Step Three: Choose which sites you want to visit.

When you are in a new city the last thing you want to do is wait in some atrocious line all to find out tickets for the day are sold out. You have a limited amount of time and the cheapest way to see the sights is to buy before you come. I’m convinced that having as many things paid off before you travel is the best way to go. It’s almost as if those expenses don’t exist when everything is paid for. As far as picking which museums and sites are for you – that’s up to your taste, but just about any of these things can be purchased online and some times in a package. Not everyone want to pay for a tour guide and hey you don’t have to. I always use Get Your Guide for my tickets or I book directly with the site. You will get to skip the enormous line everyone who did not pre-purchase tickets is waiting in, however there will still be a line for security which moves pretty fast.

Step Four: Book all forms of travel.

How are you getting from city to city? There are so many choices. Within a country I choose to take a train as it is cheaper even though it is a little less time efficient, it’s so much easier to get to a centrally located train station rather than an airport and there is no additional cost for your luggage, unless you’ve brought everything you own with you, which you shouldn’t.  With my experience with trenitalia, depending on what ticket you purchase you have windows of time when you can board the train making your traveling a bit more flexible. Not only, is it more flexible but you are able to be refunded your ticket if your plans change much easier than changing an airline flight. Everyone misses flights, gets flat tires etc, knowing you have leeway helps take away some of the stress from these type of situations.