How to Create an Aesthetic Travel Itinerary for Free

Why Plan your trip ahead of time?

If you’re anything like me, I HATE it when I’m sitting in my hotel room frantically trying to google search a nearby restaurant, activity, parking, etc. when I could be actually present in the moment and enjoying the trip. When I find myself in these frantic google search frenzies, I find myself wishing I had planned better ahead of time.

Planning diligently allows for more peace of mind during the trip – in other words, it allows you to be fully present to enjoy the experiences you paid good money for, and ensures that you budget your time to see everything you want to see.

Afterall, you don’t know how many times you’re going to make it back to that destination so you want to make the most of it!

Deciding what Platform you want to Use

Adding in the Aesthetics – if you’re like me and you care about that sorta thing

• Download cute and FREE google slides and Canva templates from the following websites:
  • Slidesgo
  • Slidescarnival
  • slidesmania
  • slidesnest
  • & MORE! (just google search “free google slides/canva tempplates”)
• Check out Katehandling on instagram for fabulous canva tips and freebies!

Do Your RESEARCH

This is the fun part where you get to be as chaotic and scatterbrained as your little heart desires!

Start with a big picture list of all the activities, restaurants, sights, etc. that you want to see and do – the organization/structure will come later.

I recommend having the following sections of your itinerary: Activities, Sights, Restaurants, Drinks, Tours, etc.

TIP: to make this easier and to hate yourself less later on, put the neighborhood or region/district that the activity/restaurant is in, to help with future planning of where it fits into the daily schedule.

Resources to Use when Researching a destination

• Pinterest: especially great for hidden gems and instagrammable spots
• Instagram: A lot of bigger cities will have tourism instagram accounts
  • You can also Search hashtags to find cool places within the destination you’re visiting
• Airbnb: shares fun experiences in the place you’re traveling (tours, classes, experiences, etc.)
• Visit a City (app and Website): Just simply type in your destination to find well-organized topics on things to do, hotels, sights, walking tours, nearby locations, etc.
  • Can save plans in a Wishlist for future reference
• Wikitravel: A great place to search for a more in-depth understanding of your destination
  • Great for travelers who really want to immerse themselves in understanding the history, culture, etc

What do I even Research?

Before you begin your search, make sure you have a good idea of the type of traveler you and your travel buddies are. Know what kinds of activities and experiences you are willing to try and be willing to try new things! What kinds of things do you like to see and do when you travel? Are you a beach lover, big city dreamer, hiker, explorer? Keep this all in mind when planning.

Some search ideas include (Simply copy and paste with your destination):

• Fun activities to do in ______
• Local cuisine / foods to try in _________
• Paid tours in _________
• Free things to do in ___________
• _____ travel bucket list
• ____ travel itinerary
• Outdoor activities in ___________
• Hiking in ______
• Instagrammable places in ________

Get Organized

Now that you have an idea of what you want to do, begin plugging these items into the days in a way in which they make most sense. Your headers in your itinerary now morph into more of a daily schedule:

• Based on location/proximity, plan a route that makes sense so you don’t have to backtrack
  • I simply use the iphone maps app to find where everything is located and then play an extreme game of connect the dots to see how it’s all going to fit together like a little puzzle
  • Create and save your own map using google, to plan each day and record all the stops you want to make
  • Make sure to check the hours of museums, restaurants, etc, so you plan these during working hours
• Consider transportation: whether it be scoping out parking ahead of time, public transportation, etc. You don’t want to get there and have no plan of how you’re going to see the things you want to see
  • I like to specify a section for “walkable activities/sights/food” so I can know ahead of time what my options are, right by my hotel/airbnb
    • This is why i love staying in a place where I can walk to lots of things!
  • Parking (paid, apps needed?, lots, decks, street?
  • Public transportation (most cities have an app to make it easier to pay and look up schedules)
  • Ride Share
    • Deciding what days you might be best off to just get Uber or Lyft rides – depending on the circumstance
• Have a section of “Extras” (with location info) to plug-in spontaneously if you find yourself with extra time one of the days

Allow for Spontaneity

The random stops can be the most fun. Be sure to not pack yourself so full each day that you don’t have time to just meander around.
Some of my favorite things I’ve done on my travels, are the random stops that we never knew existed ahead of time – the hidden gems truly can make the trip.

Documenting the Trip

I will be making a whole separate post about ways to document your amazing travel memories, but one tip for planning is to copy your itinerary and title it “ ______ Trip Recap.” Then, during the trip, add/delete/modify as you explore, and record what you actually did – to make journaling and recapping a total breeze.