Travel Planning Tips (Part 1)

The number one thing to remember when planning a trip is that the Internet and Google are your friends. Not only are there websites for nearly every attraction in the United States (in the world for that matter), but many different travelers will also write about their experiences that can give a different perspective of attractions/locations you are looking to visit.

When planning our trip to New York City, I did TONS of research. Not only of the city, but of the transportation, parking, driving laws, where to be/where not to be at certain times, rush hour times, cheaper places to eat, etc. I find it helpful to create a separate folder under bookmarks and save any website that had any useful information on it. Let me tell you, I had over 20 different sites saved.

Travel books are also useful. I bought two for New York. Both I bought through Amazon because you can get them much cheaper. The first one I bought I thought I would like, but ended up not thinking it had enough information in it so I bought another one. These are the two books I purchased:

New York City's 25 Best

Eyewitness Travel Guide: New York

The reason we decided to go to NYC when we did was I read it was one of the cheaper times to travel there (You can Google: Cheapest times to travel to New York). Yes, it is cheaper, but you have to keep in mind why... the weather is not the best and can be unpredictable. Typical weather conditions consist of cold, rainy and sometimes snowy. We happened to get lucky and even though it was rainy, it seemed to never rain on us. So with this in mind...

#1 Plan of Action: Search for hotels

• Know the location you want to be in depending on your areas of interest. In NYC we stayed in West Midtown because we would be close to Central Park, Broadway, 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Center, walking distance to many other attractions, and close to the subway that would get us anywhere else we wanted to go.


• We ended up booking through Hotels.com, but make sure to check the hotels official website first. Sometimes they have special offers. Also, depending on who you book through, you can find promotional codes online (Google: promo codes for hotels.com or whichever company you decide to purchase from).


• Even if you do not book through the hotels official website, be sure to check out the website because they normally have a section called "Attractions". An example would be Wellington Hotel's Attractions page. This can help with planning your daily visits.

#2: Research the Different Tourist Attractions

• Of course look at the many different attractions official websites. They should have the most up-to-date and accurate information. Examples for New York City would be:
  
  Staten Island Ferry
  
  The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  
  Broadway Box For the record, Broadway shows are so worth the cost. Go to this site though and get 50% off. We used it and saved over $150.


• You can also search Wikipedia. A free encyclopedia written collaboratively by volunteers such as myself. Definitely can find useful tips on this site. An example:
  Empire State Building


• It helped me knowing the costs of each attraction as well as the times of opening and closing to better create an itinerary. Also, plan attraction visiting in one location at a time so you aren't spending your a lot of your time in your car, taxi's, buses, or subways.

Check back for more helpful tips on planning a trip not just to New York City, but anywhere!