Project Managing my Travels
An unlikely match, but a match that works
I’ve always loved making lists, getting things done, and striking items off my lists. I like having the right amount of order to my chaos. So much so that when the opportunity to work in project management came my way in 2016, I jumped at it. To me, being a project manager is about making sure things get done in time and within budget while keeping as many people as happy as possible. Everything is excused as long as the job gets done. Well, most things. In the last few years, I’ve come to look at my personal life as a project manager as well. The place where it has made the most impact is how I travel these days. I’ve always been a planner (Google Sheets and I share a special relationship) but now, my planning has elevated. I consider the end of the trip before I even begin to plan the starting point. The most important thing is still the travel itself (the places and the experiences) but there’s a lot that goes into making a trip happen and actually being able to enjoy it.
All planning aside, I have one ground rule. Spontaneity is top priority. I plan my trips in such a way that I know my travel dates and have a place to stay. But I’m not tied to what I do and when I do them. My plans constantly change — in the last couple of years, I’ve extended my stay in certain places, skipped a few other places entirely, found a dingy hostel at 2:00 AM after a 36-hour bus ride, and surprised myself with how much I liked sleeping in a tent.
I’ve begun noticing that my travels now have similar phases as a project — initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and eventually closing the trip. Having said that, I realise what a privilege it is to travel and I’m very grateful to be able to do it.
Getting Started: Conception & Initiation
This is the stage where I answer the what, where, when, why, with whom (or not), and how questions. If I want to travel with people or am staying with them, I start asking around. I also ask friends for suggestions and budget range if they’ve already been to the places I’m interested in. And friends always have great recommendations. I also turn to a few travel groups that I’m a part of and Atlas Obscura has never let me down.
Breaking it Down: Definition & Planning
I have had to apply for a visa for every country that I have visited. It’s become a way of life at this point. Every time I feel like I have figured out the visa application process, another country presents a new hoop for me to jump through. The Schengen visa was the most amount of paperwork I’ve done but I think it was the Argentine visa that was the most difficult to get. While the visas don’t give me a lot of flexibility for when I enter and exit the country, they do give me some stability. I can’t visit most countries because I feel like it, I need to plan my visits instead. The planner in me doesn’t necessarily object to it. Most visas require me to have a date of entry and exit, proof of accommodation, proof of funds (good time for me to set my budget for the trip), and an itinerary (helps me look into what I can do in the country). For instance, I knew I wanted to fly as little as possible in Europe and I planned my trip based on traveling by road. Even when I don’t need a visa, I’ve come to account for these factors during planning.
All my planning happens on Google Sheets and I add most of the details to my calendar and this has saved me so many times. Information about my flights, buses, check-ins and check-outs, when I’m meeting people, reminders to do things; it’s all there. Everything that has been scheduled for my trip is on it but I make sure to leave a lot of room to be spontaneous. Plus, I always have the option to change the events on the calendar.
This is the phase where my risk management kicks in as well. I make sure to get insurance for the trip, vaccinations and medication depending on the country, currency exchange (I don’t worry about this ever since I got my Charles Schwab card), letting my banks know that I will be traveling, doing some research about laws I’m not supposed to break, and if anything needs to be taken care of while I’m gone.
Over the years, I’ve learnt the importance of packing light. Despite how light I pack, I know I can go lighter. I also make sure to take into account the weather. Even though I was in Europe only for 100 days, the timing if my trip forced me to carry clothes for every season. The last things on the list include charging electronics, picking up adapters and converters, and getting all my documents together.
Livin’ it up: Execution & Monitoring
With all planning done, I finally start the trip I’ve been daydreaming about. It’s go-time! Once I get to the place, I take suggestions on what to do and where to eat from the hostels, friends, and even the internet. I’ve noticed that anything I’m worried about always falls into place. That’s the beauty of traveling. And there’s so much beauty to capture as well. That’s a real dilemma — to take my camera or not and which moment to capture and which to simply experience. Over the last year, the question of whether and what to post on social media has thankfully not been a part of my life.
One thing to remember is that all the planning at the end of the day doesn’t stand a chance against life and things constantly change during traveling. But change management is where the fun lies. Handling situations that range from falling sick to missing flights and buses, to random incidents one has no control over are the travel moments I’ve learnt the most from. I also consider my mental health and change plans depending on how I’m feeling. When I’m traveling with people, I make sure to consider how they’re feeling physically and mentally.
I believe that it’s extremely important to check-in with myself, my health, my luggage, and my budget. During my trip across Europe, I learnt that I needed to monitor my spend the hard way when I realised that I spent way more than I should have within the first 10 days of my 100-day trip. I needed to do immediate cost control or I wasn’t going to last very long. I also check-in to see how my body is doing. There were stretches when I didn’t want to eat out anymore and cooked for myself. This definitely helped with the spending as well.
Checking-in with my mind was equally important. I had phases where my anxiety was really high and I was beginning to observe new patterns and I didn’t know how to deal with them. Journaling helped immensely with that. I also needed to monitor what I was buying because I couldn’t afford to carry anything more than postcards as I was moving across continents. My travel, along with my packing, needed to be light.
Ending it right: Closing the Project
The last few days of any trip are always a mixture of wanting to hold on to the trip and not return to everyday life and finding my mind making lists of things to do upon my return. The trip ends not just with a lifetime of memories, but also with a few GBs of photos that needed to be organized and shared, the final hisab-tikab to be done (expenses settled), and taking the time to remember everything that went into making the trip.
Travel is a humbling experience and is good for the soul. I find myself evolving as a person when I travel, thriving even. But a lot of work goes into it and the more I travel and the more work I put in, the more I trust myself and feel confident depending on myself. I have a special place in my heart for the moments when I’ve rescued myself from situations where I was utterly lost. Because it’s in these moments that I see the hard work and resourcefulness pay off. And it is from these moments that I learn lessons for the next trip around the corner.