Having learnt her lesson, the writer vows to make better travel plans for 2018
IT’S coming to the end of the year. As I look back on the past 12 months, it has become clear to me that the travel plans that I had in mind at the end of last year fell short of my goals. Notice the flaw? It was all in the mind and not on paper.
We dream of going to places we’ve never been to. Or we dream of going back to the places we’ve enjoyed so much before. Travel pictures on Instagram inspire us to go. Friends’ travel postings jolt some form of envy. And so we dream. But how many of us sit down to plot our travel plans, work out our budget and mark out our calendar 12 months ahead?
Do we work out all our other schedules — work, family commitments, social do’s and a host of other things in our life — around our travel plans?
Well, I for one made the same “mistake” over and over again; I tend to slot my travels around all my other commitments. The flops were when I couldn’t slot in my dream journeys because I had given priority to everything else. Year in and year out, I did the same thing.
PLAN AHEAD
So, as I’m bidding 2017 goodbye, I tell myself things have got to change. Otherwise, I can dream forever and never take that train ride to the different Southeast Asian countries, never go to the base of Mount Everest and never go see those cherry blossoms in Korea.
While I’m not the type of traveller to plan way ahead, preferring instead to travel on the spur of the moment, I know I’ve to book in advance so that I’ll be committed to making my travel dreams come true.
There are several advantages of booking ahead, too. Advance flight bookings are tops for there are incredible offers even for long-haul destinations. Low-cost carriers’ fares can be unbelievably low, especially when they hold flash cheap sales. When you’ve booked and paid in advance with no refund cheap fare policy, it’s like you’ve psyched yourself up to go no matter what, else you’ll say goodbye to your money. It’s some sort of a psychological barrier you’ve put on yourself so that you won’t back out.
Delaying your bookings for flights may result in you paying much more or worse, not getting a ticket at the time you want to go.
As for hotel rooms, I’ve found out that not all online offers are cheaper than walk-in rates. Keep a lookout for the best deals, and call the hotels to find out their walk-in and direct booking rates and compare these with the offers you get through booking sites. If you don’t want to leave your hotel room booking to chance when you reach your destination, then it’s best to book ahead. Even if you’ve to pay slightly higher, you can rest easy that you’ve a place to rest and sleep.
FLEXIBILITY
Of course, if you book package tours, everything will be taken care of, including the sightseeing spots and things to do. Otherwise, you’ll have to plot everything on your drawing board — where to go, what to do, what to eat. But do leave room for some flexibility to your plan so that you can spend more time doing what you like the most or go off the well-trodden course to discover more.
For example, recently, I went off the beaten track in Sabah where I could hardly get data connection for my iPhone. But I had a wonderful stay in the interiors where the one thing I did the most was to connect with nature. Next to my basic bamboo lodge in Kiulu Valley near Tuaran runs a river, so clean and clear that bathing in its water left me feeling thoroughly cleansed and refreshed. Getting to the lodge was through a hanging bridge over the river, the same route taken by the local school children whose laughter woke me up in the early morning as they walked, skipped and ran to school.
Had I not gone off the normal tourist routes in Sabah, I would not have discovered this place.
I like a free and easy schedule though I know some form of planning must be in place. This helps me not to miss on some main sights or activities at a new place I’m visiting. So advance planning for this is important. I find that if I don’t read ahead and find out more about certain attractions in a place, I would miss interesting bits of stories or facts about them, which is a pity because travelling to me also means expanding knowledge and gaining understanding of something that we don’t have back home.
I believe that every one of my travel experiences has made me a smarter traveller. A lot smarter, I hope. But still, I’ve got to do a lot more when it comes to planning my travels way ahead, and making sure that I go when the time comes.
So the next time you fail to fulfil your own travel plans, look back and see where you’ve screwed up. Till then, Happy New Year.