today I'm going to show you how to plan the perfect trip abroad I've been to 60 countries
and this is what I've learned along the way I'm actually going to be planning a trip of my own as
we do this video I'm off to Kyrgyzstan next week and we're going to do all the planning together
I'm going to show you the exact steps starting with number one which is setting the budget I
like to set the budget before planning anything else I feel like it helps avoid disappointment I
feel like it would be absolutely soul crushing if you plan this epic trip to save Australia only to
figure out that you can't actually afford it and then have to go back to zero I know sometimes the
destination will have to come first you will have those bucket list trips you will have perhaps your
honeymoon and have a very specific vision of what that should look like and then you will just make
the budget fit or you will go slightly overboard but generally speaking this is my advice now for
the trip that I'm currently going on my budget is about a thousand pounds or twelve hundred dollars
and that is including flights and the second thing you need to figure out right off the bat is the
time frame when do you want to go are you gonna be able to take time off work is it during any
big major holidays like Christmas or is it going to be around summer time when all the kids are
off school are your friends or whoever's coming with you going to be allowed to take time off take
into account your general time frame and then try and find a bit of flexibility because it's really
going to help you with booking your flights for me for this particular trip the time frame was
end of March to Mid April I have a very specific amount of time which is a bit annoying because
flexibility is really helpful when planning but I just have things on either end number three is
where the fun begins we're beginning to pick our destination and I have a few different approaches
that I like to take before I settle on the final answer which I have already given away for this
video it is Kyrgyzstan so number one I start with this random note that I have on my phone my notes
are just an absolute brain dumb everything that's inside my head goes in here otherwise I think this
would explode and there's a note in here called 30 Before 30 because I am 29 and just let's whatever
let's not I have a lot of idea ideas for things that I want to do you can call it basically a
bucket list and so one of the first things I'll do when planning a trip is go through this note and
figure out if there is any bucket list Adventure that aligns with the time of year and the time
frame that I have and the budget and for this trip that was the bit that caught my eye because fly
prices tend to be the biggest expense they're the next thing I look at I will do a deep dive into
my favorite fly search platform and figure out what is going like what's cheap what's weirdly
affordable once I've completed my flight search I like to have reviewed the results with different
travel Styles in mind and what I mean by that are different opposites like do I want a beach holiday
or a mountain holiday though in a really warm holiday or do I want somewhere that's a bit colder
maybe a bit of a break from the summer months what else do I want an adventure or do I want something
a bit more relaxing the answer is always Adventure but it's worth asking the question the next thing
I like to do is check travel advisories if there are some destinations that I'm not sure of from a
safety perspective so if you're planning a trip to Europe you're probably fine you don't really need
to do this step but if you're planning a trip to a country with a recent history of conflict
then do check those advisories just to make sure that nothing is currently kicking off so that you
don't get in the middle of it typically there are pockets of violence in different countries
for example I was in Mexico at the beginning of this year had an absolutely incredible trip but
there were a few states where there is violence currently erupting so we were discouraged from
visiting don't let this bit of the research scare you you'll be absolutely fine just do it before
you get there to avoid any unpleasant surprises and finally when choosing your destination now is
the time to review your budget again and make sure that wherever you're planning to go aligns with
it because some destinations are just incredibly expensive I'm going to quickly show you a website
I love using for this this is where you can figure out how much on average you're going to spend per
day in the destination that you're thinking of visiting so look at a few places compare
and contrast and figure out which one suits your budget best and one bit of Googling that's worth
doing as well is checking the exchange rates sometimes they can be really favorable meaning
that it's the perfect time to visit a specific destination even if that destination is quite
quite an expensive one it might be worth visiting now that the the author in your favor all right
and now it's time to start booking your flights this is a very exciting part of the process for
some for me personally it's a little bit stressful because there are a lot of elements at play I'm
gonna do a whole separate video about finding the cheapest flights so if you have any questions
about the booking process please leave them in a comment below and I will do my best to answer them
oh one more thing I wanted to mention sadly this is not a sponsored video but there is a
brand that I have worked with in the past and they are amazing it's called Jack's Flight Club Jack's
Flight Club is a newsletter that sends you the best flight deals I use the premium version which
includes about 7 to 10 flight roundups every week but they also have a free one if you want to check
it out once you've got your flights it's time to book accommodation and I haven't actually booked
my accommodation for the Kyrgyzstan trip so we're literally going to be doing it together right now
there are a few websites I like to review when looking for accommodation the first being Airbnb
okay airbnbs are incredibly convenient for us as travellers but sometimes they are very detrimental
to the people that actually live in the place okay because they drive rents up in the city
centre they make certain parts of towns almost uninhabitable and unaffordable for the people
that call them home sometimes I do book airbnbs being totally honest but there are places where
you should really think twice before doing that because it is just such a big touchy issue for for
the people that live there and the main thing when we're visiting these countries is wanting to learn
about the local culture and hopefully at the very least not destroy it next we're going to look at
booking.com that is the website I personally like to use but there are tons of similar platforms out
there here you can see me searching for a place in Kyrgyzstan I really wanted something local and
authentic so I was particularly interested in guest houses around the city centre I ended up
staying at Silk Road guest house which you can see in my Kyrgyzstan Vlog over here and it was
really really and I was very happy with it now one thing I talk about a lot on this channel is free
or budget travel and I do want to offer a few accommodation options that literally will cost
you nothing just because it's worth knowing about them and my two recommendations for a trip like
this would be in the wrong Couchsurfing where you can literally meet people who will host you for
free and number two trusted house sitters which is literally what I'm doing right now trusted house
sitters is a platform that connects you with house owners who are looking for someone to take care
of their pets while they're away I have done a ton of this around the UK you can watch my video about
house sitting over here but in some countries it's just not popular enough yet so unfortunately
I couldn't find anything in Kyrgyzstan but I am going to Argentina very very soon and I've
already got a three-week house with secured which I'm super excited about and the final thing you
should consider when booking your accommodation is location obviously this is hugely important
figure out how Central you want to be and don't be deceived because in some cities being Central is
not the best thing you can do I'm talking from experience as a Londoner as an ex-Londoner in
London I wouldn't necessarily recommend staying in the center because it's hugely expensive
it's very very touristy and I think there are neighbourhoods that are far more interesting
than Westminster Knightsbridge wherever you kind of end up with that approach so in smaller places
I would probably say stay Central especially if you're short on time in larger cities you're
gonna need to do a bit more digging and my final final word of caution when booking accommodation
is to always read the reviews reviews might tell you things that pictures won't reveal like is the
flat incredibly noisy in the middle of the night which is something I've definitely experienced
or my personal favorite and this has happened to me twice okay does the flat not have any Windows
twice now I have stayed in literal well not literal but semi-literal bunkers step number six
is planning your transport how will you get from the airport or the train terminal to the city or
you your actual accommodation this is particularly important if you may not have Wi-Fi when you land
or if you're arriving in the middle of the night one final note on planning transport this might
also be the stage at which you look up booking cars if you're if you're planning to rent or just
figuring out the train system the bus system or how the public transport Works step number seven
is what I would call the boring this is the part where you're gonna check that all your documents
are valid and you can actually travel with them and frankly this might be a little too late to
be checking them so maybe do this before you do anything else actually so number one I've written
down get visas and insurance make sure that you are allowed legally to visit this country make
sure you have travel insurance some people like to I'm gonna close the laptop this is important some
people like to skip booking travel insurance it's the kind of thing I probably did like
10 years ago never do again don't okay just get your insurance lecture over next up I've written
down when does your passport expire make sure that you have at least six months of validity validity
validity whatever that word validity on your passport before you travel because some places
will not let you in a few more boring questions will you need an international driver's license
do you need yellow fever vaccinations or any other vaccinations covet stuff seems to pretty much have
died down but some places do require specific jobs two final things on the boring bit number one make
sure that you have malaria pills if you need them sometimes they can be a little hard to find in
pharmacies on site and finally print out copies of all the important documents you're traveling with
don't rely on a phone don't rely on your laptop rely on yourself random weird empowerment for you
okay next money so the first thing you're gonna do is get a travel debit card because why don't
you have one yet there's so many on the market and they are free the one that I really like to use is
monzo and my second favorite is revolut however depending on where you live you'll have access
to different ones they're gonna save you a lot of money on Exchange fees now if you are stubborn and
you are choosing not to listen to me then at the very least please call your bank to let them know
that you're going to be out of town that you're going to be abroad because sometimes they have
a tendency to absolutely sabotage you they might just block your card and you'll be stuck without
any access to cash which is very dangerous next tip on the money front download this app it's
so incredibly useful now there might be other apps like XE it doesn't really matter which one you get
but get a currency exchange app to make sure that you're always playing a reasonable price because
I have definitely put myself in situations where I didn't fully understand the the exchange rate
and I overpaid for things and finally have a bit of cash because you might need it pretty
much as soon as you land for example to pay for a taxi or some kind of public transport so there
are a few different routes here too getting that cash number one you could exchange it back home
and if you are doing that fair play it's gonna make you feel more secure probably having that
on your ready but don't exchange a huge quantity because it's usually not a good exchange rate that
you're gonna get or number two you could take money in your own currency and exchange that
at the airport I would absolutely caution against this the exchange rates add airport kiosks are not
good and number three this is what I normally do I just bring a card and I take some money out at the
airport I just withdraw cash and I use my travel cards as mentioned previously so I am not getting
bad exchange rates and I'm not paying any extra fees okay that's the money done now let's do some
fun research this is probably my favorite part and it's probably going to be your favorite part
as well because this is just so entertaining and sometimes being totally honest I find this process
of planning before I go just as fun as the trip itself having a tiny bit of knowledge before you
land I think is very exciting I study political science at University so I'm always really
interested in learning about the different systems the political culture in different countries but
perhaps that's not your Realm Of Interest perhaps you're interested in music or film cinema so so
look up things that interest you and then tie them into this new culture that you're going to be
exploring that makes it a much more educational a much more vibrant experience educational probably
isn't the most exciting word tabies there but if you're a bit nerdy like me then you're gonna
relate to what I'm saying I think number 10 is one of my favorite parts of prepping for a trip
but it may not be for you and you are welcome to skip it but again I think it makes your trip so
much more exciting and that is learning a few phrases in the local language in Kyrgyzstan
specifically they speak Russian which is pretty lucky for me because so do I I'm not perfect by
any means but I did live in Russia for one year I studied a bit of Russian at University yeah
I've never spoken Russian online before the phrases can be very very basic just learning
how to say thank you please excuse me that kind of stuff one beer please if you're drinking
whatever you're gonna need for your trip the next thing I like to do is take advantage of
a really handy free feature on Google Maps and that is downloading your Maps offline so you
always have access to them as long as you have your phone on you all you have to do is go into
the app click on your profile and then download the section that you need sometimes you might
want to download the entire country it's going to take up a bit of memory sometimes you just
have specific cities that you want to save now speaking of phones you might want to figure out
whether you're going to need internet access and if so how you're gonna get it so there are a few
different options number one is getting a local SIM card which you can buy at any shop in in the
city or in the country that you're visiting the second option is getting a virtual SIM card which
is something that's new to me I've never tried it personally but it seems very promising so here are
some websites that offer that service basically just make sure if you want to be connected that
you have the ability to do so and and if you do want to use a foreign SIM card I think some
phones need to be unlocked so make sure it's unlocked and now we can finally start putting
it all together which is a very rewarding part of the process personally I don't do anything
fancy when it comes to itineraries I just write one out on my phone like I said earlier this app
contains my brain and this is where I'm going to input all the different activities that I plan
to do in Kyrgyzstan once you have compiled your itinerary consider sharing it with someone like
a close friend your partner maybe your parents to make sure that someone always knows where
you are or where you should be should anything bad happen final step in this travel planning
process of course is packing I am going to do a whole full separate video on this because it is
a huge topic and something that I still struggle with sometimes but I am getting a lot better and
a lot less stressed about it and that is how you plan a trip I really hope you enjoyed this video
and if you have any packing questions please let me know because that's going to be one of the
next videos that I'm working on otherwise like subscribe and see you next week bye