As much as people love going to their travel agency to book a full holiday package with a tour included, sometimes they forget that it can be better and cheaper to do it all themselves.

When you go on a self-guided tour, you don’t have to wait for your tour group to finish up before moving on, and you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to hop on a tour bus that drives you somewhere only an hour away. Best of all, you get to choose which cultural and historic sites to see, and when you want to see them!

Start to finish:
Should you wish to plan your entire trip, from flights to accommodation, without going through an agency, you’ll probably need an entire week to check all your options.

• The best way to do this is by first deciding what your budget will be.
• Then check what season you’re planning to visit in and if there are any discounts on flights.
• Next, choose your accommodation carefully to ensure there are no hidden fees or deposits.
• Do a Google maps search on the establishment(s) of choice, to ensure they are within a reasonable distance from the attractions you want to see (if you’re following this path, choose your attractions now and skip the itinerary planning below).
• Lastly, book all the above before contacting a car rental company to negotiate rates, and book once satisfied – skip this if the public transport system covers all your needs.
• ow, it’s time to start your own mini guide book.

What you’ll need:

• The first thing you’ll need is a hardcover A5 book; just ensure you can easily bend it so you can write on the go. Also, find a separate piece of A4 paper.
• The next thing is to plan an hour or two of free time, so you can do some research.
• Thirdly, you’ll require an internet connection (or a descriptive guide book, detailing the area you’ll be visiting).

Process:

• On the blank A4 paper, make notes of the key areas you want to see while in the country – think of it as planning your itinerary.

• Now you know where you want to go, check the times and seasons of each attraction to ensure they will be open/available when you arrive. Note the times and prices down next to each, and cross off or add to the list as you please, until you’re happy with it.

• Next, find up-to-date maps with detailed street names, and large icons indicating attractions in the area you’ll be visiting. Print these to a size so you can read them without straining your eyes. Use a yellow highlighter to mark the spots you will be visiting – and use other colours to denote places of interest you’d like to stop by if you have a chance.

  

• Paste the maps into your A5 book (in the order you plan on visiting each attraction), either on the first left-hand page – or over two pages if need be – but leave a blank page between each map.

• Add in GPS co-ordinates below each map if you’re going to have a GPS device, or have a Map App on your phone.

• On the blank page after your map, write out directions from your accommodation to each attraction – time consuming indeed, but you’ll likely recognise street names faster, and be better orientated once you’re in the country.

• See if you can find any online articles / pdf’s detailing the history of the attractions, and print these out. Stick them into the book after your map section. If you’re very keen, find some audio podcasts with interesting facts about the attractions you’ll be seeing. This way, once you arrive, you’ll have all the information that tour-guides charge for available on your iPod / Cellphone / music player of choice.

Language:

It’s useful to write out a few key phrases in your guide book, if the country’s language differs from your own. This way, if you need to ask for directions, you’ve got the native language in your book, which you can open and point at (if you’re horribly garbling the words). A mini translation book is useful if you’ll be in an area for longer than two weeks, but for a short stay, just a few key phrases will suffice. Examples include:

• How much / price                                 
  
• Excuse me
• Which way                          
  
• Food                              
• Water                                 
• Bathroom
• Doctor
  

Things to keep in mind:

• You should now have half-filled your mini guide book. Leave the other half blank, so you can fill in your thoughts of the areas you visit (remember to use adjectives to describe what you smell, see, hear, feel and taste – eg: the chocolate cake wasn’t just nice. It was rich and creamy, with a light flaky texture, and strangely it smelled just like your mothers famous chocolate brownies).

• You can also paste in ticket stubs, brochures, and print pictures to accompany each area. In essence, you’ve created your own scrapbook of your holiday, without the need to do too much manual work when you get home.

• Most tourist attractions have placards detailing the main points of interest, so if you do get turned around, you can re-quaint yourself with the area by flipping open the mini tour book you created, and finding the map of the area you’re in.

• Planning your own self-guided tour opens you up to possibilities you won’t have with a set tour – such as driving past an interesting shop/attraction you hadn’t heard of before. Now you can take time to see something you might have missed otherwise.

Now you know how to plan your own self-guided tour to almost anywhere in the world. Doing it this way, means you won’t be lugging around heavy guide books, translation books and other unnecessary items which inevitably find their way into the luggage of those who’ve booked guided tours.

Tell us your story – where have you gone on your own steam, and what was the most enjoyable/challenging aspect of it?