Journey Mapping

Hey all! Glad to be here again. Today I am going to create a journey map for the group vacation of my friend Paul.

Paul is 23 and we did our undergraduate program in Russia together. Expression that best describes Paul is “study hard and party hard”. Paul was great at teamwork. We conducted together several projects and he often came up with brilliant ideas. But when the partying time came, he was able to paint the town red nearly every time. And his group vacations were typically as crazy as his parties. Paul was very kind to tell me about one of the summer trips he organized.

The original goal for the trip was to take a rest from a difficult semester in a group of nice like-minded friends. As Paul recalls: “it was more like a tradition to go somewhere with friends in summer. We went on a hitch-hiking tour last June and it was awesome. For us it was clear already in March that we need to do something this summer, too”.

But this time the planning process looked a bit differently compared to previous years. Recognition of the need to start vacation planning happened during the birthday party of Paul’s girlfriend, Jess. Her best friend was showing the pictures from her last vacation in the Caribbean, when Jess exclaimed that she would like to go to the seaside. Paul was flabbergasted. He was planning something completely different than lying on a beach for two weeks. This trip promised to be less exciting than previous ones right from the start. Interviewing Paul via Skype I could perfectly see his facial expression. And this seemed to be the first of the several moments of truth that I have noticed during this interview. Such moments are essential for the creation of a deep-dive journey map (for further details, take a look at Designing for Growth, Chapter 4) and I was glad to capture them.

Let’s go back to Paul’s reaction. Though he was not completely satisfied with this suggestion, he did not want to spoil his girlfriend’s party and mood. As a result, the group vacation turned into a trip to the seaside.

Paul started planning the trip with friends by checking upon the disposable funds for the trip. Paul was working part-time during that period and had some money available. He was well aware of the summer trip and started saving early enough to cover an average trip’s costs. The initial check of funds confirmed Paul’s expectations. He was content that he could go on this vacation without borrowing any money from his parents. Financial independence was the thing Paul always worked hard for. Hence, Paul and his girlfriend could proceed to the next step, inviting friends.

Paul called his best friends, the ones he had already traveled with during several summer vacations. Although they had different kinds of obligations and commitments, all of them were able to find a two-week time for this group vacation. This way, the last two weeks of July were established as vacation dates. Paul’s girlfriend also called a couple of her friends. One of her friends (Jess really wanted her to travel with them) had already committed to an art workshop in New York for exactly the same dates. Paul’s girlfriend was certainly upset by this outcome but had to stick to the dates that satisfied the majority of the group. Paul mentioned, “I was glad she could not make it. It meant more time spent with my friends and girlfriend instead of exhausting shopping tours and dull art galleries. In the end, it was vacation with friends and not a traditional visit-all-museums-you-can trip”.

Desire of Paul’s girlfriend to spend vacation at the seaside considerably limited the list of available destinations. Paul and his friends had already visited Greece and Turkey and were unwilling to go to the same place or country twice, which created additional restrictions on the location choice. Paul remembered how desperate he was, trying to combine everyone’s preferences and funds available for the trip. In the end he just went on Google maps (present analogue of the school globe model) and picked Italy, primarily for its great, but reasonably priced resorts. Going from north to south of the country Paul considered all major resorts on the Adriatic Sea. Finally, he decided for Rimini, a city that was known for its combination of sea, clubbing and various tourist attractions. All members of the group were happy with this choice.

Since the friends have already agreed on the location for the trip, finding accommodation was quite an easy task. With the launch and development of booking.com website it has become possible to compare virtually all hotels in a city with just one mouse click. To make this website even more attractive, some hotels often provided special offers to reward early bookings. Browsing booking.com for hotels and hostels in Rimini, Paul was lucky to find one of this offers. He got a 50% discount for a three-star hotel located in a five-minute walking distance from the seaside. Also, the hotel was near the clubbing area and offered free bike rental. “This hotel had everything we needed. For half price”. I could still (after nearly three years!) feel how pleased Paul was with this hotel that offered great value for a discounted price.

With accomodation booked, Paul could move on to considering transportation options. Russia and Italy are separated by several thousand miles, therefore, the only transportation option considered was a plane. Paul used to be a participant of Alitalia’s frequent flyer program for several years and gathered the necessary amount of points to qualify for the reward flight. That exerted the major influence on his buying decision. But while purchasing plane tickets Paul experienced “the worst disappointment ever”. Just a week before Paul started the flight booking process, the airline changed its policy. Paul was now lacking several hundreds of points to get the flight. Paul was counting on this reward flight as a potential money saver. Moreover, two of his friends bought tickets earlier and qualified for the reward. Paul had to pay for the flight from his own pocket and was extremely upset about the whole flight booking experience.

The next step identified by Paul was purchasing insurance. After an injury in French Alps several years before the trip Paul never neglected buying medical insurance for vacation. This procedure is easy, cheap and could be finalized online. However, as Paul’s uncle works for a major insurance company, he decided to purchase the insurance directly at his uncle’s office. He also advised all of his friends to purchase insurance there. “It was not the matter of money or saving. I was happy to help my uncle reach his sales quota and get a quarterly bonus”, Paul recalled.

The milestone of obtaining a visa could sound weird for US and EU citizens but as a Russian you need to get a travel visa for trips to nearly all major tourist destinations. Application and visa issuance could take anywhere between a couple of days and several months. This explains the fact that Paul mentioned this step. “The whole process was usual but pretty fast”, as Paul pointed out, “we gathered all the necessary documents, printed our tickets and accommodation confirmation, and paid the application fee. Our visas were ready in just three days. Unbelievable!” The embassy issued all the documents on time and the last obstacle to the trip was removed.

The final step in the process involved planning possible activities while on vacation. Paul was not fond of booking every excursion or tour beforehand. Hence, he simply looked through the guidebooks and travel websites for information regarding good places to visit. To his surprise he found a picturesque castle and a bike route to it. “The hotel offered free bike rental. And the castle was just several miles away. A good alternative to wasting the whole day on the beach”. All of the friends agreed to undertake this small adventure upon arrival.

That’s it for today. I would be glad if you would post comments, make suggestions and provide constructive feedback. Take care and see you next week in my blog or in person.