Always Have Back-Up Travel Options While On Vacation

You Might Have Every Detail Planned, But The Travel Gods Have Other Ideas

My travel itineraries tend to have a lot of details, and I normally don’t leave a lot of time to chance. I’ll have all the travel already purchased (when possible), I’ll have the activities booked, and I’ll even have restaurants chosen for the times when we’ll eat out. However, despite having almost every moment of my itineraries planned (I even plan “downtime” by writing it out in the itinerary), sometimes things can go a little haywire.

The biggest issue that might impact your travel itinerary is a huge flight delay. If you’ve designed your itinerary to start the moment you touch down in your destination country, it can feel quite devastating to miss out on a tour or something you planned. While these mishaps aren’t always 100 percent avoidable, there are some things you can do to shore up your itinerary against delays, losses, and hassles.

One of the most important things you can do is arrange your itinerary in such a way that you’re never running to or from anything. Don’t assume that you’re missing out on something if you take a breather here and there. You don’t need to allow yourself an incredible amount of time, but always think to yourself: is 15 minutes really enough time to walk a mile from my hotel to my activity?

Give yourself a little extra time between each activity, event, or destination. You’ll always be grateful for these little bits of extra time when some sort of mishap occurs, and you actually have to run to your next destination or appointment. But extra time isn’t the only thing you can count on to make your trip easier. Let’s discuss some of the ways you can make sure your vacation proceeds smoothly, even if there are some time-based mishaps.

(note: some of the links here are to websites with which I am an affiliate, and your purchases help fund my website!)

Once, When My Extra Planning Came In Handy

I can’t tell you how helpful it is to do a little bit of extra research when you’re traveling just to get the lay of the land regarding transportation, food, weather, and the things that might throw a wrench into your plans. Let me share an example with you. When I traveled to Belgium, I decided to spend a few days in Brugge (or Bruges if you’re French), and I loved every minute of it.

Even though it was raining on-and-off the whole time and the weather was freezing, the Christmas displays were amazing and the people were awesome. The entire city was like something out of the backlot at Warner Bros. Everything looked truly magical around every corner, and I think I took around 700 photographs in just three days.

While putting together my itinerary, I found that the town had a bus system you could use to get around pretty easily. It was a flat 2.50 Euro rate to get on the bus with a simple swipe of your credit card (you could also get it cheaper with a pass, but we weren’t going to be there long enough to really make it worth it). We used the buses frequently while we were there, and they made it much easier to get around.

On the last day, however, the bus we needed to take to get to the train was running 20 minutes behind schedule – yes, a full 20 minutes – and that amount of time was just enough to cause a pretty tight squeeze in getting to the train station. I’d already prepared for this possibility, though, and knew that Uber was an option in town (some places just have taxis, but Brugge does have Uber), so we just called up an Uber and got to the station with time to spare before our train departed.

When it comes to transportation, I’ve found it really helpful to always know all of the transportation options in a given town. Even if you’re relying on public transportation, it’s still a good idea to know whether the town has taxis, ride-share companies (like Uber) or is easily walkable. You never know when a late departure or arrival will make it necessary to rely on your backup form of transportation to get to your next destination, tour, or event.

Try to Avoid Puddle Jumpers Booked Immediately After Arrival On Your Main Flight

One way to save money on plane tickets when flying internationally is to take a major airline to the biggest airport in the country and then take a small regional airline to a smaller city, presumably the one you want to visit. Taking a major airline to that smaller city might cost a lot more than booking a major airline into a major city and then taking a smaller airline from that big city to a smaller town.

Unfortunately, arranging your flights in this manner can lead to some disastrous consequences when your initial flights are delayed. If you have a flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) that leaves five hours late because of some sort of delay, you might end up missing that second flight you booked with the smaller airline.

I’ve definitely booked smaller airlines in my destination countries in order to save money, but so far I’ve (mostly) avoided booking local flights immediately after the main flight. The exception to this was when I traveled to Vietnam and had a China Airlines flight that took me from LAX to Taipei and then from Taipei to Ho Chi Min City, and then I got on a smaller regional airline immediately after landing to fly from Ho Chi Min to Da Nang.

There was plenty of time between the landing in Ho Chi Minh and the departure to get to that smaller flight, but we would have had some trouble if our China Airlines flights had been delayed. As it was, the local flight I booked was delayed, so the two hours we were supposed to spend in the airport turned into three. However, having done that once, I don’t think I’d arrange my airfare the same way again.

Look At The Walking Distance and Time for All Inter-City Travel

I like to do a lot of walking on my vacations because it usually allows me to sample all of the awesome foods the locals love without worrying about my waistline. I’ve never actually gained weight on a vacation and have always managed to return, weighing about the same as I did when I left (I used to weigh A LOT more, so I do tend to keep an eye on my weight).

it’s not a big deal for me and my traveling partner to walk 30 or 40 minutes in town to our destination. We might take a bus or tram in town to reach somewhere – especially if the weather is bad – but normally we’ll just walk there instead. Because we’re so used to walking, I tend to space our activities and destinations out in such a way that we’re never really hurrying anywhere because there’s the expectation that we’re walking.

Now, the convenient aspect of arranging an itinerary based on walking is that you can always choose to make everything a little easier if you want. All you have to do is research your transportation alternatives before you arrive. Take note of whether the town has taxis, ride-shares, trams, buses, trains, or some sort of other option, so you can always switch to whatever’s convenient for you.

Whenever I write down the times for various activities and events, which include the transit time to reach certain things (like walking between the hotel and an activity I booked), I always ensure there’s a cushion so I’m not rushing anywhere. There’s no reason to insert unnecessary stress into what might be a full and packed itinerary by making you feel like you’re always in a rush somewhere.

---

---