Fast Travel: How to Spend Two Weeks Planning a Three-Day Trip

A short trip calls for a detailed plan

After the pandemic, the urge to travel is hard to satisfy. We’ve been so stiffened by the lockdowns that everyone seems to be using every opportunity to get away now.

Of course, I’m no exception, my travel button is always itching. And now I’m going for a weekend trip to Calgary while my partner is there on business. We’ve always wanted to do that, but while kids were young, it was too stressful to organize.

How to plan for three days away?

Of course, this is the exact opposite of the slow travel mode I wrote about earlier. When you have exactly two and a half days, you must plan with military precision.

Start with the trip goal.

When you are short on time, you must be very clear on the goals of the trip. What are your top must-see attractions? Are you attending an event or a show?

What would a successful trip look like?

All of your planning should revolve around the goal. If you are spending time and money on a short trip, you want to make it worthwhile and avoid disappointment.

Our goal: from Calgary, we want to visit as many beautiful spots around Banff National Park as we can and see them in fall colours.

Flight times are important.

With so little time, you may need to pay more for the flight to get the most advantageous flight.

I‘m flying in Thursday night on a late flight so that I can finish my work day, see the kids after school and make all last moment-arrangements before I say goodnight and set off for the airport.

Afternoon flights often cost more on Sundays, but we want to make use of at least half a day on Sunday, so we plan early and book a slightly more expensive evening flight in advance.

We also have to coordinate our flight bookings since mine is private and his is on his corporate system — so that we can fly back together and save on taxis.

Pick the right location.

Slow travel gives you the flexibility of choices — you can select between the center of the action, a quiet neighbourhood, or a picturesque natural setting.

For a weekend trip, decide what’s your itinerary and then pick the optimal location to cut down on travel time, transit and searching for parking. You don’t want to spend your short trip in traffic.

We are going to stay in Canmore — very close to Banff but less pricey, close to the highway, within one hour of our furthest destination of Lake Louise.

Function over luxury.

On a short trip, your main objective is your itinerary. You will not have time to enjoy the extras and luxuries. No reason to spend money on what you won’t use.

We decided against overpriced mountain condos since it’s unlikely we will have time and energy to barbeque on a balcony with a mountain view and enjoy the hot tub.

Realistically, we will come back to our place when it gets dark and will go to bed early, considering the jet lag.

Detailed itinerary.

Do all the research, know opening hours, driving distances and the best times to visit.

Write it all out. We save our detailed itinerary as a PDF on our phones — with all the links in case we need more information on the spot.

If you will be taking transit, read the rules and check out the tips, download maps and note the routes and the stops you will need.

If you plan to hike, decide which hike you want to take in advance, study the map, and plan the time accordingly.

This is the time to get nitpicky.

Pre-book and pre-register.

This is fast travel, so cut down on administration, waiting, and idling time. Buy tickets and passes in advance.

You don’t want to stand in long lines to buy tickets that you could have purchased online in advance. You don’t want to discover there is a daily limit on tickets when it’s too late.

We only need a daily pass to the national park, and it looks like we can buy it online the night before.

Plan your meals.

Sitting in a nice restaurant and enjoying local cuisine can be a big part of your travel experience when you have lots of time.

If you are going for two-three days, it will help to know where you want to eat, based on your itinerary, instead of wondering about and looking.

Plus, you might be tired from all that sightseeing. You might just have a quick bite and crash.

Since we are going into Banff National Park for the whole day, and food options are very limited there, we will buy some sandwich fixings the night before and bring our own picnic.

Ok, I know, this sounds like a lot.

And yes, it took me longer than three days to do all the research and plan it out — more like two weeks.

But once we get there, we want to just enjoy this brief freedom and the luxury of having two and a half days to ourselves. We can’t stay long, so we want to make it count.

Will the detailed preparation pay off? I will tell you in the next post.