r/NeedTravelAdvice

i planned this perfect productive saturday.

gym. grocery shopping. trip planning. maybe even cleaning my apartment.

instead i spent 4 straight hours arguing with a passport photo app because apparently my lighting looked “too uneven.”

honestly incredible how government paperwork can completely destroy your mood faster than flight delays ever could.

not talking about people who have everything booked. talking about the times you landed somewhere and realized you winged it a bit too hard

had this happen in lisbon last year. flew in, had a hotel, had literally nothing else. stood outside the airport for probably 20 minutes just staring at my phone not knowing where to even start. ended up just picking a direction and walking which turned out fine but the first hour was weirdly paralyzing

curious what other people do in that moment. do you have a default first move. coffee somewhere and regroup. find a local sim. just walk. sit in the airport and finally plan. ask someone

feels like nobody talks about this part of travel but it happens to almost everyone at least once

I am planning a trip with one of my friends, and it will be our first trip to the mountains. We are confused between Bir and Jibhi/Shoja — which place would you suggest for first-timers?

We are also unsure whether we should join a travel group or plan everything on our own. Budget is not a major issue, but we do not want to spend extra money on things that are not worth it.

We know about two travel groups — and. Are they good options, or would you recommend planning the trip ourselves?

Please suggest:

Which destination would be better for us
Whether joining a travel group is worth it
Which travel group would be better if we choose one

My husband and I booked a trip to Punta Cana back I. March. We leave in 10 days. We’ve been once before in 2018, and had a good time. I am seeing a lot of comments and reviews about travelers to this area getting sick due to water and poor food hygiene.

I just have had this feeling that we should look at changing the destination. I also just generally don’t feel as safe this time around.

I expect this comes with a sizable expense but am I crazy for even thinking about this?

There’s this obsession with using AI for everything right now, and I keep seeing people post about using ChatGPT and tools like Layla to plan their trips.

Is it actually useful, or is it mostly AI bullshit full of generic tourist traps? I’m especially skeptical about restaurant recommendations.

Would love to hear real experiences from people who’ve used these tools while planning or traveling. What worked, what didn’t, and would you use them again?

Delayed flight means you miss a reservation. Weather changes kill your afternoon plans. You're running late and now the whole day needs to shift.

Every app I've used is great at building a plan before you leave but completely useless at helping you fix it when life happens.

How do you best adapt?

Hey everyone,

I’ve started traveling more frequently over the last couple of years, including longer multi-city trips, and I’ve realized that the actual planning and coordination part often becomes more exhausting than the trip itself.

What I personally struggle with most is:

- keeping bookings, routes, timings, and notes organized

- adjusting plans once something changes during the trip

- switching between too many tools (Google Maps, Booking, spreadsheets, notes, screenshots, PDFs, etc.)

- maintaining a “good flow” of the trip without overloading certain days

I recently noticed that even experienced travelers and vloggers still use Excel sheets, Notion pages, printed itineraries, and custom systems to manage everything, which made me curious about how people here handle it.

For those of you who travel a lot:

- What part of trip planning or execution do you find most time-consuming or frustrating?

- What usually breaks or becomes annoying once the trip actually starts?

- How do you personally organize everything?

- Do you use spreadsheets, Notion, apps, printed plans, or your own workflow?

- What hacks or systems have helped you reduce stress while traveling?

- If you do longer trips, how do you handle replanning when things change unexpectedly?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who travel frequently or have developed their own planning systems over time.

Would love to learn from your experiences and workflows.

Two friends and I would like to meet up over the summer and spend some time together. We all live in different parts of the US but are willing to travel. We don’t have a huge budget, but willing to spend between $900-1100 for airfare and lodging. Any recommendations for a destination? Would love something more relaxed. Not really in the mood to explore. We haven’t seen each other in some time and would just like to catch up, play games, and some light activities. Nature focused would be great!

Looking for a place in the US

Any advice or ideas are appreciated greatly!

Thank you!

Anyone travelled to Moscow/ St Petersburg recently? How’d you travel from uk/ Ireland to get there?

my sisters and i are trying to plan a trip out to oregon this year. we were thinking some time in the fall (november) but we all have time available in august if that is a better time of year to get out there. flying in to portland and planned on renting a car.

we really want to see the scenery, mountains, coast, trees, whatever as long as it’s outside haha. looking for recs on some easier hikes, nothing too advanced. (recs on what to pack for those hikes would be appreciated as well, not very experienced lol)

would love to hear about some local spots for food/shopping/drinks! none of us are picky eaters so any kind of food welcome and we love to support small businesses!

trying to get my sister to enjoy a kid free weekend but my two young nephews may end up tagging along so kid friendly ideas welcome as well!!

TIA <3

Hi everyone! This is super far in advance but My boyfriend & I will be going to Ireland (road tripping) for a week in May 2027, flying from Canada to Dublin, landing around 10:30am (we don’t have exact dates yet but planning for end of May into beginning of June), and then heading to London & Paris for 3 nights each (flying out of CDG). We will be renting a car. This will be both of our first times visiting Ireland & my first time visiting Europe in general. The road trip in Ireland will be the main event of the trip. We are planning to prioritize hiking & sightseeing. I would like some input into our itinerary to know if we have enough time allocated. We plan for a two week trip with one week dedicated to Ireland!

Route: Canada to Dublin, drive to Galway drive to Dingle flight London train to Paris flight to Canada
Flights: Direct

DAYS 1–7: IRELAND ROAD TRIP

Day 1: Fly to Dublin
Direct flight: aprox 9 hours overnight
10:50 am (arrival)

Day 2: Arrive in Dublin
Activities
Walk city centre
Trinity College Dublin
Food & Drink
Dinner: The Winding Stair
Pub: The Cobblestone

Day 3: Dublin Highlights
Activities
Guinness Storehouse (~2 hrs)
St. Stephen’s Green
Grafton Street
Food
Breakfast: Brother Hubbard
Pub: Grogan’s Castle Lounge

Day 4: Dublin to Wicklow stay in Galway
Drive
Dublin to Glendalough
Hike: Upper Lake Loop
Stop: Avoca Handweavers
Drive to Galway:
Dinner
Ard Bia at Nimmos

Day 5: Connemara Day Trip
Connemara National Park: 1.5 hrs
Hike: Diamond Hill
Kylemore Abbey
Food & Pub
Dinner: Kai Restaurant
Pub: The Crane Bar

Day 6: Galway to the Cliffs, stay in Dingle
Galway to Cliffs of Moher
Walk cliffs
Lunch
Gus O'Connor's Pub
Continue to Dingle

Day 7: Dingle Peninsula
Slea Head Drive
Stops / Walks:
Dunquin Pier
Coumeenoole Beach
Food & Pub
Lunch: Fish Box
Dinner: Out of the Blue
Pub: Dick Mack's Pub

Day 8: Dingle to Killarney to Dublin off to London
Drive from Dingle to Killarney National Park
Stop: Torc Waterfall
To Dublin
Flight: Dublin to London (unsure which airport)

DAYS 9–11: LONDON

Day 9: Arrival + Landmarks
Airport into city
Walk
Big Ben
Thames River
London Eye area

Day 10: Food + Neighbourhoods
Food
Coffee: Monmouth Coffee Company
Lunch: Borough Market
Dinner: Dishoom
Explore
Notting Hill
Covent Garden

Day 11: Flexible Day
Options
Oxford day trip (1 hr train each way)
OR more London exploring
Dinner
Flat Iron
Pub
The Churchill Arms

DAYS 12–14: PARIS

Day 12: London to Paris
Train (Eurostar?)
Food
Bakery: Du Pain et des Idées
Dîner: Le Comptoir du Relais

Day 13: Paris Highlights
Activities
Louvre Museum
Montmartre
Café
Café de Flore
Evening
Seine picnic (wine + cheese)

Day 14: Versailles Day Trip
Train
Paris to Palace of Versailles
Rent bikes in the gardens

Day 15: Fly Home
Paris (CDG) to Canada (direct)

My parents used to RV around the US constantly, but Mexico is completely new territory for us.

Trying to prepare properly beforehand for:

● Mexico RV insurance

● border crossing procedures

● tourist cards/FMM

● temporary vehicle permits

● driving laws

For experienced RV travelers:

what would you absolutely recommend doing before crossing the border?

I'm going to Pittsburgh soon, for the first time. I'd love to hear from those of you who are longtime locals and love your city and area. Please give me any suggestions on places to visit and see.

A bit about my interests:

The top destination for me here is PNC Park. I'm definitely going to a pirates game. I seek out unique and local things. So any restaurant or bar I go to, I want it to be Pittsburgh unique, no chains. When I visit a city, I wear a small backpack and do a lot of walking. If there's mass transit I'll use it as needed. I enjoy history, so I'll find historical places to visit. If there are any unique neighborhoods, I enjoy walking through them. Also, I find anything haunted/spooky to be interesting so if there are any legends or places I should check out, please pass those along. I do a lot of hiking and I love national and state parks. This trip is focused on the city, but if there are any natural places of significance within an Uber ride distance away then I'd be interested. Last thing, I like to find dives with live music or open mics, so if anyone has suggestions for that, I'd appreciate it.

Mass transit options:

Are there any mass transit options from the airport to the city or from the Robinson area to the city? Or is Uber/taxi the only real option from those areas?

All that said, please direct me to places that really represent Pittsburgh. Tourist places are good and I want to know about them but I also want to find things that the locals really embrace. I want the full Pittsburgh experience. Thank y'all for taking the time to read this. I look forward to the suggestions.

Solo female 30s. Looking to spend a couple weeks. I only have july to travel and would be coming from Europe.

Im in need of entrepreneurial inspiration.

I want to see stanford.

And thats about it.

I cant convince myself that these are good enough excuses for a very expensive trip.

But i live in a VERY small town where i never go anywhere away and never meet anyone new so it would be nice if i went.

Are there any other excuses to visit sf in july?

I'm travelling within Canada on Sunday, and I bought a power bank. Just now wondering though if I'm even allowed to bring it on the flight? I tried searching up a bit but couldn't find anything useful, so just hoping someone else knows.

This is the powerbank: https://www.amazon.ca/INIU-Portable-Slimmest-10000mAh-Charging/dp/B0DCHVGS2S/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&smid=AR1T6THSKR9XB

Hello travelers,

I'm writing this post as advice to all of you, especially solo female travelers. I've been renting cars pretty much everywhere I'm going. I've been traveling a lot this year and renting cars, mainly across Europe. One thing I learnt is rental car disputes are way more common and expensive than you can imagine. I had one encounter while my car was parked that made me realize how important small investment is that will save tons of money.

Last time, I was in Dusseldorf while my car was parked in the parking area and there was a small scratch on the side panel. I was confused for a while, was it a rental fault or was its my fault? These were the few questions that I had in my mind, before handing over the keys of the car, it clicked in my mind about the dashcam that I've installed. I checked my dashcam footage and mobile video, as I keep the record of the car's situation while taking keys from the rental showrooms. The rental company was quick to blame me for it, but I gave them both the footage which saved me that day. Normally that’s just a pay and move on situation, but I had footage from the day before showing the exact condition of the car when I parked it.

 Since then, I don’t even think twice. I just mount the camera and go. Specially girls in case you are travelling solo and you don't want any hassle any paper work I would recommend you a few things have become essentials for me when renting cars:
A compact dashcam
A high-capacity power bank for longer parking situations
A dual USB car charger (since rentals rarely have enough ports)
A quick phone mount for navigation in unfamiliar cities
For me, these are the travel essentials, right next to a passport and power bank.

After dealing with multiple airline cancellations, Has anyone ever wondered whether private charter flights ever make sense for important trips where delays can ruin everything.

Has anyone here done that occasionally instead of regularly?

I’m really struggling with this thought in my mind. When I travel I find the informations about the route online or asking to some friend, but the problem is: I don’t have friends everywhere, and I trust less and less internet and ai. So what to do?? Which tools you use normally?

Hey all - I know plane tickets are growing in price…but I am a teacher who always travels in the summer. I normally like to enjoy food, culture, drink, I also enjoy nature as well.

I am struggling to figure out a location for late July this year. Asia would be cool, but the flight seems so daunting 🫩.

I’ve been to
Egypt
Peru
Mexico
Costa Rica
Ireland
Iceland
Turkey
Virgin Island
Netherlands
Belgium
Azores (Portugal)

HELP!