Making Plans in English

Making Plans in English
We use the present continuous tense to talk about things that we are presently considering.

I'm thinking of going to …

We're planning to go to…

He's hoping to go to…

I'm toying with / playing with the idea of…

When your plans are all arranged

You can use the present perfect tenseto announce your plans:

We've decided to go to Greece.

We've settled on Spain, after all.

They've opted for a camping holiday in France.

We've booked a weekend in a boutique hotel in Paris.

Or use the going to future to talk about your intentions:

We're going to (go to) the Algarve for two weeks in July.

She's going to stay in a B&B in the Lakes with some work mates.

Note: if "going to" is followed by the verb "go to", you can omit "go to".
We're going to go to Paris = We're going to go to Paris.

Or use will to talk about definite plans that will happen in the future.

Next year we will stay at home rather than go on holiday.

We'll spend three weeks travelling around Asia, then come back at the end of September.

Other useful phrases

Here are some alternative expressions you can use in English to talk about your plans.

I've got my heart set on… (… a cruise next year.)

I've been dying to go to… (ever since I heard about it from my neighbour)

I'd love to go to Australia, but it's too far / too expensive

I can't choose between Morocco or Tunisia.

I'm torn between Italy and France.

When your plans aren't yet certain

It looks like… (… we're going to Cyprus)

As long as we can get our visa in time,we'll be going to the USA

We're not 100% sure, but we might be going to Egypt

It's a toss-up between Greece and Spain. (to toss a coin = to flip a coin to decide one choice or another)

We're on the waiting list for a villa in Tuscany.