It is often that my traveling options are strictly limited by financial and temporal constraints. In this article, I am going to focus on the latter. How to see as much as possible in your country of interest when all you have is but a couple of days? By planning thoroughly, of course! This is how I usually do it and how you should do it, too:
Do the Research
“A place of interest” is too vague of a phrase. Someone craves to visit all the Insta-spots, others – UNESCO heritage sites, and there are, surely, those who don’t care at all. In any case, relying solely on top-tens or Tripadvisor lists is not your option. So how do you pick everything worth seeing?
Explore Travel Guides
Almost every country has local travel guide sites in English, and you can specify your search by focusing on the particular regions – Andalusia or Normandy, for instance.
Check out the UNESCO Heritage List
Wikipedia features such lists for each country, and the official website of the organization has a description for each object. This is more than enough to answer two questions at once: “what to see” and “why I need to see it.”
Use Instagram Properly
Many countries and regions have their own accounts with marvelous photos, so feel free to save what you like. When you subscribe to a country’s travel account, Instagram will offer similar pages: choose a couple to your liking and research them too.
Ask the Right Questions
Suppose you want to drive around the north of France by car. First, study your options by googling “France road trip,” “North France road trip,” “Normandy road trip,” “North France highlights,” “Normandy trip plan.” Then, go even deeper with queries like “The most beautiful French villages,” “The most scenic roads in France,” “France hidden gems.”
Connect the Dots
Upon locating all the places on the map, you’ll have a general draft of the future trip—time to combine everything into a route and think about timing.
Good Route Rules
On average, the journeys shouldn’t take more than 2-3 hours a day. Optimize travel time with weather and season in mind: if it’s hot, better spend the scorching hours on the road. If it gets dark early, but the road is safe, then travel evenings.
Make your days busy but not overwhelming. Don’t try to do a thousand things a day. Your unaccustomed brain will overheat with emotions, which usually makes the rest of the trip forgettable.
Leave some time for on-the-spot decisions (stopping at the observation deck on the way, staying overnight in a cozy village, hanging out in the gypsy market). Usually, such detours are what makes each journey special.
During road transfers, there will be small stops for a snack or a walk. It is a good idea to combine these stops with local attractions, observation decks, and squares of small towns.
Make it a rule of thumb to choose scenic roads whenever possible – let Google StreetView help you with that. The road on your journey is not an unpleasant necessity and should be enjoyed.
Plan an Itinerary
At this stage, research the hotels and opt for those with the best strategic locations. Of course, you don’t have to stay at roadside motels, but if the place is great, as well as the reviews – why not?
Being on the road does not compel you to stay everywhere overnight. However, if there is a cluster of points on the map within an hour’s drive from each other, stop somewhere in the middle and make sorties for 2-3 days – this will save you those precious hours.
Public transport transfers and changes can be optimized with a local mobile app. Furthermore, the route and its stops will be immediately displayed on the map: this makes it easier to compile your spots and compare the convenience of travel by train and bus.
If the country of travel does not have a very strong economy, consider a taxi, especially if you travel in a company. In most Asian countries, a four-hour taxi drive can cost five bucks per person, but stay wary of fraudsters, of course.
Final Thoughts
The art of route planning knows no bounds. The main takeaway from this article is to keep a balance between the planned and the sudden. Of course, it’s okay if something doesn’t go according to plan. But, you still have your head, your tongue, and (sometimes) the Internet. With assets like those, you can turn any contingency into the most memorable moment of your life.
