Tips for Planning Your Next Vacation

Aug 28

You’ve been dreaming about taking a vacation. Wouldn’t it be nice to just forget about your responsibilities and just live in the moment for a few days? To get away from your everyday routine and just have fun.

But where to start? Planning travel can be stressful and overwhelming. You can become paralyzed by your options and end up never booking anything. Those vacation days go unused and you remain tired and burnt out. Sound familiar?

Lucky for you, I’ve got some great tips on how to plan your next vacation easily, so you can simply have fun.

Look at Your Calendar

Don’t just look at where you want to go in the next few months. Plan out your entire year.

Start by filling in vacation times (holidays, Spring Break, summer) and special occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, milestones).

Do any of those dates overlap?
Which of those dates would make for good vacation times for the family?

Try to find more dates than the actual number of vacations you plan to take so you have some flexible options.

Remember that popular vacation dates aren’t always the best vacation dates. If you can find off-season dates that work, you will be much happier. You are bound to see less crowds and better prices.

Get Intentional

Now that you have some dates decided on, it’s time to think about destinations, right? Wrong.

Before you decide where to go, think about what is important to you when you travel and what types of experiences you want to have. This is the most important part of planning your vacations because it will help provide clarity in what you are looking to get out of each vacation.

What is important to you when traveling?
What feelings do you want to have on vacation? (ex. - relaxation, adventure, family connection)
What do you want to experience on vacation?
What do you want to see and do on vacation?
What are you looking for in a resort - luxury, family-friendly?
What are your non-negotiables when traveling?

This may vary for each vacation you take, so make sure to do this every time you travel.

Also, don’t just do this alone! Get your family involved and find out what is important to everyone. Getting clear with your intentions will help you narrow down where you want to travel and what are the best destinations for you.

Destination Dreaming

Now for the fun part. Dream about your travels!

Make a list of the types of vacations you want to have and all of the places you want to visit. Don’t hold back.

Do you want to visit a tropical resort that the whole family will love?
How about a cultural, culinary tour?
A VIP Tour through your favorite theme park?
Or maybe an adventure on the Hawaiian Islands?

Write it all down! Don’t limit yourself by thinking of your budget or how much vacation time you have, just dream. Use your intentions to help guide you and create a juicy list of vacation spots .

Budget

Now for the not so fun part - budgeting. Wouldn’t it be great to have an unlimited vacation budget so you can visit all of those places you just listed. Unfortunately that isn’t a reality for most of us, so budgeting is key to get you where you want to go.

Start with an overall travel budget for the year. This is what you can spend on every vacation you want to take. Then look at the dates you’ve decided to travel and decide which of those dates will be your larger, mid-size and smaller vacations. Lastly, think about which destinations will work within your budget for that year and the size buckets you’ve created.

Work With a Travel Advisor

Pulling everything together can be difficult and having assistance when creating a plan is invaluable. There are so many reasons to work with a Travel Advisor and making your vacation planning easier and this is one of them. We have the expertise and the resources to be able to take your vacation dreams and turn them into reality while staying within your budget restraints.

Chat with your advisor and go over all of your intentions and the destinations you came up with. Be realistic with your budget for each vacation and your expectations within that budget.

We will be able to work with you to find destinations, resorts and plan every detail of your vacations to your family’s specific needs.

Revisit Your Plans

Like anything in life, it’s best to revisit your plans and goals to make sure you are on the right track. Maybe you got a bonus at work and can put some extra funds towards an upcoming trip for a room upgrade. Or maybe your kid’s sports schedule is now causing a conflict and you have to change plans. You never know what life will throw at you, so every few months take a look at the calendar you created and the budget you set aside for each vacation. Also, revisit your intentions and make sure they continue to be aligned with what you have planner

The perfect time to start thinking about the year ahead is when the kids go back to school. You’ve just come off of your summer vacations and are ready to get back into a routine and set some goals. You still have time to plan travel for the upcoming Holidays, Spring Break and the following summer.

I would love to hear some of the destinations you are dreaming of. Send me a email and share them with me!

Happy Travels!

Sarah McGovern https://halcyontravel.co