Traveling is like doing sports—the more you do it, the better you get at it.
Over the past years I have traveled to 25 countries. Over those years I have developed a certain strategy for me to visit as many things as possible without having to rush and plan too much.
And today, I will share that strategy with you! 
You might have seen some of my travel blog posts about Madeira, or Istanbul where I guide you around the places I travel to. You will be doing the same soon!
As for the strategy, there are just 3 simple steps. Research, Mapping, Explore.
1. Research
Ofcourse, it all starts with research. Everyone has different interests, and you should tweak how you research according to that. Personally, when I travel, I want to have a good mix between hotspots and hidden gems.
There are 2 types of research needed before you travel:
Places to visit
I usually Google the following keywords to get to define my places to visit:
“Best places to visit in -destination-”
“Best places to visit in -destination- like a local”
“Hidden gems to visit in -destination-”
Places to eat
I usually Google the following keywords to get to define my places to eat:
“Best places to eat in -destination-”
“Best places to eat in -destination- like a local”
“Hidden gems food places in -destination-”
What I usually do for the places to eat, is to skip the first page on Google and go to the second page and further.
Why? The biggest blogs are covered on the first page, and a lot of times restaurants are paying those influencers money to have them something write about them. What you need are the honest bloggers (preferably locals), not getting paid for it. They will give you the most valuable information!
2. Mapping
You do this step simultaneously when you are searching for the places in step 1.
The trick here is to be consistent in the list type that you use for types of places.
The better you do your prep here, the easier it gets to write reviews after as well!
For example, here is my legenda for my Maps:
Heart - Activities / Places to visit
Star - Places to eat
Flag - Important places: hotel, airbnb,…
3. Explore
Many people lose themselves planning too much and lose the enjoyment this way.
But here comes the interesting part. The better you do your Maps arrangement, the easier it gets when you are at your destination!
This was my prep before Madeira:
I had a car in Madeira. All I did was taking the car and cover for certain areas my “hearts”, which are the things to do. If I was hungry, I always had restaurants in each area covered so I did not lose time there searching for one!
Here is an example of what I did during my week trip. This way I was certain that I could visit everything. 
I really hope that this will help you in the future, if it does please let me know!
Another golden tip, if you know that you will not have mobile internet at your destination. Download the map offline beforehand! This way, you will still be able to use Google Maps and navigate between the places, even without mobile internet.
Stay safe,
Stephen
There are many of them.