Why is travel planning important?

On our way back from New Zealand we knew we would suffer from jet-lag so we decided to have a short stopover in Dubai to rest and visit the Dubai mall. This lovely shop is close to the entrance next to the Dubai fountain - nice place to wait for the next water display.

Proper planning does not only saves you money and ensures that you do not miss out on terrific travel experiences, it most definitely adds value to the total travel experience. Most of the finer points about travelling we tend to learn the hard way (like making sure that the dates on the visa are indeed corresponding with the dates you stated in the application form – I still get nightmares about this one), but there are also things that we could benefit from by incorporating research results into our travel itineraries. Become your own travel agent and do some research during the planning phase of your trip. I know that this can sound like a waste of time because the travel office or travel agents can do this, but believe me, you will not only learn new skills and competencies and gather knowledge, you will also safe money and ensure that the whole trip is more enjoyable because you can adjust times, stopovers, air tickets, hotels, costs and much more to fit in with your personal preferences.

With the help of the Internet no one needs to be helpless when it comes to planning and booking air tickets, transfers, accommodation or activities (and if you really do not have the time to do this yourself, ask your travel partner or children or grandchildren to do it for you – you will be surprised at what they can come up with). Search the web pages of your favourite/preferred airline(s) and hotel groups. The hotel groups normally guarantee that they will provide the best and cheapest offers or will match other sites’ offers. I usually test this by first looking at sites such as Booking.com and Hotels.com and Tripadvisor to find their rates and then compare it with the hotel sites. Once or twice I did get a lower price on booking.com (as I already had several bookings with them and qualified for better deals), but after I signed up to the loyalty programmes of two hotel groups, their web sites always wins. This is also the case with air tickets. I usually start my investigation with sites that provide choice and flexibility such as Travelstart and then go to the individual airline web pages to see the price and itinerary differences and stopover or transit options. Again, being a member of one or two airline’s loyalty programmes is paying off and I tend to book directly on the airline page more often as the money I am saving this way is significant (and I like the benefits like the option to board first).

A last word: before you sign up for a loyalty programme with an airline or hotel, ensure that you are comfortable with their style, pricing and coverage. Although you normally do not have to pay to become a member, you could be inconvenienced when your preferred airline does not fly (directly) to the destinations your frequently visit or the hotel group does not have hotels in the cities or regions you are travelling to.  Make research part of travel planning and enjoy much more on each trip.