So you’ve gathered a few vacation ideas, now what? Whether you’re thinking about a trip and you’re not sure where to start or, you’ve done this a few times.

We’ve gathered 6 Top Travel Planning Tips to get you started!

1. Write down your trip ideas in a notebook. This will help as you are planning to keep everything together in one place. Decide and define where you want to go, when, with who and for how long. By saying “I am going to Paris” instead of “I’m going to Europe” will make your trip planning easier.
   
2. Research your costs and start saving. Do you want to backpack, stay in wallet-friendly hotel or stay in a luxury hotel? How much are accommodations, attractions, activities and restaurants. If you know restaurants and activities are an average of $30 a day and you are going to be in Paris 7 days, you’ll need to save $210.
   
3. Cut costs and look for ways to save money. Get creative with where you save money, here are a few of our top picks.
   •   Cut out your daily Starbucks
   •   Cook at home instead of eating out 
   •   Get rid of cable and use online streaming services to save $50-$100 per month
   •   Get a travel rewards credit card
   •   Check for last minute deals for your destination and try to be flexible with dates - use our site for the best deals!
   
4. Research vaccinations and passports/visas needed for your trip and get your necessary travel documents in order.
   
5. Tell your credit card company you’re traveling, no matter how long you’ll be gone; that way any transactions you make aren’t flagged as fraudulent and your card is less likely to be blocked.
   
6. Automate your recurring bills and go paperless with online bill pay if you’ll be gone more than 2 weeks. This way you won’t have to worry about skipping a bill and having to pay late fees.

By using these tips as a guideline, you can better organize and prepare for your trip.