How to travel by yourself？

Generally speaking, self-help tours are more exhausting than group tours, so the following small series will tell you how to make a plan for self-help tours. Let's go with Xiaobian to see what to do before traveling.

This is actually very simple, because often when you want to start a trip, the destination has already been chosen. Maybe it's a longing city, maybe the scene of a movie touched a plot in my heart, or to watch a favorite team's game. When you decide on your destination, you should start planning your vacation and determine the travel time.

The time must be good, so we must start to check the air tickets. Whether it's for people who use their holidays in China or those who study abroad, the sooner they buy air tickets, the better. First of all, I feel at ease when I buy a plane ticket. This trip is not just a plan, but has already started halfway. Secondly, the ticket prices of major airlines and low-cost airlines are also changing, especially low-cost airlines. The later you buy, the more expensive it is. (Of course, this also involves the issue of visas. Some countries need to issue a good air ticket when issuing a visa, while others don't, so it is necessary to avoid the problem of whether the rejected air ticket can be refunded, so you should know the visa information of the relevant destination before buying an air ticket.)

Air tickets can be found on large travel websites such as eLong.com, Ctrip.com, Qunar.com, or directly to the airline official website for price comparison.

The so-called homework, in fact, is to check the raiders. In a word, the more detailed the preliminary work is, the more effort will be saved when playing later.

So what should I do? Where can I check? How to check? Check what?

Core: Make full use of all available resources.

1. Book resources

There are all kinds of travel books, travel notes and picture books on the market now. From the perspective of travel practicality, we should choose raiders, such as LP(Lonely)

Planet) travel guide, Michelin travel guide, etc. This kind of books often cover a wide range, and the price of a book is not low, but only a few of them may be used, so you can consider it yourself or borrow it from the library or friends.

LP travel guides from all over the world, and destinations in popular countries have Chinese versions.

2. Internet resources. This is the most abundant and free place.

(1) Tourism websites and forums.

There are poor travel websites and hornet's nest which are rich in travel guides and travel notes. If you want to know the general situation of the destination, you can download the poor travel tips or hornet's nest guide of poor travel websites, which can be found in most domestic and foreign cities and popular tourist destinations, such as visa information, famous scenic spots and local specialties.

Take Europe as an example. The forums of the poor travel network are divided into countries and regions. For example, there are French zones and Italian zones, while Spain and Portugal are combined. If you feel that there is too much content, you can choose to read the essence posts first. Although this is a time-consuming and laborious project, it is also a very interesting process. You can not only find all the information you want, but also get many unexpected gains. At this time, you have learned a lot about the destination, because most of these posts are illustrated.

At this time, you can choose and design your own general itinerary from a huge amount of information, which city you are in every day, which scenic spots you are interested in, and what kind of transportation you should choose to reach your next destination. After setting the itinerary for each day, you must decide the hotel. Whether sleeping in a youth hostel or a luxury hotel, it is very important to have a place to rest during the trip, not to mention charging electronic products! In fact, the two most expensive expenses in travel are air tickets and hotels. The price of hotels will change with the season and time, especially if the travel time is chosen to catch up with holidays or local festivals, not only the price will be high but also it will not be booked, so we should start early. When the air tickets and hotels are settled, the itinerary will be basically fixed.

The next thing to do is to make a more detailed itinerary. This varies from person to person. Some people like to implement it every hour, while others don't care, even if they find a place to bask in the sun and have a cup of tea.

Let's talk about accommodation first. Accommodation is based on everyone's economic conditions. Some people regard enjoying luxury hotels as a very important part of their journey, while others just need a place to sleep. If you book a hotel abroad, the two commonly used websites are Binke and.

Booking is mainly a star hotel.

Hostelworld is more focused on youth hostels.

Foreign youth hostels range from single rooms and double rooms to 4, 6, 8 and 10 rooms. The prices are relatively cheap, and many of them are very distinctive. Youth travel generally feels safer, because most of the people who live in youth travel are young people who really like to play, and they are basically outside during the day, only using this as a place to rest. Most hotels also provide lockers for tourists to store their luggage, but it is best to stay with two good friends, one of whom will stay in the room and watch while washing. The biggest drawback is that tourists come back at different times, sometimes they are woken up in the middle of the night, and they are woken up early in the morning by people who catch flights and trains.

Both websites are in Chinese, which can be selected according to the hotel's price, location, environment and customer evaluation. Most hotels can be booked or cancelled free of charge.

If you travel abroad, you can also choose Chinese family hotels. There is a lot of information about poor travel network. The advantage of staying in a family hotel is that it is affordable. Many family hotels also provide breakfast and dinner. Here, you can not only meet many friends from all over the motherland, but also travel with them, and save many factors such as language barrier and unaccustomed western food. The disadvantage is that everyone shares the kitchen and bathroom, which is inconvenient to wash when there are many people, and the privacy is also poor. It is more suitable for international students, older travelers who want to save money and have a language barrier.

When booking accommodation, the geographical location should try not to deviate from the main scenic spots. First, these areas are relatively lively, and accommodation is safer than remote places, and you can also go shopping at night. Second, the airport bus, bus and subway in the central area are relatively developed, which is convenient for carrying luggage from the airport and railway station. The places where the third scenic spot is concentrated can also save some travel expenses and time between scenic spots.

Besides eating, the recommendations in travel guides are generally not wrong, but the prices are often in the middle and upper grades. You can just try one or two meals once in a while, and eating every day will definitely be overwhelming. You can find many restaurants with high cost performance in the forum. From the perspective of poor travel online, first collect it extensively, and then filter out a few recommended by the donkey friends and insert them into the itinerary according to the geographical location. After all, eating is also the principle of proximity. It is a waste of time to run from the east to the west for lunch. And try to choose the restaurant recommended by the moderator or international students, because people living in the local area are often the most experienced.

In addition to specialty restaurants, you might as well write down the names of local specialties (preferably in the local language). After all, ordering food is also a university question, and it is difficult to translate accurately just like Four Joy Meetballs. In this way, even if you can't find your favorite restaurant and just walk into a local restaurant, you don't have to worry about what to do without an English menu.

Of course, I have to mention here that eating is actually the most personal thing, because everyone's living environment and taste are different, so it's normal to feel delicious and not necessarily like it. You don't have to be too demanding. The most important thing in traveling abroad is your mood. Just take a fresh attitude, and eating well is the icing on the cake. Even if you are not satisfied, you will always have tasted local characteristics without regret.

Finally say yes. In China, regardless of the subway bus, even if you take a taxi, there will be no obstacles. In foreign countries, the most commonly used ways are subway and walking. Especially in European cities, the scenic spots are relatively concentrated, so many places can be reached by walking. The most interesting place in a city, where you can feel its charm in the details, must not be the world-famous big attractions, but often found inadvertently when you travel through the streets and lanes of the city.

When visiting supermarkets, markets and vegetable markets, you can often find more local interesting things. Needless to say, the price of the same thing is much cheaper than that of scenic spots.

When it comes to visiting cities, one thing is necessary, and that is the map. It can be prepared at home, such as purchasing from Xinhua Bookstore or downloading and printing online, marking the places you want to go in advance, or it can be stored in electronic products such as IPAD or mobile phone. In many cities in Europe and America, near airports, railway stations and famous scenic spots, you can find a big "I" sign, which is the tourist information center. In these places, you can get city maps and many performances, restaurant information and coupons, and most of them are free. If you don't have time to do the raiders, you can directly tell the staff that you have a few hours, and ask them to circle which scenic spots are must-see, and recommend good restaurants and local characteristics.

(2) Search engines.

Baidu and Google don't need to go into details, they can come out with a search if they want to find anything. However, I also suggest that you read a few more articles. After all, not all the contents on the Internet are correct, and many people copy them from the original.

(3) Learn from travel itinerary of the travel agency.

Well, the connection between cities is more useful, but the route between scenic spots may not be convenient. After all, travel agencies have cars, which is an advantage that can't be compared with walking.

(4) Learn to collect information by fragments.

If the above is a process of focusing on raiders, the following method is to collect information by using debris time. People who love to travel often read some travel blogs and see the destinations and strategies recommended by bloggers. If you think it is useful or interesting, you may wish to collect it first. Weibo can also pay attention to some good content, such as Sina Travel, tourism bureaus around the world, airlines or travel websites. The content that can be published here must be officially considered good and worthy of recommendation. You can collect good restaurants and interesting festivals at any time, and you can get the latest information on air tickets and hotel discounts at the first time. If you like, you can usually buy some travel periodicals and magazines. In this way, when you are ready to travel, you have accumulated a lot of useful information in peacetime.

3. Human resources.

This person can be a friend, family, colleague or a stranger. For example, what interesting places friends have been to, you may wish to consult, or you can ask enthusiastic and experienced donkey friends online. After all, everyone will encounter a blind spot of knowledge, not to mention the limited information available online. Only by consulting experienced people can we get more and more detailed information.

However, learn how to ask questions. Ask questions so that others can help you.

In fact, at this stage, the homework is almost done, but when it comes to the journey, it is often impossible, because during the journey, you will encounter all kinds of problems, maybe you missed the bus, maybe you gave up other scenic spots because you liked one place too much, or you met a local parade or performance. In fact, this is the most wonderful part of the trip, because you never know what you will encounter in the next second. It is also good to leave some regrets, which creates the premise for the next trip, so it is a perfect journey to take things as they are and enjoy it.

1. Get a visa

Visa requirements vary from country to country, and some countries have landing visa or visa-free. But there are two main ways to do it, one is to apply for it yourself, and the other is to find a travel agency or Taobao agency. If you do it on your own, you must go to the official websites of embassies of various countries to inquire about the required information. As long as the materials are true and well prepared, there is no reason to refuse under normal circumstances.

2. Change money

Of course not at home, but not for outbound travel. You can change it at the Bank of China, and it is best to make an appointment by phone in advance. After all, not every country's currency is available. How much money you need to change, you can work out a rough figure according to your own strategy. You can swipe the money for air tickets, hotels and shopping (it is best to have a VISA or MasterCard dual-currency card, not every country accepts UnionPay), but you can have a rough budget for meals, scenic spots tickets and the like. It is suggested that it is enough to change this part of the money. Europeans are used to spending by credit card and don't need to change euros. Even if thieves start, they won't have much cash, but Chinese people are different. Moreover, most of the foreign currencies exchanged by domestic banks are large denominations. Losing a piece of 500 euros is painful enough for a long time. The key is to affect the mood more! Instead of putting it on your body every day, you might as well swipe your card and worry, and the handling fee is not much after careful calculation. If you bring a lot of cash, I suggest you open it separately, for example, if you put it in an envelope, then take out a little and put it in your wallet. Don't take it from the envelope every time you pay, it will be easily targeted by thieves.

If you need money abroad, you can also withdraw it from the local ATM. VISA or MasterCard have no problem, but many ATMs abroad refund the card first and then the money, just the opposite of China. So don't think that the card will come out and go straight away! If you swipe your card at the mall, there are two options: UnionPay and foreign currency. It will be more cost-effective to choose UnionPay.

American dollars are very useful in many countries, especially in Southeast Asian countries. It is often more cost-effective to exchange money locally with large denominations of American dollars than RMB.

3. Travel equipment

(1)

Needless to say, tickets, hotel reservations, travel insurance, passports, just in case you need to prepare a copy of your passport and ID card, and separate them from the original ones during the trip. If you encounter theft and robbery abroad, it will come in handy to go to the consulate to apply for a travel permit.

(2) Appropriate clothes, toiletries, medicines, sunscreen, anti-mosquito liquid, electronic products and chargers, etc.

(3) The standard of adapter is different in every country. If you often go abroad, it is recommended to buy an international adapter.

(4) Opening the international roaming service of mobile phones in advance.

(5) Make a copy of the telephone number of the embassy of the tourist destination, the local alarm and the emergency telephone number, or record it in the mobile phone.

(5) If you don't feel at ease, leave your family a phone number of travel itinerary and local hotels.

4. Expand reading

In addition to the raiders, at this time, in order to know more about the culture of the destination, you can buy some books such as travel notes, or read more detailed travel notes online. These can have an understanding and tolerance for local culture, and make travel more fun. Knowing the local religious customs and taboos can also avoid unnecessary unhappiness.

Learning a few local languages is very useful, and it can also increase communication and intimacy with local people. When asking for help from others, say hello in the local language as soon as you open your mouth, and few people will refuse. And when you buy something, you will also leave a good impression, and the other party will think it is a kind of respect.

Language barrier is the biggest trouble in foreign countries, but there are solutions to any problem:

1. If the language is not up to standard, you can prepare a detailed translation comparison between Chinese and English or between Chinese and local languages in advance.

This can be extended to food, names of scenic spots and so on. English doesn't work in many countries, so the most convenient thing at this time is to write. It will be much more convenient to prepare such a list in advance.

2. Make good use of body language. I remember reading a joke on the Internet about an African guy buying a train ticket. He didn't want a high-speed train, but he didn't know how to say it. He described it to the conductor, "Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, no. Woo ~ kuang-time-kuang-time-kuang-time, Yes ",the conductor will understand that it is a local train.

3. Where there are people, there must be people from China. If you see a restaurant in China or a department store opened by people in China, you might as well ask generously.

4, if the language is fluent, remember that there is a mouth under the nose and ask more questions. For example, if you don't know where to play, you can ask the staff of the tourist information center; Which scenic spot do you want to go to, but you can't say the name? You can take out the pictures in the guidebook or ask the booth selling postcards. I don't know where to eat, just ask the newspaper guy or the uncle who is basking in the sun if there is anything delicious nearby. Where there is wifi, you can check the information online and use Google to locate the next scenic spot. There is no problem that cannot be solved.

Speaking of travel plans, some people may say, why bother? Isn't it just a trip to leave?

It's true that many people travel casually, but what I want to say is that this kind of travel is only suitable for people who are free and easy, informal and happy-go-lucky. The most important thing is to have money or time, and it is not suitable for everyone.

For most people, it is not easy to find time to travel in modern high-efficiency, high-tempo and high-tension daily work. The cost-effectiveness of leaving is too low, which is simply not worthwhile.

In any case, a planned trip is far more efficient than a trip without a plan.

First, what is a travel plan?

If you want to make a good travel plan, first know what a travel plan is. Tourism planning, in popular terms, is to determine the destination in advance and answer how to get there. Where do you live? What to eat? What to play?

You may say, this is just a "strategy". That's right, but doing raiders is only part of a complete travel plan, not the whole thing.

If tourism is managed as a project, then the tourism plan is the "project planning" in project management.

Second, why do you want to make a travel plan?

As I have said before, planned tourism is far more efficient than unplanned tourism, which is economically cost-effective. To give a simple example, if you travel without a plan, you may miss better scenic spots; Traveling without a plan, where to eat, maybe 50 yuan to buy a steamed stuffed bun.

In fact, I want to correct a concept. There is no travel without a plan at all. Even if you leave, you have set the general direction, but this plan is just a very rough particle. Later, I will talk about what kind of granularity the travel plan needs to be refined.

Third, how to combine PMP project management knowledge to make a travel plan

1. What is PMP project management?

PMP (Project Management Professional) refers to the qualification certification of project management professionals (personnel). The certification examination for project management professionals (PMP) held by project management institute (PMI) in the United States has been promoted in more than 190 countries and regions around the world, and it is the certification with the highest gold content in the field of project management at present. Its purpose is to provide unified industry standards for project managers.

2. We can manage a trip as a project.

The concept of the project is very wide, ranging from landing on the moon to building a railway dam to home decoration and tourism. According to incomplete statistics, 80% of the world's project management is unsuccessful (project management failure and product success are not the same concept). Therefore, the American PMI Association has established a set of management processes and standards to improve the success of the project. Here, I don't intend to introduce such complicated and difficult theories, trying to share with you how to manage PMP project management knowledge in a simple language.

According to the method of PMP project management, the success of the project can be improved. Similarly, managing a tour according to the framework of PMP project management can improve the success of the tour, that is, completing the most rewarding travel experience with limited budget in just the right time.

3. How to make a high-quality and efficient travel plan?

First of all, we should know that the three elements of the project, time, cost, quality or scope.

In terms of tourism, that is: where are the main attractions (scope) of this tour? Ready for poor travel or rich travel (quality)? How many days (time) will this tour take? How much is the preparation (cost)?

This triangle is mutually restrictive, that is, if you want to play more places, then you must increase the budget (cost); If you only have seven days off from National Day, and not more than one day, then you can only choose faster transportation (increase the budget) or go to a few places (reduce the scope). On the contrary, if you have retired and have plenty of time, then you can choose to take a green leather car to save money.

After understanding the three elements of the project, how to make an efficient and high-quality travel plan, followed by dry goods:

I take a 7-day National Day trip as an example.

Step 1: Define the scope of the project.

(PMP: Defining the scope of the project means determining the boundaries of the project, what to do and what not to do, collecting project requirements and defining project objectives. )

Travel: Maybe you are inspired by generate, maybe you are recommended by a friend, maybe this destination has long been listed in your travel list. In short, the first step is to determine the destination, and the first step can be a little broader, and it will be optimized continuously.

Step 2: Do a preview.

Knowing the local customs and human history of the destination, as the saying goes, an expert looks at the doorway and a layman looks at the excitement. If there is no knowledge reserve in advance, it is really just a spectator and lacks the sense of experience. For example, some historical attractions, ruined, are not attractions at all in the eyes of some people, and they are often disappointed. For those who know the history and historical allusions, they are often filled with emotions, such as the ancient battlefields full of historical vicissitudes, such as Chibi nostalgia, Tongguan danger, the Great Wall bonfire building, etc. If you know the history, people will have an immersive feeling.

For example, traveling abroad is especially true. You should preview the local laws, regulations and cultural taboos in advance. In Singapore, you can't be as headstrong as in China, can you?

Step 3: Do decomposition.

(PMP: The basis for making a project plan is the work breakdown structure of the project, which is the basis for making an activity plan. The resource allocation, schedule preparation and budget planning of the project are all based on activities. )

Simply put, it is to break down a big activity into several small activities.

Tourism: There are many ways to break it down, which can be broken down by time period or by scenic spots to be visited. Since 7 days of National Day is the limiting condition, here we take time period decomposition as an example.

The travel units of the first day and the last day are definitely determined, and the next intermediate time period can be a unit of 2 days, a unit of 3 days or a unit of 1 day in combination with the scenic spots of the route.

Step 4: Determine the hotel.

Most people don't choose an RV when they travel, so staying in a hotel is the most rigid demand. Whether they arrive at a destination or pass through a certain place, they must stay in a hotel at night. It is also the easiest and easiest to start with rigid demand. According to the previous decomposition time period, determine the good hotels, and you can collect more hotels for comparison and alternative.

TIP: If you are traveling abroad, it is recommended to print out the order form after booking the hotel, and then arrange it one by one according to the date, and show it to the front desk after arriving at the hotel. Although it is available in the computer system, a piece of paper is far simpler than you and the front desk.

Step 5: Determine the traffic.

Traffic is divided into big traffic and small traffic. Big traffic refers to high-speed rail, air tickets, and relatively long distances. Book an air ticket or high-speed rail ticket between two destinations according to the decomposed time period and hotel. If you are traveling abroad, the ticket should be printed in advance.

After the big traffic is determined, the small traffic can be planned or not, depending on your destination. If you are traveling abroad, it is suggested that small traffic should also make plans. For example, when I fly to Hong Kong, I will check the Hong Kong bus website in advance to determine which bus to take to the airport.

The sixth step is to optimize and improve

Repeat the above five steps, constantly optimize and improve your travel plan, do deduction and simulation, adjust and refine it to the appropriate accuracy. What kind of accuracy can you achieve? There is no exact answer here. It depends on your destination. If you are traveling in China, it doesn't matter if you are a little simple and rough. If you are traveling abroad, I suggest you do it as carefully as possible.

For example, when I travel to the Philippines, the flight to Manila is late at night, and the security in Manila is rather chaotic. I must find out which hotel has a shuttle bus, where the bus stops, and whether the airport is left or right. Facts have proved that you are not afraid to go out late at night in a foreign country.

Another skill is that you can check the location of the hotel through Google Maps in advance, and you can see the photos and appearance of the hotel through Google Street View. It is easy to find after you are familiar with it, and there is no such uneasy strangeness.

Step 7: Risk Management Plan

The risk management of tourism is a link that many people who do travel strategies easily ignore, and the risk management plan is an essential part of a complete project planning, especially those who travel abroad must pay attention to it. Do a good job in risk assessment and countermeasures, so that you can go out happily and go home safely.

Risk management is mainly to predict risks and formulate countermeasures. Do you have altitude sickness if you go climbing? How difficult is the risk of diving? What if the plane is delayed? These have to be evaluated in advance. And make corresponding response, is it evasion or transfer? For example, buying travel insurance is a common way to transfer risks. If there are elderly people who are in poor health, they should avoid the plateau.

Step 8: List of Items

According to your destination, make a list of items: clothes, shoes, sporting goods, medicines, and then tick one by one to prevent omission. It is worth mentioning that if you travel abroad, you need to print out all kinds of certificates, travel itinerary, orders, preferably in duplicate, and keep them for two people.

Step 9: Print out the itinerary.

After completing the travel plan, the last step is to print the itinerary. I suggest that people who travel abroad should print it out. Although mobile phones and tablets are popular now, they are still not as convenient as a piece of paper, and there is no risk of power failure. With this piece of paper, we can follow the map, and the long way is simple.

You can also print out the starting point, the way, the end point, the itinerary of the day, what car to take and where to live according to the date of each day, and print it out and bind it into a small book, which is very convenient.

Schedule by date, print it out and bind it into a booklet.

The above is how to use PMP project management knowledge to make a high-quality and efficient tourism plan, and the steps and cases are shared, which is suitable for people who go abroad for the first time. Subsequent articles will continue to introduce the operation during and after the trip.