User: What should I check when planning a trip?
Assistant: In addition to the usual items like air tickets, accommodation, sightseeing spots, visa requirements, travel restrictions, ... you should also check some of these depending on where you’re heading:
- Monsoon season if for example traveling to Southeast Asia. It tends to rain more during this season which may impact the activities you can do or the road conditions. Keep in mind that the monsoon season varies across countries and even across regions of the same country.
- Major holidays: Including public holidays, festivals, school holidays. These impact the opening hours and the crowd at sightseeing spots. Check the major holidays in neighbouring countries as well. For example, long holidays in Australia may affect the crowd in Bali, Indonesia as a popular travel destination, or the Golden week in Japan means that a lot of locals would travel around Japan.
- Major events: Including popular festivals and major sport events. You are either interested in some of these events so you may want to plan your trip to attend those or you may want to avoid them as finding accommodation and air tickets can be more difficult and more expensive. For example, it is more difficult to travel to Melbourne during the Australian Open.
- Natural phenomena: Such as the cyclone season in Fiji or the jellyfish season in Cairns, Australia.