5 Tips: How I Plan My Blog Shoots When Traveling

Apr 4

One of the most frequently asked questions I get when traveling is...
How do you plan your blog shoots for travel?
First and foremost... planning is the key. All of my travels, whether it's work-related or just for vacation are all planned out ahead of time. I'm the kind of person who likes staying organized, and having an itinerary requires research and lots of planning ahead.
Here are some key tips that I use time and time again when I'm traveling...

Tip #1: Dress for the weather. Wherever you're headed, make sure you're dressing accordingly. For my San Francisco trip, I checked the weather forecast, and knew it would be a little chilly in the city. I also knew that it would be raining on the first day I arrived, so I made sure to pack an umbrella and some comfortable shoes, in case. For Twin Peaks, I heard it was very windy at the top, and knew to pack a coat with me.
And in case you missed my San Francisco travel guide, you can view it here.

Tip #2: Try on all your outfits before you leave. I do a try-on session before I leave for any trip, and document each look by taking a photo. By doing this, I remember which accessories and shoes I need to pack for each look, and it helps me figure out which look I want to wear for certain locations... which brings me to my next point.

Tip #3: After you have an itinerary of your trip, plan out which looks you want to wear at your shoot locations.

For this, I go ahead and visualize which look would look best at each location. This is the fun part. Using the photos from my try-on session, I'll try to coordinate my outfits. Chinatown was on my list of places to visit in San Francisco, and I knew I wanted to wear this look for it. I already had in mind that I wanted a shot in front of the hanging lanterns, and the pops of red would coordinate with the outfit. Not only that, but it was also St. Patrick's Day and this was the only green I had in my suitcase, so hey -- two birds, one stone.

Tip #4: Make sure you're comfortable.

I couldn't stress this one enough. Don't ever feel like you need to wear certain outfits "for the gram," or because everyone else is wearing it. "She wore a sparkly dress in front of the Eiffel Tower, so I need to wear a sparkly dress in front of the Eiffel Tower."

No. You. Don't.

I feel like this could be its own blog post, but I've come across so many accounts on Instagram where everyone looked the same. No creativity whatsoever, a copy and paste type shot, and there were multiple instances when I was just shaking my head and exiting the app.

If you don't feel comfortable in the clothes you're wearing, don't bother wearing it. For starters, enjoy the moments while traveling. The surroundings, the people you're with, the experience, and then capture it. I assure you that when I travel, I take in the moments of those places I'm visiting, and then... as a content creator, I'll capture the moment in my creative art form.

Side note: I actually feel comfortable wearing boots with some heel because I'm used to it. I rarely wear flat shoes. Ask anyone who knows me, and they'll tell you that I'll walk around in anything with a heel all day long.

Tip #5: Be aware that plans can change.

Even if you planned out your entire look for the shoot location, just know that things are always subject to change. And that sometimes, it's out of your control. Weather, for instance. I've had a couple of instances when it started pouring rain on a day that I wanted to shoot, and as much as it pained me to waste a day of not shooting content, I reminded myself that that's life. It happens. If anything, I was grateful that I was even traveling, to begin with and went ahead and scheduled the outfit shoot for a different day.

Even if creating content is your job, or not your job and just a hobby that you enjoy, just have fun with it. I'm a perfectionist and love when things go according to plan, but will also remind myself that you cannot plan out every single aspect of life.

I hope you enjoyed my key tips on how I plan out my blog shoots when traveling!

If you have any questions, or enjoyed this post, I'd love to hear your feedback below.

How do you plan for your shoots?