Successful sightseeing holidays are a reflection of research that could date back months or years. You can never start too soon. Research serves several purposes. Since most holidays have a fixed time frame, research helps to organise the time efficiently, allowing you to maximise your experience. Research is also a fundamental way of developing the trip. What might start as a simple city visit may evolve into something far more elaborate, and hopefully meaningful. If nothing else, it triggers your imagination so that when you finally arrive, you really have something to look forward to. On a practical level, research also helps to avoid potential pitfalls that you might encounter. As a sight impaired traveller, this is a bigger concern than it is for most people, since one seemingly small or unexpected challenge can disrupt or even ruin a trip. Advance knowledge can save you a lot of time, grief and money. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

Where do you start though? Well, it starts with you. Everyone has a different goal for their holidays. For some it’s to relax, for others it’s an opportunity for fulfilment or adventure. Finding that missing missing key to happiness determines what type of vacation you want to take. In recent years, a much broader variety of holiday experiences have emerged built around specific themes including sports, food, culture, art and shopping to name a few.

My most recent trips have been self-directed sightseeing trips, but when budget allows I also will use tour companies. For me, geography dictates the resource I go to first. If a visiting a city, the first place I go is Google Maps. If a visiting a country, I usually check out Frommer’s or a tour company such as Intrepid or G Adventures, even if I intend to do a self-directed trip. Frommer’s guides are good resource in determining whether  to choose an escorted tour, or to go self-directed. In short, you have to gauge what’s right for you. If it seems like doing it yourself might be more trouble than it’s worth than the extra expense of a tour as well justified. However, if it seems like sorting out transportation, food and hotel issues are in your comfort zone then why go to the extra expense. If you’re planning a specialty holiday focused on food or sports, however, the escorted tour option may be more to your liking since it relieves you of a lot of the hassle of setting things up, and let you focus on what you came to do.

I found in recent years that YouTube has become a tremendous resource in making that decision. My most recently trip to Berlin was planned mostly with YouTube videos, with some direct research through Google maps. YouTube is somewhat hit and miss and that the quality of the video blogs is all over the place, and that you may find a wealth of material on one site, and almost nothing on some others. In particular, personal YouTube blogs posted by people living in the location you are interested in can give you tremendous local insight and practical information. Also, tourism blogs by people who travel a lot gives you another perspective. Even commercial YouTube sites such as Expedia’s have their value since their videos can get you inspired about your holiday.