5 Most Important Things To Do When You Travel

 1.) PLAN! PLAN!! PLAN!!!: Plan where you want to go, what you want to do, what you want to see, and pretty much everything else!

It takes some of the stress out of the holiday, so you can actually enjoy it instead of trying to figure out what to do, which is a lot harder to do when you're with a bigger group and everyone has different ideas about what they want to do and in what order.

Get all the things that aren't fun out of the way so you can really focus on having a great time. Before you go on vacation, you should be able to answer a quick question about your plans as if it were a pop quiz.

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2.) DOWNLOAD OFFLINE MAPS: Make sure the maps you download are offline maps. The UK's mobile networks are making it easier to use your data allowance in other countries.

But even that has its limits, so if you still want to be able to plan your trip while you're on the go, you'll need to find another way. Download offline maps of the place you want to go so that your cell phone bill doesn't make you sad or angry when you get back home.

Since there are so many free apps, you have no reason not to have a map with you on your trip.

You could always get paper maps from the hotel, hostel, or villa where you're staying, but they're likely to get torn up, lost, or wet after just a few hours of use, putting you back at square one.

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3.) BE FLEXIBLE AND SPONTANEOUS: Even if you have the best plans for your vacation, you need to be able to change your plans if you want to get the most out of it.

Some of this freedom means you might have to change the plans you've already made or add a few more things to your plan or itinerary. In either case, my advice is to always go for it.

If you didn't want to try something new, you wouldn't be on vacation, right? so you might as well go all in and enjoy it to the fullest. On your trip across America, Longhorn Cavern State Park is closed because the government is shut down? Instead, go to Caverns of Sonora!

You'll be surprised by how many other fun things you can find outside of your plans.

For example, on the way from Universal Studios in Orlando to Pensacola Beach, we stopped at Ichetucknee Springs to go tubing down the river. This was not on the schedule, but it turned out to be one of the best parts of the trip.

We spent more than an hour in a peaceful natural setting, tubing down one of the cleanest rivers in the US and seeing animals we would have missed otherwise, like turtles that swam up to us (though this might have been a fluke), snakes on a tree, and the big one: a wild manatee.

Definitely worth taking a break!!!

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4.) LEAVE YOUR "COMFORT ZONE": This goes along with what was said above. Try something that you might not normally do.

I'm not telling you to go crazy and jump out of planes and strip, but there are a lot of other things you might not try at home that you should try on vacation.

This could mean trying new foods, climbing a mountain (if you don't live in a flat place like Amsterdam), or even skydiving.

Safety should always come first, but when you're on vacation, try to do something new. Those are the things you're most likely to remember and cherish in the long run.

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5.) DO WHAT YOU WANT: You're on vacation! Give yourself a break!

Now is not the time to act wisely. Again, a word of caution: I'm not saying you should go to Vegas and spend three months' worth of salary at the casinos. However, you should at least be able to treat yourself to a very nice meal or an expensive (but very tasty) drink that you might not normally get at home.

The point of a vacation is to have fun and reward yourself for all the hard work that got you there, so don't stop halfway. Have a party for yourself and have such a great time that everyone back home is jealous.

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