Travel Tip Tuesday #10 is all about creating that perfect travel itinerary. Not leaving any spare days can cause things to be skipped and can be a real downer on an overall trip. So, here are some simple tips to follow to not overbooking your travel itinerary.

Tips on no overcrowding your travel itinerary

One of the biggest problems I see beginner (and even more seasoned) tourists make is they overcrowd their itineraries. I completely understand why they do this, especially if they are Americans coming all the way to Europe or Asia. If you only have two weeks of vacation a year, the impulse is to make it count. However, overcrowded itineraries lead to exhausting trips, and oftentimes this means trips that are actually less enjoyable and more expensive than someone traveling more slowly. My personal rule of thumb is to plan a maximum of one or two destinations per week.

This is especially important if you’re planning a Balkan itinerary, a trip to the Caucasus, or you are headed to any region where transportation between cities can be slow and unpredictable. While two cities may look like they are just two hours apart, there are many places in the world where this two-hour drive can easily turn in to five hours or more.

How does this happen? Buses can leave late, get stuck in traffic, or simply be listed incorrectly. I’ve had buses leave an hour (or more) late, pull over for medical emergencies, and get stuck behind cattle herds. I’ve been delayed by sheep, political protesters, and mechanical problems.

Not to mention simply having a train schedule listed as five hours only to find out after boarding that the route is closer to eight. If you plan to move by bus and train every third day or more, you’ll find yourself spending more time in transit than actually enjoying the places you intend to visit! This does even include the time you’ll waste checking in and out of your accommodations plus packing up all of your stuff each time you move.

An alternative is to base yourself in one place for a week (or more!). This way you don’t waste time planning out transit routes and watching the world pass you by when your bus gets delayed. You can still explore the greater region by utilizing day trips. I like to mix up day trips where I plan them myself with one or two guided tours. This way I save money, but I still get to enjoy days where a guide explains everything we’re seeing as we go.

If you’ll be headed out on longer trips of three weeks or more, I like to plan to stay in each destination a little bit longer. So while I still believe you should plan to stay in one or two destinations per week, by the third week you should stay put for at least a week. That means that a three-week trip should have a maximum of five destinations. Of course, you can always see an extra place or two by adding in day trips. Besides the extra expense and wasted time of rushing from place to place, I believe you won’t truly get to enjoy the place you’re going if you rush too much.

Sure, you can appreciate the highlights, but many of the best travel moments happen when you slow down to enjoy a sunset, savor your food over a long meal, or spend a lazy morning walking around a corner of the city you didn’t even know about before you got there. If you pack your itinerary with just a place’s highlights, you’ll only get to see the touristy side of things. You won’t ever get to uncover the real place or interact with locals. You have to leave room in your itinerary for surprises.  

About Sofia Adventures Travel Blog

Stephanie Craig is a Balkan travel expert. She writes at Sofia Adventures about the Balkans and on History Fangirl about general historic travel. She is currently based in Sofia, Bulgaria where she lives with her dog Lucy and her fiancé. She hosts the podcast Rick Steves Over Brunch, the number one (and only) Rick Steves Fan Podcast on the internet where she and her co-host review episodes of the classic travel television show, Rick Steves’ Europe.  

About Tuesday Travel Tip Series

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