Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening friends! This is a planned post, because as you’re reading this I’m exhausted after moving out, and on my way home, finally. And, well, in case you hadn’t noticed it before, I am a HUGE planning freak. Not as much as my sister, let’s be honest –she’s going to read that and be mad…hi @nyxcorner, love you! So, in honor of that, I thought I’d try something a bit different, and talk about, drumrolls…PLANNING, and most especially, travelling.
Later on, if you’d like, I will talk about the same subject regarding blogging. But for now, summer calls, holidays as well, so…I have decided to let you on my, well, ours, with my sister / travelling twinnie, planning schedule and frenzy!
LESSON 1: CHOOSE YOUR DESTINATION 🌍
Judging from my blog posts, and who I am generally, you can guess that I am a huge travelling junkie. I love it so, so much, and if I could do this all the time, I would. But since I can’t, there’s always the thrill of getting to pick a new destination, looking at a map of the world, and pointing where I’d like to go next. My bucket list is endless, but I’m so happy that I managed to cross some destinations off it already.
If anything, this year has been pretty stressful, and thinking about holidays just made me feel a bit better, and excited, and took my mind off things many, many times. But there’s something about actually choosing…it’s just like choosing between two books you REALLY want to read, which one you should start with first. WHICH ONE? Of course, SO many things must be taken into consideration, such as your budget, your ways of transportation, your GUT telling you where you should go… It’s just like picking up a new book, and going on an adventure where you are the main character of the story.
🌏 HOW TO PICK A DESTINATION – THREE STEPS:
1. Take a map, a globe, Google Maps or anything. Zoom out until you can see the whole world unfolding at your feet. Pick a place.
2. Where do your blogging friends live? Go there.
3. In love with Anna and The French Kiss? Go to Paris. Go to the most bookish settings you can find.
More seriously: think about budget, plane, trains, cars, follow your (bookish) heart.
LESSON 2: THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS TO SEE 📷
If there’s ONE huge thing that I’m taking into account whenever choosing a place to go, it’s what there is to SEE and DO there. Obviously, there are tons of ways to see what a city / place has to offer, and in those times, Google and Lonely Planet are my BEST friends.
🌇 HOW TO SEE IT ALL – THREE STEPS:
– Make LISTS! Oh everyone writing reviews in lists, and the lovely planner in you will LOVE that. Type down the city / place you want to go to and write down EVERYTHING you want to see. Even if it’s a bookshop. EVEN MORE, what am I saying.
– Spend time at the LIBRARY / BOOKSHOP. Yes, to buy books but also to spend a monstrous amount of time browsing travelling guides until they kick you out at closing time.
– Make A PLAN! I mean, obviously if I’m writing this, it’s that I am a huge planning freak –maybe? So I’m going to advise you to use your notepad, Word or anything you want, to write down the time / days you spend in one place, and the things you absolutely want to do, etc etc. Like a blogging schedule, FULL OF ADVENTURES.
LESSON 3: WHAT’S YOUR BUDGET? 💸
Ugh. This is the hardest part, and what most people are struggling with the most, it’s the BUDGET. Who never wished for endless money to be able to travel everywhere, anytime? (And buy books as well, but that’s another question) I certainly did, but before that magical spell I recited a thousand, billion years ago finally starts working, I need to BUDGET things. It’s no fun, but I don’t want to spend my days counting what I’m spending. Especially when I’m on holidays discovering a fantastic bookshop or stuff, you know.
💵 HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BUDGET ….
without losing your mind (yes. In three steps. I like it that way)
– I’m FOREVER searching for tricks and tips to plan out a trip. Pinterest is a GOLD mine for that, guys. The best plane fares are on a Tuesday morning at 8 am. Delete your browsing history or navigate privately: some fares are DIFFERENT.
– If you’re going to a foreign country, REMEMBER the fees and to actually convert money. I mean, you can be surprised, and in a BAD way, by some prices.
– I SAVE money all year long, for those moments. This means buying less books –yes, I do try-, cheap books, this means, every single month I have a little income, putting some money on the side and keep it there.
THE ULTIMATE BUDGET LESSON, and your positive word of the day always has to be:
If can’t go now because too expensive, just pin it (on your pinterest, in your mind, on your bookshelf, and you will go one day.
Do a budget, don’t forget to cut yourself some slack to, you know, get some books, once in a while.
LESSON 4: PREP, PLAN, BOOK! ✈️
GUYS, if I didn’t mention it before, I am EXCITED because summer is here, and I will be going on holidays!! Not right now, I’m not leaving you guys right away, but in a couple weeks, my sister and I will be heading to England for a kind-of road trip in a few cities. And I can’t wait. Obviously, the point of me throwing it there just to make you jealous would be stupid and pointless because I am a NICE person and I’m mostly excited to share this adventure with you, by this first post with a glimpse of my planning ways and later on with travelling blog posts, Instagram pictures and maybe more…!
Budget is usually the issue I always have. Things just look so expensive 😦 I hope once I start working, it will feel a little less of a mountain to overcome. I’ll keep those tips in mind when I do plan a budget next time!
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Oh I get it, I forever dream of having infinite budget for travelling. Sadly I haven’t figured out how to make that happen yet, but in the meantime, it’s, savings and everything ahah 🙂 I hope you’ll be able to travel soon, and that this might have helped a bit! thank you so much! ❤ ❤
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If you ever figured out how to make that happen, tell me at once! 😀 I hope so too!
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I will for sure, when I’ll find the magic spell to do that 😛
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This is such a brilliant post! I love it! I wish I was this organised with travelling haha. I just pick a place randomly (obviously with a little research done already) and go there. 🙂 Budget is always a killer. I haven’t been able to buy many books lately because of this holiday haha. I love your budget lesson! I really hope you enjoy your road-trip! That is SO exciting! You have to share pictures ❤
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AWw thank you so, so much Fatima, I am SO happy you liked this, I was kind of nervous to post this, so thank you ❤ ❤ Oh yes, well not buying-books because I want to go on holidays is always SO hard, but well…I guess sometimes we have to make cruel choices ahah. THANK you, and I will for sure!! ❤ ❤
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You are quite a planner! I definitely learned a lot about how to plan 🙂 I’d love to see a Planning 101 for blogging 🙂
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Aww thank you so, so much! I’m glad this post was helpful and that you enjoyed it. And thank you for your opinion, I might try and do that 😀
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You’re welcome! I’ll have to use this post when I finally travel. It seems like it would be a very helpful post for new and old bloggers alike 🙂
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Aww that’s so sweet of you, I’m so happy if this can be of any use ❤
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You’re welcome 😀 I love posts that help me learn things that I can use in the feature!
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Ohh well thank you again, it makes me so happy to help, and if I can, I will try and make more of these 🙂
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You’re welcome! I hope you will 🙂 They are very informative and helpful!
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Well I will try and think about more of these kind of posts for sure 🙂
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Good luck 🙂 I’ll look forward to more. No rush though!
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*future
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I really loved your post! I too am a massive planner and when it comes to holidays I make tons and tons of lists of places I want to go, places I’ve been, and things I want to see and do, and all that’s before I’ve even booked anything. As soon as my holiday plans are more solid I go into super-planning mode! 😀
I’ve never tried to google maps method of searching for a place to go. Most of the holidays I’ve been on have come about because my friend or sister have messaged me saying ‘how do you feel about going to …’ and I’ve replied ‘OK, lets do it!’ but seeing as I want to go everywhere they’ve always picked places I’ve wanted to go as well! 😀
Great post, you must be really looking forwards to your holidays now they’re getting closer. 😀 Also I hope the whole moving back home thing goes well, and you’re not too exhausted by the end of it! ❤
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OHh thank you so, so much Beth, I am thrilled you enjoyed this ❤ I have to admit I was a bit scared to post it because, well, it's a bit different but I'm glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I'm really looking forward to it, yes, and I spend WAY too many time on Google Maps looking for places haha. I'm a bit obsessed.
It went really well, it was exhausting and I won't even begin to talk about all the books I had ahah, but now I'm taking time to rest and enjoy the family, so it's okay! Thank you! ❤ ❤
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I thinks it nice to share things other than books, and I love all your other travel posts so this just felt like the step before in a way 😀
There’s someone I work with who has been travelling pretty much everywhere you can think of. He always has recommendations of places to go and hotels to stay in, I swear my travel bucket list has doubled in size thanks to his suggestions! But I will have to try the Google way one of these days! 😀
God I can imagine, for me travelling home from uni was always a massive task, but at least that part’s done now and you can enjoy everything you’ve got going on in the next few months! ❤️
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Oh that’s so awesome, when you have people around you you can talk about travelling with. I do that a lot with my sister and everything, it’s so great to share this crazy wanderlust feeling! 🙂
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We talk about a lot of things at work but it comes around to travel a lot (someone on my team has literally just come back after travelling all around America/Asia for the past five months!)
I think everyone has a little bit of wanderlust, something we all have in common! 🙂
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OH wow that’s incredible, I wish I could do that as well, I bet she / he had the BEST time.
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I am kind of planning something like that for myself, I’m not sure if it will ever happen but it will be nice if one day I had the oppertunity to travel like that one day! It sounds amazing! 😀
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Ohh well it will someday, if you believe in it and can make it work 🙂 I really hope you do 😀
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It’s what keeps me going when work gets too much! 😀 And yeah, maybe one day! 🙂
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Great post, Marie! I’m actually 50-50 on travel – I LOVE IT, but I travel quite a bit in my life and in a way that kind of has consequences, so currently I just kind of want to settle down a bit for a loooong period of time and just work and chill. In saying that, though, France is actually high on my list. Oh, and Greece. 😛
So jealous of you being a travel planner, though! No one in my family is a planner and every time we travel we literally end up booking hotels on the spot, i.e. tonight’s hotel will be booked this morning. It’s SUPER STRESSFUL, but my dad doesn’t like booking in advance because he always thinks we’re going to change our plans (hint: we usually don’t).
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Thank you so, so much Reg, I am happy you enjoyed it ❤
I couldn't live like that ahah, I like having everything planned out, I feel much better ahah. Maybe once you will be able to plan far in advance 😛
Oh I get it, I guess I'm not too tired of travelling yet, and whenever I stay put for too long, I start feeling itchy a bit ahah 🙂 OHhh I hope you'll go there soon, I'll buy you French macaroons 😛
Oh wow that must be SO stressful indeed
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I’ve traveled to Japan once this year, and if you count weekend trips with the BF I think you can add maybe 2 more times to that, so I’ve been feeling pretty burnt out. I also leave for New Zealand tomorrow, haha. 😛
I think I will! Right now I travel most with my parents/family, so they ‘control’ most of what we do and they’re not planners at all. When it’s my own trip, though, or a trip with my friends we do plan quite extensively and it usually ends up less stressful. 🙂
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OHH that’s so awesome, I envy you! I hope you’ll have the best time in New Zealand (and I want pictures, make me dream ahah)
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Thank you! It’s coooold. I’ll try to (remember to) take pics. 😂
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That’s a super epic guide right there, Marie! I am a terrible planner, I mostly just decide to wing it. Last year, when I went to Cardiff, I just knew that I wanted to go to the Doctor Who Experience and I was like “I am going to figure out the rest when I am there”. Such a dubious idea! It worked out alright for me, but a bit more planning might not have done any harm either hahaha
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Aww thank you so, so much Kat, I’m really glad you liked it ❤ ❤ Hahaha well as long as you managed to see everything you wanted to 🙂 I'm always scared to forget something, so I prefer to plan everything 😛
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All I wanted to see was the Doctor Who Experience and that I saw – twice! It was one of my happiest day, I kid you not!
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Ohhh really? Well I believe you 😉 If I could go to be closer to my favorite tv show, I swear it will be the best day of my life as well.
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I love planning trips, even if all the planning never comes true. I also love watching vlogs to find great shops and restaurants. I have a few Youtubers that I really like, so I always check what are their favorite places to visit.
By the way, can’t wait to read about your adventures in England!
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Ohhh don’t say that, the planning WILL come true someday, I am sure! 🙂 Oh that’s such a great idea, do you have an recommendations of travel youtubers? 🙂
Thank you so, so much Lais! ❤
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Awesome post, Marie! You’re so lucky you get to go to England. I always wanted to go but no one wants to go with me cause it rains all the time. 😦 I love your suggestions. Budgeting is such an important part of travelling. I notice a lot of people will plan the vacation and have money to get there but don’t think about the fact they need money when they get to their destination, which kills their plans. Great idea to pick where your blogger friends live. After talking to so many bloggers from Europe, I really want to go now and see where all of you live. 🙂
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Aww thank you so, so much Jillian! ❤ It doesn’t rain all the time, last time I went I had one day of rain and 4 of sunshine, so..GO THERE PLEASE 😀
Thank you so, so much for the sweet words! Oh I couldn’t stop myself, after seeing where everyone is from and just getting to know their countries a bit, I want to do a world-tour to visit everyone’s places 🙂
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Great post! Got me immediately in the travel (and planning) mood 🙂 I love to travel, but I’m kind of a big planner as well. I’d love to be able to just go somewhere and just see where the day takes me, but honestly I can’t. I need to plan everything and as long as everything is planned, I can be a bit more flexible. But there still needs to be a plan, if that makes any sense? 🙂 And honestly, planning a trip is half the fun!
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Thank you so, so much, so glad yyou like it and share the crazy planning frenzy as well! 🙂 It does make sense, I don’t like planning every second of the day, but I like having some kind of plan I can follow anyways, in order not to miss anything! 🙂 Thank you!! ❤
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Budget is my biggest obstacle when it comes to travel but I do love planning and the organizations aspects of planning a vacation. I use to be the one who planned all of our family vacations! Thanks for sharing some of your tips, I’ll keep them in mind the next time I travel!
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Ohh that’s awesome you’re the planner in the family 😀 thank you so, so much, I am so happy you enjoyed this ❤ ❤
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AHHH I love this so so much. I really want to travel EVERYWHERE and I always have. I have never been outside of the U.S. and it makes me sad because I feel like we are so separated in our own little bubble and I want to actually experience things. I am going to Rocky Point, Mexico in October, and Northern Ireland next summer and I AM SO EXCITED!!! I really want to go to France some day and am planning to study abroad (somewhere in Europe) for a year of college. Great post and thanks for all the tips!
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Ohhh thank you so, so much, I am so happy you liked this post ❤ Ohhh that's incredible, I hope you'll share some of your adventures with us, and that you'll experience a year abroad or something. It must be so fulfilling 🙂 Thank you!! ❤
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Aaaah this post made me want to PLAN ALL THE TRIPS (even though I can’t go anywhere right now lol. But it does remind me that I need to plan more for my trip to London in October :P) Loved it like always Marie and hope you’ll have an amazing time!!
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OHHH LONDON IN OCTOBER? this is awesome. London is my favorite city in the world, I really hope you will LOVE IT! ❤ (and if you need help planning LET ME DO IT I LOVE IT. I am crazy like that hahaha.) Thank you!! ❤
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YESSS! Same here 😀 It’s my second time but there’s still soooo much to see and do. I will let you know haha 😀 I can’t plan everything on my own though, since I’m going with my mom, aunt and cousin haha
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That’s what I love about this city, always so much to see! I think I’ve been there maybe 4 or 5 times now and I still got new things to do. It’s incredible. Ohh well I hope you’ll be able to do the things you want anyway (you know, going to bookshops…. :P)
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Ooh I’m definitely going to bookshops 😛 My cousin wants to go to those as well. There are cookbooks sold there that aren’t sold here, and they’re much cheaper too. So I don’t have to worry about that 🙂
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Ohhh well, as long as you know you’re going to bookshops, then… ALL IS WELL 😛
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Haha it is 😀 (also *applause* at the reference :P)
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Hahaha, I couldn’t resist making that reference 😛
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Love this! I wonder why it’s 8am on a Tuesday that works?
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AW thank you, happy you enjoyed this 🙂 I have no idea haha, it’s not a really convenient hour to book plane tickets, but well… 😛
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