Today's installment is all about the planning and saving. If you have a envelope get it out now or go to your bank and open a vacation account. Then start sucking up and doing favors for everyone you would trust to watch your kids. If you are going on a big vacation with your hubby. You can't go without those awesome family members who are willing to watch your kids. We have been so blessed that my sister and sister in law has offered to help watch our kids for us.
Now the fun part start looking into where you want to go. Some things to pay attention to.
1. Safety ( We really wanted to do Egypt but yeah that's not happening)
2. Will it be over seas?
3. What's the exchange rate? (Italy sucks for that, you lose money instantly)
4. How long do you want to go?
5. What season ( Always go in off or shoulder if you can. Its cheap and less crowded)
6. Holidays ( Italy has a couple every month, things are closed check it out first)
7. Transportation (Are you brave enough to drive or would it be easier to just take metro, trains bus.)
8. Where are you staying big fancy hotels, apartments, condos, house, hostel, someones couch (Yes, there is a website for it, but that's another post)
and finally the big one.
AIRFARE !!
This was a big one. Okay so you see all these awesome sights like Travelocity , Travelzoo, Great Value Vacations, and Hotwire that offer these amazing deals.
Sometimes they are even really good deals, but you want the best deal!
If you want your trip done and planned out for you then you may want to look into these. I don't like a place telling me how long I'm going to spend in one area, or that I have to stay in this hotel that's not that great and 1 hour way from the city. Also those great fares from New York are awesome, but they will charge you a hefty price to get there from your city.
Example: Today on Travelzoo , which is a site that gets you the best deals online. I love it! Through them there is a trip to Ireland. You can go for 9 nights with air and car for the low price of $1250 per person. That's not bad at all. Here is the thing, you need some extras. You will need trip insurance that will run you around $250 through this website, Car insurance $300, GPS with car, don't trust your cell phone in remote areas $100. Your trip has already increased by $650. Now if you don't live remotely close, to New York, your going to have to get there somehow. They will charge you anywhere from $200 to $400 + per person to fly from another state. So this awesome trip that started out at $1250 per person is now $2000 per person. If you think that's a good deal then take it, but you know, you could probably do better.
We booked our trip on our own. We are flying into Rome with 1 stop from the states, and flying out of Venice with 2 stops in the states. Also all flights are with the same carrier. We booked 9 months out and our tickets were $1000 per person with insurance. I was able to pick our seats also on each leg. If your not sure what seats are good on a plane. There is a great website Seat Guru. They will show you your plane, where the bathrooms are, and which seats have more or less room. When your going to be on a plane for 9+ hours , its pretty important to check this stuff out.
So on the same day I booked my flight I went back to those other websites and they wanted $1400+ per person for our flight.
If you want to get a good fare look around see what the lowest cost is , pay attention to lay overs and stops also. In a week period our flights fluctuated by $800 per seat. I was a flight Nazi for a week!
I went through Kayak to do ours. I checked today and its around $150 more per person. So not s huge difference but we checked a couple weeks ago and it $600 per person. It pays to check.
Also when you book pay attention to when you arrive. Depending where you are going you might not get there till the next day with time change. Pay attention to your layover time too. We would of missed our international flight had I not checked. A month the airlines changed our first flight out. It gave us a 30 minute transfer time to our international flight. We would of missed it!
They will give you the option of non refundable flights which is the cheapest.. take it from me splurge and pay a little for the refundable.
Its only by the grace of God that we are going on this trip. Our tickets are non-refundable and non transferable. So much has happened in the 9 months of us booking. its been scary.
Or you can make sure you go and just do the non- refundable. Cause trust me , the thought of losing $2000 dollars will make you withstand a lot!
Okay I know that was a lot to take in but I know people who would just pick the first flight they saw that was outrageous and decide they couldn't afford it. Don't miss out on awesome trips because you didn't do your homework.
At this point my trip to Italy has cost $2050 with Insurance. ( You need it but watch that fine print)
Tomorrow we will talk about where to crash while your on vacation!
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