Bulding an itinerary can be a daunting task, sometimes you don’t know where to start. You may think it’s one of those things that takes up to much of your time, but the great thing is you can fit it around you. That’s exactly what an Itinerary is and what it does. It structures your holiday/trip so that your not just wandering around missing all the things the country has to offer.

First of all you need to decide what type of holiday you’re embarking on. Will you be adventuring into the wilderness. Are you taking the kids to a few theme parks. Is the history your main interest? Whatever the holiday you can build the Itinerary around it. For example, Trip to Finland is a travelling holiday, most of the time we’ll be on the rails. I’m

Photo by presta at Flickr

building the Itinerary for my holiday to make sure we see enough of the countries we visit whilst still being in time for the next train! Your holiday may not be as jam packed our trip to Finland but the itinerary gives you a very good structure to work around!

Secondly, work out how long you’ll be staying. This is very important. You need to fit in everything during this time so this is the basic framework for you’re holiday.

Do some research, surf the web a little. Take a look at the country’s Tourist Information website, see what sites the country in question has to offer and what of those will interest the people in your holiday. Take some time to look at the special events the country may be holding, make sure you have researched well enough to know if the place you’re visiting has a seasonal holiday that you might be visiting for. Take into account everyone on your holiday. If you’ve got kids walking around for ages might not be the best idea but why not walk a little to a nearby park/theme park/beach! You’ll get to soak in some of your surrounding and the kids will look forward to whatever’s coming up at the end of the walk!

Photo by danes96 at Flickr

After you’ve decided on some of the places you want to see, choose where you’ll be staying. Don’t do this beforehand unless you’re staying with a friend or relative. Fit where your hotel is near the places you’ll visit, unless you’re up for some travelling!

Grab yourself a pen and some paper. List some of the things that interest you and you’re family. You might be having a hard time deciding what to do on your trip so take some inspiration from daily life. Does your son love sports and more active activities? Then use that to create part of your itinerary. Maybe you’re going on a trip with just you and your other half. What do the two of you both enjoy, do you want to relax or are you up for something like hiking?! Remember to talk to your family, get them involved in the holiday plans. It might even take some of the stress off!

Important things to remember.

1. Leave space in your itinerary, don’t structure it to much if you’re holiday isn’t very time intensive. Remember it’s a holiday not a school timetable. If you know you’re family prefers a slower holiday make sure you meld that into you’re itinerary. It’s important not to structure every hour, leave a few hours here or there for chill out times!
2. Make sure you use you’re travel time as your main structure. The first thing you’ll write on your itinerary is the flight times and that’ll also be the last thing. Work everything you want to do into those.
3. Don’t put everything you want to do in one day, I suggest taking it slow on the first day and then adding in trips as you get into the holiday feel.

Itinerary’s aren’t for everyone, some people just like to wander and take a time out from structure! If you’re into lists just like me then this is a great way to get creative. People pay a lot of money to get itinerary’s done for them but it really is one of the easiest things to do. So give it a go. If you need some help with ideas you check forums, these are a great sources of information. Some of the most asked questions are about “What should I do on my week trip to…”

Have you ever travelled with an itinerary before? Do you think it’s something you’d like to try?