Perhaps you’ve been dreaming of relaxing on a white powdered beach in the tropics or enjoying a leisurely walk along the French Riviera or a romantic night under the Eiffel Tower. Or maybe you haven’t chosen a destination, and are absolutely clueless as to where to go.
Either way, you are ready to begin planning your holiday and you’ll want to start sooner rather than later.
Follow this how-to guide to ensure you choose the trip that is right for you, at the right price!
Holiday Budget
First and foremost, decide upon a total amount that you want (or have) to spend on the holiday in its entirety - include travel, lodging, car hire, food, attractions and miscellaneous expenses.
Holiday Type
Decide on the type of holiday you want. Do you want to go somewhere to relax, stay busy, be adventurous or have the best of all worlds?
Time of Year
You will also want to take into consideration the time of year that you’re travelling. Prices are of course higher in peak seasons, and lower in off seasons. Make sure you know when the peak and off seasons start and end. The time of year may also interfere with what you plan on doing when you get to your destination. Make sure that the activities you are expecting to indulge in are available.
Choose a Holiday Destination
What do you like to do most that you wouldn’t get to do anywhere near home? What type of weather do you want to enjoy on holiday - hot, humid, dry, cold, freezing or somewhere in the middle? What kind of restaurants do you like? Would you like to go shopping? What are the attractions or activities offered in the area? How far are you willing to travel? Do as much research as possible. Most towns in holiday spots have good tourism websites and/or Chamber of Commerce websites. If not, there are individual sites that are dedicated to showing you the infrastructure of a specific town or city.
Account for Travel Time
If you’re looking to get away for a long weekend or a week or two, keep in mind the time that it will take time to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’. You want to ensure that you maximise the time you have to enjoy your trip and get the biggest bang for your buck. If you’re going to drive 10 hours or take a 12 hour flight, you may need to tack on an additional day to your trip.
Holiday Accommodation
Are you planning on staying for a long-weekend, a week, two weeks or a month? Would you like to stay in a bed & breakfast, motel, hotel, rental home or do a home exchange? Use TripAdvisor.com for reviews of resorts, hotels and travel packages. Priceline.com and LateRooms.com are good options to use when you’re looking for how a hotel has been rated by other holidaymakers. If you’re looking for rentals, check out HomeAway.com, VacationTimeshareRentals.com, A1Vacations.com, CyberRentals.com, VacationRentals.com and VillasIntl.com. Evaluate your needs. Do you need a place on or near a beach? Is a pool important? What types of amenities are available? Do you need a hotplate, microwave or refrigerator in the room? Are you going to eat your meals out most of the time or eat-in? Is the hotel or house close to a crowded area? How important is air conditioning?
Finding the Best Holiday Deal
Typing the phrase ‘best travel deals’ in to a Google search will result in the top travel sites popping up (Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com, Priceline.com, Travelzoo.com, Hotels.com). To make your search easier and faster, you can use Kayak.com which is almost like a travel comparative search engine. It searches over 140 travel sites at once for the best deal quickly. Search for deals on flights, hotels, cars, cruises and package deals. You can also use the buzz feature which will give you ideas on where to go, and even highlights the most popular choices. Once you’ve made your choice, the site will send you to the destination of where you can purchase.
If you’re not pressed for time, and are travelling via air, you will definitely want to check out Farecast.com and airfarewatchdog.com. Farecast.com will predict whether a specific fare will go up and down, and will then recommend a purchase depending upon when the best deal is available. At times, airlines will offer amazing deals – Airfare Watchdog posts about these deals very quickly and also picks up some deals from some of the smaller named airlines that wouldn’t show up on Kayak.com.
Now that you’ve got the tools ready to follow through on your plans, what are you waiting for? Get started and enjoy yourself!
Join us
The best part of Female Forum is our community. Take a look at our forums and join the most welcoming and friendly online community around.
Share this article
Email Tweet This! Share on Facebook Stumble Digg Save to Delicious
If you enjoyed this article, you may like to subscribe to Female Forum. Subscribing is free and ensures you won't miss any future articles.
What do you think?
Discuss this article here, or chat about other topics in the forums.