General Tips on Couples’ Trip Planning & Travel

For us, a trip often begins with my husband saying, “You know, I’ve always wanted to go to…” and me tripping over myself to reach for my travel binders.

Yeah, you read that right. Travel binders. But before you laugh at my Martha Stewart-ness, just think about the dorky things in your house that give you joy.

Because I’m always discovering new places I’d like to go, I keep track of them in travel binders full of articles from magazines and the newspaper.

(Note: Since 2009, I’ve started to keep these in digital form here on the site.)

If I’ve been to a place before, I also file my memorabilia here, including maps, transportation guides, and info on great restaurants.

______________________________________________________________________

My travel binders are divided into:
Europe & the Middle East
The Americas & Africa
Oceania & Asia

The five travel magazines that inspire me most are:
Condé Nast Traveller
Travel + Leisure
National Geographic Traveler
Budget Travel
Afar

We’ll often pick up a guidebook for extra help, usually:
Frommer’s
DK Eyewitness Guides

I generally design our itineraries and then book the flights, cars, trains, hotels and more through the web. However, for a very complex trip or special occasion, I’ve been known to call a travel agent for help.

Adam’s work usually dictates the length of a trip. He runs his own business with a partner, and it’s by no means easy for him to get away from work.  I’m almost always pushing for one or two days more than he’s prepared to take, a predicament I like to call “Eyes Bigger Than My Schedule.”

I wholeheartedly agree with the genius who first said that at life’s end, no one will wish they’d worked a few days more.

We (almost) always fly coach, wait and watch for cheaper airfares, and try to pack as lightly as possible. I check Kayak.com, CheapTickets.com, FareCompare.com and SeatGuru.com to help find the best fares and seats.

We always pre-book a compact rental car if we’ll need one, and attempt upgrades at the rental desk, when deals can be made in person.

The best deals on rental cars are found through an airline’s direct website.  If you don’t believe me, check Kayak the next time you need a car…and then visit a few airline sites. You can save up to $15 a day.

We usually prefer driving ourselves so we can roam freely, but appreciate the beauty of the occasional train or guided tour. For instance, if you find yourself visiting a ruin, anywhere, it helps to have someone knowledgeable show you around so that you’re not merely looking at a pile of rocks and trying to imagine what once was there.

If we stay in a luxury hotel, it’s generally at the tail end of a long trip. This way, we can offset the guilt of all that money and marble and excessive water usage with sheer exhaustion.

We always seek out the wine, food, art, and clothes shopping specific to the places we’re visiting. These singular experiences become, physically and emotionally, our souvenirs.

We divide the responsibility of traveling so a trip rolls smoothly, but no one person feels like they have to do everything.

Adam’s focus:
Communicating (if English just isn’t working)
Finding ATM machines
Doing most of the driving

My focus:
Keeping track of the itinerary
(e.g., hotel info, a region’s history, which neighborhood has what, and where to eat)
Navigation

When traveling anywhere, we tend to have a list of things we want to do…and then let the day unfold. It’s not unheard of for us to walk 10 miles of city streets or drive 150 miles in a day in pursuit of gorgeous scenery and a change of pace.

However, we try to take some part of a vacation day to sit still and do very little. Sure, this is great at home, but especially wonderful far away from home. Some of our best travel experiences have been over coffees in small cafes, pausing on bridges or pulling off the road to look at flowers.

After all, at the heart of our travels is a simple desire to rediscover each other.

Tweet This Post