How to perfectly plan your holiday

Holiday Planner

How to perfectly plan your holiday? We have been asked a lot of times this particular question. The ideal recipe doesn’t exist because it is different for each individual destination of every country. The most important thing is knowing what you want and what you want to get for your money.

Sometimes it could get nerve wracking if you want to go somewhere and don’t know how to start. Not everybody has the privilege of being in a constant time off from work and most people have to apply for some free time, even months ahead.

In some unfortunate events, even some not very trustworthy travel agencies will start pushing discounted holiday packages, even if they are off-season. Trust me, I have seen a lot of offers for Miami in hurricane season. This kind of holiday is a lottery that no one wants.

So, knowing what you want is the main point from where you will start your holiday planning. It is a step-by-step process and if you are sure about something, it will lead you to the other step and so on.

The main words to remember, when planning your perfect holiday, are:

Season
Time
Holiday Type
Destination
Desires
Locations
Transportation
Accommodations

Season

This is one of the main factors that will decide on your destination. It is only partially applicable if you want a city break, or to spend a week in a very big city, because the most visited cities, can be visited all year round.

The time of the year you want to take your trip, will decide which is the best place to go. For a winter holiday, you can go to the mountain side, visit cities that are famous for their Christmas Markets or you want to escape the cold, in a tropical destination.

For tropical destinations, check first their dry and wet season. In South East Asia, the wet season starts mostly in December, but for the Caribbean Countries, December is the start of the dry season.

In summer months, the list of beach destinations will grow, especially in Europe. Who doesn’t want to go to Greece, Italy or Croatia for holiday?

Time

The amount of time you can go on a trip is also very important when deciding for a destination. If you have only one week available to travel, would you go somewhere that is only reachable through three plane flights and spend almost four days from seven, just traveling? The best decision in this case is to pick something with short (less than 6 hours) direct flight, to be able to enjoy more of the place you are in.

Time also means money, the more you stay, the more you will pay. For some particular destinations, the budget will not be that hardly affected by the time spent there. In general, for very touristy places in Europe, U.S. and the Caribbeans, if you want to stay more, plan a bigger budget.

Also, time decides the destination even if it is for a longer period of time. If you spend two weeks in Egypt, that is more than enough to relax and also to visit. But, if you plan on visiting Italy in two weeks, it will transform in “just two weeks” because in Italy, in each region, you must spend at least five days.

Holiday Type

There are many types of holidays. The list is long and it is one big factor in your planning:

Seasonal Holiday – mountain side in winter for skiing, going to the beach in summer etc.
City Breaks – visiting a small city, mostly in weekend. Some will go even to big cities for 2-3 nights.
City Holiday – when you visit a big city, that has a lot to offer (Paris, Rome, Athens, London, New York City). This usually takes 5-7 days.
Shopping Destination – some big cities are crowded by tourists in sales season (Milan, Dubai, Istanbul)
All Inclusive Holiday – when you go to a resort and have your meals and drinks included. This type of holiday is popular for some beach destinations.
Explorer Holiday – when you go to a country or region and explore different cities and landmarks. All you do is visit, taste their food, enjoy their seaside/mountainside and blend with the locals.
The combination holiday – you can make some incredible combinations for each type.

Some examples: In Florence – went on a city break/shopping destination in sales season. Visited most important objectives in the city, but we also spent a day in a very big outlet. In the Dominican Republic we made a All Inclusive/Explorer/City Break mixture, because we have stayed in a resort for a week, spent 3 nights visiting Santo Domingo and also spent other days exploring different locations. And the examples may go on forever.

The fact is that you must decide what type of holiday do you want and need, because this will narrow down your list.

If you are planning an All-Inclusive holiday, I suggest reading this article: https://traveliciousduo.com/how-to-choose-an-all-inclusive-resort/

Destination

After the decision was made, now the fun begins. This is the main factor of the entire holiday planning and it also sets the most important topic: how to get there?

Car

The easiest one in planning. This type of transportation doesn’t require much planning or booking in advance. But some important things to point out are:

Check the border status and entry requirements. Make sure to have all your documents. Comply with the customs rules.
From time to time, check on your route. Do not select it two months before, some roads will close or some highways will be opened. The day before your departure preset your route. Check also with satellite view images, to avoid narrow roads.
Check your car, before traveling (oil level, tires pressure) and also road taxes in your way. Some countries have road taxes that you will pay at different check points, some will have from the entrance, one standard road tax.
Make sure you had enough sleep, if you are driving.

Plane

The tricky part, if you care about your budget and also your comfort. For the destinations that are closer to the departure city, it is not necessary to book a ticket with months in advance. They always have an offer for direct flights in easy to reach destinations.

For far away countries, it is hard work. You will have to hunt for offers. First search the lowest amount payable to a ticket to that particular destination. With that number in mind, you will make your decision on the cost. If the lowest ticket price was 400$ and now it costs 430$, it means that this is also a good offer. But if they present you a 700$ ticket, wait and search more.

Top rules for buying an airplane ticket, if you care about your money, are:

Travel on week days, avoid weekends.
Buy in advance (at least 3 months for difficult to reach destinations)
More layovers, more months before traveling
The bigger the layover, the cheaper the ticket.

Desires

What do you wish from this holiday? Start your research on what you would like to do, to visit, to eat, to experiment. What your heart desires from that destination? Put it on a list.

Making research, reading articles, watching vlogs is very important. Now the information provided online is gold. You can go with the flow sometimes, but when planning a dream holiday, it is better not to have some surprises.

Your list should include:

Things that you want to visit (read more articles and then, make your personal choice list)
Top things you want to do (swim with the dolphins, explore a cave, go parasailing, go to the beach etc.)
Restaurants to try (big thanks to https://www.tripadvisor.com/)

These types of lists are very important in choosing your location, transportation, budget and day planning.

Locations

In a longer holiday, you can include more locations. The desires list is the key in deciding your next stays. The things you are planning, should be divided by their cities/regions and for each group, you should start researching the best location.

If they are very close to each other, you can stay somewhere in the middle or in your favorite city from that group. If they are apart, take in consideration the distance between them and the time spent traveling.

Staying in different locations, depending on your desires, will save you some money. Otherwise, you will have to book a tour, that will bring the cost to a higher level.

As a plan idea, start with the nearest city from the airport, then go in a circle way.

City A (near airport) -> next location -> ….-> city B (also near to the airport). This way, when you will arrive, you will be close to the hotel and in the day, you will leave, you will be near the airport and not have to worry about getting there in time.

Transportation

It is very important to know how you will get from point A to point B, in advance. Your time is precious, don’t spend it asking for info at the hotel.

Find out how to get from your hotel, to the places you want to visit. Check out their metro/bus system. How to pay for the ticket and what type of ticket suits you? Plan your day and plan your routes.

If you have multiple locations inside a country, that will be at 100+ km apart, search for car options. Is it ok to rent a car or to hire a driver for that day? How much will it cost me?

Accommodations

This is also your choice and what will suit you. It depends enormously on the type of holiday you choose to go and what is the local offer. In some places the rented apartments will cost half the price of the hotel and you can stay somewhere nice with less money. Sometimes, the apartments will cost as much as a hotel. In this case, the hotel is the best option: you have breakfast, everyday cleaning and many other amenities.

The budged is also an important factor, but sometimes you can stay at a 5 stars hotel with the same amount spent at a 3 stars hotel. Always book with free cancellation and from time to time, check the offers. You don’t know when a better deal will appear. Also, subscribe to hotel loyalty memberships. They have offers just for the members and are better than on any other website. If you prefer a certain website, stick with it. Maybe now is with 20$ more expensive, but you will get loyalty points that will be valuable in your next trip.

Time to Plan

Even we, have to start planning very soon. The most important advice is to follow the steps and realize what you want to get from this holiday. It doesn’t mean that you should be a control freak if start doing it. Planning your holiday will help you save time, money and disappointments. It will make your holiday from regular, to perfect. Everyone can travel to a certain location, but it is your job to make it a heart destination. Planning your perfect holiday is so…

Travelicious

27 Jul, 2022