Let the countdown begin! Pre-planning your vacation can help you save time and money, and make sure that you have the most enjoyable trip possible. Whether a quick getaway, beach holiday, cruise, or opting for a staycation, consider these pre-planning vacation tips to ensure your trip goes off without a hitch.
Pre-Planning Vacation Tips
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Taking time off to refresh and reset is crucial to your well-being, and that’s why vacations are an important part of life. But it’s also important to take as much stress out of the actual trip as possible. Pre-planning your vacation can help you save time and money, and make sure that you have the most enjoyable trip possible.
The more prepared you are before going away, the less stressful and rushed you will feel the days before your vacation. Start preparing 3 or 4 weeks before. Make a to-do list of everything and double or triple-check to make sure it’s been ticked off. And make sure you have your passport somewhere safe.
These pre-planning vacation tips will help you plan the perfect vacation.
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Purchase Travel Insurance
We can’t stress enough to you how important travel insurance is. No matter where you go, purchase travel insurance before you go. Travel insurance may cover cancellations, so buying it as soon as you book is important. Travel insurance may cover medical costs, gadgets as well as luggage, and (as mentioned above) cancellation. Depending on how often you travel, consider purchasing an annual travel insurance policy.
Read More: Tips for the Best Travel Insurance
Book Treatments In Advance
You want to look your best when going away! One of my top pre-planning vacation tips is to spoil myself to look and feel better on my trip. Within the weeks before travel, consider any beauty treatments, from haircut or style to laser hair removal, and book in advance of your upcoming vacation. If traveling with others, why not invite them along with you as a way to get excited together as your vacation approaches? Sometimes beauty salons offer group discounts.
Research local restaurants
Sampling local cuisine is one of my favorite adventures on a vacation. Dedicate time to doing your research on the local eateries – it’s fun and will get you excited!
If specific popular restaurants in mind, booking in advance will help ensure you get a reservation. Plus, doing your research, stops that moment where you just panic and eat at any location as you don’t know where to dine.
When doing your research, read the Trip Advisor reviews, for insight into other diners’ experiences.
Read more: How To Find Local Things To Do In Any Travel Destination
Go Shopping!
New clothes always make the holiday more fun — and you feel better too! A new swimsuit, pair of flip-flops, a hat, tops, new shoes, the list goes on. Online shopping (I’m looking at you, Amazon!) may be beneficial as you can shop the sales, but high street shopping is an excuse to spend the day out. Of course, bring your fellow holidayers with you as this is another reason to get excited for the holiday as well as spend some time together – why not grab something to eat whilst you are out? As the day approaches, start to think about any washing that needs doing, this way you can wash and dry it, in time to pack and bring it away with you. If you are going to any formal events, you may need to take your suit to the dry cleaners beforehand as well – if you enjoy cruising they sometimes put on a formal night as an excuse for everyone to dress up.
Holiday upgrades
Treat yourself and UPGRADE for a more luxurious vacation. Have you considered upgrading to an airport lounge? Purchasing a luxury transfer? Or going for a first-class flight instead of a standard one? Save for those little extras to create an even more memorable vacation experience.
Research
Depending on who you are traveling with, there will be a range of things that you all want to do. It’s best to do your research before going away, this way you can put together a plan so that you all get to do the things you want to do. By doing research, you’ll also be able to make sure you don’t miss anything key in that location – for example, if you are staying in London and near the London Eye, you’ll want to make sure you visit Big Ben and The National Gallery. We would suggest putting together a spreadsheet, this way you can easily document everything you would like to do.
How Much Does Your Luggage Weigh?
Ouch, that extra charge for overweight luggage is a Debbie-downer at the airport. An important pre-planning vacation tip is to try to get organized and pack your suitcase.
By packing in advance, you’ll know the weight of your luggage. Or if you need to upgrade to a bigger suitcase, or prepay for a check-in suitcase, you’ll save money rather than paying at the airport. A couple of tips for packing when going away would be, to use packing cubes, roll your clothes, leave your beach towel, and put your liquids in a ziplock bag – this will save you time when going through security.
Is your mobile data included?
Another dent to your vacation budget is roaming charges on your cell phone. Another important pre-planning vacation tip, is your mobile data included in the country or countries you are visiting? Reach out to your mobile provider and double-check exactly what is included. Roaming abroad can get expensive and if you get charged outside your contract allowance, you may get a surprise bill at the end of the month. (We put a spending cap on our phone contract to try and avoid this). If the country is outside your contract, you may find your provider will have some add-ons that you can purchase to make it cheaper for you.
Prepare your home while you are away
There is so much excitement when going away and preparing that you may forget to prepare your home while on holiday. When we say prepare we mean, clear out the fridge so the food doesn’t go moldy whilst you are away. You may want to bring inside your outdoor furniture, in case of a storm as well as redirect any packages you expect. Other things to prepare at home whilst you are away are your security features (alarm, cameras, etc.), take out any rubbish, put your lights on timers, and ask your neighbor to collect any post.
Get everything sorted at work
The last thing you want is to be stressed about work on your vacation. Whether you are a freelancer or employed, make sure you have suitable cover and have ticked off any urgent tasks. We would always suggest deleting your work emails whilst away, this way you have no temptation to check them – when you start checking, this can be a dangerous slope. Put an out-of-office on as well, this way the people reaching out to you know you are on holiday and when you will be back. You can always put your mobile number in your out-of-office for anything really serious, however, this can sometimes backfire. Instead, you may want to put a colleague’s number down – they can always contact you if it’s urgent
We hope the above pre-planning vacation tips are helpful. What tips would you like to share that you think will help our readers?
