Most trips fall apart at the planning stage, not on the road. This is the method our planners actually use, and it fits in one evening. You need a paper map of Georgia, three anchor points, and a rough idea of how much driving you are willing to do.

Start with the map, not a screen. Spread it out and mark three anchors: one place you are certain about, one you are curious about, and one you would never have considered. In Georgia those might be Kazbegi, Vardzia and Tusheti. Three points make a shape, and the shape tells you whether the trip is realistic before you have booked anything.

Then apply the 60-30-10 rule. Sixty per cent of your nights go to the anchor you care most about, thirty per cent to the second, and ten per cent to somewhere en route. Almost every bad itinerary we are sent is a straight line through five places in seven days — a spreadsheet rather than a trip. The 60-30-10 split forces you to choose.

Now check the driving honestly. Georgian roads are slower than the distance suggests: two hundred kilometres on the Military Highway is four hours on a good day and six in rain. If your map shape needs more than three hours of driving on more than two consecutive days, change the shape. It is much cheaper to redraw a map than to reschedule a trip.

Finally, leave the tenth night. Whatever you have planned, keep one day with nothing in it. It is the day the weather window opens, the day someone invites you to a supra, the day the pass is closed and you need somewhere to go instead. Every good Caucasus itinerary we have built has an empty day in it. Yours should too.