Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to Cheryl's Travel Blueprint! I’m a former Spanish teacher turned travel advisor, passionate about curating unforgettable experiences. My expertise lies in European adventures (with a special love for Spain), cruising, and all-inclusive Caribbean getaways. I specialize in creating tailored trips for families, multi-generational groups, and teachers—whether they’re traveling solo, with colleagues, or leading student groups.
In this podcast, we celebrate the joy of travel, uncover hidden gems, share practical tips and tricks, and embrace the spirit of adventure. Each episode features inspiring conversations with fascinating guests from all walks of life as they share their unique travel stories, lessons, and favorite destinations. Whether you're planning your next getaway or simply love to dream about the possibilities, this is your place to explore the world from wherever you are.
Let’s embark on this journey together! 🌍✈️
Cheryl K Johnson (00:02.23)
One of the things I've noticed is that some of the most stressed travelers are stressed before the trip even begins. I've seen it in airports, on student trips, and with families. Everyone's tired, someone's irritated, there's confusion about boarding groups, someone forgot to check in, and someone else is already saying, next time we're doing things differently, and the plane hasn't even taken off yet. One thing I've learned as a travel advisor is that the stress you feel on a trip usually doesn't start on the trip, but rather in the planning.
So today I want to talk about the seven travel mistakes I see over and over again. The quiet ones that don't feel dramatic at the time, but slowly chip away at the experience you actually wanted. And it's not about shame because we've all done these. I've definitely done these, but awareness changes everything. All right, let's talk about it. And if you care about traveling better, not just cheaper or faster, but smarter and more intentionally, make sure you're subscribed to Cheryl's Travel Blueprint. Every week we talk about how to design travel that feels meaningful without the chaos.
And if you're part of my Blueprint Mondays community, I'm so glad you're here. You already know we go deeper than the surface level tips around here. All right. Let's talk about the seven travel mistakes that might be quietly sabotaging your vacation and how to fix them before your next trip. Mistake number one is booking based on price alone. Let's start with the big one, the deal. Everyone loves a deal. There's something so satisfying about thinking you found the cheapest option. But here's a question I always ask. At what cost? I once talked to a traveler who
told me that they found an incredible hotel rate in Europe. It was hundreds less per night than the others they were looking at. It sounds amazing, but when we looked closer, it was 40 minutes outside the city center, which meant no easy public transportation. And taxis or Ubers would have added another $30 to $40 each way every day. So what looked like savings became stress. One thing I see a lot also is when people see cruise deals that seem too good to be true. And when I look into it, the price is based on the cheapest cabin available.
And it doesn't include any of the necessary extras. So when we add up all the different things that they want to include on their trip, like drink packages, a cabin with a balcony, gratuities, wifi, specialty dining, and so on, it takes a huge, it makes a huge difference, usually over a thousand dollars. Sometimes the cheapest option is expensive and energy. And I think part of trying to get the best deal is psychological because we're wired to avoid overpaying.
Cheryl K Johnson (02:24.502)
and afraid of being taken advantage of. But travel isn't just a transaction. It's an experience purchase. So instead of asking what's the cheapest, try asking what supports the experience I want. The subtle little shift like that changes everything. Mistake number two is trying to see everything. This one I see especially in Europe. Five cities in seven days, three countries in one week, back to back train rides. And I understand the temptation. Flights are expensive. You may not know when you'll be back.
So you want to maximize, but here's the thing, maximizing geography often minimizes experience. Some of my favorite moments in Spain were not on an itinerary. They were long dinners that lasted for hours sitting in a Plaza, just people watching wandering around without Google maps, just getting lost on purpose. One of the things I really love about spending time in Spain is that we do one of the things that we do every time is have dinner late at night, talk for hours and then having a long walk afterwards. Well,
We just people watch and stop for ice cream along the way. And it's just really laid back and a great way to walk off the calories. and because I've been there on jam packed itineraries as well, where we go on a bus to go to an attraction, I get that part of it too. I can, I know that pain. You get on a bus to get to the attraction. You have a tour, you get back on the bus, you go to another and you just rinse and repeat all day. And at the end, it just doesn't feel authentic. When we over schedule, we stay in decision mode.
When we slow down, we stay present, and that's where we get those core memories. So you might want to ask yourself if you want to collect cities or moments. Mistake number three is underestimating logistics. This one's not glamorous, but it matters. Travel logistics can quietly derail a trip. I've seen travelers arrive in Europe on a Monday ready for museums, only to discover many are closed. I've seen people assume they can just grab a train in peak season without reservations.
or underestimate how long it takes to get from an airport into the city center. Even though I'm a seasoned traveler, I sometimes have hiccups. So once when I was with a group of about 20 students, we took the train from our vacation rental back to the airport heading home, but we underestimated the time it would take to get there, which meant we didn't have wiggle room for errors. So we missed our stop, had to turn around, and we got to the airport with all of the 20 students and missed our flight. That was the first leg of our trip home.
Cheryl K Johnson (04:47.158)
And it was a nail biter, but they were so kind and helped us get rebooked and we were able to make our connection. And so we definitely learned a lesson that day. So the truth is logistics aren't romantic, but they protect, they protect romance. When details are handled, you feel relaxed, but when they're unclear, you are definitely unsettled. This is where tools can help. Booking.com is great for flights, car rentals, and accommodations, especially if you like researching options yourself.
And yes, if you use my affiliate link, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. But platforms are tools. They don't replace planning with intention. So just depends on the type of traveler you are and how much you enjoy planning for yourself. Mistake number four is treating excursions as an afterthought. This is a big one. People spend months choosing flights and hotels, and then they say, we'll figure out what to do when we get there. But in high season, that rarely works. The best experiences...
like small group food tours, skip the line museum entries, guided cultural experiences, those things sell out. And here's something important. A destination without context can feel flat. Rome without understanding feels different than Rome with a knowledgeable guide bringing it to life. Barcelona without cultural insight feels different than walking it with someone explaining the architecture and history. That's why I love recommending Get Your Guide. They offer curated experiences all over the world.
food tours, historical tours, boat excursions, day trips, cooking classes, and it's a great way to compare experiences, read real reviews, secure spots ahead of time, and again, if you use my affiliate link, I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. But here's the deeper point. Excursions aren't fillers. They're often the emotional highlight of the trip. My favorite excursion has to be the one that my daughter and I took in Girona. We took the train from Barcelona, met our guide at the train station, and walked through this town.
Since it was a private tour, was customized just for us. And we learned so much about local culture. We did some people watching and felt like locals talking about daily life with our guide, learning things that we never could from a guidebook, like the story of El Caganer. I'll post information on that in the description. Mistake number five is packing for the fantasy you. And what I mean by that is we pack for the person we imagine will be on vacation, like really stylish, highly photogenic.
Cheryl K Johnson (07:09.79)
and the just-in-case version. And then we wear the same comfortable outfit three times. Overpacking creates airport stress, train stress, hotel stress, and extra fees. On most trips that I've taken with students, even though I spent a lot of time trying to get them to pack light, some things have to be learned the hard way, and they tend to pack way too much and struggle the whole time.
I had a student once that packed so much that she didn't have room for the souvenirs she bought on the trip and had to buy another suitcase just to get all of it home. And that was just a miserable experience. To me, packing light is freedom. Mobility changes your experience and energy shapes experience. Mistake number six is not protecting that investment. Travel is an investment in flights, hotels and excursions. And you have to take time off of work in a lot of cases. Yet so many travelers skip that insurance.
not because they're reckless, because nothing's gone wrong before until it does. There can be weather disruptions, illness, and airline changes. So protection isn't pessimism. It's just respect for that investment. Mistake number seven is not defining the purpose. This might be the most important one. Why are you taking this trip? Is it for rest, celebration, cultural immersion, family reconnection? If you don't define the purpose, you might
build an itinerary that doesn't align with your intention. And then something feels slightly off. Before we went to Barcelona recently, my daughter and I had a plan for what we wanted to do. And we had some things we wanted to see again, and some brand new things also. And we didn't want to be on the go constantly, but we, so we planned the must-see excursions first. We built in some free time so we could be flexible. And that worked really well for us. We saw Sagrada Familia again, but from a different perspective.
and we had an awesome tour from Get Your Guide. We had our share of people watching and we found a meetup group one night so we could meet some locals. And it was meaningful and gave us a chance to see what locals do and to feel like one for short time. And that was our goal. Before you plan your next trip, ask yourself, what do I want to feel? Because that answer should guide every decision. None of these mistakes are about intelligence. They're not about experience. They're not about being bad at travel.
Cheryl K Johnson (09:24.984)
They're about something much quieter. They're about alignment. So let me zoom out for just a minute. All seven of these mistakes, booking based on price, over scheduling, underestimating logistics, waiting too long for excursions, overpacking, skipping protection, not defining purpose. They all have one thing in common. They happen when the decisions don't align with the intention and most people don't define the intention clearly enough. So they design the trip backwards.
Let me explain what I mean by that. Most people start planning with what's available, what's cheap or popular. What does everyone else want to do? But a few people start with how do I want this to feel? And that's where the shift happens because booking travel is transactional while designing travel is architectural. Booking says what's my budget while designing says what supports the experience I want. Booking is how many cities can we fit?
while designing is how much energy do we want to spend. Booking says, it a good deal? While designing says, is it a good fit? And that difference changes everything. I'll give you an example. A few years ago, I spoke with two different families planning European trips. The first family wanted to see everything. They had a list, London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice. In 10 days, they were proud of the efficiency.
But when I asked, when will you rest? They paused because rest wasn't part of the design. was a checklist trip. Family B, the second family had the same budget, same timeframe. But when I asked them what they wanted to feel, the mom said, I just want one dinner where we're not rushing. One memory where we're all laughing. That's it. So we built the trip around fewer transitions, walkable neighborhoods, intentional downtime. And what they told me afterwards was that they didn't feel like tourists and they felt more present.
And so with those two families, it's the same continent, the same timeframe, but totally different emotional outcome. That's where most people don't, what most people don't realize that the mistake isn't logistical. It's philosophical. We think vacations fail because of weather or delays or crowds, but often they quietly unravel because they were designed for productivity instead of experience. And we live in a culture that rewards productivity. See more, do more, maximize, optimize and hustle.
Cheryl K Johnson (11:46.474)
even on vacation. That energy follows us onto the plane. I've seen it so many times, especially on student trips. The first few days are excitement, but if the pace is relentless, by day four, everyone's tired. By day five, patience is thin. And by day six, someone's crying. And it's not because the destination wasn't beautiful. It's because the nervous system never got a break. Travel maximizes energy. If you build in margin, you feel spacious. If you build in pressure, you feel rushed.
And here's another layer most people don't talk about. Expectations. So many trips are quietly sabotaged by unspoken expectations. One partner wants adventure and the other wants relaxation. One friend wants five museums while the other friend wants cafe hopping. Parents want culture while kids want pool time. If those conversations don't happen before departure, they happen mid-trip, usually in the form of tension. And tension drains joy faster than any missed train.
That's why I always encourage people to ask, what does a great day look like to you on this trip? Not a great itinerary, a great day. Because if you stack great days, you get a great trip. But if you stack rush days, you get relief when it's over. And that's not the goal. Let me share something personal. When my daughter and I went back to Barcelona, we were very intentional. We had already done the major sites before. So this time we asked, how do we want this trip to feel? The answer was unhurried, local.
connected. So we chose one or two anchor experiences, we left space between them, we planned dinners, we built in flexibility. And because of that, we stumbled into moments that weren't even on the itinerary, a late night walk, a conversation with a local, a meetup group we almost didn't attend. Those became the memories, not the landmarks. And that's the blueprint shift. Travel is not about consuming destinations, it's about experiencing them. It's about energy management, expectation alignment.
emotional intention. And here's the part that might sound simple, but it's profound. If you don't define the purpose of your trip, you'll unconsciously default to someone else's idea of what it should look like. Instagram's version or the travel travel blogs version, your co-workers version. But your trip should reflect your season of life. Are you in a season of rest or connection of celebration, healing, exploration? Those are all different trips and they deserve different designs.
Cheryl K Johnson (14:10.946)
I think sometimes people assume working with a travel advisor is about outsourcing logistics. Yes, logistics matter, but the real value is helping you slow down long enough to ask the right questions before money gets spent. It's protecting energy, experience, and relationships. Because the most expensive mistake isn't overspending on a hotel, it's coming home feeling like something was missing, or worse, feeling like you need a vacation from your vacation.
So if you're listening to this and thinking, okay, I might've done some of these things, good, that awareness is powerful. Because the next trip doesn't have to look the same. You can design differently. You can choose margin, you can choose alignment, you can choose intention over impulse. And small planning shifts, they create massive experience differences. If you recognize yourself in some of these, you're not alone. Travel is layered, and the difference between a chaotic vacation and a meaningful one isn't luck, it's design.
If you love planning your own travel, use great tools like booking.com for logistics and get your guide for experiences. Those are excellent platforms. But if you want cohesive strategy, thoughtful pacing, cultural insight, logistics handled, and someone looking, thinking ahead for you, that's what I do because booking pieces is one thing, designing an experience is another. You can schedule a complimentary planning call. and you can find the details to do that in the description below.
So let's start building something intentional. Travel isn't just about where you go. It's about how you experience it. And small planning shifts create massive experience differences. I'll see you next Blueprint Monday.