Travel is starting to open up and with borders slowly opening, I have been thinking about what travel I would like to do. Although I don’t have many plans set in stone, it’s nice to start thinking about what I’m going to do over the next few years to make up for lost time.

While it may not be for some time, one of the destinations I’ve been loosely planning on visiting is Dubai. It’s somewhere that’s been on my list for a while and with many of my friends visiting over the last few years, it’s slowly working it’s way up the top of my list.

With quite a lot of time on my hands before I next get on a plane, I have been taking advantage of how much planning I can actually do for each trip. Usually I only have a couple of week and with at least a year before I head to the UAE, I thought I’d get a little more detailed this time around.

With that in mind, here are five things I need to plan before I leave:

Packing (Including Important Documents)

Often, when planning a trip, I forget about one of the most important aspects of travel – what do I need to pack? With Dubai being relatively warm I would need to think about what clothes will be best to take as a plus size gal in the heat, bearing in mind any cultural differences I may need to consider when visiting temples. In terms of documents, an up to date list of what I’ll need to take can be found on the gov.uk website.

Location

One of the first things I need to think of when it comes to visiting Dubai (and the rest of the United Arab Emirates) is where I’d like to visit. This means considering the various areas I’d like to stay and whether or not I’m going to move around or stick to just one location.

Accommodation

Once I know where I want to visit, accommodation is next on my list. Speaking to friends who have visited I know that hotels and Airbnb’s in Dubai can become quite expensive, so I’d need to think about what option would be best. As I would be relying on public transport, something that’s easily accessible would obviously be a priority for me but honestly, as long as it’s cute Instagramable, I often don’t mind… 😉

Activities

What is trip planning without looking at all of the incredible activities you can do while there? My favourite way to plan an itinerary for a trip is to take a look at location tags and hashtags on Instagram, saving a collection of all the places I want to go. From there, I can put together a list and start coming up with an idea of what days I’ll do everything based on where they’re located. As much as I wish I wasn’t a spreadsheet-lover, most trips I’m armed with a detailed Google sheets that’s already been mailed to everyone attending (sorry, friends).

Food and Drink

One of the best parts about planning a trip is planning all of the places you want to go for food and drink and honestly, the places I have seen in Dubai look INCREDIBLE! I’ve already got a long list of places I want to go but to help plan, I’ve been using Squaremeal to find out what everyone else is loving too! To try it for yourself, click here.

Backup Plans

If you’ve been following me for a while you will know that I’m an absolute disaster to travel with, so it always helps having a backup plan in place. Whether it’s a little extra contingency money or a secondary-hotel in mind, you never know what could go wrong when I travel… honestly.

I’m so excited to start planning trips again and so if you’ve been to Dubai, please share some tips and tricks in the comments. I’m dying to go!