Decision 1- Am I ever likely to visit again?
This is important to establish at the beginning of the plan as you don't then have to cram everything in. There are so many places to potentially visit, one trip is never enough. This is the same wherever you go.
The problem is, you have no way of knowing you'll ever get the chance to go again. As a result of this, you have to decide what you see now, and what you leave for another time. And, should you never visit again, would you be upset that you forget to see certain things.
I hope to visit again (assuming I enjoy this trip). So pressure is off for trying to see it all.
Decision 2- What are you hoping to achieve from your visit?
Are you going for relaxation, sight-seeing or something else?
Of course, subsequent visits might have a different agenda. So priorities might change.
This is a complex question. I want to get a sense of the country, a feeling for it's history, I want to have time by myself to really reflect on everything. I am not going to say that I want to 'find myself' like you hear gap-year trusterfarians say all the time. I know who I am, I like who I am, and I just want to spend time with me being who I am.
This rules out time spent in cities; I prefer the opportunity to be away from the madness and spend time in places were life is slower. Those are the places were I am most at peace.
Decision 3- what proportion of my time do I want to spend travelling about?
Well, I guess this depends on the mode of transport. In an airplane, you spend less time travelling but don't see much of the country close up. Alternatively, going by bus means you get to see more of the country but spend more time travelling.
Given that some journeys by bus can be over 15 hours, it is likely that I might have to take at least 1 internal flight. Possibly between Bogotá and Santa Marta. Not sure what my route is yet, so this is going to need some thought.
Planning this trip has plenty of decisions yet to be made.
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