When your target is to see and experience as much as you can within a particular period of time, you generally try to save time by planning as much as you can beforehand, in order to be able to sight-see as much as possible, in the few days (or if you are lucky, weeks) you have abroad. Sometimes, it may even feel as though you are running against the clock. The trick is to get all the planning and research done before you are actually on your holiday, and not after you have arrived at your destination per se.

Here are some tips which could help you prepare for your much-awaited adventure:

1. Set your dates and buy your flight: Make sure that you are free of work / school / any other appointments and as soon as you are sure, book those flights IMMEDIATELY! Flight prices tend to go up closer to the date, so the first thing to do is to get that out of the way, especially if you are on a budget!

2. Budget: See how much you can really spend, taking into account accommodation, travelling expenses, food, museum / castle / events tickets, not to mention shopping!

3. Decide which part of the country you are going to use as your base: If you are staying at the city center, then obviously your accommodation should be situated there. If, on the other hand, you are exploring a remote part of the country, or going on a road-trip, you might even decide to stay at two or three different locations, in order to be able to continue with your journey as you go along, instead of having to always return to the same bed.

4. Decide on a mode of transportation: How will you get from the airport to your accommodation? Are you renting a car? Will you be using public transport throughout your stay? Are you visiting a friend who will drive you around wherever you wish to go? All this must first be taken into account before actually starting to work on the ‘meaty’ part of the holiday.

5. Once all that is settled and decided, what I usually do is draft a small table or list, starting with the day and time I will be arriving at my destination, and the time I will be leaving. All the space in between is a blank canvas, to be filled in depending on one’s personal agenda and where you wish to go. Take out your map (or better still, go on Google Maps) and start tracing an imaginary line around it and have fun filling in that gap!

6. If you know you are visiting a certain place on a certain day for sure, and you find that you can buy the ticket to the place / event online, do so! In most cases, the price will be cheaper if you buy it online, not to mention the most important fact that you will be saving time in which you could be doing something else instead of waiting around in queues!

7. If you have a GPS or a map, mark down the locations where you are certain you would like to go. This will help you find the place more easily when you are actually there. Getting lost is a big NO-NO when it comes to saving time.

8. Try and calculate how much time you will need to travel between one destination and another. For example, if you need to take the train from London to Kent, where you have to attend a specific event or visit a particular place before closing time, check how much time you require for travelling.

9. Check whether the places you wish to visit have opening hours and what they are. It would be pointless to go somewhere and then realize that they have just closed or that they do not open on certain specific days and you end up being there on one of them! I bless the internet on these occasions as almost all the information required can be found online.

10. Pack up your maps, your tickets, your receipts, lists, tables and what-have-you in a sturdy file or folder. This may seem trivial but believe me, you don’t want to lose anything or end up with rain or mud splattered on your tickets, and not be able to enter your chosen location because the person at reception just does not believe you have already paid.

Too much trouble you think? Well personally, I think it’s more than worth it, as once you are at your destination, you end up just enjoying yourself and living in the moment, instead of having to worry about all this stuff.

Bon Voyage!!