One of the questions we get asked most is “Where do I even begin planning a trip on my own?” In this guide on how to plan an international trip, we will be walking you through the basics of how we go about arranging our trips. From choosing a destination, booking flights, finding accommodation, and selecting activities and day trips – we’re sharing all the details!
We’ve visited over 20 countries between the 2 of us and have spent a lot of time fine tuning how we arrange our vacations. So without further ado, here are some best practices we’ve learned along the way for how to plan an international trip:
Begin Planning as Early as Possible
Especially if you are newer to organizing the logistics of a larger scale trip. The more time you give yourself, the less likely you will feel overwhelmed. It will also allow you to track on flight prices to recognize when they drop and get the accommodation you want before it books up!
Organization is Key
As you start booking things, be sure to keep your information organized. Whether you are keeping track of it all in a notebook or a google spreadsheet (our personal favorite), you want to be able to easily reference your reservations to help you plan the different aspects of your trip.
If you are in charge of planning an international trip for a group, we recommend starting a google spreadsheet so that you can share the link with people. This way everyone can stay in the loop on the growing itinerary and who owes what.
Google Sheets streamlines communication so that you aren’t depending on a messy group chat to store information. We recommend having a page where your group can type in their ideas and interests to ensure everyone is getting to do at least one thing they’ve personally picked during the trip.
Choosing A Destination
If you are an inexperienced traveler or have never been on an international trip before, we recommend visiting a country that is easy to navigate via public transportation, is known for at least being able to get by in speaking English (if you also speak English of course), and that has a variety of activities that interest you.
Something to keep in mind as well is how cheap it can be to travel between countries via plane or train. When Kayla had her fairy tale destination wedding in Scotland, she was able to find flights to Italy for $50 per person – so they honeymooned in Italy!
With these things in mind, some fantastic options for first time travelers are England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. These are also countries that are very well connected to one another.
Pinterest and Facebook travel groups can also serve as great inspiration for choosing a destination and hearing firsthand accounts about places all over the world.
If you are still unsure of where you should visit, let the destination choose you! You can look on Google Flights at what flights are cheapest from your home airport by putting the destination as a larger area, such as “Europe”. This will then show you how much flights are to nearly every airport in the continent!
Another way to let the destination choose you is to sign up for Going. Once you create your free account, they will send you airfare deals they find from your home airport. Pick the deal that speaks to you! We love Going so much, it made our list of top ways to save money for travel in 2024.
Booking Flights
After you choose your destination, you’ll need to book your flights! While some third parties offer deals on airfare that seem better than what the airlines are offering, we personally like to book our flights directly through the airline. If your flights are delayed or you have a sudden change of plans, it’s usually a lot easier to get in touch with the airline for assistance than the third party sites.
Booking flights 3-8 months in advance usually yield the best deals. As soon as you figure out where you’re going, we recommend setting up alerts for flights so you can better track when prices drop. Alerts can be set through Google Flights, where they will email you any time there is a significant increase or decrease in your flight route.
You can also download the Hopper App, which will send you a notification when prices drop. We love that both of these resources tell you the average best time to book as well as show you what trends have been over recent days.
Consider signing up for the airline’s frequent flyer program when you book your flight to potentially save big on future airfare. We recently scored a roundtrip flight from Atlanta to London for $195 using Delta Skymiles Points that we had built up over time. That same flight without points was $1229!
Sometimes your home airport may not be the cheapest option to fly to a destination. For example, a lot of times New York has the cheapest airfare from the eastern USA to Europe. So, we always check to see if it would be cheaper for us to fly to New York and then purchase airfare from New York to Europe rather than buying airfare from our home airport of Atlanta to Europe.
Similarly, it can be really expensive to fly from the eastern USA to Edinburgh, Scotland. So to get around this, we usually fly to London instead and then buy separate tickets from London to Edinburgh. This has saved us hundreds of dollars!
If you’re willing to put in the research of different flight combinations, you can save a lot of money!
Finding The Right Accommodation
Knowing the activities you plan to do will be key in helping you decide where you should stay. We like to map out some of the things we want to do and then pick a place to stay that’s within walking distance to those things.
For example, when we visited London to celebrate the summer solstice at Stonehenge, we stayed at an Airbnb near the bus pickup location for our excursion to Stonehenge. When we took a mother-daughter weekend trip to New York City, we chose to stay within a 15 minute walking distance to the Broadway show we had tickets to see.
You don’t want to spend a ton of money on accommodations only to realize once you get there that it’s nowhere near any of the things you want to do! With that being said, the type of accommodation you choose is all a matter of preference.
Hotels are great if you don’t mind cookie cutter rooms and a kitchen isn’t of great importance to you. Boutique hotels are fun if you want a room that’s out of the ordinary and are okay with smaller room sizes.
Airbnbs are fantastic for families who prefer to have a lot of space for their children to run around or if you’re seeking accommodation that is unusual. This is also a great option if you are traveling with multiple people, as you can divide the cost which usually comes out cheaper for everyone than booking individual hotel rooms.
We’ve also recently discovered serviced apartments, which we really like because they usually offer the reliability of hotels but have the spaciousness of an Airbnb.
Whatever you choose, you need to read the reviews before booking – especially if you are booking through sites like Airbnb or Vrbo, where hosts don’t have the same level of oversight that a hotel may have.
Once you’ve narrowed down your accommodations to a few options, you can use the Street View setting on Google Maps to see how the area outside the hotel looks. We love using Street View to virtually explore an area before our trip!
Don’t assume that accommodations in other countries offer the same amenities that you are accustomed to in your home country. If you’re staying at a hotel in a historical city center in Europe, odds are you won’t have an elevator. If you’re staying outside the USA, you also may not have air conditioning. If these types of things are deal breaker amenities for you, be sure to check that your accommodation has them before you book!
Finding Things To Do
One of the first things we like to do when visiting a new place is to take a tour. This is an excellent way to get the lay of the land and learn about the place you are visiting. Most major cities offer free walking tours (gratuities are always appreciated) and some have Hop On Hop Off tours at reasonable prices if you aren’t up for walking.
Get Your Guide and Airbnb Experiences are also fantastic resources for finding tours and experiences led by locals. We like that for both of these websites, you can read reviews from fellow travelers for each tour.
You can also look to see if there are any events or festivals going on in the city you’re visiting. You may luck out and get to see a traditional celebration or an interesting exhibit that you wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Be sure to also check if there are any theatre performances or concerts happening for the dates of your visit!
No matter how niche or broad your interests are, it is always worth Googling to see if there is anything in the area that is of special interest to you. Kayla likes books and medical history, so she seeks out book stores and medical museums when she travels. Her husband likes high end sneakers and unique video games, so they look for stores that specialize in those items before their trip. Amanda and her wife like spending time outdoors, so they check out adventurous excursions to do in the area. If you have a special interest or hobby, it is always fun to explore them more in another country!
Don’t forget your little ones! See if there are any fun playgrounds near where you’ll be or special activities at any of the museums to make things more interesting for them.
Once you’ve found some activities to do, this will help you also be able to find restaurants that are conveniently located to the things you are planning out. Simply pull up Google Maps, look at the areas your activities are grouped in, and look up restaurants in those neighborhoods.
Be Cautious of Over Planning
Sometimes planning an international trip can be so exciting that you get a little carried away. Be realistic about everyone’s abilities, the amount of time you have, and your budget.
If every day is jam packed with activities from sun up to sun down, the people you are traveling with may get worn out. And tiredness leads to grumpiness which is never fun on a trip. You won’t be able to do everything in a place over the course of a week. That just means you’ll have to plan another trip back one day.
Take Day Trips to Smaller Towns
Big cities can be a great hub and are often convenient to get to, but take the time to explore areas outside of the big cities if you have time. They are usually less touristy and therefore more culturally authentic. Some of our favorite memories from trips have been when we went off the beaten path to lesser known areas. There are so many hidden gems to be found when you get away from the hustle and bustle of cities and delve a little deeper into the areas outside of them.
These are the basic steps for how to plan an international trip. If you need help figuring out travel essentials to bring on your trip, check out Our Favorite Things page!
Let us know in the comments below if you have any questions about how to plan an international trip! We’re happy to help as best we can!
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Very nice guide! I love planning out everything on my own as well, and its not that difficult! One thing i always do is booking hotels with free cancellation policy, in order to stay flexible
That’s a great tip! It’s always nice to have that added reassurance, so if something comes up or you need to change your dates, you can cancel without any consequences!
Great tips! I really like the tip about not overplanning. There are so many wonderful places that you stumble on when traveling. Not having the time to explore them is just a pity.