Guest post by Cristina Banu

Last year I went to Bali because I had been fascinated by the photos I had seen of this island. I was impressed by its natural beauty, its great food and wildlife.

This is the land of contrasts: natural richness of landscape, impressive 5 star hotels and sheer poverty of the inhabitants living in huts.

Don’t be tricked by the tourist shopping centers, they are expensive and do not express the real local flavor. I chose the smaller local towns instead which have very good and cheap food.

Also stay away from hotel restaurants, they charge way too much for food that is not as good as that served by local restaurants.

My favorite place is on the Jimbaran beach where you enjoy your fresh seafood dinner right on the beach next to the ocean. You watch the sunset while trying out the local cuisine and looking at the amazing high and low ocean tides.

A must do in Bali is the elephant safari. You can watch elephant shows and ride the elephants with a local guide. Beware of the fact that the elephants don’t go to toilets, as nature is right there

Another great experience is going to Kuta, home of many pubs, restaurants and shopping malls. The food is good but before entering the restaurants, you have to prove that you don’t carry guns or bombs. So it’s a bit scary but you get used to it after a nice cocktail

About the Author – Crsitina Banu
I am a 28 year old SAP consultant that’s generally highly optimistic and cheerful. I enjoy traveling, long walks and listening to Pink Floyd. My favorite quick trip spot is the beach of Vama Veche (on the shore of the Black Sea, Romania), the perfect place to linger in the sun and listen to rock music.

Guest post by Tina Romano

London is a vibrant city, but don’t assume your kid is going to share your enthusiasm for discounts at famous shops or for long strolls in the museums. I took my son to London for his 8th birthday and I tried to find things that he would find enjoyable. Kids love toys, no surprise there, so naturally Hamleys and Harrods (4th floor for the toy section) proved very successful destinations. I also wanted to take the pressure off as soon as possible so that we could focus on the rest of the journey, so we started with toy shopping soon after making it to London and checking in at the hotel. If your kid is anything like mine (and something tells me chances are 99% so), it might be a good idea to talk to him/her in advance about the maximum sum you’re willing to spend there, or the number of toys you’re willing to pay for. It makes them think, analyze and choose rather than run amok among shelves and throw tantrums when you refuse to pay for the entire store. You have been warned… A couple of hours later (and a hundred pounds lighter), we hid the stash in the hotel room and went out to see the city.

London has many great parks, and feeding the birds or the squirrels is always a major hit with children. Make sure you have bread for the ducks and pidgeons and nuts for squirrels and arm yourselves with patience and nicotine. You’re going to be there a while. On a second thought, forget the nicotine and take your shoes off.

If you are fond of nature, Kew Gardens is a great destination. It opens at 10 am and kids get in free. Adults pay 13 pounds, but there’s a lot to see and do inside. There’s the Kew Explorer, a 40-minute tour with commentary, the Treetop Walkway, the Climbers and Creepers and so much more.

If you want to visit the London Zoo and you can’t avoid the weekend, do yourselves a favour and buy the tickets online in advance. You’ll avoid spending a couple of hours waiting in queue, while people with tickets get in…

Don’t take the poor kid to Madame Tussauds unless he/she takes unexplainable pleasure in staring at still, unknown people. Try the Science Museum instead, where you can admire a wide range of machinery from steam engines to space shuttles, plus many exhibitions. Entrance is free. Also free and cool to visit: The British Museum. I took my son to the Egypt section to see the mummies and cut short the entire visit. Kids have short attention spans and would rather spend time outside than staring at “interesting stuff” inside.

London Eye is a great thing if the kids (or the parents) are not afraid of heights. Price may vary according to the packages bought (discounts with complementary boat rides, tickets for museums or for musicals etc). The ride itself lasts 40 minutes, but be there early if you want to wait decent time in queue. Or buy the tickets online.

Now if you really want to make your kid love you, plan a day trip to Legoland. Legoland opens at 10 am and I recommend leaving London with the 9 am coach. Green Line 701 (or 702) leave from Victoria Station (Collonades) and drop you right outside the park (Main Entrance) in about 90 minutes’ time. If you are coming back the same day buy return tickets.

Legoland

Week days Legoland closes at 5 pm, weekends at 6. From my experience, a whole day is not enough to see it all. On our first day we tried almost every amusement ride (from merry-go-rounds to train rides). Everything is free once inside, but the tickets are quite stingy: 38 pounds for an adult and 28 pounds for kids. You can upgrade those tickets for year long passes with only a couple of pounds more. On our second trip we spent the entire day in Lego City, looking at miniature lego trains going back and forth. My son learned the whole schedule while I almost hit my head against the pavement for not bringing a book along. There are restaurants, cafeterias and vending carts, so don’t bring any food unless the kids have special diets. Trust me, you don’t want to run around with a heavy bag.

Back to London, kids travel free of charge up to 11 years old but they need to be accompanied by an adult. If you travel by tube, use the gates for people with large luggage or for wheelchairs. It gives both of you enough time to go through the doors without getting trapped by closing doors.

These are just a couple of things I came to do with my kid in a short period of time. For more ideas try this, this, and this.

Ummm, that’s all. Now go get some fun!

About the author – Tina Romano
I am a daydreamer, moon watcher, music junkie. Bit of a voyeur with a tendency to write. Hopeless romantic with no recipe for love (if it tastes good, I’ll have a bite). Interests include: music, short animation movies, web design, architecture, poetry and men who get me worked up with imaginary pancakes. When inspiration strikes I write here in English and here in Romanian.

Guest post by Tina Romano

If you like organized chaos, cloudy skies and people calling you “love” every 5 seconds, then London is the perfect city for you. I first set foot there 3 years ago, on what I called then a “hit and run”. I didn’t book a hotel, I didn’t have a map, I didn’t know where I was going either. All I knew was that after a long, long time Warrior Soul was playing a gig and I wanted to attend.

Nevermind the clueless “what now?” moment after getting off the bus in the Victoria Station… London has to be one of the best cities when it comes to getting around. Seriously, all you need is a map of the city center and the tube layout. Almost every street has an information booth, all streets are all properly marked, street signs are everywhere and the underground is absolutely wonderful: if you can’t read the instructions then you can just follow the color code. Y’know, same as when you’re hiking in the mountains…

Travelling by bus is also very easy, each bus stop has the timetable and the route of the buses available, so it’s never hard to find your way. The London leaflet one can pick up from any tourist information office has every attraction marked down and numbered on the map, next to the tube stations.

Money wise, it’s better to purchase an Oyster card and put some money on it for the fare, instead of purchasing single tickets from the bus stops or from the driver. If you’re staying more than a weekend, choose the weekly pass; it’s 25 pounds and you can travel unlimitedly on every mean of transportation (boats – with a slight extra charge, tube – zone 1 and 2, and buses).

Something I found the hard way: while regular buses have card readers on every access door, so one can hop in anywhere and touch in, double deckers have one card reader only, next to the driver, so one must get in on the front door. Only the front door. I used the door in the middle, looked for the damn thing and located the only one next to a very angry driver. I was making my way over there, going against the stream like a trout, only to be asked to “get off his bus”. Thanx, “love”… Also, buses only stop if you hail them, so look out for them and stay sharp. The same goes for wanting to get off. You have to alert the driver by pushing the stop button, otherwise, if no one else wants to get on or off, he keeps driving. Now you can’t say you didn’t know…

Back to my hit and run, it turned out ok, managed to get hold of my friend near Westminster, got the concert tickets and found my way to the venue, all safe and sound and without running into any trouble. Every bar has warning posters in the loo, advising young women to call for a cab rather than pick one from the street, as there have been incidents of fake cabbies abducting and abusing women in the past. This I find particularly disturbing and eye-opening.  They say go to the bar tender and ask them to call you a cab. I did that and the bar tender sent me out in the street to look for one myself. Thanx, “love”…

Also, whether you’re getting to London by bus or train, the return ticket is always cheaper than buying two one-way tickets, but be careful when asking for return tickets, as there’s a difference between returning-the-same-day tickets, and valid-for-3-months return tickets. If you do want to plan ahead, maybe just a little, this is a great resource.

As for the attractions the city has to offer, that’s a different post in itself. And coming soon too

About the author – Tina Romano
I am a daydreamer, moon watcher, music junkie. Bit of a voyeur with a tendency to write. Hopeless romantic with no recipe for love (if it tastes good, I’ll have a bite). Interests include: music, short animation movies, web design, architecture, poetry and men who get me worked up with imaginary pancakes. When inspiration strikes I write here in English and here in Romanian.

It’s extrmely hot in Bucharest. Somewhere around 40 degrees Celsius. It rained a bit, but the positive effect was short lived. So I started looking for places to run away from the heat, at least temporarily. And I am proud to say I found the perfect solution!

What do you think of when hearing Absolut Icebar? Nothing sounds chillier to me! A tiny bar with a constant temperature of -5°C where everything is made of ice – the bar, the chairs, the entire room, even the glasses you drink Absolut cocktails from! And not just any ice, but natural frozen Swedish Torne River ice! Usually part of a complex, together with a hotel and restaurant, Absolut Icebar welcomes a limited number of bar goers for only 20 minutes at a time. It is too cold to stay longer, on one hand, and there are lots of people that want to get in on the other. The friendly staff will prodive warm coats to you, to make sure you don’t catch a cold or freeze while visiting them

What I find extremely cool is that you can go to the very same Absolut Icebar year after year and still think you’re visiting a new place. They change the ice design every year to create a whole new experience.

In terms of where, you can find Icebars in Jukkasjärvi, Stockholm, Mojave, London, Oslo, Copenhagen and Tokyo.

So, who else needs to cool off and hide from the heat? Let’s meet at an Icebar!

Photos curtesy of the very friendly Press section of the Absolut Icebar website.

As you have probably guessed by now, I am all for taking charge of your vacation and planning it just as you want it to be. Being able to do it requires a few things: good knowledge of what’s available where you’re going, from hotels to places to visit to good restaurants, reliable advice from people who have been there before and a well thought plan that allows you to both experience everything you want, rest and have fun.

The new public beta release of social trip planner Stay.com gives you all that information: spots to check out on 50 major cities around the world, recommended guides created by Stay’s travel experts, a community to discuss your trip and to share your advice with, personalized travel guides you create from scratch with all the relevant data you need, from opening hours to maps and pictures of the place.

You can use Stay.com as your planning advisor: research hotel rates, book your stay online, then decide how to better fill your time at the destination of choice. To get a better idea of what you can get, here’s an example of a featured city, San Francisco. You can search through the tourist attractions yourself and use the available templates or start with one of their featured guides submitted by Stay members: one for active travelers, one for those traveling with kids and needing to entertain them, or maybe a special one featuring the San Francisco bay area is better for you.

All in all, Stay.com is a great and much needed tool for those taking the DIY approach to travel planning. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did when reviewing the services they provide Oh, and when you start using them, please let me know what you think!

More info on TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb or PRWeb.

When we travel, we often get sucked into this powerful vortex taking us at a wild place from one tourist attraction to another. We have a plan, we need to stick to it if we want to see everything that’s beautiful in a certain location. We are dedicated tourists with a plan in our mind, a map in our hands and determination in our hearts.

But an important part of experiencing any place is allowing it time to surround us, take us over and introduce us to its spirit. To do so, we need to slow down, put the map away and just go where our intuition takes us. Stop for a coffee on a terrace, talk to the people we meet, look around, observe and just get lost in all the marvelous details surrounding us. Colors, scents, the light, the way people act or walk, they all differ from one place to another.

Besides, you can always discover little treasures! A passionate kiss of two dark statues…

Amsterdam

….a secluded, small beach where the locals know more than yourself about the football players in your country…

Gemiler Beach, Oludeniz

…a nice little park with a miniature lake at a time when the clouds are impressive…

Park in Amsterdam

No one would ever want to miss out on such treasures, especially when they’re not even really hidden, just there, in plain sight, waiting for you to take the time and ask the right questions. So make sure you plan a day or two for strolling aimlessly at your preferred destination. It’s always rewarding!

Istanbul, the city of two continents, the place where Europe and Asia are entwined. It’s grand, surprising, full of flavor and color.

It’s a must see destination for any serious traveler and it has anything and everything you’d want to see: old, new, art, trade masters, great food, amazing tea, jewelry that makes all women sigh and lights sparkles of desire in the corner of their eyes, parties, belly dancing, burial sites and holy places. Add two seas, great sunsets and quite a few towers to see the city from up top. It is mesmerizing and it crawls up your veins like a drug, turning into an addiction, making you always want to come back. Sure, the traffic is there to provide your everyday near-death experience, but that’s not a big thing, is it?

Photo credit.

As it happens, we rarely have enough time to explore a city. Sometimes we’ve planned a tour and we need to see the best of everything. And as Istanbul is a really accessible destination for a wide number of countries, many travelers may choose to dedicate a long weekend to it! As I have been to Istanbul three times already and it’s always been for a maximum of four days, I thought I’d share the tricks I learned with you. That is why I created a three day guide suggesting you how to mix tourist landmarks with places to eat so that you can see as much of Istanbul as possible.

This guide is not meant to tell you why you should see these marvels, as the Internet is full of such info and the local guide books that you can get, well, everywhere, will tell you the stories behind them! My goal is to help you turn into a happy and effective little tourist and experience as much of Istanbul as you can.

The first day is dedicated to the old city, with ancient palaces, mosques and tombs. The first thing you need to do is wake up early and never, ever skip breakfast! Turkish hotels are pretty good at arranging buffet. Make sure you try everything! The bread, cheese, meat, cookies, coffee and helva! They have really good honey as well. Now drag yourself out of the chair and the hotel, get a tourist map, they are cheap and will help you through the city, and head out to see the Topkapi Palace!

Topkapi is open almost everyday. Still, some queuing might be involved, so I recommend getting there a little before 9. Get your tickets for the palace, make sure you get tickets for the Harem section as well (you really don’t want to get to Istanbul and not see where the Sultans kept their armies of beautiful women!). You can get the walkie-talkie guides if you’d like, they are available in so many languages it makes your head spin, but having a Topkapi guide book is just as good and you get to take it home as a reminder of your trip!

Visiting the whole palace, Harem included, takes a long while. I suggest taking a break after the first couple of hours and have some cay (Turkish tea) in one of the museum’s cafes. Take your time, enjoy the sea view, then get on with your tour of the palace. You will be finished with everything just in time for lunch! And you definitely must try Kofte (a sort of grilled meatballs) with rice and salad!

But don’t be fooled by the many places selling kofte! Go to the most famous place, Sultanahmet Koftecisi, one of the most frequently copied restaurants in Istanbul. To get there, walk out of the Topkapi Palace through the main entrance, walk by the gift shops, turn right and walk toward the tram tracks, having Aya Sofya on your right and Sultanahmet (Blue Mosque) on your left. Once you get to the street with the tram track, turn left and walk along the tracks, on the right sidewalk. It’s less than 100 meters until the koftecisi and the photo I posted should help you. Don’t forget to get Ayran (a salty, yogurt based drink) too!

After lunch, (it should be a about 2 PM by now), it’s time for Hagia Sophia / Aya Sofya / St. Sophia (Yes, they all translate to Holly Wisdom or something like it). As it has stricter visiting hours, I advise you to visit it before the Blue Mosque.

Aya Sofya used to be a Christian church before being turned into a mosque and some traces of it’s Christian past are still preserved. Depending on when you visit, it might also hold religious-themed exhibitions and I advise you to check them out.

As the Blue Mosque is closed for a sermon until 5.15 pm, you might either be in luck and visit both mosques before 4.30 or have some time to spend in the park between them. If you do, look out for these guys:

They sell sherbet, a traditional drink. Even if you’re not tempted, they still make for a great photo subject! Then concentrate on Blue Mosque/ Sultanahmet!

As you can see, it can be rather crowded! Most mosques in Istanbul don’t charge you for visiting.  Blue Mosque is one of them. But they gladly take donations and I advise you to make one, as they do need the money to preserve them.

Go in, enjoy the beauty and the spirit of the mosque. There are some holy books in one of the corners. Unless you’re fluent in Arabic, you won’t understand a thing, but they are beautiful to look at, with artful covers and exquisite writing.

The next part of your day highly depends on when you see the Blue Mosque. If it’s after five, go to the Grand Bazaar first. If it’s before 4.30, save the Bazaar for last. Either way, don’t miss out on the Bazaar!

On your way from Blue Mosque to the Bazaar (a 15 minute walk), you will pass by some burial sites. Pashas and important personalities of Istanbul lay here. Take a moment to acknowledge their presence and to notice an interesting fact: there are a few coffee shops in between the graves.

Just before the Bazaar, you’ll be greeted by the Beyazit II Mosque and the Istanbul University. They are both grand, beautifully looking buildings, quite worth a little of your time and a few dozen photos

And now it’s time for some hard core negotiation, spotting beautiful items between thousands of competitors and just filling your lungs with the Turkish trading spirit. They are great salespersons! Even the best European and North American sales specialists admit it.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Besides, everything they sell looks beautiful, from tea sets, to shawls and leather jackets. Speaking of leather jackets, if you negotiate enough, you can get great prices for them (as a Turkish bartender once explained it to me, leather clothes factories are close to Istanbul and surrounding areas, that is why buying them there is smart, unlike going to shop for leather in Antalya or other south-eastern seaside resorts).  The Bazaar closes at 7 PM. And if you have saved the other landmarks for after, make sure you get out through the same gate (Beyazit).

Warning: The Bazaar is closed on Sundays and all holidays. So if you’re there in the New Year period, it will be tricky to actually visit it.

Dinnertime! Just head back to the Sultanahmet Square and pick whatever restaurant you’d like. Lamb or chicken shish kebab would work! It usually comes with rice and grilled veggies. Again, I recommend ayran, and a well-deserved after mean cup of cay!

Now it’s time to head back to the hotel and rest. Or go to a local club…Whatever you do, remember: the next day you will have to once more wake up early!

P.S. I mentioned quite a lot of visiting hours and closing time. All of them refer to the local time.

3 Amazing Days in Istanbul – Part II
3 Amazing Days in Istanbul – Part III

As some of you might know, I’ve been enjoying an amazing vacation in Oludeniz for the past three weeks. You might also remember my big list of things to do when going there. Well, I kind of did less than half, some that weren’t planned and did a lot of laying in the sun by the pool, reading a book. So here’s what I’ve learned and would like to share with you in no particular order:

Lesson 1 – Never underestimate the level of tiredness a stressful year has caused

Lesson 2 – Some of the things you waited and waited for: they will be a lot better than you’ve imagined.

Lesson 3 – Sea + Mountains = really amazing roads but extremely tiring diriving

Lesson 4 - What you think is enough time, never is. And time also has this bad habit of just flying by.

Lesson 5 – Relaxing and enjoying yourself is as rewarding as doing a lot of cool stuff

Lesson 6 – If you also want photos from the road there and back, make sure the family/couple/group shutterbug is not the only driver. I was

Lesson 7 – The Efes beer is amazing!

Lesson 8 – Belly dancing is not that hard

Lesson 9 – Bring more books next time! Running out of books to read sucks a lot more than carrying too many and going back without reading them. I packed four and finished them in a week and a half and bought three more

Lesson 10 – Pet food stores might also sell used books ??? Yup, I haven’t gotten over this…

Lesson 11 – If you go through the trouble of getting road maps ready, don’t forget them on the living room table!

That’s it for now! Next, I’ll share my cruise experience, my paraglading experience, a review of the amazing hotel I stayed at and some other cool stories I know you’ll love! Stay tuned!

What is a Dream Vacation? It’s a masterpiece of Travel Wizards, the kind of vacation that you enjoy so much, you speak about it years and years after coming back. You enjoy every second of every minute of every hour of every day. You take lots of photos, dance like a dervish on the streets and charge yourself with enough energy to last you for a year or two.

How to come up with such a vacation? That’s a mix of knowledge, advanced hotel search skills, planning, great advice from friends passionate about traveling and a whole lot of luck. I’ve had such a vacation last year, when I spent 10 days in the Netherlands. So I did my best to organize an at least similar one for this year. I thought it would be nice to share my plans with you now and then report back every day and tell you what the real deal is like.

Location: Fethiye, Oludeniz, Turkey!

Oludeniz is said to be the best place for paragliding. It’s home to a paradise-like lagoon and beach on the Mediterranean and the nearby mountains are the perfect place for those looking for extreme sensations. Placed in between Kusadasi and Antalyia, it is less popular among travel agencies, but hard core tourists know is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The location of choice, Fethiye, is a few miles away from Oludeniz.

I started planning early. I made the reservations at the Blue Pearl hotel back in February. And I advise you to plan early as well if at least part of your trip is in peak season (July-August). I made reservations for an apartment from August 23rd to September 12th and there were only 2-3 apartments left at each hotel in the area. I also advise you to go there in early summer or late summer/early autumn to make sure you’re not affected by extreme heat.

As you can tell, I had quite a lot of time to find out what to do while staying in Oludeniz. You’d think 3 weeks are hard to fill with loads of fun activities, but in these parts of Turkey, it’s actually quite easy!

What to Do in Oludeniz? Anything You Want Basically!

Of course, there’s the beach where you can lay in the sun, swim in the Mediterranean Sea, read a book under an umbrella, have fruit cocktails or simply enjoy the view. There are always the magic moments to be treasured: the sunrise and the sunset. But that’s enough to fill three days. What else?

Let’s Start with Paragliding!

They say Oludeniz is the best place for paragliding in the world. As it will be a first in my life, I’m guessing I’ll love it anyway. And I have this not so secret plan of getting it all on my camera and then share it with you.

For beginners like me, there are several professionals of tandem paragliding to take you on a breathtaking experience from the top of Babadag, above the Oludeniz Beach and Lagoon, and finally landing on the Oludeniz Beach.

Of course, hard core paragliders are not obliged to have an instructor with them and for those wannabes looking for a license, you can get one here, after acing a 5 or 10 day course. You’ll get excellent paragliding conditions from April till November, 8 months every year. Now that’s some extended season for extreme sports!

White Water Rafting

It just so happens that there are quite a few of Turkish rivers perfect for white water rafting. The nearby Dalaman River is the perfect place to try out your rafting skills. The river is graded 3-4 and is open to rafting from April till October.

It also has a 5 grade section for more experienced rafters which is only open from April to July. And if you want to have fun for more than a few hours, there are one day or overnight rafting campings trips. So get your life jacket and helmet ready, add jackets, wet suits and bootees if it’s cold and let’s go!

Dalayan Mud Bath and Turtle Beach

As you must be tired after such extreme experiences, some light visiting is in order. On your way to the Dalyan Delta, stop to see the ancient rock tombs of Caunos. Then go see the mud bath and dip in the sulfur springs of Dalayan. It’s then time for the spectacular Iztuzu Beach, one of the last nesting places of the endangered Caretta Caretta turtles. The turtles measuring up to 3-4 feet in length come here to nest from May to September.

Canoing

You can then take a day canoing down the Xanthos River (Eşen Çay) through the Patara National Park. Luckily with those like me, no previous canoing experience is necessary.

Horseback Riding

Now that you’re a little rested, nothing like a horseback ride to fill your afternoon! The 18km beach of Patara is the perfect place to start, then make your way through the dunes and along the farmland of Cayagzi.

Walking

Alternatively, you can take long walks on the beach or start going up to see snow-covered mountain peaks and the yayla (highland plateau). You’ll be free to enjoy the extensive pine and cedar forests, the junipers, the maquis and everything else the impressive Babadag mountain has to offer.

Time to Dive!

After spending so long on the surface, I’d say seeing the Mediterranean underworld is a must. The Fethiye and Oludeniz areas offer a wide range of perfect places for both scuba diving and snorkeling and there are plenty of experienced teachers ready to give you a few pointers if you haven’t done this before. You can sign up for a 2 to 5 days diving course or become a master diver in one of the specialty courses.

The underwater landscape is typically a varied selection of reefs, walls, drop-offs and caverns. Local marine life is less abundant than in tropical seas but includes grouper, rays, moray eels, turtles and octopi.

Jump on Board for a Cruise

If you made it all the way to Oludeniz, then experiencing a Turkish gulet is a must. Boat trips come in all directions and lengths possible so it’s impossible not to find something to suit your mood. For example, if you get tired of the Oludeniz beach, take a boat trip to Bodrum and enjoy your time in the sun.

And if all these were not enough for you (and I for one still have some hours to fill), then write these down:

• *Must see where Helen of Troy and Paris had their love story – Pamukkale
• *Visit the ruins of Tlos
• *Visit Yakapark trout farm and water gardens
• *See the Hellenistic city of Hierapolis which is over 2500 years old and swim in Cleopatra’s spa bath
• *Visit Ephesus, one of the best preserved classical cities in the eastern Mediterranean

If this is still not enough, just ask around and you’ll surely find out about amazing places to see and new things to try out. I’m guessing I won’t get bored. What do you think?

Photo credit (hotel). Photo credit (Tourist Attractions).

There are three possibilities when it comes to travel planning: (1) do it all yourself, (2) have an agency arrange lodging and transportation and worry about what to do yourself and (3) leave it all to the agency and just show up and follow their lead. Each of these approaches comes with ups and downs and it also depends on the traveler’s personality, available or inexistent planning time and other such circumstances.

As I want to make it easier for you to choose how to have your trip planned, I’ll explore all these possibilities and focus on what’s good and bad about them. Relax, stay tuned and decide after reading this.

I Am the Master of Disaster

DIY trips come with all the freedom you’ve always dreamed of. Everything is exactly how you wanted it and you have control over every detail. You’re also responsible for every detail of your trip. But if you think you know best what you like, if you don’t want a standardized trip and want to just put your inventiveness to work, you should really go for it.

With all readily available online, finding a hotel, discovering all the major attractions and estimating costs and time can be quite easy. You’ll have to keep a close eye on travel blogs, forums and online booking site reviews.

Thumbs up:

* Everything is your choice, from how you get there, to the hotel and what you visit
* You can change everything as you go if you have a better idea
* You will not be forced to travel with people you don’t know and might not share interests with

Thumbs down:

* It takes a very long time to organize everything
* You might not find out about all the cool places to see and fun stuff to do; also might overlook important details and find everything closed (museums and other attractions)
* You might not estimate everything correctly: time, prices, fun factor

With a Little Help from my Friends…

Partly relying on an agency when planning your trip might spare you quite an effort. You can just email them their request and have everything booked for you, at a certain price. You can have them book your stay, arrange for transportation and go.

Thumbs up:

* Easier to organize and less of a hassle for you
* More time to research what to do on the trip instead of worrying on how to get there
* You still have enough freedom to do what you like and change plans each day

Thumbs down:

* It might not be the best deal you could get. Don’t only think money, also think location and other such details
* As the booking decision is based on just a few objective request, it might not be exactly what you dreamed of
* You’re still left with the largest time consumer and hard part of it all: planning everything you’ll do while you’re there.

Someone Else Has to Worry about EVERYTHING!

There’s a wide range of ready made vacations you can choose from. Everything is already scheduled – from your meals to your activities, and you’ll also have a couple of hours of time to do things on yourself.

Thumbs up:

* Everything is ready for you, you just need to show up
* Groups get discounts when visiting, so when it comes to expensive museums, you can have a big smile on your face
* They agency know everything tourists like and it will all be there for you. If anything is closed, they have 3 other objectives to replace it

Thumbs down:

*Most of the times, you travel with groups of people who can get on your toes quite often
*Your own plans don’t really matter
*The agency might want you to see so much that everything will be in a hurry, no time to really enjoy.

As you can see, there’s something for everyone of us, from the individual travel that wants to do it all on their own, to the lazier ones of us who just want to enjoy their time off work with no real worries on their minds. You should decide what you want and then mix the ingredients to your spell accordingly. But choose wisely, all trips are meant to be enjoyed.