How to Plan a Post-Pandemic Trip
As we get further and further into the COVID-19 crisis, the travel grief is hitting me hard! My one method for coping is thinking about future trips and reminding myself that one day I will, in fact, be able to travel again! But not knowing exactly when that will be can make it a little more difficult to plan a trip.
I recently put together a plan for a trip to Finland with my mom even though we aren’t exactly sure when it will take place. I outlined my step-by-step process for doing this below so you can start planning your next adventure, whenever or wherever it might be!
How to Plan A Trip Without Knowing When You Can Travel
STEP ONE: SELECT YOUR DESTINATION
The first thing you need to ask yourself when planning a trip is Where do I want to go? Not knowing exactly when you will be able to go or for how long should give you the freedom to think creatively or really shoot for your dream destination.
My Trip Destination: Finland! My mom’s side of the family has a lot of Finnish roots, so it’s always been a dream of ours to visit and learn a bit more about Finnish culture.
STEP TWO: RESEARCH CITIES AND ACTIVITIES
Once you know where you want to go, it’s time to get more specific. If you’ve picked a country, spend some quality time reading up on the different cities or areas you may want to visit. Watch travel vlogs to get a feel for what certain cities look like and what activities you would be interested in doing.
I suggest creating a document with a list of all the activities you might be interested in accompanied by any links you find for tour groups, relevant articles, etc. On that same document, make a list of 3-5 specific places you might want to go with a few notes about each one.
My Research: I want my trip to Finland to prioritize two things: experiencing the country’s natural beauty and learning more about my ancestry through cultural activities. These two things gave me lots to research. I learned my great-great-grandfather from Finland grew up in Lapland, so I started my research on cities in that particular region. I also know there are some incredible museums and restaurants in Helsinki, so I couldn’t exclude the Finnish capital from my list. This all led me to picking Rovaniemi and Helsinki as the two key destinations on the trip and highlighting snowshoeing, visiting a reindeer farm, visiting the National Museum of Finland, and relaxing in a Finnish sauna as the trip’s key activities.
STEP THREE: SCOPE OUT FLIGHT OPTIONS
Once you have narrowed in on where you want to go and what you want to do, it’s time to dig into the logistics of getting there! Head to all your favorite flight apps and begin experimenting with different routes and dates. As you do this, keep notes of the best prices you are finding so you can reference them when you’re building your budget. If you can’t find great flight options, get creative and see if there is somewhere you could fly to first and then take a bus or train to get to where you need to go.
My Flight Options: If you’re a frequent flyer like me, then you might be limited to a particular airline because you want to earn or spend miles. I definitely noticed this limitation when looking at the Star Alliance options for getting to and from Helsinki and Rovaniemi. There are certainly options for both but Rovaniemi is quite expensive. Helsinki happens to be cheaper and has many more routes available. With this, I decided to research other transportation options within Finland. I discovered that the most cost-effective way to do the trip would be to fly in and out of Helsinki and take an overnight train to get to Rovaniemi for a couple days.
STEP FOUR: OUTLINE YOUR BUDGET
The reason I have this as step number four and not any higher is because it can be challenging to build a budget if you haven’t yet thought through what you want to prioritize in terms of destinations and activities. In addition, if you haven’t looked at your flight options yet, it’s tough to know where to begin! Now that you’ve done some research, outline what you want to spend on flights, accommodations, and activities. Use your research to figure out what is realistic and then make cuts from there if you end up over-budget.
My Budget: Before I even got to building my budget, I knew Finland wasn’t an especially cheap destination. Knowing this and keeping my trip priorities in mind, I decided I would have to really save on transportation and activities. For example, by taking the train to Rovaniemi, my mom and I can afford to visit two cities in Finland instead of one.
Bonus Tip: If you are on a super tight budget, you should keep that in mind during step number one when you are selecting your destination. There are tons of travel destinations that you can make extremely inexpensive!
STEP FIVE: DETERMINE TWO POSSIBLE TIME FRAMES
The whole point of this guide is to plan a trip without knowing when you will be able to go. However, if you can’t pin down a couple potential time frames, then you run the risk of letting time go by, even after the pandemic is under control, and never taking the trip! To avoid this, I suggest picking two possible time frames for your trip.
My Possible Time Frames: Since I’m heading to law school in August, I have a pretty good idea of what my schedule will look like for the next three years. There are limited breaks I’ll be able to use for travel so that narrows down my time frames for Finland pretty quickly. One of my bucket list items is seeing the Northern Lights. There are only certain times of the year you can see them in Finland so that narrows my options even further. This has left me with the option of a shortened trip in October when I will have a Fall break or over my Spring Break in March.
STEP SIX: PICK OUT POSSIBLE ACCOMMODATIONS
You have a destination, a budget, and even some potential dates. It’s time to look at accommodations. I suggest picking out three options for each city you want to visit.
My Accommodations: Once I created my budget, I had a much better idea of what I could spend on accommodations. After looking at the options in both cities I want to visit, I think it will make the most sense to stay in a hotel in Rovaniemi and an AirBnB in Helsinki. So, in my master trip planning document, I picked out and saved links for 3-4 options in each city.
STEP SEVEN: CREATE A LOOSE ITINERARY
This is my personal favorite part of trip planning. You’ve done the research, now it’s time to really envision what this trip will look like! This itinerary does not need to be heavily detailed. Seeing as you don’t even know what time of day you will be arriving or where you’ll be staying, think of it more as your ideal outline of the trip. I suggest picking a key activity for each day and even finding some nearby restaurants that you might want to eat at. Add pictures, get creative, and just have fun with this step.
My Loose Itinerary: Here’s one day pulled out of my loose Finland itinerary:
DAY FOUR
Good morning from Helsinki! Although my research doesn’t indicate our ancestors are from this capital city, there will be many opportunities to learn about Finnish history and culture.
We will start the day at the National Museum of Finland (complete with exhibits featuring Finnish art, history, and culture). After the museum we will walk to Market Square, hopefully passing views of the Helsinki Cathedral along the way, and shop for local goods as well as pause for lunch.
After a morning of exploring it’s time to relax like a Finn...in a sauna. Loyly is a coed modern sauna and bar right on the harbour. While most Finnish saunas are experienced in the nude, this one can ease us into the tradition because bathing suits are required.
We will end the day with a late dinner somewhere like Juuri, where salmon and potatoes or roasted beetroot and almonds are featured on their traditional Finnish menu.
STEP EIGHT: MAKE A LIST OF PRE-TRIP ACTIVITIES
By now, you have pretty much planned your trip! Once you are finally able to commit to dates, it’s just a matter of booking some flights and accommodations. So what are you supposed to do until then? Just keep dwelling on the fact that we have no idea when you will even get to take these epic trips? I suggest making a list of activities to get you excited about your future adventure! Build the anticipation for your travel so it’s even more rewarding once it arrives!
Try learning some words or phrases in the language of your destination. Explore some traditional recipes or watch movies that were filmed there. Get creative and get a taste of another culture before you even arrive.
My Pre-Trip Activities: My mom and I are trying to learn more about our Finnish ancestry before we travel to Finland. That should definitely keep us busy. But I also want to attempt to make Leipäjuusto, a baked cheese that’s very popular in Finland.
We all have our own ways in coping with the pandemic and, more specifically, travel grief. One of my coping mechanisms happens to be writing about and thinking about future trips! If you are anything like me, I hope this guide can help you cope if even for the day you spend planning your trip.
For a complete list of COVID-19 Travel Resources click here.
