How to plan a Travel / Tour

Here are few suggestions on how you can plan your travel

Deciding on the Destination & Duration
First thing is to decide about the destination. You can either decide on the destination first & then decide on the duration. For example if you have decided to go to Shimla-Manali-Chadigardh tour. Then you must have at least 5 ~ 6 days to visit all these places. So once you have decided the destination you can decide the duration.

Or else decide on the duration & then you can decide the destination. For example you have 3 days then you decide which destination will fit in to these days like Kerala.

Check for the ticket availability
Once you have decided on the destination & duration next check for the tickets availability for to & fro. Check for both train & air flight (depending on your budget).
You can book the tickets yourself or you can also book through tour / travel operator. Sometimes when tickets are not available while you are booking yourself then you book through tour / travel operator as they have agents & they can get you tickets easily.

The reason why we should book the tickets early is that the other things like accommodation can be booked anytime. But if train / flight ticket is not available then the whole tour plan might get cancelled.

Deciding on Accommodation
Once the tickets are booked, next is to book the hotel / resort accommodation. Now a days almost the hotels / resorts have their own website. You can Google to find out the best hotel / resort. Check out the reviews about the hotel also. It will help you in narrowing your selection. You can also ask your friends & relatives who have traveled to the same place regarding the accommodation. Their views would be of great help as they have already experienced it. For couples gong on honeymoon, make sure you choose the best accommodation so that you can make the honeymoon a memorable moment.

Vehicle for site-seeing
Depending on the no of people you can decide on the vehicle. For a couple an Indica would be fine. If its 5 to 6 people then a Qualis would be fine. If it’s more than 10 people then Tempo Traveler would be fine. You can check with the same hotel where you have taken accommodation regarding the vehicle. Or you can check with a different travel operator.

Conclusion
You can either book all the above things individually or you choose a tour operator who will take care of all the above. You can do both & then compare which one is costing you less.

Normally people have some budget before they decide on going out for some tour. I would suggest that if the budget crosses by some thousands don’t worry about it. Because that few thousands would make the difference in the end. For example by sparing few thousands you make a get a wonderful resort to stay.

Source: My own personal experience.