Plan a World Trip 101: A Step-by-step Guide
Ever dreamt of going on a trip around the world? Well, that’s probably a dream that all travellers share and we’re here to help you turn it into a reality. Bring a pen and paper and get ready to take down notes because we’ll show you how to plan a world trip step by step.
How to Plan a World Trip?
#1 Pick your destinations
To plan a world trip, you must first decide where you’ll be travelling unless you’re planning on hitting all 197 countries in the world on one long trip. To make the selection process easier for you, start by thinking of what you want out of your trip.
Do you want to travel to exotic destinations or you’re more of a city person? Are you looking for super cheap destinations or you don’t mind a mix of budgets? Would you like to check some experiences off your bucket list? After answering these questions, or similar ones, you’ll be left with a list of potential destinations for your next adventure. Bear in mind that you might also come across really good flight deals that’ll add to your itinerary.
#2 Choose your travel dates
Once you’ve settled on a potential list of destinations, start thinking about your travel dates. For starters, are you going to be slow travelling around or do you just want to cover highlights? Will you be travelling to multiple cities per country, or just capitals and popular destinations only?
When you have an idea about the number of destinations you’ll be visiting, and how long you’ll be staying in each place, you can have an estimate of the trip’s duration. This is also when you need to figure out the seasons that you’ll be hitting each destination, which will help you put together an itinerary.
#3 Do your research
Now that you know where you’ll potentially be travelling to, it’s time to do your homework. Research is a crucial step if you want to plan a world trip. You need to research every single destination on your list – look up its must-do’s, most popular sites and activities, best hotels, cuisine, culture, you name it. This step will not just help you make detailed itineraries for every stop you make, but will also help you adjust the number of nights you’ll be staying in every place.
Travel blogs and countries’ tourism authorities’ websites are great sources of information. A good place to start is a Google or Pinterest search, and of course, you might find some useful information or travel inspo on Instagram as well.
#4 Make an itinerary
Next, based on your research, you put together an itinerary for the whole trip, and sub-itineraries for every stop you plan to make. Write down everything in dates and it’s even better if you put it all on a map so you could easily visualise it – you can do it via Google Maps just like we taught you here. Just put in mind that this is going to be a rough plan, so be open to any adjustments.
#5 Set a budget
To properly plan a world trip, you need to have a solid budget. Go back to the research step and try to figure out how much each destination would cost you. Look up the average cost of accommodations, food, activities, and so on. Figure out the best means to commute from one destination to another, and check if there are any hidden costs that you should know about in advance.
#6 Start saving
After having a rough estimate of much you’ll be spending, you need to actually start saving this figure. Ask yourself: how are you making this amount of money? Are you freelancing besides your 9-5 job? Do you have a side hustle that you could rely on? Will you be taking a night job? Do you have a blog that you could monetise and possibly land brand and hotel collaborations through?
It’s also important to know that saving isn’t just making the money, but also minimising your expenses. Here are some lifestyle changes and saving tips that you could make to save for your world trip:
If you don’t need it, don’t buy it.
Stop eating out and start meal prepping.
Make your morning coffee at home.
You don’t need to be out drinking every night.
Cut down fancy outings and hang out in cheaper places.
Cancel your Netflix and Spotify subscriptions if they’re not essential.
Cancel your gym subscription and workout at home instead.
Ask your bank if you could join a rewards system.
#7 Make adjustments
When you hit your target and secure all your savings, you need to revisit your research and make sure the costs you’ve looked up before are within the same range. Due to inflation and other unforeseeable events, prices are always subject to change. Not to mention that political circumstances may also force you to cancel out certain destinations. That being said, this is the time when you might have to make some changes to your itinerary before finalising it.
#8 Book in advance
To finalise your itinerary, all you have to do is start booking. You want to book flight tickets, internal transportation like buses and trains, and accommodations. We highly recommend you book them long enough in advance to get them for lower prices – remember, the closer your dates are, the more expensive it gets.
#9 Secure remote work
Before heading out on the world trip of your dreams, it’s important to secure remote work in case your budget might not be covering your entire trip. If you’re slow travelling, make sure to land yourself freelance gigs or a remote part-time job to help fund your world trip. Otherwise, if you want to be enjoying your time throughout the whole thing, it’s best if you save more than enough money for your budget.
#10 Buy travel insurance
One travel essential that you need to counter in your budget is the cost of travel insurance. You may think you’ll only need it on rare occasions but you’d be surprised at how common loss of luggage has become. Not just that, but travel insurance can also cover delayed or cancelled flights, medical emergencies, and much more. We highly recommend SafetyWing and World Nomads.
The final step would be going on your adventure and making the best out of it. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and plan a world trip that you won’t forget and let us know in the comments which dream destinations will you be including.
