“Travel Itinerary, wanderers also know even the strangest of roads need a ray of hope.”

Travelling without worrying about anything else is unfeasible nowadays. No tension no regrets while bumping into a new hostel, full of strangers, talking to any local, listening to their sagas seems to be a bit odd now. The smell of a new country, city, village, the town would be different, the way of travelling freely is going to take a massive turn.

Does it sound scary to you? Well, if it does, then we are here to help you plan your next travel itinerary post COVID19.

The question of creating a perfect itinerary has always been a fuss. Don’t we all believe in exploring randomly with fewer plannings? Guess what, creating a travel itinerary is not only the key to best outcomes but very helpful in planning an ideal trip.

What is a Travel Itinerary? 

A travel itinerary is like a map which allows you to get ready for your upcoming trip in advance. Little research and digging out before actually saves a lot of your time believe me. You don’t need to sit for extra hours thinking about what to do what not after reaching your destination. It needs to be flexible because a rigid plan leads to nothing but stress and anxiety. 

Travel is going to see some drastic changes in the post-COVID-19 world. With so many new protocols in place, travel itineraries are must now to ensure that you don’t miss out on even the smallest thing. Before going further let’s have a look at probable changes happening after the pandemic.

Changes most likely to invert Travelling Post Covid19

The coronavirus pandemic has hit many sectors worldwide, and travel is one of the closest to experience so far. Let’s find out some of them.

1. Health will be the prime thing while travelling.
2. Domestic travel with private vehicles will become the new normal.
3. Road trips will be preferred more over the expensive flights.
4. Exploring local places will be the new cool.
5. Hygiene and proper sanitization will become a priority over luxury.
6. People will be more careful while choosing restaurants for dine outs.
7. Slow and offbeat travel will overrule quick weekend getaways.
8. Mask is the new fashion statement along with hand sanitizer and hand gloves.
9. International travel will likely be resumed regionally over the period of time in no virus zones only.
10. Setting back in laps of nature will be everybody’s choice to maintain social distancing.

Once you accept this new normal, you can step up the stairs that require some patience and balance.

How to Organize a Travel Itinerary?

In the initial travel days, I used to make notes in a pocket-friendly diary. It’s a great old school way unless you don’t want to save things directly on your phone. Many of the time, I used to forget my diary in my other bag or in my room. Also, I didn’t get to share it with my travel partners. I still note things because I like keeping things in my note pad but now I don’t rely on them entirely.

Meanwhile, I figured out some amazing apps to organize all sorts of plannings and things in one place. They not only keep your itineraries all together, including pictures, links, maps but also provide offline saving services. Isn’t it great? 

Top 4 Note Taking Apps:

Evernote for taking all kinds of notes

Microsoft OneNote

Apple Notes for Mac users

Google Keep for Google power users

How to Plan a Travel Itinerary?

A satisfying travel itinerary requires some key factors that help in making a strong opinion about your travel plans. Let’s check out some of the quintessential factors.

Research

Knowing about the place a little more than the rest does not harm. You need to figure out the purpose of your travelling even if you are trying to escape the monotony. Many of you want to kill that work boredom of day and night routine, to sit and relax on the beach shore watching painted sky during sunset. Maybe you are an artist searching for the perfect landscape to capture in your canvas. What if you want to learn more about culture and traditions, it’s valuable to know the locals, hidden roads which will let you know things in depth. 

Also, don’t always rely on the top searched pages of google. Dig deeper for authenticity. Read some blogs, watch travel videos, mark the links, and note on your favourite note-taking apps about the details. 

Set your priority

Wouldn’t it be great if you have your priority list ready beforehand? Some of us are interested in having the best cuisines of the place, and some in collecting items from the best street shopping. You can be an adventure seeker, so trying out the best adventurous sport can be in your top priority perhaps. Then you can divide the rest of your timing in doing the second part of your list.

Don’t Slouch, Be Smart

I have always been that bummer who wants to cover as much as I could in whatever time I get. But at the same time, I like to observe everything around that requires more time making me leave one or the two of the things off my list. Also, I don’t believe in getting rest and end up exhausting myself to the core at the end of the journey. But you know what, it doesn’t help at all. One should keep a day or two extra no matter what. Because unexpected situations happen, and it’s always good to have more space.

Make a list

Top places to cover in one day, most visited spots of a particular city, offbeat places in the countryside, events happening during your travel time, time of opening and closing, guides required or not, note down all of that and mark on the calendar as well. 

Also, at some places, you cannot carry some of the stuff, maybe something legal at your space cannot be at that site. So, some knowledge about all that makes a prime impact in checking all of your to-do lists.

Unexpected Moments are Always Sweeter

To be honest, there is nothing like a perfect itinerary. Leaving room for an unwelcome guest can make a difference. Just be ready for out of the blue situations. You might miss your bus, lose something, be hit by bad weather, ruin your own health, booking might go wrong, reservations might get cancelled, but that’s okay sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself. Loosen up your itinerary, make some space for new opportunities, wiggle up your thoughts a little, and you are ready to go!

Like when I was coming back from Pokhara, Nepal in a pre-booked bus I had never expected it to stop in the middle of nowhere. How we got moved to another tiny bus, all those bumpy roads with no cash in hand, undoubtedly an unexpected journey! But it ended so well, as we met an extremely helpful auto driver at the India-Nepal border who was warm and indeed a saviour for that night.

Check out our detailed travel itinerary of Himachal Pradesh, India.

Updating Travel Itinerary

Travel has already resumed in some parts of the world with some new normal. In the post COVID19 world we need to become responsible travellers. It’s high time that we take sustainable travel seriously. It will help us to explore the world without causing much harm to the environment. 

Many of us are already busy making travel itinerary and updating our bucket list. Meanwhile, let’s stay stronger, spread positivity and spend time with your loved ones. Once, everything gets back to normal, you would probably find a change in yourself, the way you think, the people you love and most importantly appreciating the little things in life like travel. 

Do you like making travel itinerary or would you take the help of someone to get the things done for you? Comment below and let us know your thoughts.

Feature Image Credits- Unsplash.