Travel Research – How To Make it Not Boring

Be the Travel Research Trip Hero

The key to every successful trip is doing your travel research at home . . . where you have fast internet.

I know some people prefer to fly by the seat of their pants and figure out their trip as they go along, believing that refusing to have a plan provides them with a bigger adventure.

I wholeheartedly disagree with this philosophy.

If you only have two or three weeks of vacation a year, why would you waste your precious time hoping to stumble upon an adventure in an unfamiliar foreign country? There are plenty of travel research resources out there, use them to your full benefit and create your own fabulous adventure. 

I wonder if folks who don’t “want” to research have simply never developed proper research skills and tools. They might not know where to start.

My goal is to make that a little easier. 

We go on multiple trips a year and we rarely haphazardly stumble into a foreign country. I don’t believe that my preparation makes our travels any less exciting. 

Planning Our Travel Year

In December we sit down and have an animated discussion about the world and try to narrow down four or five places we’d like to visit.

In 2020 we decided on Israel/Jordan, Egypt (girls trip!), the United Arab Emirates and Portugal (we only made it to UAE, thanks Covid). 

Because I’m the “historian” (nerd) of my travel group, I take our list of potential vacation spots and do a quick internet search. I’m looking for three specific things:

1. Any State warnings or serious reasons not to visit a specific country, region or city.
2. The best month to visit the specific country we’ve picked.
3. Any major festivals or events occurring that we may want to see . . . or miss. 

If there are no major red flags, I visit Booking.com to get a feel for hotel prices during the period we want to visit. (Because we go on several large trips a year keeping costs in control is important. If cost isn’t an issue for you, you can skip this step). 

Next, you’ll want to check airfare prices. I’d recommend going to Priceline to get an overall feel for the price of tickets for the week you plan to go.

My Travel Research Shows:

• United Arab Emirates is best in January/February (their cold season)

• Israel and Jordan is best in September, first week of December

• Portugal would be best in April/May (nice weather, dark at 9:00 pm)

• Egypt – October, Girls Trip!!! No Boys Allowed!!!

 Now it’s time to pause and consider.

This is a big, daunting and potentially expensive list. How can we possibly make all of this happen?

Shoulder Season/First Week of December

I prefer to travel during Shoulder Season which is during April/May and September/October.

Shoulder Season is awesome. The crowds are smaller, hotels are cheaper and it’s not as hot.

Personally I avoid summer travel like the plague, although I do understand this isn’t an option for many people, especially those with children. 

Whatever you do, don’t go to Rome in July or August, unless you enjoy sweating to death and being eaten alive by mosquitoes.  

The first week of December is also a fabulous time to travel, especially to warm weather destinations. There’s a traditional travel lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas when hotels and planes aren’t full and prices stabilize.

If a warm weather destination is on your list and you can get away in early December, do it!

I’ll see you out there!

Start Making Plans

With our travel year tentatively scheduled it’s time to start the actual trip planning. This is where the fun begins and your options for adventure are limited only by your imagination.

We’ve narrowed our list down to four exciting destinations but because the United Arab Emirates comes first, we’ll focus on planning that trip.

Side Note

Throughout the year I’ll watch for travel email deals and news (specifically State warnings) about our other planned destinations.

Which means it’s time to plan for Abu Dhabi! 

First Stop . . . Travel Research Books

I start by requesting several travel books from my local library, (if I bought travel books I’d have HUNDREDS of them and I cannot justify wasting that much paper). You could also buy them from your favorite new or used bookstore or online. I like Thriftbooks.

Our first trip is a cruise out of Dubai that stop in Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. I know almost nothing about this area (except that I need to cover my shoulders), so I’ll need several books about the region . . . the culture is very different and I don’t want to accidentally do anything offensive . . . or get arrested for a morality violation.

I love reading travel guides so immersing myself in a different culture is a real treat. If you don’t love reading travel guides, give this assignment to the reader/planner in your group, I promise they won’t complain.

As you review the travel guides keep a paper and pen handy.

Make notes of:

• Must see sights (usually designated by three or four stars)

• Should see sights (usually designated by two stars or less)

• Things that interest you

• Things that interest others in your group

• Opening and closing days/times

• Cost of entry (if you’re on a budget)

• Tickets that should be bought in advance (make a note of the website address)

• Is there an all-in-one pass you can buy, and what’s included with it

Other Questions to Ask:

Are Visas required?

What is the local currency?

Are there alternate ways to visit? (Cruise, Train, Tour, River Cruise, etc.)

We planned to go to the United Arab Emirates specifically to visit the newly opened Louvre in Abu Dhabi. Through my research I found a Royal Caribbean cruise that was cost-effective and allowed us to visit more of the region while only unpacking once. Winner!

Think outside the box and don’t ignore other travel options, you never know what fabulous adventure you can create. 

The research phase takes a bit of time, but it’s time well spent. There’s nothing wrong with thoroughly understanding the place you’re visiting, to know what you want to see and how you plan to get around.

As an added bonus you get to experience your trip twice . . . once at home and again when you arrive, ready to hit the ground running.

I encourage you to share this with a friend who doesn’t believe research is helpful or useful. Let’s encourage everyone to step out of their comfort zone and try exciting things!

Thanks for Popping By

Please feel free to share your questions or comments below. If you see any typos, let me know!

I encourage you to share my tribal knowledge with someone who loves or would love to travel.

The Art of Travel (TAOT) ~ Written by Kylie, a huge thanks to Alex for helping with photos.