monday, choose where you want to go. This is where you scour the globe for where you want to go and how long you want to go for. Tuesday, you plan the travel days. All the logistics of the trip that everyone hates completing. Wednesday, you plan out the activities you are going to do or not going to do. Maybe set some up so you have them ready to go. Thursday, refine your search solidify your location and arrange at least your first and last living arrangements. Friday, you set possible destinations once you are there, any other activities you want to do, and make your packing list. Saturday is the most important. You pick you who you want to go with. This can be a solo adventure if you've never done one before, you can bring your partner in crime, or choose to go with a group. This outline is purely an example to go off when planning it out though, so be creative. Maybe you want to choose your group first and have them actively involved in the planning process. Maybe you choose your activities and base your location on where those activities are offered. Say you want to learn how to tango, so then your location should be Buenos Aires. It's completely up to you because guess what.. It's your vacation. If you want to camp 30 mins away from your house then do it. But use this week to plan a vacation and act on it. Maybe not this week or the next but act on it. Don't make this week pointless and fall through on your plans. Let this week be a success and let it lead to a much needed and awesome vacation anywhere in the world. For a weekend or a year. This is your time to plan, because there's no time like the present.
The planning process can be tough, so don't let it get you frustrated. I know I'm terrible at planning and I like winging things when I arrive on location. But some things are necessary. Like the transportation to the destination. Maybe not the return, but certainly the one-way. Your first night lodging is always a good one to have set up to get your barring's after your travel day. Your bags and overall pack list of what you will be bringing will always be a work in progress, but you can at least start with the necessities. Things like these can be fun but frustrating, so always make the best of it. Always remember this is working towards your vacation, so don't take it too seriously. Shit, you might end up quitting your job…
REFLECTION: This was surprisingly more difficult than I thought. The dates and location were the hardest aspect. Since I'm in the military, I have to take leave for long vacations. So that was a concern added on; though I guess its much like an ordinary job asking for time off.. Anyways, Kaitlin and I are looking into October for our vacation. I have some conflicts in early November, and she has some conflicts possibly reaching into the second week of October. So realistically that leaves us with the third week of October. We chose October originally because our birthdays are two weeks apart in October and November. Honestly, knowing this much information already was a plus. Usually, I don't know what I'm doing next week. So we had our basic timeline down, but we still aren't a hundred percent sure when those exact dates can be, so that restricted us a lot trying to schedule flights and everything there after. Regardless, we were still able to accomplish plenty to plan the trip.
Location: This was a tricky one. First, we looked at weather in October. Where was the best weather for that time of year. We had to be careful because October starts to get a little chilly in some places, it could still mean hurricane season in others, rainy season elsewhere, etc. Possible spots included the United States east coast because of the fall colors on the deciduous trees. Easy for me too, no flight. The Caribbean for the lack of tourists and decent weather, maybe with the occasional rain. Northern United States and the PNW because winter didn't hit yet and the views would still be beautiful without the clausal amount of people. As we debated back an forth, I figured lets look at what activities we want to adventure on. Kaitlin is dying for a camping trip, but also wants some bikini time. I'm leaning towards some hammocks and diving culture with a little jungle exploration. Ultimately, we landed on Latin America or the Caribbean. I did a lot of research on the Dominican Republic, and although this wasn't our pick, believe me, I'm scheduling that trip sooner than later. Belize popped up in conversation and so did Mexico but the increase in Cartel murders kinda put a hesitation in our step when looking into the Yucatan Peninsula. Sooo.. We chose Costa Rica!! What a great decision that was because it combined everything we were looking for plus some. It supplied the camping, the bungalows, the hammocks, the beaches and the diving, but also boasting some of the best white water rafting in Latin America, especially in October. Our trip is starting to come together. We have a week time period, a location, and activities.
Logistics: So flights are pretty cheap that time a year in San Jose, so that will be an easy purchase. Next came the rental car because we plan to cut across the country and head to more non-touristy spots. I already have an AVIS account and that will be easy once the flights are cemented. I am an advocate on only purchasing the first lodging for a day to let you get settled and get your barring on everything. That way if you choose a terrible location, it's no problem to move and travel on a whim to the next spot. To have your last nights stay booked isn't a terrible idea either if you have a set timeline. Regardless, I was able to get a general idea for locations and lodging in those locations for airbnb's, bnb's, hotel's or tents. We mapped our potential travel destinations but have room to alter them at any time. From this, we were able to put together a budget of estimated costs and I don't think we'll spend over $1,000 for the entire trip and still be able to eat like kings and enjoy as many activities as we can handle.
Although, not as expected (per usual I'm starting to realize) it was a great week of exploring google maps, foreign websites and discussing with Kaitlin what we wanted this trip to be. It involved ample changes and headaches, but I really think we locked down a solid plan and I can't wait to solidify it even more in the weeks to come!
Post your Trips and headaches below!