How to Plan a Perfectly Flexible Itinerary
One of the best things about going on a trip is the anticipation of it. Getting excited about my travel plans is almost as good as the trip itself (and it seems to make the trip last longer). Part of the hype is making the plans. I’m going to tell you how to plan a perfectly flexible itinerary.
Ok, so itinerary isn’t an awesome word. When I think of “itinerary,” I think of a schedule that has every minute accounted for. This is not that kind of itinerary. Have you ever been on a trip and all you do is ask yourselves “what should we do today?” over and over? Literally everyone has been in that situation, whether it was on a vacation, or spending a day with a friend. And it’s miserable. The day or trip turns into doing whatever you can find on google, and honestly, it’s just mediocre.
Preparing for a trip and making an itinerary is so much fun and beneficial. Not only will you be prepared and excited for your trip, you also won’t waste any time once you’re there.
Search for Things to Do
First, I search for things to do where I’m going. My go to search engine is Pinterest, and I have an incredibly organized board for travel tips. I’ll also use Instagram, Tik Tok and good ol’ Google, too.
When I visit my in-laws in California, we stay in Yorba Linda. But I also search for things to do in Orange County, Southern California, and other towns that are near it. If I find something that interests me, I’ll pull it up in google maps and see how far it is from our home base. If it’s a reasonable distance, I’ll add it to my google docs list, organized by whatever category it falls into.
And for everyone, a reasonable distance will be different. We typically do either a day trip or an overnight trip when we’re out there, so even if something is 2-3 hours away, I’ll put it on the list.
2. Organize the List of Possibilities
When I make my list of possible outings, I organize it by location, then category (like restaurant, activity, nature, etc.). If I want to go to Heisler Park, I’ll make a heading called “Laguna Beach,” and put it under that. You can also add links and notes under each item, like hours of operation, the vibe, etc.
3. Consult Your Travel Partners
If you’re going on a trip with other people, then it’s a good idea to consult them to see what they’re interested in doing. Share your list with your spouse or friends, assign them each a color, and have them (and yourself) highlight which things they want to do. If it’s your husband, this will probably be best done verbally and you can just make the notations yourself.
Consensus matters when you travel so everyone can have a good time. This is kind of obvious, but it’s important to remind yourself (ahem, myself), that the trip is not all about you. Sometimes you have to sacrifice doing something you want - or doing something you don’t want - if others do.
4. Group Activities Together by Day
Once you have your organized list of possibilities and you know what you and your travel partners really want to do, group those into days by location. If you want to go to the Garden of the Gods, and your friend wants to go to a spa in Manitou Springs, you can do both on the same day since they’re a matter of miles from each other. So for example, “Day 2” could be going to Colorado Springs, and the activities listed would be Garden of the Gods and the spa.
You can also assign activities to a day and then go from there. Say your friend wants to go to South Beach in Miami, and you want to go to the Everglades - obviously do those on separate days. Then fill in the blanks for the rest of the day. Did you also want to see the murals in the Wynwood neighborhood? Add that to the day you’re going to South Beach.
From there, I keep my list of possibilities on a note in my phone throughout the week. If we’re still up for doing something after our outings, we have a list of possibilities that are nearby and we aren’t scrambling to find something to do. But if we want to go home for the day, we can do that without being disappointed since we did what we really wanted to do.
When we go to California, we typically plan 1 or 2 things per day that will only take up half the day. Jason and I have very different ideas of vacation - I love to be on the go and he loves to chill and do nothing. So, we compromise and spend half the day out, and half the day in.
5. Assign the Days to Actual Dates
Once you have your days planned out, assign them to a specific date. Be mindful about the days of the week when you’re assigning days, especially if you’re going somewhere notoriously crowded on the weekends. Also, check your notes to see if certain places are closed on certain days (ex: the Getty Museum in LA is closed on Mondays).
6. Look up Restaurants
Although I love to try new restaurants and eat good food, I typically leave picking out restaurants until I’m done picking out activities and assigning them to days. I don’t want to spend time looking at coffee shops in LA if we don’t even end up going there.
Once I do have our days figured out, I’ll look up coffee shops and restaurants in the area. I typically search on TikTok and sometimes Yelp and Open Table.
Voila, you’re done! This type of organizing helps me to get excited for my trip, have a plan, and also allows for flexibility. It’s nice to be able to wake up and pick a fun, organized day based off of whatever you feel like doing.
Until next time - may your weekend be full of creativity and style.
