Itinerary

Itinerary is a planned route or journey of a single or multiple locations. The master plan of your trip. 

It is difficult to form an itinerary for a trip to a country that one knows nothing of. 

A thorough research is a key to a near perfect itinerary. It provides to the planner an adequate amount of information on the desired locations. 

Needless to say, a trip would be without directions and worst still, waste of time and resources without a well thought and executed itinerary.

Planning a trip requires you to do some basic research about the location. There are many things to research and one of the main things that determine the dates and activities of the trip would be the weather. Weather forecasts can never be discounted. The best time to travel is during the shoulder seasons. Prices are lower and you get to avoid the crowd, but not the bad weather. After all, we can't get the best of both worlds right? 

Culture is one of the main components in the research. It is part of what makes travelling and exploring the world so much more interesting. Culture may dive deep from mere table manners to the ways people interact in each country. This also should not be discounted especially when your travel destination is a Muslim country. 

Another main component in the research: Timeline and legal restraints. Depending on your nationality, you will need a visa. For example, the Government of Malaysia had recently announced that a visa application will not be necessary for Malaysians who will be travelling to American for the year 2017. 

In addition, insurance and vaccinations. Travel insurance does come in handy in cases of lost luggage and flight delays. On top of travel insurance, one must at least have a medical insurance before travelling out of their own country. It proves to be helpful especially when one is injured during the course of travelling; vaccinations would be required when one travels to countries such as India. This then brings me to personal safety. Personal safety is the utmost important thing while travelling anywhere in the world. Never and I repeat! Never ever do things against your instincts. Instincts are you best bet when you're travelling alone or in a group.

With personal safety comes the integral part of planning a trip. You should always budget your trips and have a certain amount of emergency funds. Murphy's Laws: Shit will happen. 

While budgeting and research are integral parts of planning a trip, however, those cannot be done without the help of  electronics, technology and apps. You know the drill - mobiles, cameras, external batteries, travel adapters set and etc. The needed tech accessories to keep you not only safe from harm but psyched and prepared in most instances should you land yourself in a vulnerable situation and needed to call for help. 

After the strenuous parts of planning a trip, the most pleasurable thing to do while planning it is to research on the delicacies. I am a firm believer that travellers should try as many local delicacies instead of the ones overrated by travellers or advertised by large corporations. Come on, it is unforgivable to have KFC in China when you can have KFC in Malaysia unless the ones in China serves its specials. 

Go to places that only locals would frequent! Go to a hundred years old kopitiam if you have to. Don't just settle for food that you can easily find or get your hands on. Conduct a research on local food blogs and get a heap of information as to where are the best local foods in the cities. Trust me, it is worth the time and sweat to plough through the information.