TikTok travelers go viral with super organized trip planning hack

A TikTok travel fan has gone viral for his simple yet brilliant tip for planning your trip.

“The best (practical) way to plan a trip!” TikToker Jessica, who posts as @JessicaWantsaNap, captioned her video.

The post has already had 4.8 million views, with more than 4,000 users commenting on its effectiveness.

In the clip, Jessica shows followers how to set up an offline Google Map, by pinning the places they want to go on a trip, to find them later when exploring the city.

“It has come to my attention that not everyone plans a trip this way, and ever since I started doing this, I can’t look back,” she says.

Describing her travel hack, she begins: “You’re going to create a Google Map first – search for Google My Maps.”

She demonstrates finding a destination on her fresh Google map, searching for places she wants to visit there, including restaurants, sights, bars and parks.

“You’ve got all these ideas from TikTok and Instagram, so what you’re going to do is stick them all on the map,” she explains.

“And organize them by groups like attractions and activities and food.”

You can identify each category by right-clicking on a pin and choosing a specific color for it; say, orange for restaurants and purple for sightseeing spots.

“Don’t book a hotel or an Airbnb yet,” she warns in her TikTok captions at the start of the video.

Then comes her tip about booking accommodation. “Do a quick Google search for where the best recommended areas to live are and compare that to your map.”

“And now you know where the best place is you to become is, based on what you will do.”

Jessica also recommends pinning the locations of airports, ferry ports and train stations to influence where you book accommodation.

She adds that the DIY map also helps you plan your itinerary from day to day, by grouping nearby things to visit or suggesting a logical order of things to do and see in each area.

Once you’re on your trip, she recommends pulling up the map on your phone to see which of your hit lists are closest to you at any given time.

Thousands of commenters posted under the video to praise Jessica’s trip planning skills.

One added an extra tip to avoid relying on data and wifi abroad: “Pro tip – download the map so you can pull it up OFFLINE and never get lost in the city you’re in.”

“I started one for my trip to Japan after seeing this, total game changer thank you!” wrote an impressed follower.

“This is the best video I’ve found on TikTok. Thank you!” raved another.

“You tackle the world theme park style,” one fan joked of the hack.

“As I have spent hours googling each address to see how close/far they were to the hotel or attractions…. THANK YOU,” said another.