If you love traveling Europe, getting off-the-beaten path, meeting locals, or having foodie experiences (especially coffee and gelato), then you're in the right place! We're Jana and Brett, a travel couple exploring Europe. Since we got married 10 years ago, we've spent more than 2.5 years adventuring in Europe. But we aren't your average travelers... —Dual USA and Italian citizens —30 European countries...and counting! —We didn't sell everything to travel (we still own our home in Tennessee!) —Both work online (Brett: business operations and consulting. Jana: SEO copywriting and content editing.) Get to know us better by joining our newsletter, binging our YouTube videos, or browsing our blog! When we're not traveling, you will find us hanging out with friends, hosting dinner parties, or playing strategic board games.
Steal our travel-planning process 📋
Hi, Reader!
We're planning a few trips for the rest of 2023...here's a behind-the-scenes look at our travel planning process! Feel free to steal borrow this outline for your own travels!
- How we plan our trips
- Tip of the week
- In case you missed it
- Behind the scenes
How we plan our travels
1 | Where should we go?
First, we do some general research to decide where to go. This usually looks like watching YouTube videos, scrolling Pinterest, or browsing tourism websites.
Tip: We individually research a variety of places, and then we research together to pick the final destination.
2 | Book flights/transportation
Once we pick a destination, we book flights/train tickets/a rental car to get there. This locks us into our travel dates, and then we know how many days we have to explore.
Tip: Brett often books our transportation using travel credit card points and miles.
3 | Book lodging
If we're staying for multiple days, we prefer the convenience of an Airbnb. But if our trip is only 1-2 nights, we usually stay in a hotel.
Tip: Save up to 50% off hotels using HotelCard! This is how we book hotels in Switzerland, and so far we've saved an average of 80+ CHF per night! HotelCard costs 99 CHF for a year membership — but you can get it for only 59 CHF with our link below! Bonus: you can browse hotels/destinations before you purchase the card.
| Buy the HotelCard here |
4 | Finish our research
Now we head back to YouTube, Pinterest, tourism board websites, and blogs to finalize our travel plans and craft a loose itinerary.
Tip: We write all of our travel plans in a Google doc so we can both access it and share real-time updates. Then we save all of the places we want to go on our Google Map.
5 | Enjoy our trip!
When you plan your trip well, it's much easier to have an enjoyable vacation!
Tip: Don't forget to save some time in your schedule for spontaneity and rest!
Tip of the week
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In case you missed it...
P.S. Ya'll...we're flattered! You keep booking every single slot on our Consultation Calendar! But unfortunately that means if we have no dates available on our calendar, then we're really all booked up. We promise to let you know when we open up more slots for September!
Jana & Brett | Aplins in the Alps
If you love traveling Europe, getting off-the-beaten path, meeting locals, or having foodie experiences (especially coffee and gelato), then you're in the right place! We're Jana and Brett, a travel couple exploring Europe. Since we got married 10 years ago, we've spent more than 2.5 years adventuring in Europe. But we aren't your average travelers... —Dual USA and Italian citizens —30 European countries...and counting! —We didn't sell everything to travel (we still own our home in Tennessee!) —Both work online (Brett: business operations and consulting. Jana: SEO copywriting and content editing.) Get to know us better by joining our newsletter, binging our YouTube videos, or browsing our blog! When we're not traveling, you will find us hanging out with friends, hosting dinner parties, or playing strategic board games.
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