To ask how you actually plan a holiday?

[TravelDreams]

I’ve got flights booked but that’s literally it. I don’t know where to turn to find things to do and everything like that

You must have had a reason for booking flights to wherever you've booked them to? Is it a city break, a lie on the beach type holiday, are you looking for sightseeing or outdoor activities??
I tend to start with a Lonely Planet guide and Trip advisor "things to do". I never really plan a day by day itinerary until we're there as you always find things along the way.

There are Facebook pages with travel discussions for most countries. Norway definitely has a few.

I create a Trello board for my holiday plans with lists for each day, plus another one for activities and notes, and drag list items across to different days depending on availability/preference. This works well for holidays with friends where we all chip in with ideas to help us prioritize and plan solo or joint days and move things about whenever we need to, restaurants reservations, accommodation bookings, travel details etc.

This is my tried and tested method!

Pick flights first as prices can vary quite a lot for different dates.
Spend some time online googling things like "things to do in x" or "things to do with kids/teens in x". Maybe look for some sample itineraries. Make a list of "must do" and "maybe" activities, with rough prices.
Look for accommodation with easy travel to the "must do" activities. Remember to check they will store luggage on your last day if you need that.
Don't forget to book airport transfers and look for some restaurants you might like to eat at, and check if you need any sort of travel card to get around.

I often search for travel blogs of where I’m going to. There are so many you can be really specific, so if you’re especially interested in one aspect, or want toddler friendly, or whatever, you can pretty much always find someone who has done it. I’ve found some amazing places which I’d never have discovered or even thought about that way.

I pick a city, book flight, book hotel and then use TripAdvisor (for restaurants and sights). When I was in Dublin last month the hotel had a map with all of the museums which is how I found Henrietta Place - ended up being my favourite part of the trip.

You’re not ‘only going to Norway’! There is no ‘only’ about Norway. Finest country on earth. Take it from a Norwegian!

Oh I just loathe all the planning. My job is nothing but research and admin and project management, I want someone to organise my holidays for me I'm afraid so I tend to roughly guess where I might want to go and then book a tour with a travel agent. I spend some time looking through what the tour offers to make sure it is my kind of thing but I don't really care much about 'finding the hidden areas or avoiding the tourist traps etc' . I just make sure most of it sounds like something I'd like to do/see.

Then I just book, pay and forget about about it at all until just before I am due to leave. My aim is to just turn up and be ferried everywhere with little thought on my part. That way I am pretty relaxed and unworried beforehand. I generally have pretty low expectations so they are nearly always met and in fact often exceeded by some way

I have loved most of my tour holidays . I stick with the same tour company though as I like their smaller tour groups

The upsaid of a tour is that someone else is in control, on the other hand the downside is also that someone else is in control. It is completely dependant on your needs and preferences what will work on holiday for you

Something drew you to Norway in the first place...start there.
I do like a guide book.
TripAdvisor is good as there are usually itineraries on there.

My planning for recent holiday went like this.
Ok India..but only have 2 weeks. Wanted chill time so decided against Golden Triangle. Looked in guidebook.
Flights.. Mumbai....looks interesting and friend recommended over Delhi. Guidebook also showed Mumbai as interesting place.
Ok..so let's do Mumbai and Goa. Always fancied Goa.
Guidebook showed rail trip...yep..let's train rather than fly.
Get on India railway booking site.
TripAdvisor help....how to book trains.

In between this I'm on booking.com looking at accommodation. Im on FB groups seeking ideas.

I then find things to do in Mumbai like slum tour, marine drive, markets etc and get few ideas for Goa.

So...this is how our trips tend to go. We fancy a place then spiral out from there.

I have to admit, it was the less than £100 return flights 😅

Fair enough!

I use Trip Advisor forums for our destination and read what others have done or suggest and often look for a Facebook group at the location we’re going to see what other people have done or suggest as a good thing to do. You could always join a group and ask for recommendations based on what you like to do.

So if you developed a major medical condition or had major surgery in that year, they wouldn’t want to know, but you’d still be covered if you became ill on holiday and it was found to be related to these new conditions ? That is very weird. I would inform them anyway, just to be sure. Plus I’m sure you could run up huge medical and surgical bills in Norway too.

I thought it was really weird so I called them and they said that because I’ve informed them I’ve got their free existing medical conditions add on and I’m covered! It’s all really bizarre. I’m healthy anyway so I’m not too concerned

Sounds like a good deal.

Watch TikTok’s and YouTube’s of places I’m going and make a broad itinerary of places I want to see/eat at. Check for shows/concerts and work those in. Put it into TripIt and see what the gaps are. Make a list of things I might like to do if time.
i love the planning more than the holiday I think.
Half goes out the window once I’m there

I have found Mumsnet great for this. Had so many recommendations for NYC, Seville, Barcelona etc

It should be, I pay £18 a month through my bank!

So Norway, when are you going, where are you flying to, how long for and what do you want to do.

I’ve planned multiple trips over the past 10 years all around the world, mainly self driving touring, multi city itineraries.

Currently planning Norway for next summer, had to postpone a planned trip last year as I didn’t get organised early enough and couldn’t get hotels.

I join a Facebook group or two in advance for that destination. Makes notes of all the things people suggest, tips etc.

look up stuff like trip advisor / viator to get ideas and then something like city mapper to judge what hotels fit with ease of transport to airport / attractions I want to visit.

I use booking.com for accomodation and then Google "best things to do in..."

Although I have seen itinaries Chat GPT has produced for friends, so maybe even that's not needed now.

Flying Feb 28th to the main airport in Oslo. I mainly like art (more classical, Van Gogh and Monet), walking and some good food

Trip Advisor forums are a great source of help. There are destination experts on there who can give feedback on possible itineraries, though it helps to have a rough idea of what you want to do first.

You Tube is also a great place to do research. I'm currently in Switzerland and have followed a couple of channels for a while, making a few notes as I went along.

This is what I do! Best method, by far. I do lots of research about the place in general. Save a few varieties of accommodation on booking.com or whatever, and also cross reference the benefits etc of an apartment or hotel. Once I’ve then gone off and made my map with each area having a few ‘best coffee’ ‘best ice cream’ ‘art gallery’ etc I then look at the accommodation I loved the look of, and add it onto the map to see how well each accommodation option fits into an overall itinerary. Then lock in the hotel/apartment. Lots of googling of how easy it is to get around, can you get Ubers, cost roughly of supermarkets, that type of thing. Takes me a few evenings across a few weeks, lots of consultations with the kids, but I love it and we always have amazing holidays. It doesn’t take away spontaneity at all, as I always have a few options in each area, and it’s not like we ignore something that looks wonderful if it’s not on the list. It’s more like creating your own personal guide book and you still get to pick and choose what you actually do.

A bum bag and power bank are an absolute must (sorry fashionable people!) when you’re doing a self organised and activity heavy trip.