How does Dash & Ramble’s planning process work?
A lot of people want to know what happens once you decide to reach out to Dash & Ramble to help you with your travel plans. Let me break it down for you:
You know you want to go on a trip, but you may or may not have an idea as to where you’d like to go. After all, there are LOTS of options. So you email, DM me, or fill out the contact form on the website—all good choices. You should hear back from me within 24 hours (usually way less, but if I’m traveling it might take me a little longer to respond).
You’ll get an email from me that will ask you when we can set up a 15-30 minute phone consultation (always free of charge). During this time, I’m going to ask you lots of questions about your interests, your vision for your upcoming travel plans, and the highlights and lowlights of your past travel experiences. All of this helps me to build a custom itinerary that makes you happy. You can also ask me questions—we need to make sure that we’re a good match!
Once we outline the foundation of your trip (dates, destination, # of people, etc.), you’ll need to give me a budget to work with. This is a question that a lot of people struggle with, but it’s a key factor for me. For example, I might be able to plan you a $5,000 trip or $50,000 trip to the same location—if I don’t have any guidance, it’s very difficult for me to plan effectively and we’ll both end up frustrated. I can always let you know if I think your budget is appropriate for the trip you’d like to take.
After our phone conversation, you’ll get a follow up email from me that reviews what we spoke about on the phone. If I missed something or didn’t get something exactly right, let me know! Attached to the email will be a document that outlines my service fees, and a service agreement. I won’t go into detail about these here (you can read about them in more detail in this post), but this is how you let me know you won’t copy my hard work and head online to book the same trip yourself. You decide on the level of service you’d like me to provide, sign the service agreement, and then I’ll get started planning your trip!
This next step depends on the complexity of your trip, but once I start working on your itinerary I’ll be researching and reaching out to supplier partners to put together the rough draft of your trip. You will get this initial proposal from me within one week. Nothing will have been booked or reserved yet—this is the starting point. You get to take a look at what I’ve proposed, and if there are any changes you’d like to make—big or small—you can do that very easily at this point. If you like the proposal as-is, we can begin the booking process.
The booking process can vary depending on your trip, but it usually goes something like this:
— If we’re booking through a supplier partner you will be asked to put down a deposit (usually between 10%-25% of the total cost). This will hold your space for any flights, accommodations, ground transportation, tours and activities that are included in your itinerary. You will pay the balance when your trip gets a little closer (usually between 45-60 days).
— If I’m booking each piece of your trip separately, the amount you pay for your trip up front will vary.
— Airfare is always paid in full at the time of booking.
— I’m going to offer you travel insurance…and you should really consider it.
Once your trip is booked, I’ll check in with you to arrange for any special requests, reservations, changes, etc. If payments still need to be made, I will send you reminders. As your trip gets closer, I will reconfirm all of the details with my supplier partners to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible once you take off.
Hooray you’re on vacation! I will likely check in with you during your trip to make sure everything is going according to plan. I’ve worked hard to make sure everything is up to your standards but if for some reason you end up having any issues during your trip, you should definitely get in touch with me and/or our in-country supplier so that we can work on making it right. It’s travel—the unexpected happens.
Once you’re back home, I’ll want to set up another phone call to hear all about your trip! This step is super important because it helps me to do an even better job of planning your next adventure. Maybe we even begin the process all over again!
