If you’re anything like me, then you’re a planner and you probably already have an idea of where you’re next few trips will be. I wish that I could just find a flight deal for a random, amazing location and go but I’m always so focused on looking ahead, I never have the time for something last minute. I hope that changes in the future but for now, that’s just me.

2019 is around the corner – we have less than 6 weeks left of 2018, and with this week being Thanksgiving, you know there will be some pretty fantastic travel deals on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday. Last year, Marriott had great deals on hotel stays and I heard that this year, Travel Tuesday will be the day to book airfare because most airlines will be lowering their rates assuming most people will have booked their holiday travel already.

Every year around September, I start to really think about where I want to travel the next year. While I won’t purchase my airfare more than about 8-9 months out, I do decide on dates that I want and start to get an idea about an ideal itinerary. Specifically, I do the 7 things listed below to prepare for the next year’s travel plans.

1. Apply for a rewards credit card

We apply for a new credit card every few months and monitor our credit score often. Although some people open several cards at a time, I know when I can and cannot meet the spending limit so it’s one card at a time for me. I’m still accruing points and miles for our trip to Asia in 2020 so the points I’ll earn from this new card are going to towards that trip but let me tell you why now is the perfect time to open a rewards credit card:

Holiday shopping

Is there another time in the year when you’ll be spending hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars in such a short amount of time? Probably not. So it only makes sense that if you’re going to spend the money anyway (and hopefully have the cash to spend first), why not make those purchases on a rewards card, earn the bonus and make your money work for you? A simple google search can give you an idea of what cards have what bonuses at the moment and decide which one is best for your future travel plans.

We have 3 months to meet the minimum spend to get the bonus on our new card and we will definitely meet the requirement with holiday spending and vacation in the next several weeks.

Remember that it will take between 6-10 weeks after the statement closing date from when you meet the minimum for you to see the points or miles hit your accounts and this depends on the card issuer. So if you do plan to use your reward points for travel in the near-ish future, try not to count too much on the miles you’ll be accruing from any credit card bonuses right now as you probably won’t have them on time.

2. Get your calendar ready

We are going to visit Switzerland next year in August and decided a few months ago what weeks we would be visiting. Now that I have an idea of when we’re visiting, I’m keeping an eye out for flight deals from my area to Switzerland around that time. When I say to get your calendar ready, I mea that you should make a list of places you would like to visit in 2019 and then consider the following:

• When is the off-season for this location?
• How long do I want to stay?
• Can this trip wait until the following year?

Only you know your schedule, how much time you can be away from work, school, family, etc. so be honest with yourself about what your year can look like. Friendly reminder to consider familial or friendly obligations such as weddings, etc.; those should be first on your list.

3. Be honest about your budget

If you’re like me, you would love to go to the Seychelles for your anniversary. But if you’re also like me, you have fiftyleven weddings to attend next year on top of your personal and professional travel obligations so a lux trip to a tiny island nation is absolutely not going to happen.

I usually budget for trips by deciding that I want to go somewhere and then doing some research on what it will cost to go as conveniently as possible. I know that direct flights or short layovers to Switzerland are going to be more expensive so I will probably break that up with a long layover to save money that I know I will need for hotels and food. I also already know that hotels at that time of year are going to be pretty pricey, so we will more than likely stay at Airbnbs more often then hotels while we’re there. Sometimes great hotels have fantastic deal, like when we went to Mexico this summer and we were able to stay at the Four Seasons in a beautiful room that I couldn’t pass up. In that case, my budget could stand a little convenience.

Pro-tip: Because travel is so important to us, we have automatic transfers to a savings account just for travel; when we get paid, my vacation savings gets paid too. And if there isn’t going to be enough money in that account by the time we would be going somewhere, that trip can’t happen. This trick ensures that we always vacation within our means.

4. Request the time off work

Whoops. This is a big one and probably should be a little higher on your to-do list. I am lucky enough that I can put “AO Out of Office” on my calendar and then schedule myself around any absences. Because I do this, even tentatively, so far in the future and my year is pretty predictable, I don’t worry too much about being denied time.

But if you have to put your time in at the beginning of the year for the whole year, deciding on your travel plans, or at least the days and weeks you want to be away, is important to do now.

5. Set flight alerts

Kayak allows you to set flight alerts for any itinerary and then sends you daily updates on the price of those flights. You can even set your alerts to include what class of travel you prefer (premium economy, basic economy, etc.) I’m not sure how far in advance you can set an alert but most airlines allow you to book about 330 days in advance.

6. Check your account balances

This is an important one. I actually have a spreadsheet with my and my husband’s reward account balances across every airline and hotel brand that we collect rewards with. Even though I’m loyal to Marriott, when my job has me stay at a Hilton, I collect rewards for that stay. And sometimes we stay at Hyatt hotels and, that’s right, I have a rewards account there too. Same with airfare. While most of my miles are with American Airlines, I also have accounts with every other big airline for when AA doesn’t have the best price or itinerary. If you’ve already planned your 2019 travel and can save some money by using hotel points or airline miles, it is important to know if you have enough points/miles and if you don’t, build a strategy to get enough. Which leads me to my last point in what you can do to prepare for next year’s travel right now:

7. Earn points and miles

The last, but maybe most important, thing you need to do before the end of 2018 is decide what points/miles you need and how you’re going to get them. Some airlines will have Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday sales on miles purchases as well as general end of the year sales. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to purchase miles so be sure to do the math on whether the amount of miles you need is worth the price.

Pro-tip: One thing I love about hotel points is that some times you can use a combination of points and money to pay for your stay. This cuts down the out-of-pocket costs associated with your accommodations and doesn’t require you to earn so many points for a hotel stay. Be sure to look into the options for your preferred hotel in your desired destination and dates (be sure they aren’t blacked out from redeeming points.

Do you do anything around this time of year to plan for the year ahead that’s different from this list? Let me know in the comments!