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Is there someplace you've always wanted to visit? Look at color brochures, travel magazines, TV shows. Get inspired from friends' pictures..... For more ideas, take a look at our pages for Custom Tour Ideas and Travel Stories. Photos Bring a Custom Tour Planning List to Life
If you like the beach, how about a little
adventure travel with diving
or snorkeling? If you aren't certified, you could plan a trip to learn. Or you could find a beach where sea turtles lay their eggs. We found turtles in
Malaysian Borneo.
Or how about a secluded beach on Trinidad? 
Do you want to see Paris? How about the rest of France? Drive to the great wine regions to explore and taste. Explore Roman ruins or prehistoric stone monuments. 
Does the Great Wall of China sound like a wonder of the world you must see? Beyond Beijing and Shanghai, a Does the Yangtze River Cruise is still worth it. The terracotta armies of Xian are truly wonders. The karsh mountains of Guilin are beautiful. 
Africa! Do you feel the call of the wild and long to see the wildebeest migration on the Serengeti? Go beyond the standard safari to see Chimps in Tanzania or Uganda. Or maybe Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda. Explore the desert in Botswana and Namibia. Take a hiking safari in Zambia.
Go ahead... DREAM!. Do you want to cruise, or hike, or explore, or learn? The world is yours You choose... OK, Start working on your custom tour planning list:1) Where do you want to go?____________________ Go ahead.... fill in the blanks; don't just read it! Sometimes just taking that first step will get you going. A custom tour planning list is only as good as the blanks you fill in and the decisions it prompts you to make...... use it, and before you know it, your custom tour will become an exciting reality. 2) How many days will you have?_____________________ Remember you will use a full day traveling each way..... at a minimum. The more moving around you do, the more time you'll need. If you're crossing the international dateline to the west, you will "lose a day". Be sure your itinerary doesn't have you departing for your next destination before you arrive.... so to speak. We had this happen once.... good thing we caught it before we departed! 3) How many people in your "group"?____________________ Do you have travel buddies? Your custom tour may be cheaper if there are 4-6 of you. 4) Get Brochures____________________ Look at "standard" tours..... The great color pictures and descriptions will help refine your desires .... and add or subtract places and sights to your custom tour planning list. A) Can you use one of these but just set the dates for yourself? 5) Check with local travel agencies____________________ Find them from the newspaper, get referral from friends. Call them. Maybe they can set your custom tour up for you. Just tell them what you want so you get it your way. Keep your custom tour planning list handy when you talk to them, so you'll remember important things to ask them. 6) Use the national travel agency in the country you will visit. ____________________ Sometimes you can save money by dealing directly with them. It may be a little more time consuming, but the savings can be worth it. 7) Use the internet____________________ This will most likely be how you find and contact those local those "national/regional" agencies. The internet has definitely made things easier for researching and comparing travel options for your custom tour. Isn't the internet how you found this custom tour planning list? 8) Decide on your budget. How much to you have to spend?____________________ Write down a figure.... then be prepared to increase it for exactly what you want.... or to pare your expectations to fit.... that's the beauty of your custom tour.... you have control. Remember to add into your bugdet that you will have to tip your drivers and guides... this will add about $15 or more a day to your cost... but also remember while tips are generally expected they are voluntary.... If you don't get service, don't tip. 9) Don't be inflexible. What are you prepared to give up?____________________ Remember that things in less developed countries don't happen as quickly as they do at home. The transfers, flights, or drives may take longer than you think, so be willing to change directions for your cruise or the order of city visits if it looks like different schedules will work better. You might have to give up one city or stop. It's your custom tour, but you have to be willing to change plans slightly if necessary. This is an important point on your custom tour planning list. 10) How much do you want to squeeze in? What must stay?____________________ You're going all that way, so you want to squeeze everything in.... well, you can't. A very tight itinerary will only leave you exhausted at best, and allows no recovery time from all the little things that can happen... delayed flights, weather problems, flat tires, etc., etc. And remember (I said it before in item #2) to check the times and dates over carefully... for itineraries where you will be arriving on a different day, you want to make sure you aren't arriving after you're supposed to leave on another flight or cruise or road trip. This applies whether you're doing all the planning yourself or if you're working with an agent.... agents make mistakes too.... a complicated itinerary means juggling lots of details. Keeping track of all these things on your custom tour planning list will help avoid some of these problems.
You've set your itinerary, now for the rest of the preparations. Make sure you've allowed plenty of time for these too:1) Passport.... If you don't have one, get one as soon as you start thinking that you want to travel. They're good for 10 years, and once you have your passport, maybe you'll be more apt to actually make those plans. Remember that rules are changing even for travel to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean within the next year... passports will be necessary more than ever. Put this at the top of your custom tour planning list. You can download a passport application from the
US State Department.
Add this to your custom tour planning list once you've decided on your itinerary. Click for a mousetour of information on visas and passports. 3) Vaccinations.... If you have never had any travel vaccinations, be sure to allow enough time..... some vaccinations are a series spaced days or weeks apart..... some need days to become effective... allow enough time. Our page on vaccinations might be a good addition to your custom tour planning list. Your health is important. 4) Paying for it.... A) Credit card is instant. Remember to check which card will give you the best rate if you're paying in foreign currency... the wrong card can add 3% to your trip cost! And in some countries, they may add the fee they are charged by the credit card company to your cost. B) Wiring your payment.... Once you've talked to your bank this generally happens overnight.... but you want to be sure you get confirmation and take that with you. C) Some small US agencies may actually want you to pay with a personal check or money order. 5) Gather together your documentation.... Passport, itinerary, vouchers, confirmations. Don't leave anything at home that way you will leave the minimum to chance..... and chance always comes into play! 6) Check everything off on your custom tour planing list.... Then check on our international travel health tips and our packing pages..... Get to packing, and get going!!!!
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