How to Plan Your Travel Using Travel Blogs

Travel has become an essential part of our lives. Be it leisure or business, everyone travels at some point in time. So, what’s the best way to travel, how do you plan, where do you find information, who can you speak to if you hit a roadblock? These are questions that most of us ask while planning a trip.

In my experience, the best way to discover everything about a place is by going through travel blogs. Yes. Not relatives, not friends and definitely not neighbours. Travel bloggers are the best people to take advise from as they not only visit the most trodden paths of places but also keep an eye out for different experiences and undiscovered activities, sites that a place has to offer. All you need to do is make a hot cup of tea/coffee, switch on your laptop and get comfortable. Google will do all the work for you!

But one question remains. How do you translate all that is written in a blog into an actual plan? Here are a few tips from me that you could keep in mind.

How to select a travel blog

One way to find relevant blogs is by typing the name of the place followed by “travel blogs” on Google. From the millions of results that Google throws at you, you could start with clicking on the most interesting ones and go through them.

A smarter way of doing this is going on to a blog arbitrator. What does that mean? A blog arbitrator is a platform/ website which collects blogs from around the world on different categories like travel, fashion, lifestyle… you get the picture. You could simply go to one such website and enter the name of your destination in the website’s search tab. This will throw up all the blogs that are relevant to your search keywords. Easy right?

I would suggest not to limit yourself to just one blog. There might be a lot of places or tips that one blogger might have missed out upon simply because they haven’t explored the place enough or haven’t been to all the cities in a country or experienced everything that the place has to offer. It is always best to read multiple blogs to get every possible detail you can gather.

Make note of the things that peak your interest in these blogs. Then trace out the locations in a map and figure out the best itinerary possible.

Creating itineraries

While reading blogs on travel itineraries, remember that you may not find the exact itinerary that you are looking for. But that’s not a dead end. Yes, I know what the smart cookies are thinking. Just Google it. You can do that. I have also done that. But the problem I have faced Googling an itinerary is that more often than not, I don’t get an itinerary which includes everything that I want to do within the limited amount of time.

However, what I do instead is to first have a tourist map of the place handy. (You can Google this!)

Once I have the places that I want to visit, I mark them on the map. This does sound like a Geography test but doing this allows me to understand where the places actually are, the distance and time required between them and the possible route that I would like to take to cover them all.

If I have any further doubts, I refer to posts or comments in travel forums to give me a better idea on the best way to get to these places and get around.

Checking comments and forum discussions

I know this is boring. But do your due diligence. Many a times you will find something very useful in these sections. Like the blogger answering one of the questions you might have in mind, or giving an update or referring to another blog / information site which could be helpful.

Bloggers are also very helpful and quite responsive on comments. If there is something you need their expert opinion in just post your comment. Else, check their contact page and drop them an email.

Instagram

Another good way to keep up with the content that travel bloggers put up is by following them on Instagram. You can get actual pictures of the places (which are not overly professional and give you the real deal), food, etc. This can be quite helpful in understanding the place and whether it should be included in your itinerary.

Here are a few Instagrammers you can follow:

• @beautifuldestinations
• @muradosmann
• @tuulavintage
• @travelandleisure
• @adventurouskate
• @TheGlobeGetter
• @travelinglens
• @triphackr
• @theplanetd

 

Always double check the information

Yes, travel bloggers are the best. Yes, they are the experts. Yes, they know a lot. But you need to consider that they may have written about a place a long time ago. Digital is perpetual. So unless they take down an article, it will remain there. But the place in question, may not… the prices mentioned may have changed, the train routes may no longer be in operation and a hundred other things that may need updating. So, if you find a rate or offer or discount that is mentioned, call the company and check. Do not blindly follow the information.

This is a lot of research work that needs to go into your planning. To make life a little simpler, you can also check for online travel planning resources that help you get everything in one place. Here are a few examples of the sites to start you off:

• Travel Blogs:

• Jessie On a Journey / A Cruising Couple (for travel tips)
• The Travel Tester (for travel guides)
• Going Awesome Places (for itineraries)
• Nomad Wallet (for travel resources)
• Atlas Obscura (guides to obscure and undiscovered places)

• Websites:

• Viator
• TripAdvisor
• Wikitravel

• Forums:

• xBHP
• Lonely Planet Thorn Tree Travel forum
• Trippy

• Blog Libraries and Other Platforms:

• Traveldudes.org
• Trover
• Travel Noir
• Trip It
• Global Greeters Network

Before I end this article, here are a few personal tips that I have found most useful:

Before you spend too much time reading an article, always check the date when the article was published. A lot might have changed since then. But do read them any way just don’t consider any fares or rate cards that they may have included.

Open links on different tabs (instead of on the search results tab) so you can easily refer to multiple blogs without going back and forth. Trust me, it is much less annoying especially if you don’t have high speed internet.

As I always say, do not take travel advise from friends, relatives and neighbours.

Lonely Planet guide books are actually helpful. And they have e-books as well so you don’t have to carry around a heavy book! I personally love their guides. However, don’t buy the single destination guides. Buy the country/continent guides. Saves a lot of money!

Hope this was helpful! Do leave a comment if you have any queries!

 

 

 

 

Deea is an Influencer Marketer, content creator, traveller, photographer and blogger.