A 5-Step Trip Planning Framework for the Impatient and the Daring
Get that A** on an Adventure this New Year
Friends and travelers — HELLO!
It’s a new year so my goal for this series is to get you on the adventure of your dreams.
I don’t want that to be an exaggeration either—I want you on the trip that makes your heart race the fastest. If anything, I know how to make things happen: I visited 23/81 provinces of the Philippines, got both my AIDA 2 freediving license and my Advanced Open Water scuba diving license, went on my first solo trip, learned to surf, got my entire family on an overnight hike, and discovered a new hobby in birdwatching. All in one year.
So no more waiting.
I’ve summarized my thought process behind trip planning into a 5-step framework. We will get into the details over the next 8 weeks but for now, here’s an overview:
Uncover your dream adventure.
This is obvious: you cannot travel if you don’t know where to go.
I’m going to push you though because I don’t want you going where everyone else is going. I want you en route to the adventure that speaks to you the most; one that literally makes your heart race and your palms sweat out of sheer excitement. This will make achieving it harder but exponentially more fulfilling.Tip: Don’t think of destinations (Bohol, Palawan, Boracay, Batanes). Think of activities (climbing, food trip, surfing, canyoneering).
Free yourself.
There are two ways we can go about this: We can either wait until we are free or we can make ourselves free.
Tip: Block it on your calendar. If it’s not on your calendar it doesn’t exist.Allocate your money.
You now have your dream adventure and you know your timeline.
In other words, you have a deadline.
Under this bucket, we’ll cover the three things you can do to reach that goal.
Tip: Specificity is king. How much exactly do you need for this trip?Bring your group together.
Never put together a group until you’ve chosen a destination, a date, and a budget.
Here, we will cover how to find the right people and how to get them to say yes.
Tip: The right people will say yes before you finish your sentence.Plan your itinerary.
The best source of information is a local.
When doing your research, you are after a phone number.
Tip: Stop using your laptop. Bring out your phone and find someone to call.
In applying this framework, your metric of success will be binary: did you go on the trip or not?
If not yet obvious to you, I’ll spell it out: this framework isn’t for your friends, officemates, or family.
I don’t care if they travel or not.
This framework is for you. I want you to travel.
See you there!
~ Atom
P.S. If you want your friends, officemates, or family to travel then this button below might help. :—).