Hello my dear Steemians!

Everytime when I was asked about my trips or journeys I heard my favourite question "but... how come?". Yupe, how come I (or with my friends) organized the trip? This question usually is being accompanied with these huuuuuge eyes of Scrat from Ice Age x))) or with mounth really wide open ;) I believe that you know what I am talking about :P Therefore, istead of heading to Chiang Mai, I decided to share with you with my observations, tips and experiences gained during my trips. Trust me, it is not so-called rocket science and everybody can do it. As always - all you need is goodwill ;)

Monday, Saturday, Sunday - it really doesn't matter when. You woke up and your first thought was that today is THE DAY. The day when you want to make an important, VERY important life decision regarding your upcoming holiday! This time you decided to do it differently. Differently, because without travel agency assistance. Wow... Congrats! Or like French people say chapeau bas! The first and the most important decision is already made. Now it's time for fun :)

Step 0: Panic

In the minute when your brain processed what you have just decided, usually small panic starts creeping in. The definite "All righty, I want to do this on my own" or spontaneous "Hell yeah, bring this on" will not organize anything ;) It won't even prepare your suitcase :P Easy, you can start breathing normally, in few moments the sweat on your forehead will disappear. For y'all (yet) uninitiated travelers I decided to share few tips which (I hope) will help you make the first step - make up your mind and do this. So, shall we start? x)

Step 1: Inspiration versus direction

Usually you find this obstacle at the very begining - where to go? For me the answear is very simple - of course somwhere where I haven't been yet! However, there are still soooooo many places that I haven't visited, that maybe it is not that simple? :P
Once I manage to visit a place that I dreamed about I just tick it as checked on my "country-to-visit" list. Then I start searching for another dream destination. Why I do it that way? Well, you know this feeliing when your dream comes true, right? Yupe, this is so-called happiness ;)
Having this in my mind I am devouirng information/photos/stories/articles/EVERYTHING like crazy. Where can you find the inspiration? Once again - easy peasy, check out below listed sources (of course feel free to add in comments any other things that you use):

• stories and/or photos from trips of your friends/family,
• of course travel blogs (I highly recommend my own hahaha)
• traveler's meetings and/or conferences - in Warsaw where I currently live, there are few places/cafes where such events are being organized. How do they look like? Anybody who would like to share experience/stories/photos/movies/details connected to a country/place that he/she visited prepares the content (the only limitation of form is time ;) It is an absolutely great initiative: you can get all of the necessary details straight from a person/people who have been to your dream place. What is even more important, if you have any, I mean ANY question - this is your time and place to ask them.
• articles in magazines and or Internet - i.e. National Geographic - an endless source of inspirations ;)
• books, movies, photos and everything else not connected straight forward to traveling but i.e. view descriptions or sometimes film frames can also stimulate your travel desires.
• I would also recommend to like any funpages on Facebook such as https://www.facebook.com/fly4free.cheap.flights/?ref=br_rs and other funpages dedicated to good travel deals in different areas of the world - here you can find many interesting articles, but what is most important - you will find here details of nice connections deals in very good prices.
• the oldschool option - take the globe, close your eyes, roll the globe and put your finger on it. Once the globe stops - open your eyes and there you go - you just found your next direction ;) It is a little bit a chaotic way to decide but hey - who said that you really need a specific reason to go anywhere? Maybe in that kind of way you perhaps will discover that the travel direciton chosen is really amazing and you would never even imagine that. Allow yourself to be surprised ;)
  

To sum up, the inspiration can actually be ANYTHING. I think that any reason is always a good reasoning why this particular course aroses your curiosity. So, is your next travel direction already chosen? If so, then let’s move on :D

Step 2: Time

I don’t know about you but since I am a full-time employee Polish law allows me to have 26 BD of holiday per year. Sometimes you can include also the bank holidays (if your business depends on holiday calendar from other country). But as always - it is never enough. Wouldn’t you agree?

If you are limited by the number of days of your vacation then you are facing another important decision - for how long you would like to go. If you wish to leave the old mainland (Europe), then I would definitely recommend a longer trip. There is no point wasting much time for the flights and then just stay couple of days on your holiday. You would just acclimatize and then you would already have to get back home ;)

On the other hand, if you wish to go for so-called city-break abroad, then of course it is more than possible. Then I would recommend to go to a city, a region by direct plane flights or by car. Then with full energy you will be able to take the most of your stay :)

If planes are not really your thing and you prefer to go not far away from your home town - this is also a great idea for a longer or shorter trip. But bear in mind that teleportation exists only in movies. Depending on your final direction the time needed to reach your destination place can last some time.

In terms of the time and preparation for your trip, there are two crucial aspects.

First - what activities you should choose during your holiday? If you are thinking about sweet doing nothing - easy peasy. You just simply get to the final destination and put on your chillout mode on =)

If it is difficult for you to stay in one spot for longer time and you wish to see as much as you can, then you need to consider it thoroughly. Easy - I am not saying that you need to plany every single minute of your stay ;) But I would prepare a list of places or thing to do. Then it will be much easier and you won’t waste your time for questions „now, what we can do here?”.

The second important aspect is: when to start planning the trip? The answear is also simple - if the decision is already made - then the sooner, the better. You might think that I am crazy - perhaps you will be going in six months from now. It doesn’t really matter. You won’t even notice when the time will pass by ;) The transportation, accomodation, potential vaccine or any other things needed to go - they will not come to your place and knock on the door :P Therefore, you definitely don’t want to be stressed if you gonna make it all on time. I’m pretty sure that you don’t want to become neurotic just before your dreamed holiday ;)

Step 3: Budget

I know, I know - money doesn’t make you happy. But they ease maaaaany things!
Another crucial point when you are starting planning your vacation - money, money, money. Don’t worry - you don’t have to have one million on your bank account. But if you don’t want to be overwhelmed by this prosaic aspect - measure your forces for intentions. It is good to check how much assets do you have. In case of going abroad - it is worth looking at the exchange rate. I also suggest ask uncle Google how much does living cost in the particular place. If you are going to spend your holiday richly, then be my guest and do whatever you can think of ;) At the end, the sky is the limit, right?

In part 1 of the VERY subjective guide I will stop here. Please bear in mind that the above listed 3 first steps can be any order and they can impact your desicions differently. In my opinion these are the points which determine the most the next steps which you will need to undertake before you go :)

In the next part of the very subjective guide I will focus mainly on the budget. I will present few options how to experience the unforgettable moments without becoming a bankrupt. From my perspective, it is not hard to spend much money for a moment of pleasure, even if you can afford it, why would you?

And with this nice accent I say goodbye to all of you my dears and have a lovely day/evening.

Stay tuned,

Karola