I'm a type A personality with a type B complex. That oftentimes comes back to bite me when I'm looking at traveling somewhere new. Should I go the route of planning every minute of every day? Or just get there and figure it out one step at a time? The trouble is sometimes planning as you go can leave you missing out. For example, on my trip to Budapest, we missed seeing aspects we were interested in just because we had no idea they would be closed on the day we went.

I've settled on planning my trips loosely.

For the most part, I like to go half on the "let's wander the streets until we find a cool hole in the wall," and half "I don't want to end up sleeping in the place where 'The Hostel' was filmed, I'm booking in advance."

There is always an upside and a downside to planning, though.

Economically speaking, I try to book flights well in advance, if only for the sole purpose that I live in an expensive state to fly out of, so when I can find a deal, I take it. That being said, there are several times of the year when flight deals are available, and depending on your preferred airline – which p.s. If you don't have, you should – you can get cheap flights year round. It can also be beneficial to look into flying into other airports nearby to cut on flight costs as well. For example, the two airports in Bangkok, Thailand, have drastically different prices both domestic and international.

Flights are probably one of the more challenging portions of planning a trip because either you have restrictions of when you can go on vacation or budgetary restrictions. My computer screen when looking at tickets is like that staircase scene from The Labyrinth, with enough screens open to keep a small kitten distracted for days and an excel spreadsheet that any Harvard accountant would be proud of. Kayak, Priceline, Skyscanner -- I am not biased when it comes to finding the cheapest flights possible. The spreadsheet is to keep track of different dates and price options and airport options found on all these different sites. I do believe the myth though that prices change on certain days, never look on a Sunday.

Of course, if you aren't a shoestring budget traveler like me, this article is completely irrelevant and you should stick as close to first class as you can.