Guide to help you plan your sightseeing trip

Tourism is amongst the biggest industry worldwide. People now want to experience the beauty and history of the most important tourist destinations of the world. This is one of the main reasons behind the increasing awareness and importance about sightseeing tours. And country governments are doing many things to attract tourists to their nation.

Sightseeing is fun and educative. But with increase in options to explore, it becomes a tedious routine to plan for it. Planning a trip requires a lot of hardwork, and consumes more time, energy, and research skills than you think. Even though travel information is abundantly available throughout the internet, what you need more than anything is someone with raw experience and right resources (online or offline) to clear your doubts, answer your questions and give you quick insights. Basically, you need someone or something that can help you throughout the process!

Trip-planning is a top-down process that starts with the big issues and works down to the details. Here’s what you should cover when planning your sightseeing:

Budget it right!

Calculating the budget is not as difficult as it seems.

You must have already decided the budget for your overall trip. All you need now is proper assessment of the activities that you'll be doing.

• Take a stock of all the activities that you can do there.
• Understand the costs (including entertainment, food, transportation, lodging (if required), sightseeing, gift and souveniers for friends and family, shopping, miscellaneous, extra cash, etc.).
• See how much of it and how you can fit in your budget.
• Accordingly filter the options.

To know more about how to plan your budget and how to stick to it, check out the related articles.

Map out your itinerary

Every place has some attractive spots or activities that it is famous for. But due to the availability of numerous options at a destination, it often becomes difficult to cover them all. What’s more confusing is deciding the ones to choose and drop. Here's how you can simplify the process:

• Take a stock of all your options that are available at the destination.
• Consult your friends or family (if you're going with them) of their choices too. Also, include all the surrounding destinations that are nearby and you’d like to visit.
• Narrow down your options by taking into consideration the time of year you are visiting the place, and if it would make sense going there at that time or not.
• Consider the dates that you can spare for sightseeing and other activities, from your overall trip. And accordingly filter out the ones that cannot be covered.

However difficult it may be to leave out some spots, it is important that you don't rush into things. Don't plan too much for a day, because more often than not, you will end up doing nothing for the rest of the days due to exhaustion. Take one or two major destinations for the day (preferably near to each other) and then spend time exploring the local parks, areas etc around that destination. This will give you the best of both worlds— The tourist attraction and the local lifestyle. One more advantage of this is that you will not exhaust yourself on the first day.

Be smart when you transport

The best way to travel in any country is like the locals do. Because it will be cheaper and you will get to mingle and experience their local lifestyle. It is a good idea to research about the transport well in advance, as it helps preventing the confusion at the last minute. A few factors that you must be covered while preparing include:

• A list of all the transport options (private vehicles, bus, rail, private cabs, cab aggregators, government cabs, carpooling, boats, metro, etc) that is available.
• Multiple route options that is available and the time it will take you to reach from one place to another.
• Make a note of how you will be travelling from the hotel to destination 1, from destination 1 to 2, and so on. Don’t forget to plan for a secondary method too.
• Either of the options you choose, make sure to keep a track of the pricing of all the transport options.

Include food availability as per your preferences

Food is an obvious necessity that must be given equal importance. There will be many places that may not have the option of eateries or food as per your preference (veg / non veg). Therefore, it is always a great idea to plan out your food requirements well in advance. Carrying pre-cooked food or food that doesn't require cooking can be great option. Google maps can be your best guide to help you learn about the restaurants and eateries around the area that you'll be visiting. Aside these, do keep a calculated check on the costs since food will be one of the bigger costs that you will incur.

Include other essentials and safety measures

Travel can be thrilling but also scary at times. When you're venturing into the great unknown, it is always a great idea to be prepared for the worst. Therefore, aside all the fun and excitement, it is very important that every traveller follows all the safety precautions, and essentials given below:

• Keep your travel plans, including accommodation details, to yourself.
• Have the numbers of the local cops/your country embassy and other necessary contacts handy. The same should be shared with friends or family too.
• Share your alternate contact number with your family or friends.
• Share the copy of your itinerary with your family or friends.
• Carry extra cash. Stash the cash in different places.
• Carry all the necessary things that may be required for the sightseeing.
• Carry all your important medicines.
• Try and grasp on to some greetings and necessary words like food, water, toilet etc.in the local language for emergency.
• Keep your phone charged, and also carry a wireless charger.
• Be informed about the current news and if that may influence your visit.

Travelling is a blissful experience. And sightseeing broadens your horizons. Planning your sightseeing will ensure you to wholesome experience.