List all the things you would like to do during the day. Whittle this list to 10 items. Circle two items that are indispensable and put the others aside for the moment.
Select one of your indispensable activities and pick a starting time for it. Call the location to get its hours of operation. Determine how long it will take you to get from your hotel or residence to the first location, and add at least an hour to account for possible delays. Subtract this from your first activity's start time to determine your time of departure. If you're leaving in the morning, leave yourself plenty of time to eat breakfast.
Schedule your meals. Meals are just as important as other activities, because they provide you with the energy you need to enjoy yourself. Give yourself plenty of time to eat. Meals also provide you with the down time you need to keep from burning out.
Select a starting and ending time for your other essential activity, which will be your last of the day. By spacing out the most important things you want to do, you will be able to get to both even if you are held up at some point. As before, call ahead for the location's operating hours. Add to the ending time of the activity the travel time you will need to get back home, and an extra hour just in case, to figure your return time.
Draw a route on a map from your point of departure to your first destination, to your second destination, then back to the starting point. Use the map to locate any of the remaining items on your top 10 that are reasonably close to this route. You can use these to fill in the time between your top two destinations and meals, but you can skip them if you decide to spend more time at your favorites or are delayed.
