Travel Planning & Budget
Last updated on : November 4, 2025
Travel Planning & Budget
Before our trip to Bali (March 2025), we mostly traveled to the south in all-inclusive vacations. Planning and budgeting for our trips used to be very simple:
- an amount for the package (flight, hotel, and meals);
- a little extra for an excursion or two;
- and an amount for tips.
Between 2019 and 2024, we traveled this way to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico.
Since Bali, through, my way of planning and budgeting our travels has completely changed. There are now so many more elements to consider:
- plane tickets;
- other means of transportation (taxi, bus, ferry, etc.);
- accommodation;
- food;
- activities and excursions.
Planning and budgeting for a trip changes everything! Over the course of our adventures, I’ve developed my own little tips to prepare our trips more mindfully.
Plane Tickets ✈️
I use Skyscanner to compare flights and find the best deals. Then, I double-check the prices directly on the airlines websites.
More recently, I’ve also started working with my travel agent to buy my plane tickets: it hasn’t cost me any more, and if any problem comes up, she takes care of everything. That’s reassuring and it frees my mind.
Accommodations 🏨
To book, I use Booking, always favoring options with “free cancellation” and “no prepayment”.
‘Here’s how my technique works: I select several interesting accommodations. I book them all. Then, my husband and I choose the one that suits us best. And finally, I cancel the others.
Even after booking, I keep checking if prices drop. For Bali, this approach saved us a lot of money.
Our criteria: a clean place, a clean and functional bathroom, and often, a little extra touch of character and comfort. In fact, we like to find the right balance between price and quality. And why not treat ourselves to a touch of luxury sometimes? After all, travel is also a way to pamper ourselves a little!
Activities & Excursions 🎟️
For some of our activities and excursions, I use Getyourguide. What I like about this platform:
- free cancellations up to 24 hours before the activity,
- the possibility to pay only a few days in advance,
- helpful reviews and ratings that make it easy to compare.
We also organize activities on our own. I compare the logistics and costs and if an activity on Getyourguide cost about the same but are much simpler to manage, I don’t hesitate and book it. And just like for accommodations, I keep checking afterward if prices drop. Once again, this often helps me save quite a bit.
Other Useful Resources
- Planning Motion: a Quebec-based web app that helps organize every aspect of a trip, before, during, and after. I’m so glad I discovered it! It’s much clearer and easier to use than the Excel spreadsheets I used before.
- Travel blogs, vlogs, and Facebook groups: are also an incredible source of information, advice, and inspiration. They’re actually what inspired me to start my own blog. I truly hope the tips I share here will help you plan your future adventures too!
- Google Maps : Google Maps is an essential tool for easily spotting tourist attractions, parks, and interesting viewpoints around my destination. I like to zoom in on the map, look at reviews and photos, and then do further research on the places that inspire me. Many of my favorite stops were actually discovered thanks to Google Maps.
- ChatGPT : This tool helps me plan my trips. Whether it’s to check if my itinerary makes sense, find activity ideas that fit my travel style, or simply ask questions along the way, it’s a really useful and accessible resource that often saves me a lot of time.
In conclusion, I like to say that every journey begins with the planning! Planning and budgeting for new adventures may take more time than booking an all-inclusive trip, but it also allows for a much richer and more personal experience.
And if you’d like to share your own best tips for planning and budgeting, I’d love to read them – feel free to drop them in the comments!
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**Photo by Charlotte Noelle on Unsplash
