January 29, 2025 • 34 mins
Welcome to episode 39 of the Global Travel Planning Podcast! Planning your dream trip in 2025 doesn't have to be overwhelming. In this episode, host Tracy Collins is joined by seasoned travellers Melissa Kiely and Shelly Marie, who bring insights from the UK, Australia, and the US. Together, they share key steps to transform your travel dreams into reality. From selecting the perfect destination to booking smarter, this episode is packed with tips to make your journey unforgettable.
Grab a cuppa and get ready to plan your best trip yet! Discover why planning is crucial for a successful trip, explore different planning styles, and learn how to choose your destinations wisely. Whether you're a structured planner or prefer a more flexible approach, there's something here for everyone.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to episode 39 of the Global Travel Planning
Podcast.
Planning your dream trip in2025 doesn't have to be
overwhelming.
In this episode, we'll guideyou through the key steps to
turn your travel dreams intoreality, from choosing the
perfect destination to bookingsmarter.
You'll hear insights from threeseasoned travelers a Brit, an
Aussie and a Yank with tips tomake your trip unforgettable.
(00:20):
So grab a cup of and get readyto plan your best trip yet.
Hi and welcome to the GlobalTravel Planning Podcast.
I'm your host, tracey Collins,who, with my expert guests, will
take you on a weekly journey todestinations around the globe,
providing travel inspiration,itinerary ideas, practical tips
and more to help you plan yournext travel adventure.
(00:43):
Hi, everybody, and welcome toepisode 39 of the Global Travel
Planning Podcast.
Now, as I promised at the endof last year and in episode 36
at the beginning of the month,at the end of every single month
(01:03):
, there's going to be myself, myfriend Melissa and my friend
Shelley who are going to be heresharing our top travel tips and
doing a deep dive intoparticular areas of travel that
you may be finding difficult.
So, this episode, we are goingto do a little bit of a chat
about how we plan trips.
So hi, melissa, hi Shelley,great to have you with us again.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Hello, hello, how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Great.
Now you guys are in Australiaand I'm at the moment in
Edinburgh, so we're on literallyon opposite sides of the planet
.
So how are things in Oz at themoment?
Warm.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yes, lovely.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Very warm and, yeah, it's a great time of year.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I love it.
Well, we've had snow inEdinburgh and we have snow
forecast for this entire weekend, so we'll see how that goes.
So it's a complete change.
So we're excited to hear whereyou guys are planning to travel
to in 2025.
So you can now leave us amessage on Speakpipe and we can
get back to you.
If you leave your email andname, we can actually reply to
(02:01):
you on Speakpipe.
So let us know where you areplanning to travel to in 2025.
Now this episode our goal is todo a high level look at how to
plan your perfect trip in 2025.
So we're going to chip in allthree of us with what we do, how
we plan and hopefully give youloads of tips and ideas.
So, when it comes to sittingand planning your trip for 2025,
(02:24):
you don't feel too overwhelmed.
So let's start off with why.
Why is planning important for asuccessful trip and what is
your planning style?
So do you want to start,melissa?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, okay, well, I am quite a structured, organized
planner, but I probably travela little bit different to Tracy
and Shelley in that I probablytravel for a couple of weeks to
maybe most a month at a time.
So in my view that is a shortperiod of time.
And so, to make the most of mytravel experiences while I'm
(03:00):
overseas or within Australia,whatever it might be, I do tend
to plan quite a lot of my trip.
If it's a sightseeing trip, youknow, if it's a beach holiday,
I might not plan so much, butyeah, generally I plan a lot of
sort of quite structured sort oftrip.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And what about you, shelley, when it comes to
travelling, because you travelfor slightly longer.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yes, when it comes to traveling, because you, you
travel for slightly longer.
Yes, um, I usually plan, um Iusually three pillar structure
(03:47):
points per year.
So that be it a conference,that be it an activity, that be
it a site that I really want tosee, a bucket list and then I
will fill in from that point.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So you basically choose your kind of main events
that you want to attend or doduring that year and then fill
in around that.
So do you tend to, for at themoment you're in Australia at
the moment, shelley, so you'regoing to be here for a few
months, I believe.
So are you kind of planningthings, or did you already plan
things before you arrived inAustralia?
Or now that you're there, areyou taking advantage and
(04:22):
thinking where can I go to?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Australia?
Or now that you're there, areyou taking advantage and
thinking, where can I go to?
So, that being said, I did notplan on being in Australia.
That was serendipitous, thatspeaks to my point, to having a
little bit of wiggle room andbeing open.
But I did plan on being insouthern Italy for the olive
(04:48):
harvest and covering that forthat season.
So that was one of mystructured points for the year.
I also have a structured pointfor Quebec, canada, later on
this year and I also have astructured point for being in
Sri Lanka for this upcomingcouple weeks.
(05:10):
So I kind of fill in and leavemyself open to opportunities
that come about, and Australiawas an opportunity.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Perfect.
So you have a bit moreflexibility, I guess and myself
and Doug at the moment as well,we're quite flexible until May
because he's on long serviceleave from his job in Australia,
but we have not planned pastthe middle of February.
We are busy planning at theminute.
So we've looked at CentralAmerica, we've looked at Europe,
we start to look at Sri Lanka,so we're probably six weeks
ahead.
And I do know we have friendswho have this whole 12 months
(05:46):
ahead planned out very, veryclearly.
They know on the calendarexactly where they're going to
be.
When it comes to deciding whereto visit Melissa, how do you do
that?
Because I guess that's the nextthing Once you've decided, you
need to plan.
Think about how you're going toplan, how you plan as a person,
because some of us are far morestructured than others.
Some are more flexible.
Again, it depends, I guess, onyour circumstances, whether
(06:08):
you've got 10 days off work,whether you're like Shelley and
able to travel as a retiredperson longer term.
So how do you actually choose,melissa, when it comes to you
planning a kind of you know, amonth away or two weeks away?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
It depends.
Like I mean, if I'm planninglike a trip with my family, um,
you know it'll, it'll go, oh,whether it's school holidays, um
, where do my family want to go,you know, if it's only like two
weeks and what's acceptable fora two-week trip.
But then, on the other hand, Ido a lot of solo travel.
Well, I say solo travel, but alot of the time it's meeting up
with my fabulous friends, likeyou guys, you know I do plan
(06:48):
trips around conferences as well.
You know, opportunities do comeup in our industry that I might
jump at.
Sometimes I might just see areally awesome airfare or a
great deal and I'm like going,yeah, I'm going to be in on that
.
So it kind of just depends.
I'm going to say, generally Ihave an idea of maybe 10 places
(07:10):
I'd really love to go to thisyear and if the opportunity
rises, if the airfare goodairfare comes up, if the time
arises, then I might pick acouple from that 10.
I won't necessarily get throughthat 10, but if all the
conditions are right, then I'llchoose.
So I don't know if that answersthat question.
It's a little bit flexible butit does depend on timing, budget
(07:33):
, who's coming with me?
Yeah, it depends on a fewthings.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, no, I totally get that.
So when you decide on adestination, what is the first
thing that you do?
So I know at the we chances arethat myself and dog are going
to do a real trip.
We're going to go from portugaland go to istanbul as part of
this trip back, because we'reheading back to australia for
may.
So we kind of looked at that.
So we've got it.
We've got a starting point andan end point for that particular
(07:58):
trip.
So we're now starting to lookat the destinations that kind of
fit in along the way, the onesthat appeal to us.
So when you're choosing yourkind of first destination and
then kind of what you want to dopast that point, do you look at
, say, for example, do you lookat a country or do you look at a
particular city and then buildaround that?
How do you choose?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
The way I choose.
I don't know if this answers thespecific question that you're
asking, but the way I choose adestination or how I choose a
place I'm going, is I look firstat the exchange rate.
I don't know if everyone looksat that, but as a solo female
(08:40):
traveler that is so important tome because I have the budget
for myself.
So what I do is, like Melissa, Ilook at the top, like few
places that I really really wantto travel to, and then I look
at the exchange rate and if,let's say, the euro is not to my
(09:01):
home country's currency doingso well, but let's say maybe the
bot or maybe the rupee orwhatever is doing much better,
or the Aussie dollar is doingmuch better, then I will go
ahead and move down that list ormove up that list and I will go
(09:23):
to that destination becauseultimately that is better for
the travel experience, becauseyou're less stressed about the
financial impact that it's goingto have on you when you arrive
at that destination.
It's also your accommodations.
(09:44):
It's also if you want toexperience any cultural events.
So, like you were speakingabout you and Doug taking the
train going to Istanbul, youknow that could be quite costly
if the exchange rate isn't, youknow good.
So, as a solo female traveler,that is one of the the main
(10:07):
factors I look at before Ichoose the destination and start
planning my trip that's goodand I guess that that kind of
covers that question of that.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
The research and I know myself that we're looking
at.
We do look at, obviously, costs, because that is important and
I think you know for most peoplewe have to consider how much
it's going to and especially ifyou're traveling for a longer
term, like we are at the moment,as well as kind of balancing
that budget.
I also look, as I've beenlooking at central and south
america at the minute as well.
It's kind of looking at what isthe best time of year to visit
(10:37):
these places.
In terms of weather as well isimportant, because you don't
want to go somewhere where it'sjust going to monsoon the entire
time that you're there.
Also, like you say, looking atparticular events that may be
happening, and obviously we havethat a lot in the UK.
People may come over becausethey want to go to the Chelsea
Flower Show or they want to goto Wimbledon or they might want
to go to Grand Prix or somethinglike that.
(10:58):
So that will kind of dictatewhen they're going.
They're going to visit and Ithink that's important when
you're kind of considering whatdestination you want to go to.
But also during your research,it's good to have a look because
you actually may want to avoidgoing at that particular time of
year as well.
So I think that's important.
So obviously I'm going to say,when it comes to research, I
will look at our websites.
Obviously the podcast as well wehave.
(11:21):
We have got destinationspecialists coming on and we
already had last year talkingabout destinations across the
world.
We've got we've had france,this month japan.
We've got peru coming up.
We've got traveling with yourdog.
We've got lots and lots ofdifferent um uh, specifically
destination specific and traveltip based podcast episodes.
So those are really good tolook at.
So what else do you guys dowhen it comes to actually
(11:43):
researching your trip?
Speaker 3 (11:46):
um, yeah, well, like you've got.
Guys have just said um, I'veactually never looked at
currency, shelly so that'sreally, that's really
interesting.
I think maybe as an aussietraveler, I just know that my
currency is going to do terribleagainst most currencies so I
just kind of expect it's notgoing to be good.
So maybe that's why I don'tlook at currency um.
(12:07):
I think there was a really smallwindow of time where the
Australian dollar was betterthan the US, like literally like
a really like maybe a week ortwo, and yeah, I just couldn't
organize that trip.
Um, but um, probably the firstthing I normally do is airfares,
because, believe it or not,airfares are like, particularly
when you're in australia andeverything is a long, long, long
(12:28):
, long away.
You could go to, let's say,america and you know you can pay
1200 return or you can pay 5000return.
So that's gonna really decideit for me.
If the airfare is five grand,I'm not going.
You know like I'll wait until Ican get it cheap.
I mean, as probably some of youknow, I'm a mad point hacker
anyway, so I probably wouldn'tpay for it anyway.
(12:50):
But airfares are normally sucha big chunk of a trip when you
live in a place like Australia.
Next is probably accommodationis going to be your next big
expense usually.
So I'll start looking at thatand you know I'm a bit of a
budget kind of traveler, so I domy research on that and I book
(13:11):
it in.
But I book in places where itcan I can cancel.
The reason why I do that isbecause the next thing I look at
is what I want to do there.
And I kind of start putting theitinerary together and so you
might have, you might have went.
Oh yeah, I want three days inParis, let's say.
But then once you start kind oflooking at what you want to do
(13:31):
in Paris, you might decide,actually what I want to do
really needs four days in Paris.
And if you've locked yourselfinto three days and you're like
I've got to cut something out,it's kind of ridiculous.
If you're coming from Australiaand you're going to cut
something out for one day,that's just mad.
So that's when I'd jump back inand I'd adjust whatever the
(13:52):
accommodation was.
So that's how I normally do itairfare accommodation, but
flexible accommodation, and thenwhat I'm going to do.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point as well,
because I think we always bookcancelable accommodation because
you, just as you say, you needsome flexibility at some points
as well and when you're doingthat initial planning, it's very
easy.
And we do a lot of travelconsults, itinerary consults for
the UK and we're starting toactually do consults around
(14:21):
europe as well now, and we findthat people will put too much in
or they underestimate thetravel time between a and b and
actually how tired it can getyou.
I mean yeah, yeah, and even youthink, last month, shelly, we
traveled from the southern partof italy, from pulia, up to
florence.
Well, that took the best partof a day.
Yes, so you don't, you can'tplan a huge amount.
(14:45):
The rest of that day inFlorence, we didn't do a huge
amount because we didn't havethe time and also it was quite
tiring.
Even though you're sitting in afirst-class train or whatever,
it's still by the time you getthere it's actually, even for me
as a very experienced traintraveler, it's still the stress.
You, as train traveler, it'sstill the stress.
You've got to get yourself tothere, to the train station.
You get on the train, you'vegot to get off there.
You've got to find youraccommodation now.
I plan all of that quitemeticulously because there's
(15:08):
nothing for me more stressfulthan getting off a train and not
knowing where my accommodationis.
So I book accommodation alwaysnear a train station.
So that's something that Dougand I are looking at now when
we're looking at the travel,because we'll do everything by
train, going from Portugal overto Turkey.
We'll do that by train.
But again it's looking at.
We're looking at what costs atdifferent destinations, looking
(15:29):
at Airbnb options, looking athotel, that flexible options
that we can have.
And, as you say, if you lockyourself in sometimes too
tightly, you end up then kickingyourself because you've missed
something that you really wantto do.
I guess that also leads me onto the question of kind of.
You know when do you make yourbookings?
Because, like at the moment,we're busy planning our
(15:50):
itinerary and we'll start kindof looking at locking in the
accommodation, flexibleaccommodation, and looking at
kind of the trains and addingeverything up cost wise.
And we're only talking aboutgoing, you know, in six weeks'
time, until the end of Marchprobably, and we haven't even
looked at airfares yet to SriLanka or anything.
But when do you start Like, howfar in advance do you book
(16:13):
those things?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Well, if I could speak to that.
So, as a solo female traveler,I always make sure that I book
my first night's accommodationsand, like you, Tracy, I always
always make sure I book itsolidly.
Either by train station, makesure that I book it.
(16:37):
If I'm staying in a city center, I make sure that I have
transport too, especially if Icome in a late night flight.
I safety first, safety firstover money, safety first.
So, that being said, I alwayslock that in After that, after
(16:59):
the first night, or even thesecond night, depending on how
long the flight has been toMelissa's.
You know, if you're flying fromAustralia, if you have a super
long flight, you may want togive yourself two days.
Thing in planning a trip isyour documents, your plane
(17:23):
ticket and those first nightstravel and how you're getting to
and from your accommodationsthose first nights.
And if you have to plan inadvance, like we did in Florence
, the Domo David tour, or ifyou're going to the Vatican or
(17:44):
some tour that, or if you'regoing to Paris and you have to
do some kind of museum that youhave to book way far in advance.
Those are important.
But other than that, you canalways, always find
accommodations, always findaccommodations.
Whether it's Airbnb, a hotel,bookingcom, a B&B, you can
(18:08):
always find accommodations.
I think people put way too muchemphasis on accommodations, and
that goes to Melissa and yourpoint of locking yourself in to
(18:29):
those accommodations and notgiving yourself enough wiggle
room in case you need a plus dayor a minus day, if you're tired
, if you need a down day, if youget sick.
You know there's a lot ofvariables when you're traveling,
and so I.
That's one thing you can always, always get.
It's not like a plane fare youcan always find a place to stay.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I know Well, I'm going to now contradict you now,
shelley, no, and I think you'reright.
I think majority of the timeyou can and I know there's kind
of a lot of movement to havethat kind of flexibility.
I will just say, based on myexperience of some places in the
UK, for example the Isle ofSkye, it can be very difficult
to get accommodation if youleave it.
(19:14):
So it's exceptional, it isexceptional, but there are some
places where you may struggle.
But again, you've got to lookat the time of year that you're
talking about.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yes, yes, I do agree with that, I do agree with that.
If you're in high season yes, Ido agree with that, I do agree
with that.
If you're in high season, even,let's say, in Italy or whatever
, if you're in June or July orAugust in Italy and you want to
book an accommodation,absolutely, you're, 100% right,
but you will pay a price, butyou can find it.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
That's true, you can find it.
You can pay a price, but youcan find it.
That's true, you can find it,but you can pay a price, yeah,
yeah.
And school holidays.
As a family traveller, schoolholiday is really important.
You're going to pay a reallybig price.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
In Australia you know like around a beach.
If it's school holidays, peoplebook a year out.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yes, I think it's really important and I think
that's part of the research partof when you're planning, which
is why on my uk travel planningwebsite, on my london travel
planning website, I have guidesto how far in advance and what
to book, because, for example,if you're coming to edinburgh in
high season, if you're comingin august, you need to have
already booked.
If you want to go to theedinburgh tattoo, if you want to
go to edinburgh castle, youneed to be thinking about that.
(20:29):
Some, some particularrestaurants and things like that
.
You do need to have that.
But but that's not everything,but some of the key things you
may need to think about again,depending on when you're
traveling, because you know whenthe whole of europe goes on
holiday, you know you you'll bein london and you'll hear every
national at the end of everybodywill be there from all over
Europe, all over the world, andso you know, for those really
(20:50):
popular destinations, isle ofSkye is completely taken off
over the last few years.
Everybody wants to go to Isleof Skye, so it's incredibly busy
during that peak season, sobooking restaurants is something
you need to do.
So I think again, but that'shugely part of that when you're
doing that research, you lookinto that.
So when you've got everythingbooked, you've got you know what
(21:12):
you're doing, you've got youritinerary planned.
What, how do you prepare?
So one of the things that Ialways do and you kind of
touched on this, shelley,actually is that I always, if
I'm landing at an airport that Iam not familiar with, in a
country I am not familiar with,I will always, always have a
pickup service.
I will always have a drivermeet me with my name on a card
to take me to my accommodation.
(21:33):
That is something I don't everskimp on, ever.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yes, it's well worth the money.
It's nothing.
Safety is always priceless,priceless.
So exactly what you said if youhave landed someplace where you
have never been before, do notskimp on that Now.
The next day you have fresheyes, you're in it's light, you
(22:01):
can explore, you know everything.
Maybe on the trip back you'refine, but that first night, no,
especially if you're alone, solofemale traveler, safety is
number one.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Maybe it's my turn to contradict yes, maybe being a a
more budget type of traveler.
Um, I don't mind the adventure,I don't mind the excitement of
getting somewhere and like, ifI've done the and and this also
comes back to having done theresearch if I've done the
research and it appears that youknow there's a train station
(22:37):
nearby, it's easy to get a bus,shuttle um, I'll do it.
I mean, I I went to Spain, uh,last year on my own and I landed
, I think, at midnight.
And, uh, being an Aussie, mymoney doesn't get me far in
Spain and so a transfer wasgoing to cost me crazy amounts
of money.
So I did it, I got a shuttleand I got in the city at 1 am.
(23:02):
Look, I'm going to be honest.
I was a bit nervous, but youknow, there was a lot of people
out.
It was a weekend, lots ofpeople out and I got to my hotel
, fine, but I had done theresearch.
I didn't just randomly turn upat the airport.
I had done my research, heardthat it was very safe, that the
shuttle bus will turn up, you'llbe fine, and, and I did it.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I wouldn't have just turned up without any knowledge
whatsoever but but to thatrespect, you did the research,
because spain and portugal is avery it's, it's like one of the
number one safest uh countriesfor solo female travelers.
Up there with uh japan and withthe Netherlands, it's one of
(23:50):
the top tier ones for solofemale travelers.
So you did do your research.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yeah, it's so cute, but I just say I find it a bit
kind of fun trying to get to theplace going?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
where's the train station?
Where's the shuttle?
Speaker 3 (24:06):
bus.
How do I get around?
Speaker 1 (24:08):
I find it a little bit fun.
I've got to that point in mylife, melissa.
I just go now too stressful.
I get on the plane, I got onthe airplane, I just know
everything is planned for theother end and I don't have to
worry when I go off.
I'll get off the flight.
Saying that, though, when welanded in rome because we were
in rome last month and I wentwith a friend the guy was about
half an hour late, which didfreak me out slightly, because
(24:29):
again, I was like, well, thisisn't what I paid for, but it
was sorted out in the end.
Now, other things, obviously,that you need to do when you're
preparing is you know you'rechecking that if you need a visa
, or if you need an ETA or ETSor all these new lovely things
that have just come in, you needto check those.
If you need any vaccinations,make sure that you get all those
done.
Money.
Now I have a wise card andthat's what I put my money on.
(24:52):
Everybody.
I'm not.
That's not financial advice,that's just what I use.
That's how I find it's very easy, because I have multiple
currencies.
On that, I've literally justtraveled I think was about eight
countries around europe overthe last, uh, in december, and
had about four differentcurrencies, because not
everybody uses a euro in europe,that everybody thinks they do
but they don't.
You know, in Sweden they don't,um, in Finland they didn't,
(25:13):
poland they didn't, hungary theydidn't, or maybe maybe Finland
did, but anyway there's lots ofdifferent currencies, so having
the ability to move it aroundwas very easy.
So those sorts of things.
What about when it comes topacking and I know we're going
to do an episode about kind ofour biggest packing mistakes and
our biggest packing kind oftips now I use, I love,
compression bags, but I'm quitea light traveler because I don't
(25:35):
the.
For me, having too many bagsequals too much stress.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
I agree, tracy, like too many bags, too many things,
you can lose.
Too many things.
You don't know where, wherethey are, um, but you know, even
at home I'm a bit lazy.
I don't do my hair very often,I don't wear the most fanciest
clothes, so I just don't needthem when I travel, like you
know.
Um, I just came back from twoweeks in Bali.
(26:02):
I took three dresses with meand that's it.
And, um, I can see Shelly, uh,just yeah, she's gonna say
something different, but she is.
I took three dresses for twoweeks on bali and I probably
wore one of them most of thetime and the other two I just
put on when that one was a bittoo dirty.
So, um, but you know what, likewhen it's time to pack, you
(26:27):
know there's none of this get upan hour early to pack your bag.
It takes me five minutes to putmy stuff in my bag and I'm good
and I'm gone.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I have to say, we travelled around India last year
, the two of us, and we didreally well.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Oh, my God Tracy.
I thought I was a light packer,but you were like to the
extreme, your bag was so tiny.
It was to the extreme, your bagwas so tiny, it was it just
yeah, and you know, and you're amakeup doing your hair, new
earrings kind of girl.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
So hats off to you.
I know exactly what I need totake and I just take those that
lipstick that cover up, that.
It's literally one or two ofeach.
Uh, now, shelly, I think you'reslightly different.
Come on, spill the beans.
When it comes to packing, whenwe went to Florence.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Oh uh, tracy, tracy, it was funny, tracy she had a
little backpack, no doubt well,I was very proud of myself.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
I had a backpack also .
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I was very, very proud of myself.
I had a backpack also.
I was very, very proud ofmyself.
So what was it?
Speaker 3 (27:30):
60 litres.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yes, that was my skincare.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
It's absolutely true.
It's absolutely true.
Charlotte, you need, shall wesay you need, you want, you have
to have more with you.
So how do you manage when youbecause you're not quite as
light the packer as myself andmelissa.
So how do you do it?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
no.
So I travel and I'm a solofemale traveler, so I travel
with a middle size suitcase anda carry-on, so that is what
takes me all year long, so I'mquite proud of that.
(28:22):
There's many a taxi driversthat uh wonders how I can lift
that and challenges me, but Isay I just that's my workout.
But yes, so I require a littlebit more.
I'm not quite as a light packer, but I would say I'm not an
(28:45):
over packer.
That sounds reasonable.
Yes, yes.
I like a little bit extra.
You know, just a little bit.
I'm more of a like.
I came for a weekend and I havelike maybe four dresses and a
couple of shoes.
I like choices.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
I was just going to say I picked her up tonight and
she had just a backpack and Ithought that was pretty good,
but there's more dresses inthere.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
So quick question then packing cubes yes or no?
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I use packing cubes, but I guess I will say my secret
hack for the packing episode,because this secret hack changed
my whole compression packingcube thing.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
I can get 25 outfits in a compression packing oh,
okay, I mean right, we, we needto see this on video as well,
shelly in the podcast so do Inthe podcast.
So if you are listening now andyou think, oh my God, I really
struggle with packing thisepisode that's coming up with
Shelley I don't know which monthit's going to be I will let you
(29:58):
know this is going to be theone to listen.
I'm fascinated by this, Me too.
Okay, so we've had a kind ofgeneral chat about how we, how
we plan and we are going to goin future months, as I say, talk
more deeply and more in depthabout how we choose
accommodation, how we look atbooking flights, travel.
(30:20):
You know, point hacking issomething that you're a
specialist in, Melissa, so I'llbe great to know how to keep
yourself safe as a solo femaletraveler, which you know,
Shelley, you are the queen ofthis.
You have so much experience.
It's going to be fantastic.
But I'm going to end thisepisode and I'm going to do a
bit of a rapid fire, so I justwant your first thoughts on
these questions.
(30:41):
So what's the biggest mistakeyou've seen travellers make,
Melissa?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Packing too much clothes, shelley.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Overscheduling themselves during the day
packing too much in yeah, Iagree with that and not doing
enough research or havingexperts like us help them with
their itineraries.
If you could only plan onething in advance, what would it
be?
Shelley Plane ticket.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Melissa, I was going to say plane ticket too, so I'm
going to say now accommodation.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Okay, cool.
What's one thing you've learnedto always do when planning,
shelly?
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Make sure you know how long you can stay in the
country.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Ah, perfect, melissa.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Oh, that got me thinking uh, the, the visas and
stuff.
You mentioned that before and Iwas just gonna say, just
because you went there last time, don't think that that's the
same.
I made that big mistake.
I know you want to go, just onething, but I made a mistake
like that before too.
It changes all the time.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Look every time yeah, perfect, perfect, oh well,
great.
It's been absolutely fantasticcatch up with you guys this
month.
We have got to decide whatwe're going to do at the end of
February for our deep dive.
Now, if you're listening tothis episode and there's
something that resonates and youthink I want to hear more from
Shelley, melissa and myself,tracy, about one of these
particular aspects, leave amessage on speakpipe.
(32:06):
Let us know what you want us tohelp you with because, honestly
, you have got three, three,three, let's say it again travel
experts from the uk, fromaustralia and from the us.
Like, how often do you getthree women with this amount of
experience and knowledge travelin one place?
So utilize us guys.
(32:27):
Now you can find links to allour websites, our social media,
in the episode show notes, whichare at globaltravelplanningcom,
forward slash 39.
Buti just want to say, guys,thanks so much for joining me
for this episode.
As always, it's great to chatwith you.
It was fantastic.
Thank you, tracy, thank you.
Tracy and that leaves me to sayuntil next week.
(32:49):
As always, happy global travelplanning.
Thank you for joining us onthis episode of the global
travel planning podcast.
For more details and links toeverything we discussed today,
check out the show notes atglobal travel planning dot com
remember.
If you enjoyed the show, pleaseconsider leaving us a review on
your favorite podcast app,because your feedback helps us
(33:09):
reach more travel enthusiasts,just like you.
Anyway, that leaves me to say,as always, happy global travel
planning.
Welcome to episode 39 of the Global Travel Planning
Podcast.
Planning your dream trip in2025 doesn't have to be
overwhelming.
In this episode, we'll guideyou through the key steps to
turn your travel dreams intoreality, from choosing the
perfect destination to bookingsmarter.
You'll hear insights from threeseasoned travelers a Brit, an
Aussie and a Yank with tips tomake your trip unforgettable.
(00:20):
So grab a cup of and get readyto plan your best trip yet.
Hi and welcome to the GlobalTravel Planning Podcast.
I'm your host, tracey Collins,who, with my expert guests, will
take you on a weekly journey todestinations around the globe,
providing travel inspiration,itinerary ideas, practical tips
and more to help you plan yournext travel adventure.
(00:43):
Hi, everybody, and welcome toepisode 39 of the Global Travel
Planning Podcast.
Now, as I promised at the endof last year and in episode 36
at the beginning of the month,at the end of every single month
(01:03):
, there's going to be myself, myfriend Melissa and my friend
Shelley who are going to be heresharing our top travel tips and
doing a deep dive intoparticular areas of travel that
you may be finding difficult.
So, this episode, we are goingto do a little bit of a chat
about how we plan trips.
So hi, melissa, hi Shelley,great to have you with us again.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Hello, hello, how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Great.
Now you guys are in Australiaand I'm at the moment in
Edinburgh, so we're on literallyon opposite sides of the planet
.
So how are things in Oz at themoment?
Warm.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yes, lovely.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Very warm and, yeah, it's a great time of year.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I love it.
Well, we've had snow inEdinburgh and we have snow
forecast for this entire weekend, so we'll see how that goes.
So it's a complete change.
So we're excited to hear whereyou guys are planning to travel
to in 2025.
So you can now leave us amessage on Speakpipe and we can
get back to you.
If you leave your email andname, we can actually reply to
(02:01):
you on Speakpipe.
So let us know where you areplanning to travel to in 2025.
Now this episode our goal is todo a high level look at how to
plan your perfect trip in 2025.
So we're going to chip in allthree of us with what we do, how
we plan and hopefully give youloads of tips and ideas.
So, when it comes to sittingand planning your trip for 2025,
(02:24):
you don't feel too overwhelmed.
So let's start off with why.
Why is planning important for asuccessful trip and what is
your planning style?
So do you want to start,melissa?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, okay, well, I am quite a structured, organized
planner, but I probably travela little bit different to Tracy
and Shelley in that I probablytravel for a couple of weeks to
maybe most a month at a time.
So in my view that is a shortperiod of time.
And so, to make the most of mytravel experiences while I'm
(03:00):
overseas or within Australia,whatever it might be, I do tend
to plan quite a lot of my trip.
If it's a sightseeing trip, youknow, if it's a beach holiday,
I might not plan so much, butyeah, generally I plan a lot of
sort of quite structured sort oftrip.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And what about you, shelley, when it comes to
travelling, because you travelfor slightly longer.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yes, when it comes to traveling, because you, you
travel for slightly longer.
Yes, um, I usually plan, um Iusually three pillar structure
(03:47):
points per year.
So that be it a conference,that be it an activity, that be
it a site that I really want tosee, a bucket list and then I
will fill in from that point.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So you basically choose your kind of main events
that you want to attend or doduring that year and then fill
in around that.
So do you tend to, for at themoment you're in Australia at
the moment, shelley, so you'regoing to be here for a few
months, I believe.
So are you kind of planningthings, or did you already plan
things before you arrived inAustralia?
Or now that you're there, areyou taking advantage and
(04:22):
thinking where can I go to?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Australia?
Or now that you're there, areyou taking advantage and
thinking, where can I go to?
So, that being said, I did notplan on being in Australia.
That was serendipitous, thatspeaks to my point, to having a
little bit of wiggle room andbeing open.
But I did plan on being insouthern Italy for the olive
(04:48):
harvest and covering that forthat season.
So that was one of mystructured points for the year.
I also have a structured pointfor Quebec, canada, later on
this year and I also have astructured point for being in
Sri Lanka for this upcomingcouple weeks.
(05:10):
So I kind of fill in and leavemyself open to opportunities
that come about, and Australiawas an opportunity.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Perfect.
So you have a bit moreflexibility, I guess and myself
and Doug at the moment as well,we're quite flexible until May
because he's on long serviceleave from his job in Australia,
but we have not planned pastthe middle of February.
We are busy planning at theminute.
So we've looked at CentralAmerica, we've looked at Europe,
we start to look at Sri Lanka,so we're probably six weeks
ahead.
And I do know we have friendswho have this whole 12 months
(05:46):
ahead planned out very, veryclearly.
They know on the calendarexactly where they're going to
be.
When it comes to deciding whereto visit Melissa, how do you do
that?
Because I guess that's the nextthing Once you've decided, you
need to plan.
Think about how you're going toplan, how you plan as a person,
because some of us are far morestructured than others.
Some are more flexible.
Again, it depends, I guess, onyour circumstances, whether
(06:08):
you've got 10 days off work,whether you're like Shelley and
able to travel as a retiredperson longer term.
So how do you actually choose,melissa, when it comes to you
planning a kind of you know, amonth away or two weeks away?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
It depends.
Like I mean, if I'm planninglike a trip with my family, um,
you know it'll, it'll go, oh,whether it's school holidays, um
, where do my family want to go,you know, if it's only like two
weeks and what's acceptable fora two-week trip.
But then, on the other hand, Ido a lot of solo travel.
Well, I say solo travel, but alot of the time it's meeting up
with my fabulous friends, likeyou guys, you know I do plan
(06:48):
trips around conferences as well.
You know, opportunities do comeup in our industry that I might
jump at.
Sometimes I might just see areally awesome airfare or a
great deal and I'm like going,yeah, I'm going to be in on that
.
So it kind of just depends.
I'm going to say, generally Ihave an idea of maybe 10 places
(07:10):
I'd really love to go to thisyear and if the opportunity
rises, if the airfare goodairfare comes up, if the time
arises, then I might pick acouple from that 10.
I won't necessarily get throughthat 10, but if all the
conditions are right, then I'llchoose.
So I don't know if that answersthat question.
It's a little bit flexible butit does depend on timing, budget
(07:33):
, who's coming with me?
Yeah, it depends on a fewthings.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, no, I totally get that.
So when you decide on adestination, what is the first
thing that you do?
So I know at the we chances arethat myself and dog are going
to do a real trip.
We're going to go from portugaland go to istanbul as part of
this trip back, because we'reheading back to australia for
may.
So we kind of looked at that.
So we've got it.
We've got a starting point andan end point for that particular
(07:58):
trip.
So we're now starting to lookat the destinations that kind of
fit in along the way, the onesthat appeal to us.
So when you're choosing yourkind of first destination and
then kind of what you want to dopast that point, do you look at
, say, for example, do you lookat a country or do you look at a
particular city and then buildaround that?
How do you choose?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
The way I choose.
I don't know if this answers thespecific question that you're
asking, but the way I choose adestination or how I choose a
place I'm going, is I look firstat the exchange rate.
I don't know if everyone looksat that, but as a solo female
(08:40):
traveler that is so important tome because I have the budget
for myself.
So what I do is, like Melissa, Ilook at the top, like few
places that I really really wantto travel to, and then I look
at the exchange rate and if,let's say, the euro is not to my
(09:01):
home country's currency doingso well, but let's say maybe the
bot or maybe the rupee orwhatever is doing much better,
or the Aussie dollar is doingmuch better, then I will go
ahead and move down that list ormove up that list and I will go
(09:23):
to that destination becauseultimately that is better for
the travel experience, becauseyou're less stressed about the
financial impact that it's goingto have on you when you arrive
at that destination.
It's also your accommodations.
(09:44):
It's also if you want toexperience any cultural events.
So, like you were speakingabout you and Doug taking the
train going to Istanbul, youknow that could be quite costly
if the exchange rate isn't, youknow good.
So, as a solo female traveler,that is one of the the main
(10:07):
factors I look at before Ichoose the destination and start
planning my trip that's goodand I guess that that kind of
covers that question of that.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
The research and I know myself that we're looking
at.
We do look at, obviously, costs, because that is important and
I think you know for most peoplewe have to consider how much
it's going to and especially ifyou're traveling for a longer
term, like we are at the moment,as well as kind of balancing
that budget.
I also look, as I've beenlooking at central and south
america at the minute as well.
It's kind of looking at what isthe best time of year to visit
(10:37):
these places.
In terms of weather as well isimportant, because you don't
want to go somewhere where it'sjust going to monsoon the entire
time that you're there.
Also, like you say, looking atparticular events that may be
happening, and obviously we havethat a lot in the UK.
People may come over becausethey want to go to the Chelsea
Flower Show or they want to goto Wimbledon or they might want
to go to Grand Prix or somethinglike that.
(10:58):
So that will kind of dictatewhen they're going.
They're going to visit and Ithink that's important when
you're kind of considering whatdestination you want to go to.
But also during your research,it's good to have a look because
you actually may want to avoidgoing at that particular time of
year as well.
So I think that's important.
So obviously I'm going to say,when it comes to research, I
will look at our websites.
Obviously the podcast as well wehave.
(11:21):
We have got destinationspecialists coming on and we
already had last year talkingabout destinations across the
world.
We've got we've had france,this month japan.
We've got peru coming up.
We've got traveling with yourdog.
We've got lots and lots ofdifferent um uh, specifically
destination specific and traveltip based podcast episodes.
So those are really good tolook at.
So what else do you guys dowhen it comes to actually
(11:43):
researching your trip?
Speaker 3 (11:46):
um, yeah, well, like you've got.
Guys have just said um, I'veactually never looked at
currency, shelly so that'sreally, that's really
interesting.
I think maybe as an aussietraveler, I just know that my
currency is going to do terribleagainst most currencies so I
just kind of expect it's notgoing to be good.
So maybe that's why I don'tlook at currency um.
(12:07):
I think there was a really smallwindow of time where the
Australian dollar was betterthan the US, like literally like
a really like maybe a week ortwo, and yeah, I just couldn't
organize that trip.
Um, but um, probably the firstthing I normally do is airfares,
because, believe it or not,airfares are like, particularly
when you're in australia andeverything is a long, long, long
(12:28):
, long away.
You could go to, let's say,america and you know you can pay
1200 return or you can pay 5000return.
So that's gonna really decideit for me.
If the airfare is five grand,I'm not going.
You know like I'll wait until Ican get it cheap.
I mean, as probably some of youknow, I'm a mad point hacker
anyway, so I probably wouldn'tpay for it anyway.
(12:50):
But airfares are normally sucha big chunk of a trip when you
live in a place like Australia.
Next is probably accommodationis going to be your next big
expense usually.
So I'll start looking at thatand you know I'm a bit of a
budget kind of traveler, so I domy research on that and I book
(13:11):
it in.
But I book in places where itcan I can cancel.
The reason why I do that isbecause the next thing I look at
is what I want to do there.
And I kind of start putting theitinerary together and so you
might have, you might have went.
Oh yeah, I want three days inParis, let's say.
But then once you start kind oflooking at what you want to do
(13:31):
in Paris, you might decide,actually what I want to do
really needs four days in Paris.
And if you've locked yourselfinto three days and you're like
I've got to cut something out,it's kind of ridiculous.
If you're coming from Australiaand you're going to cut
something out for one day,that's just mad.
So that's when I'd jump back inand I'd adjust whatever the
(13:52):
accommodation was.
So that's how I normally do itairfare accommodation, but
flexible accommodation, and thenwhat I'm going to do.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point as well,
because I think we always bookcancelable accommodation because
you, just as you say, you needsome flexibility at some points
as well and when you're doingthat initial planning, it's very
easy.
And we do a lot of travelconsults, itinerary consults for
the UK and we're starting toactually do consults around
(14:21):
europe as well now, and we findthat people will put too much in
or they underestimate thetravel time between a and b and
actually how tired it can getyou.
I mean yeah, yeah, and even youthink, last month, shelly, we
traveled from the southern partof italy, from pulia, up to
florence.
Well, that took the best partof a day.
Yes, so you don't, you can'tplan a huge amount.
(14:45):
The rest of that day inFlorence, we didn't do a huge
amount because we didn't havethe time and also it was quite
tiring.
Even though you're sitting in afirst-class train or whatever,
it's still by the time you getthere it's actually, even for me
as a very experienced traintraveler, it's still the stress.
You, as train traveler, it'sstill the stress.
You've got to get yourself tothere, to the train station.
You get on the train, you'vegot to get off there.
You've got to find youraccommodation now.
I plan all of that quitemeticulously because there's
(15:08):
nothing for me more stressfulthan getting off a train and not
knowing where my accommodationis.
So I book accommodation alwaysnear a train station.
So that's something that Dougand I are looking at now when
we're looking at the travel,because we'll do everything by
train, going from Portugal overto Turkey.
We'll do that by train.
But again it's looking at.
We're looking at what costs atdifferent destinations, looking
(15:29):
at Airbnb options, looking athotel, that flexible options
that we can have.
And, as you say, if you lockyourself in sometimes too
tightly, you end up then kickingyourself because you've missed
something that you really wantto do.
I guess that also leads me onto the question of kind of.
You know when do you make yourbookings?
Because, like at the moment,we're busy planning our
(15:50):
itinerary and we'll start kindof looking at locking in the
accommodation, flexibleaccommodation, and looking at
kind of the trains and addingeverything up cost wise.
And we're only talking aboutgoing, you know, in six weeks'
time, until the end of Marchprobably, and we haven't even
looked at airfares yet to SriLanka or anything.
But when do you start Like, howfar in advance do you book
(16:13):
those things?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Well, if I could speak to that.
So, as a solo female traveler,I always make sure that I book
my first night's accommodationsand, like you, Tracy, I always
always make sure I book itsolidly.
Either by train station, makesure that I book it.
(16:37):
If I'm staying in a city center, I make sure that I have
transport too, especially if Icome in a late night flight.
I safety first, safety firstover money, safety first.
So, that being said, I alwayslock that in After that, after
(16:59):
the first night, or even thesecond night, depending on how
long the flight has been toMelissa's.
You know, if you're flying fromAustralia, if you have a super
long flight, you may want togive yourself two days.
Thing in planning a trip isyour documents, your plane
(17:23):
ticket and those first nightstravel and how you're getting to
and from your accommodationsthose first nights.
And if you have to plan inadvance, like we did in Florence
, the Domo David tour, or ifyou're going to the Vatican or
(17:44):
some tour that, or if you'regoing to Paris and you have to
do some kind of museum that youhave to book way far in advance.
Those are important.
But other than that, you canalways, always find
accommodations, always findaccommodations.
Whether it's Airbnb, a hotel,bookingcom, a B&B, you can
(18:08):
always find accommodations.
I think people put way too muchemphasis on accommodations, and
that goes to Melissa and yourpoint of locking yourself in to
(18:29):
those accommodations and notgiving yourself enough wiggle
room in case you need a plus dayor a minus day, if you're tired
, if you need a down day, if youget sick.
You know there's a lot ofvariables when you're traveling,
and so I.
That's one thing you can always, always get.
It's not like a plane fare youcan always find a place to stay.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I know Well, I'm going to now contradict you now,
shelley, no, and I think you'reright.
I think majority of the timeyou can and I know there's kind
of a lot of movement to havethat kind of flexibility.
I will just say, based on myexperience of some places in the
UK, for example the Isle ofSkye, it can be very difficult
to get accommodation if youleave it.
(19:14):
So it's exceptional, it isexceptional, but there are some
places where you may struggle.
But again, you've got to lookat the time of year that you're
talking about.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yes, yes, I do agree with that, I do agree with that.
If you're in high season yes, Ido agree with that, I do agree
with that.
If you're in high season, even,let's say, in Italy or whatever
, if you're in June or July orAugust in Italy and you want to
book an accommodation,absolutely, you're, 100% right,
but you will pay a price, butyou can find it.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
That's true, you can find it.
You can pay a price, but youcan find it.
That's true, you can find it,but you can pay a price, yeah,
yeah.
And school holidays.
As a family traveller, schoolholiday is really important.
You're going to pay a reallybig price.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
In Australia you know like around a beach.
If it's school holidays, peoplebook a year out.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yes, I think it's really important and I think
that's part of the research partof when you're planning, which
is why on my uk travel planningwebsite, on my london travel
planning website, I have guidesto how far in advance and what
to book, because, for example,if you're coming to edinburgh in
high season, if you're comingin august, you need to have
already booked.
If you want to go to theedinburgh tattoo, if you want to
go to edinburgh castle, youneed to be thinking about that.
(20:29):
Some, some particularrestaurants and things like that
.
You do need to have that.
But but that's not everything,but some of the key things you
may need to think about again,depending on when you're
traveling, because you know whenthe whole of europe goes on
holiday, you know you you'll bein london and you'll hear every
national at the end of everybodywill be there from all over
Europe, all over the world, andso you know, for those really
(20:50):
popular destinations, isle ofSkye is completely taken off
over the last few years.
Everybody wants to go to Isleof Skye, so it's incredibly busy
during that peak season, sobooking restaurants is something
you need to do.
So I think again, but that'shugely part of that when you're
doing that research, you lookinto that.
So when you've got everythingbooked, you've got you know what
(21:12):
you're doing, you've got youritinerary planned.
What, how do you prepare?
So one of the things that Ialways do and you kind of
touched on this, shelley,actually is that I always, if
I'm landing at an airport that Iam not familiar with, in a
country I am not familiar with,I will always, always have a
pickup service.
I will always have a drivermeet me with my name on a card
to take me to my accommodation.
(21:33):
That is something I don't everskimp on, ever.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yes, it's well worth the money.
It's nothing.
Safety is always priceless,priceless.
So exactly what you said if youhave landed someplace where you
have never been before, do notskimp on that Now.
The next day you have fresheyes, you're in it's light, you
(22:01):
can explore, you know everything.
Maybe on the trip back you'refine, but that first night, no,
especially if you're alone, solofemale traveler, safety is
number one.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Maybe it's my turn to contradict yes, maybe being a a
more budget type of traveler.
Um, I don't mind the adventure,I don't mind the excitement of
getting somewhere and like, ifI've done the and and this also
comes back to having done theresearch if I've done the
research and it appears that youknow there's a train station
(22:37):
nearby, it's easy to get a bus,shuttle um, I'll do it.
I mean, I I went to Spain, uh,last year on my own and I landed
, I think, at midnight.
And, uh, being an Aussie, mymoney doesn't get me far in
Spain and so a transfer wasgoing to cost me crazy amounts
of money.
So I did it, I got a shuttleand I got in the city at 1 am.
(23:02):
Look, I'm going to be honest.
I was a bit nervous, but youknow, there was a lot of people
out.
It was a weekend, lots ofpeople out and I got to my hotel
, fine, but I had done theresearch.
I didn't just randomly turn upat the airport.
I had done my research, heardthat it was very safe, that the
shuttle bus will turn up, you'llbe fine, and, and I did it.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I wouldn't have just turned up without any knowledge
whatsoever but but to thatrespect, you did the research,
because spain and portugal is avery it's, it's like one of the
number one safest uh countriesfor solo female travelers.
Up there with uh japan and withthe Netherlands, it's one of
(23:50):
the top tier ones for solofemale travelers.
So you did do your research.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yeah, it's so cute, but I just say I find it a bit
kind of fun trying to get to theplace going?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
where's the train station?
Where's the shuttle?
Speaker 3 (24:06):
bus.
How do I get around?
Speaker 1 (24:08):
I find it a little bit fun.
I've got to that point in mylife, melissa.
I just go now too stressful.
I get on the plane, I got onthe airplane, I just know
everything is planned for theother end and I don't have to
worry when I go off.
I'll get off the flight.
Saying that, though, when welanded in rome because we were
in rome last month and I wentwith a friend the guy was about
half an hour late, which didfreak me out slightly, because
(24:29):
again, I was like, well, thisisn't what I paid for, but it
was sorted out in the end.
Now, other things, obviously,that you need to do when you're
preparing is you know you'rechecking that if you need a visa
, or if you need an ETA or ETSor all these new lovely things
that have just come in, you needto check those.
If you need any vaccinations,make sure that you get all those
done.
Money.
Now I have a wise card andthat's what I put my money on.
(24:52):
Everybody.
I'm not.
That's not financial advice,that's just what I use.
That's how I find it's very easy, because I have multiple
currencies.
On that, I've literally justtraveled I think was about eight
countries around europe overthe last, uh, in december, and
had about four differentcurrencies, because not
everybody uses a euro in europe,that everybody thinks they do
but they don't.
You know, in Sweden they don't,um, in Finland they didn't,
(25:13):
poland they didn't, hungary theydidn't, or maybe maybe Finland
did, but anyway there's lots ofdifferent currencies, so having
the ability to move it aroundwas very easy.
So those sorts of things.
What about when it comes topacking and I know we're going
to do an episode about kind ofour biggest packing mistakes and
our biggest packing kind oftips now I use, I love,
compression bags, but I'm quitea light traveler because I don't
(25:35):
the.
For me, having too many bagsequals too much stress.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
I agree, tracy, like too many bags, too many things,
you can lose.
Too many things.
You don't know where, wherethey are, um, but you know, even
at home I'm a bit lazy.
I don't do my hair very often,I don't wear the most fanciest
clothes, so I just don't needthem when I travel, like you
know.
Um, I just came back from twoweeks in Bali.
(26:02):
I took three dresses with meand that's it.
And, um, I can see Shelly, uh,just yeah, she's gonna say
something different, but she is.
I took three dresses for twoweeks on bali and I probably
wore one of them most of thetime and the other two I just
put on when that one was a bittoo dirty.
So, um, but you know what, likewhen it's time to pack, you
(26:27):
know there's none of this get upan hour early to pack your bag.
It takes me five minutes to putmy stuff in my bag and I'm good
and I'm gone.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I have to say, we travelled around India last year
, the two of us, and we didreally well.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Oh, my God Tracy.
I thought I was a light packer,but you were like to the
extreme, your bag was so tiny.
It was to the extreme, your bagwas so tiny, it was it just
yeah, and you know, and you're amakeup doing your hair, new
earrings kind of girl.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
So hats off to you.
I know exactly what I need totake and I just take those that
lipstick that cover up, that.
It's literally one or two ofeach.
Uh, now, shelly, I think you'reslightly different.
Come on, spill the beans.
When it comes to packing, whenwe went to Florence.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Oh uh, tracy, tracy, it was funny, tracy she had a
little backpack, no doubt well,I was very proud of myself.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
I had a backpack also .
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I was very, very proud of myself.
I had a backpack also.
I was very, very proud ofmyself.
So what was it?
Speaker 3 (27:30):
60 litres.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yes, that was my skincare.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
It's absolutely true.
It's absolutely true.
Charlotte, you need, shall wesay you need, you want, you have
to have more with you.
So how do you manage when youbecause you're not quite as
light the packer as myself andmelissa.
So how do you do it?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
no.
So I travel and I'm a solofemale traveler, so I travel
with a middle size suitcase anda carry-on, so that is what
takes me all year long, so I'mquite proud of that.
(28:22):
There's many a taxi driversthat uh wonders how I can lift
that and challenges me, but Isay I just that's my workout.
But yes, so I require a littlebit more.
I'm not quite as a light packer, but I would say I'm not an
(28:45):
over packer.
That sounds reasonable.
Yes, yes.
I like a little bit extra.
You know, just a little bit.
I'm more of a like.
I came for a weekend and I havelike maybe four dresses and a
couple of shoes.
I like choices.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
I was just going to say I picked her up tonight and
she had just a backpack and Ithought that was pretty good,
but there's more dresses inthere.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
So quick question then packing cubes yes or no?
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I use packing cubes, but I guess I will say my secret
hack for the packing episode,because this secret hack changed
my whole compression packingcube thing.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
I can get 25 outfits in a compression packing oh,
okay, I mean right, we, we needto see this on video as well,
shelly in the podcast so do Inthe podcast.
So if you are listening now andyou think, oh my God, I really
struggle with packing thisepisode that's coming up with
Shelley I don't know which monthit's going to be I will let you
(29:58):
know this is going to be theone to listen.
I'm fascinated by this, Me too.
Okay, so we've had a kind ofgeneral chat about how we, how
we plan and we are going to goin future months, as I say, talk
more deeply and more in depthabout how we choose
accommodation, how we look atbooking flights, travel.
(30:20):
You know, point hacking issomething that you're a
specialist in, Melissa, so I'llbe great to know how to keep
yourself safe as a solo femaletraveler, which you know,
Shelley, you are the queen ofthis.
You have so much experience.
It's going to be fantastic.
But I'm going to end thisepisode and I'm going to do a
bit of a rapid fire, so I justwant your first thoughts on
these questions.
(30:41):
So what's the biggest mistakeyou've seen travellers make,
Melissa?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Packing too much clothes, shelley.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Overscheduling themselves during the day
packing too much in yeah, Iagree with that and not doing
enough research or havingexperts like us help them with
their itineraries.
If you could only plan onething in advance, what would it
be?
Shelley Plane ticket.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Melissa, I was going to say plane ticket too, so I'm
going to say now accommodation.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Okay, cool.
What's one thing you've learnedto always do when planning,
shelly?
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Make sure you know how long you can stay in the
country.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Ah, perfect, melissa.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Oh, that got me thinking uh, the, the visas and
stuff.
You mentioned that before and Iwas just gonna say, just
because you went there last time, don't think that that's the
same.
I made that big mistake.
I know you want to go, just onething, but I made a mistake
like that before too.
It changes all the time.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Look every time yeah, perfect, perfect, oh well,
great.
It's been absolutely fantasticcatch up with you guys this
month.
We have got to decide whatwe're going to do at the end of
February for our deep dive.
Now, if you're listening tothis episode and there's
something that resonates and youthink I want to hear more from
Shelley, melissa and myself,tracy, about one of these
particular aspects, leave amessage on speakpipe.
(32:06):
Let us know what you want us tohelp you with because, honestly
, you have got three, three,three, let's say it again travel
experts from the uk, fromaustralia and from the us.
Like, how often do you getthree women with this amount of
experience and knowledge travelin one place?
So utilize us guys.
(32:27):
Now you can find links to allour websites, our social media,
in the episode show notes, whichare at globaltravelplanningcom,
forward slash 39.
Buti just want to say, guys,thanks so much for joining me
for this episode.
As always, it's great to chatwith you.
It was fantastic.
Thank you, tracy, thank you.
Tracy and that leaves me to sayuntil next week.
(32:49):
As always, happy global travelplanning.
Thank you for joining us onthis episode of the global
travel planning podcast.
For more details and links toeverything we discussed today,
check out the show notes atglobal travel planning dot com
remember.
If you enjoyed the show, pleaseconsider leaving us a review on
your favorite podcast app,because your feedback helps us
(33:09):
reach more travel enthusiasts,just like you.
Anyway, that leaves me to say,as always, happy global travel
planning.
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