A Beginner’s Guide to Booking Foreign Trips

This is a question I’ve been getting with increasing frequency over the past few months, so I thought it best to write an article in case anyone else would like some help. Jamaicans have grown increasingly more curious about the world around them in recent years, and that’s wonderful to see given our visa-free access to 90+ countries on a Jamaican passport. I plan all my trips myself because it adds to the excitement, and I get to learn about the country I’m visiting in the process. I don’t consider myself an expert because as it stands, I’ve only been to 5 countries, but read on for my advice on how to book a good trip from scratch.

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1. Start With The Flight

I recommend Google Flights or Skyscanner for finding the best flights! The cheapest days of the week to book flights are usually on a Tuesday or Sunday, while the cheapest days to fly are usually Mondays and Fridays depending on which source you read. What I love about Skyscanner is that you can choose “explore everywhere” as well as flexible dates, allowing you to be guided by ticket prices if you don’t have an exact destination or date in mind yet. You can also sign up with these flight-tracking websites and get real-time notifications on flight prices, allowing you to purchase if (when) flight prices drop. If you’re not yet ready to purchase, search for flights in your browser’s incognito mode as cookies will cause the price to increase the next time you visit the website. Lastly, after settling on your trip’s airline and date, I recommend buying tickets directly from the airline’s website. That makes it easier to access refunds and other benefits should mishaps occur. Third party websites don’t always give you that guarantee.

2. Choose The Places You Want to Visit

Machu Picchu

Now that you’ve locked in with a flight and date, research where you’d like to visit in the country. I tend to start this research while looking up flights concurrently, because most countries will have several international airports and I want to land at the international airport closest to the sites I plan to see. Choosing the sites early is important too as some reservations have to be made months in advance such as my visit to Machu Picchu where tickets are limited and often sold out weeks in advance. In fact, many tourists end up landing in Peru only to realize they won’t get to visit the World Wonder because they didn’t plan ahead. Don’t be that guy. Research where you’d like to go, and know how early in advance you need to reserve or see if you can just show up.

• Don’t book excursions for the day you arrive no matter how early you’re set to arrive. Flights get delayed all the time.
• Never plan more than 1-2 activities per day. That way, you leave some flexibility in your schedule to take up spontaneous local recommendations, relax… or in the event you experience jetlag, illness such as altitude sickness or other unforeseen circumstances.

3. Research How to Get Around

Taking the bus in Niagara Falls

Now that you have an idea of the places you want to see, research how close they are to the airport and to each other. Look them up on Google Maps and search for directions to get an idea. For example, I plan to visit a South American country soon with its major cities located hundreds of miles apart. Now, if they had a robust public transport system like an inter-city train network, that would be no problem but I learnt all too quickly in my research that they do not. As such, I had to resign myself to choosing which city interested me the most. Sure, I could fly but I didn’t want to waste my short vacation on domestic flights. After all, you still have to arrive at the airport at least 2 hours ahead of your domestic flight and flights get delayed or cancelled all the time, adding another element of unpredictability to an already short vacation. So, researching how to get around the country and to the spots you’ve selected is important. Remove any outliers which aren’t feasible given your financial or time constraints.

4. Book Accommodation

My Machu Picchu hotel room which had my best room view ever!

Now that you’ve selected where to go and how to get there, it’s time to book your accommodation! My favourite places to select are those which offer breakfast as I get to start the morning early, fueled up and with one less meal to worry about. I also like to look for places close to the town centre so I can easily access food, public transport and entertainment. My preferred search platform for hotels is Booking.com as it allows me to narrow down thousands of choices by cost and amenities such as airport shuttle, free Wi-Fi, mini-fridge and breakfast included. Booking also ranks hotels by distance from the city centre, proximity to public transport and reviews.

I’m not picky so a 3-star hotel with at least a 8/10 rating is perfect. I also tend to read through the most recent and also the lowest reviews on Booking, Google and sometimes even Trip Advisor to decide between one hotel over the other. Did the hotel get a few one star ratings because it was small and dated or served the same thing for breakfast every day, or did it get one star because of a dirty room with roaches and bedbugs? That’s important stuff to know which previous guests will tell you. For longer trips, Airbnb is my platform of choice such as when I visited Kingston, Ontario this year. If you’re visiting Kingston, Jamaica, perhaps this Airbnb may interest you.

Bonus Tip

Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago

I cannot stress this one enough! You must research the political climate of the country, as well as any diseases to which you may be exposed. Are they on the brink of civil unrest? Do I need to get a vaccine for a communicable disease such as yellow fever? Do I need malaria prophylaxis? Is the water safe to drink? You can find out the political climate by doing a quick Google search about “news in X”. Also, the CDC website has very up-to-date information about endemic diseases, possible outbreaks and travel advisories which could impact your trip negatively. You can never be too prepared in life, but if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.

Wrap Up

And that’s it! Overall planning from start to finish for each of my trips will take several hours as you can imagine, but planning is important (to an extent). I hope this article helps someone; do bookmark and share it with a friend. Also, for seasoned travelers reading this, is my travel-planning process similar to yours? What tips would you add? Sound off in the comments section below.

If you enjoyed this post, you’d also like:

• Visa-Free Countries for Jamaicans
• Why Jamaicans Should Explore the Caribbean
• My 2022 Peru Itinerary & Costs
• Elle’s Guide to Niagara Falls

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