 So a lot of people have told me I tend to be a little extra when it comes to travel planning. And that's true, but that's because I like having control over where I go and how I spend my money. I'm sure that's important to most of you too, so I'm going to show you all the tools that you can use to plan your next vacation. As a professional travel planner for eight months, and an amateur one for basically all of my adult life, I love travel planning. Here's a rule I like to follow for budgeting. A vacation for just yourself should cost roughly around the same as what you make in one paycheck. That way you're neither making or losing money to be away, and you give yourself the option of either going to a really fan's resort for a weekend, or a backpacking trip on a budget for one week. But obviously everyone's situation is a little different, especially if you've got family members to account for. For that budgeting, you can use a tool on BeFugal.com to figure out whether you should drive or fly to a place. It even factors in costs like tolls and gas prices for driving and taxis to and from the airport for flying. But I'm going to focus on flights because a good flight deal can really feel like they're hard to find. Have you ever heard of people who've scored crazy flight deals from New York to Japan for $300? I've been one of those people. It was amazing. But it probably helps to first understand how flight pricing works. The majority of airfare you see are targeted to two kinds of travelers. There are those who will pay any price because they need to be somewhere at a specific time. That's folks traveling for business, a family emergency, a wedding. And then there are the flexible travelers who are willing to put up with midday flights or layovers to get a better deal. So in that sample flight from New York to Tokyo, the prices might fall into this range. Now of course airlines are incentivized to make the most money per seat, so the majority of the fares you'll see likely fall between this middle range of prices. But when it's time for an airline to try to fill its empty seats, it may just straight up drop prices. That's where these seats in the lower range become up for grabs. Keep in mind that when an airline drops prices, it drops services too. And this is notorious for domestic flights or ones from low-cost carriers. Cheap flights often come with restrictions, such as not being able to pick your seat, bring overhead luggage, or having to fly at inconvenient times. These budget options are becoming more popular so that airlines can get their prices to the top of search. So read the fine print before you book. But back to my magical $300 fare. That was actually a mistake fare, which happens when a human or technical error causes a flight ticket to literally be sold at the wrong price. This is pretty rare, and not all airlines will honor it. But if you do find one, wait until you have a confirmed booking before you start booking places to stay. Currently I'm looking to book a flight in early December, and I'm pretty flexible on where. Some of my favorite places to find deals are like the flight deal or Scott's Chief Flight or Airfare Watchdog. These are newsletters that track price drops. I'm looking through here, and there are active deals like Copenhagen for $333. These are pretty good, but I'd like something a little cheaper and a little closer to home. Now this one from the flight deal is $178 to Martinique. It's about a four-hour flight. That seems pretty good. I might actually consider that one. One last place I also like to look is Google Flights. So it looks like Google Flights and the flight deal are both showing this Martinique flight for $178. It's through a Norwegian airline, and that's probably coming up because Norwegian just opened a flight route between New York and a lot of different places. So they're probably incentivizing people to buy tickets to fill their planes. That's why it's so cheap right now. You can book a flight like this through aggregators like Orbitz or Expedia and earn points. But booking directly from an airline will give you more leverage if there are travel disruptions or cancellations. Check with your credit card companies too if they offer travel protection. Now, you've got a place to go and now it's time to think about a place to stay. Sites like HomeAway and Airbnb are great options for people who want more of a local vibe or places that are unique to them. If you prefer things like housekeeping or in-room dining, you might choose a hotel, in which case TripAdvisor forums could be a good place to start to look for places that might suit you. And if you're really on a budget, sites like Hostelworld or Couchsurfing could be good alternatives for finding places to stay on the cheap. Now let's find some things to do. I like to mix my resources, so that's TripAdvisor forums and Lonely Planet guides, but also look at some YouTube bloggers to see what they've done or even Instagram location tags of different cities. Now, I'm a huge nerd, so when it comes time to putting together my itinerary, I like to make Excel sheets and InDesign documents. Most people don't have that kind of time. Apps like Google Trips can be a great option for you to pull all your travel info together, such as maps, hotel bookings, train tickets, what have you. Tip time! Here are some things you should do before you go. Download all the apps you need beforehand. That's offline maps so you can navigate without internet, ride-hailing apps, money exchange converters, maybe a dictionary if you go into a place where you don't speak the language. Check with your mobile carriers to see if they offer international data plans. Some of them are free, some of them are cheap, so look through that before you decide whether you need to buy a SIM card at the airport. Lastly, set a travel notice for your credit card. The last thing you want to happen is to get to a foreign place with no money. I'm really excited for a trip now, but first I need some time off. Titor, can I have some time off? Travel is so personal, so I'm sure I didn't get to all of your favorite tools, so share them with me in the comments. Let me know. Also, if you haven't already, subscribe to us on YouTube.com slash Diverge.