Planning a vacation or business trip can seem daunting. However, there are several things you can do to simplify the process, save you time and money on your trip and, most importantly, make it more fun.

Get buy-in from traveling companions ahead of time

For vacations with others, have a planning meeting around the kitchen table with everyone traveling with you. I learned this the hard way by going on a vacation with another couple with no pre-planning to account for everyone’s goals and must visit places on the trip. This resulted in much complaining and some hard feelings.

Because we really do enjoy time with these friends, we decided to vacation together again a few years later for a two-week fall foliage trip to New England, my old stomping ground.. I gave everyone a general idea of where our journey would take us and let everyone know ahead of time that we were going to have a joint planning meeting so they could do their research prior to getting together. Then we met around the kitchen table, and each person talked about their preferences. From there, it was easy for me to do the logistical planning for the trip. It turned out to be one of our all-time favorite vacations!

Online research can save time and money

We are so lucky to live in the internet age when we can find so much information at our fingertips at places like www.50Fabulous.com! When planning a business trip or vacation, many people now research three different travel sites such as www.travelocity.com, www.hutsontravel.com, and www.expedia.com to get information, find the best deals and book their travel. I even select my favorite airplane model, Boeing 767, whenever I can because it has two aisles, lots of carry-on baggage space and a TV for every passenger.

As you get ready to plan what to pack, it is helpful to check www.weather.com to get an idea of the clothing you will need. Remember to simplify with fewer clothes. Plus, many airlines now charge for more than one checked bag, so less is more when traveling.

Driving and parking in large cities can be a nightmare, so using public transportation can certainly simplify your trip as well as save money and gas. If you are going to New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Chicago or San Francisco, check out HopStop, http://hopstop.com/, a website that offers all the info you need to use public transportation in these cities [with more locations nationally and internationally to come].  Just type in your starting point and destination to get directions for bus and subway routes as well as the estimated time they will take – very similar to using Yahoo Maps, http://maps.yahoo.com/, for car directions. You can customize your searches with options such as “bus only” and “more street walking/fewer transfers.” And to simplify your journey even more, you can choose to have the information sent to your cell phone – certainly helpful to a directionally challenged person like me!

Please share your tips for simplifying travel in the comment section below and on the 50+Fabulous Community Travel forum, http://www.50fabulous.com/forum/.

Happy Travels!

Susan