Determining the destination and time is actually very simple, because often when you want to start a trip, the destination has already been chosen. Maybe it's a city I yearn for, maybe the scene of a movie touched a plot in my heart, or I went to see a favorite team game. When you decide your destination, you should start planning your vacation and determine the travel time.
Now must be a good time to book a plane ticket, so we should start checking it. Whether for those who use their holidays in China or those who study abroad, the earlier 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 it has already started halfway. Secondly, ticket prices of major airlines and low-cost airlines are also changing, especially low-cost airlines. The later you buy it, 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 we should avoid the problem of whether the rejected air ticket can be refunded, so we should know the visa information of the relevant destination before buying an air ticket. )
Air tickets can be found on eLong.com, Ctrip.com, Qunar.com and other large tourist websites, or you can go directly to the airline official website to compare prices.
Doing the so-called homework in the raiders is actually checking the raiders. In short, the more detailed the preliminary work, the more labor-saving it will be to play later.
Then 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 notes, travel notes and picture books on the market now. From the perspective of travel practicality, we should choose strategies, such as LP (Loneliness).
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 books may be used, so you can consider them yourself or borrow them from the library or friends.
LP travel guides all over the world and destinations in popular countries have Chinese versions.
2. Internet resources. This is the richest and freest place.
(1) Travel websites and forums.
There are poor travel websites, as well as travel guides and a hornet's nest with rich travel notes. If you want to know the general situation of the destination, you can download the poor travel guide or the hornet's nest guide of the poor travel website, 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 forum of poor travel network is divided into countries and regions. For example, there are French and Italian districts, as well as a combination of Spain and Portugal. If you think there is too much content, you can choose to read the essence post first. Although this is a time-consuming and laborious project, it is also a very interesting process. Not only can you find all the information you want, but you can also get many unexpected gains. By this time, you have learned a lot about the destination, because most of these posts are illustrated.
At this time, you can choose to 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 your daily itinerary, you have to book a hotel. Whether you are sleeping in a youth hostel or a luxury hotel, it is very important to have a rest place during the trip, not to mention charging electronic products! In fact, the two most expensive expenses in travel are air tickets and hotels. Hotel prices will change with the seasons and time, especially when you choose to catch up with holidays or local festivals. Not only will the price be high, but you can't book them, so you should start early. Once the air ticket and hotel are fixed, the itinerary is basically fixed.
The next thing to do is to make a more detailed itinerary. This varies from person to person. Some people like to do it every hour, others don't care, even if they find a place to bask in the sun and have a cup of tea.
Let's start with accommodation. Accommodation depends on everyone's financial conditions. Some people regard enjoying luxury hotels as a very important part of their trip, while others just need a place to sleep. Binke/ and/are the two websites commonly used to book hotels abroad.
Reservations are mainly star-rated hotels.
Hostelworld focuses more on youth hostels.
Foreign youth hostels range from single rooms and double rooms to rooms 4, 6, 8 and 10, and the prices are relatively cheap, and many of them are very distinctive. Youth travel generally feels safer, because most people who live in youth travel are young people who really like to play, and they are basically outside during the day, only taking this place 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 in the morning by people catching flights and trains.
Both websites are in Chinese and can be selected according to the hotel's price, location, environment and customer evaluation. Most hotels can be booked or cancelled for free.
If you travel abroad, you can also choose a family hotel in China. There is a lot of information about the 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, eliminating many factors such as language barrier and unaccustomed to western food. The disadvantage is that everyone uses kitchen and bathroom, which is inconvenient to wash when there are many people, and the privacy is poor. More suitable for international students, elderly travelers who want to save money and can't speak the language.
When booking accommodation, try not to deviate from the main attractions. First, these areas are more lively, accommodation is safer than remote places, and you can 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 third place where scenic spots are concentrated can also save some travel expenses and time between scenic spots.
Except for eating, the recommendations in travel guides are generally not wrong, but the prices are often in the upper-middle class. Just eat a meal or two once in a while, and eating every day will definitely be too much. You can find many cost-effective restaurants in the forum. From the perspective of poor travel on the internet, we should collect them extensively first, then filter out a few recommended by donkey friends and insert them into the itinerary according to their geographical location. After all, eating is also the principle of proximity. Running from east to west for lunch is a waste of time. And try to choose restaurants recommended by moderators 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 local languages). After all, ordering food is also a university question, and it is difficult to translate it as accurately as four Joy Meetballs. In this way, even if you can't find a 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, what I have to mention here is that eating is actually the most personal thing, because everyone's living environment and taste are different, and it is normal to feel delicious and not necessarily like it. You don't have to be too demanding. The most important thing about traveling abroad is your mood. Fresh attitude is good, and good food is icing on the cake. Even if you are not satisfied, you won't regret tasting the local characteristics.
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, and many places can be reached on foot. The most interesting place in a city, the place where you can feel its charm in the details, must not be a world-famous big scenic spot, but it is often inadvertently discovered when you walk through the streets 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 the scenic spot.
When it comes to visiting cities, one thing is indispensable, and that is the map. You can prepare it at home, such as buying it from Xinhua Bookstore or downloading and printing it online, marking the place you want to go in advance, or storing it 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 how many hours you have, and ask them to circle which scenic spots are necessary, and recommend good restaurants and local characteristics.
(2) Search engines.
Baidu and Google don't need to elaborate, they will come out with a search if they want to find anything. However, I also suggest that you read more articles. After all, not all the contents on the Internet are correct, and many people copy the original works.
(3) Understand the travel itinerary of the travel agency.
Well, the connection between cities is more useful, but the route between scenic spots is not necessarily convenient. After all, the travel agency has a car, which is an incomparable advantage on foot.
(4) Learn to collect information by fragments.
If the above is the process of focusing on raiders, the following method is to use the fragmentation time to collect information. People who love to travel often read some travel blogs and see the destinations and strategies recommended by bloggers. If you find it useful or interesting, you might as well collect it first. Weibo can also pay attention to some good content, such as Sina Travel, local tourism bureaus, airlines or travel websites. What can be published here must be considered good and recommended by the government. 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 member, 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 to ask questions. Ask questions so that others can help you.
In fact, at this stage, the homework has been done almost, but on 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 best 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 the perfect trip to let nature take its course and enjoy it.
Prepare for the implementation stage 1, apply for a visa.
Visa requirements vary from country to country, and some countries have landing visa or visa-free. But there are two main ways, one is to apply by yourself, and the other is to find a travel agency or Taobao agent. If you do it yourself, you must go to the embassies of various countries in official website to inquire about the required information. As long as the materials are true and well prepared, there is generally no reason to refuse.
Step 2 change money
Not at home, of course, but not abroad. You can change it at the Bank of China. You'd better make an appointment by phone in advance. After all, not every country has its own currency. How much money you need to change, you can work out a rough figure according to your own strategy. Tickets, hotels, shopping money can be swiped (preferably VISA or MasterCard dual-currency cards, not every country accepts UnionPay), but meals, scenic spots tickets and the like can have a rough budget. It is suggested that this part of the money should be enough. Europeans are used to spending with credit cards and don't need to change euros. Even if a thief does it, there won't be much cash, but people in China are different. Moreover, most of the foreign currencies exchanged by domestic banks are large denominations. Losing a 500 euro has been painful enough for a long time. The key is to affect the mood more! Instead of putting it on your body every day, it is better to 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, in an envelope, and then take out a little and put it in your wallet. Don't take it out of the envelope every time you pay, it's easy to be targeted by thieves.
If you need money abroad, you can also withdraw it from the local ATM. VISA or MasterCard are fine, but many foreign ATMs refund their cards first and then their money, which is just the opposite of China. So don't just think that the card will come out and leave! If you swipe your card at the mall, you can choose between UnionPay and foreign currency. It will be more cost-effective to choose UnionPay.
The dollar is very useful in many countries, especially in Southeast Asian countries. It is often more cost-effective to exchange large denominations of dollars for money locally than RMB.
3. Travel equipment
( 1)
Needless to say, air tickets, hotel reservations, travel insurance and passports, just in case you need to prepare a copy of your passport and ID card, which will be separated from the original during the trip. If you encounter theft and robbery abroad, it will come in handy to apply for a travel permit at the consulate.
(2) Appropriate clothes, toiletries, medicines, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, electronic products, chargers, etc.
(3) Adapter standards vary from country to country. If you go abroad frequently, it is recommended to buy an international adapter.
(4) Opening the international roaming service of mobile phones in advance.
(5) Copy the telephone number of the embassy of the tourist destination, local alarm and emergency telephone number, or record it in the mobile phone.
(5) If you are not at ease, leave a travel itinerary and the phone number of the local hotel for your family.
Step 4 expand reading
In addition to raiders, at this time, in order to learn 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 of local culture and make travel more fun. Knowing the local religious customs and taboos can also avoid unnecessary unhappiness.
Learning several 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. Few people will refuse. And when you buy something, you will leave a good impression, and the other party will think it is a kind of respect.
Language barrier is the biggest trouble abroad, but there are solutions to any problem:
1, the language is not enough. 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, scenic spot names and so on. English is not good in many countries, and the most convenient thing at this time is writing. 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 that an African guy bought a train ticket. He doesn't want high-speed rail, but he doesn't know how to say it. He described to the conductor, "Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, no, woo-time-time-time-time, right", and the conductor understood that it was a local train.
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 to have a mouth under your 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 visit, but you can't name it? You can take out the pictures in the guidebook or ask the postcard booth. I didn't know where to eat, so I asked the uncle who sold newspapers or basked in the sun if there was anything delicious nearby. Where there is wifi, you can check the information online and use Google to locate the next attraction. There is no problem that cannot be solved.