Tag: Travel

Why Take a Pricey Tour When You Can Make Your Own Agenda?

by TravelPlanMom, posted in Planning, Travel, Travel with groups, Vacation

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” – Susan Sontag

On each vacation we take, I like to build out a plan ahead of time that serves as a guideline for our adventures. Creating an agenda can seem like a buzz kill if you like to live spontaneously, but I see it as something that gives us freedom to see and do without getting a last-minute disappointment. Like when something is closed on the day we drove an hour each way to experience or see it. This doesn’t happen if you plan a little ahead of time.

I am a planner. I obsessively plan before we go on vacation. Sometimes I drive myself crazy planning. I buy guidebooks of the area we are visiting. I visit TripAdvisor.com and:

  • I read the top 10 things to do in “insert destination name here”
  • I read the forum pages for the place or places we are visiting
  • I find the top restaurants in the area

I also Google the places I am going and find blogs that give advice about what to see and what to do. I look at Google images. And I like to get input from my family members as to what they would most like to do or see.

After gleaning information from all these sources, and taking notes, and highlighting, and noting the things that are most appealing to me (or what my family would like), I start paring it all down into a workable schedule.

How?

First, I write out all the days we are traveling, from the day we leave the house until the day we return. I include the details for getting there, including flight information, if we are flying, and rental car info, including reservation numbers and expected times of pick-up, etc. If we are driving, I include drive times and expected arrival times.

Second, I include all lodging information, including reservation numbers, addresses of any places we are staying, and phone numbers. And, if we are going to be purchasing food to prepare during the week, I make sure to schedule in time to hit a grocery story on the way to our accommodations.

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Third, I look at all of my travel research and begin writing down activities we want to experience, including the costs, grouping them together geographically for each day and noting the drive times between each thing. This is when it is good to look back at your travel research, or do a quick Google search to double-check the hours and days that an activity or destination is open.

Fourth, after deciding what area we are going to be in on a particular day, I then move on to figuring out our meals. If we are staying in a place that has a kitchen handy, or in a hotel that offers breakfast, the first meal of the day will usually be there. Vacations can be expensive if you eat out all the time, so I am definitely a fan of saving money where we can.

Also, can we pack a lunch for several of the days we are out and about? Even when we stay in hotels, I will usually bring a soft cooler in my luggage and pick up grocery items so that we can make sandwiches and have fruit, snacks, and drinks in our hotel room. Just about every hotel has free ice! A picnic lunch can be a nice, restful part of a trip, especially if a cool, shady park to enjoy it in can be found. Dinner is usually out, although if we are staying in a house with a kitchen, we will try to prepare and eat dinner there a couple of times.

So, where will we eat when we do eat out? This is where TripAdvisor.com comes in handy once again. And Yelp. And for me, this is one of the best parts of any vacation! I love trying new places and great regional specialties. Mexican food in the southwest is a little different from Mexican food in the southeast, and I want to experience it! And I would much rather have a meal at a hole-in-the-wall diner that is highly recommended by other travelers than a $50-a-plate ritzy restaurant that has good, but pricey food. But that’s just me. You may like spending all that money – to each his own! That’s the beauty of planning and doing your own thing.

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After I’ve got it all down on paper – travel arrangements, lodging info, daily activity schedule, meals info, etc, then I usually go back with a critical eye and start slashing some things. Because I generally want to do way more things than we actually have time for. And if we did every single thing that was written down on my very first draft, we would be exhausted and vacation would not be fun, and we would probably want to kill each other at the end of each day because we would all be very grumpy.

When I am finally happy with the final draft that is typed on my computer, I send out copies to my family members for their approval and ask for input. Is it too much? Are we doing stuff you will like?  Once everything is approved by everyone else, I take a picture of each page of the agenda with my phone, so I can easily refer to all the details while we are adventuring.

The Final Word

The most important thing about making all of these plans for a vacation that includes other people is flexibility! You have to be flexible! Things are never going to go exactly as you have planned them. That is just a fact of life. And you can’t treat an agenda like it must be followed. The goal of an agenda is to have a guideline, something that will help you see amazing sights and do a lot of fun things. People get tired. So go with the flow. And please, enjoy the experience!

I hope this has been somewhat helpful and informative for you.  I have more to share, so please stop by again soon!

Until next time – happy traveling!

Where Should I Stay?

by TravelPlanMom, posted in Bed & Breakfasts, Home Rentals, Hotels, Travel, Travel with kids

“You don’t have to be rich to travel well.” – Eugene Fodor

After you’ve decided where to go, the next question to answer is Where do I want to stay? There are now soooo many options for lodging while on vacation.  In order to answer that question, let’s ask a few more:

  • How many people will you be traveling with?  (Notice that I just ended that sentence with a preposition, which is really bothering me)  Anyway, will it be just you and your sweetie?  Traveling with kids?  A group of friends?  Or, like us, will you be adventuring with your adult kids and their spouses?
  • What are the ages of the people you are taking with you?  Will you have all adults?  Traveling with little ones?  Teenagers?

The amount of people joining you is a big part of the equation when deciding where to stay.  If it is just you and your sweetie, a hotel room or an efficiency would definitely be adequate in most situations.  Throw in the fact that you get daily maid service and even free breakfast in a lot of places, and a hotel room looks pretty good.  Also, hotels are usually pretty abundant in most places, especially where there are a lot of tourists around. (There I go again with the preposition at the end – arghh)

If you have several people in your group, and especially if you are footing the bill for most of them, it definitely pays to look for options other than hotel rooms.  Ditto for traveling with little ones.  You and the kiddos would probably be much happier with separate sleeping spaces.  In fact, once my older kids reached teenagerhood (that’s a word, right?), all five of us found it very difficult to share one hotel room due to different sleep schedules, snoring, sleep talking, and the usual annoying teenager habits (and I am sure they would have said, parent habits)!

For our family vacations, we have now rented an entire home, flat, or condo seven different times.  Six of those times I have used VRBO.com, which stands for Vacation Rentals by Owner.  They have been around for a while (founded in 1995), and in America, they have a strong presence and lots of properties to choose from.  They were acquired by HomeAway.com in 2006 and you can find some of the same properties on both sites.  HomeAway also purchased VacationRentals.com, which is another option for finding whole home properties.  On any of these sites, you can search out specific locations with or without specific dates and can review other people’s ratings of the properties.  This is a big help in choosing which property to reserve.  I always look for properties that have 5 star or close to 5 star reviews.  Once you have a reservation with one of these companies, you can download the HomeAway app on your smart phone and have all the needed relevant details of your stay right on your phone.  In fact, I just did that for our last trip and found it to be very helpful.

Another option is AirBnB.com.  This website offers a variety of rental choices, from one bedroom to a whole house.  Some people don’t like the idea of sharing a house with strangers.  Other people love it.  So, this can be an option if there is just one or two of you.  And, as I said before, you can rent a whole apartment or house through this website, also.  We used AirBnB when we traveled to Ireland in 2016.  VRBO and HomeAway just had fewer choices for accommodations in Dublin (and throughout Ireland, really), and I was able to search through several properties and find a two bedroom condo in the perfect location for what we needed.  One thing I really like about AirBnB, is that when you are searching through properties, all of the different amenities, like AC, wireless internet, washer and dryer, free parking, etc., are listed in the same area on each property’s page, so it is easy to quickly find out if a property has all of the amenities that you need.

When you decide to stay at a property that is a whole house or condo, you are able to save a lot of money on lodging.  For example, on our recent trip to Utah, we had five people (we were hoping for seven, but two couldn’t make it), and the house we rented had four bedrooms, three and a half baths, and a huge kitchen and dining area, living room, and a huge basement with another living area, a ping-pong table, and a washer and dryer.  And incredible views!

 

We paid around $275 per night, plus tax.  Compare that to staying in a decent hotel (like a Hampton Inn) in the same general area, at the price of $279 for one room.  You can see the savings can be amazing.  And, although we ate out quite a bit during the week, we were able to cook a few meals, pack a few lunches, prepare almost every breakfast, and keep our food nice and cold in the refrigerator, thereby saving quite a bit more money on our eats!  And the convenience of having our very own washer and dryer – wow!  Have you tried to do your laundry in a hotel?  Enough said.

If you decide to go the whole house or condo route, you should begin planning several months before your trip dates for the best selection.  The early bird gets the worm, as “they” say.  We reserved our May dates for our Utah destination in January, and if I remember right, about 40% of the homes had already been taken for those dates.

The last lodging option we will explore is the Bed and Breakfast.  Now, this is an interesting choice.  If you want to stay in a B&B in America, you are probably going to find yourself paying more for lodging per person than with just about any other choice, other than maybe a five-star hotel or a resort.  B&Bs in America tend to be oriented mostly toward romantic couples.  If you are traveling with kids, you may be able to find a room with an extra twin, but you will probably have to spring for an additional room at a high price.  Don’t get me wrong, I love B&Bs, but they usually aren’t very suitable to bigger groups, especially if one person is paying the bill.

If there are just two of you, and the object is a romantic get-a-way, then by all means, book a B&B!  A lot of them have a very nice, romantic ambiance, with stately bedrooms, quaint living areas, and very good breakfasts.  It definitely pays to do your research before you book.  Last August, my husband and I stayed in one in Savannah, Georgia, and thoroughly enjoyed our visit.  We were passing through from Florida and wanted to explore the city.  My only regret is that we only stayed one night.  It was on the pricey side for us, but it was an amazing experience, right in the heart of downtown Savannah.

 

 

While we are at it, I have to mention Irish B&Bs.  My husband, son, and I traveled to Ireland in 2016, and from all of my research on TripAdvisor and other places, I learned that in Ireland, B&Bs are the way to go.  For some reason, the whole pricing thing is totally different in Ireland.  It is much more economical to visit a B&B there than it is to stay at a hotel.  It is also such a great experience to stay at a Bed & Breakfast while traveling around the Irish countryside.  You get a much more realistic Irish experience.  First of all, you get served amazing breakfasts every morning.  I mean, eggs, sausages, beans, porridge, mushrooms, tomatoes, fruit, coffee, tea, juice, etc (not to mention the black or white pudding, which is a whole different story).  Of course, each place has their own way of doing things, but our breakfasts were amazing every day!  Also, your hosts have great insider tips for where to go and what to see.  So, if you are ever traveling to Ireland, please check out the B&Bs!

In conclusion, picking a place to stay on your adventure depends on your own personal needs and expectations.  There are, thankfully, a lot of options to choose from.  There are many more options I haven’t covered – including national park lodges, tent camping, RVing, etc., but those aren’t really my specialty.  If you are interested in one of those, I am sure you can find a lot of information about those on the web, too.

With a little bit of planning and research, you can have an amazing vacation and find a place that is perfect for you.  I hope that what I have shared helps you on your next adventure.  I have more info to dish out, so I’d love to have you visit again!

Until the next time – Happy traveling!

 

Deciding Where to Go and Using TripAdvisor

by TravelPlanMom, posted in Planning, Travel, Vacation

“Oh the places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss

Where do you want to go?  This is the question at the beginning of every adventure.  To answer this question, you have to decide:

  •  Who is going?  Is this trip going to be for adults?  For families with grown children?  For families with small children?  A group of friends?  Solo?  Answering this question is the most important for deciding what type of trip you want to take.

If you are a family with young children, and you are taking them on your adventure, then that obviously can limit what type of vacation you take.  Now, I know that some people will say that you can take your young’ns anywhere you want to go with no problem, but I, for one, believe in keeping my sanity.  I would not, for example, take small children on a hike up to Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park because I would probably die of anxiety in the process.  With drops of over 1000 feet on either side of a narrow path, I wouldn’t even want to take a teenager on that hike.  Heck, I wouldn’t even want to take myself on that hike.  But, you get the picture here, right?  In my opinion, if you are taking small children on your vacation, you want to choose a place where small children can have a good time, and mom and dad don’t pull their hair out.

  •  What type of vacation are you interested in?  Do you like adventure?  Do you like to be physically active?  Do you need to relax and unwind?  Do you want to explore unknown lands?  Do you want to float in the water for a week?  Are you a foodie?  Do you want to discover different restaurants and cuisines?  Do you want to go someplace where everything is planned for you – like an all-inclusive resort?  Do you love roller coasters?  Are you sick of the heat and want to go somewhere chilly, or are you “over” the winter cold and want somewhere tropical?

Unfortunately, my husband and I don’t usually totally agree on the type of vacation.  He is in a high stress job with lots of work hours, so his ideal vacation consists of floating in calm blue waters and having drinks with little umbrellas delivered to his float.

I, on the other hand, having my adventurous spirit fed by great books that take you to unknown lands, love to explore new places.  I also like to make sure that the other members of our family are entertained and have hands-on activities.  I also really enjoy finding great restaurants in the area we are visiting, and sampling regional specialties.  For example, on our recent trip to Utah and Nevada, we tried some local Mexican restaurants, which were a pretty different experience than Mexican food in Virginia.

Anyhoo, after deciding who is going, and what kind of adventure you desire, the next step is to decide where.

  • Where do you want to go?  Is there someplace that you read about in a novel that piqued your interest in that country?  Have you always wanted to visit the land of your ancestors?  Have you heard about an amazing national park?  If you are heading for a beach, do you want to be domestic or international?  Somewhere in the Caribbean?  British or American Virgin Islands?  If you have young kids, is there a city with hands-on science or children’s museums?  A beach resort with playgrounds and lazy rivers?

If you have an idea of the who, what and where, then that info is your springboard to start your research on the web.  If you know you want to visit a national park, use Google to find out which one works the best for you and your particular situation.  If you know you want a beach resort somewhere in South Carolina, put some key words in the search bar and look for “best family-friendly hotels South Carolina” and see what you find.

While we are on this subject, I have to mention TripAdvisor.  I have used TripAdvisor for every single trip that I have taken in the last several years.  It is a phenomenal source of information.  You can find info on just about anything that is travel-related.

For example, if you are traveling to a particular city, and want to find a nice hotel, you just go to TripAdvisor.com, select Hotels from the very top of the page, and then type the name of the city you will be visiting in the search bar and click “Find hotels” or hit enter.
One note – TripAdvisor, in the past, was purely an advisory website.  Now, when searching for the most recommended hotels, the website sort of pushes you to use their booking system.  I totally understand why, but you DO NOT have to use their booking system to take advantage of all the traveler advice that is available.  They do have some cost-savings if you use their booking, but you can choose to use it or book directly with the hotel.  Anyway, once you get the hotels list, look up near the top where it says “Sort by:” and click on “Traveler Ranked” and you will see the hotels listed by the highest rankings.  Usually there will be one “sponsored” hotel (which means a paid ad), followed by the list.  On the far right of the listing it will have the rank, for example, “#1 of 263 hotels in Las Vegas.”

You can also use TripAdvisor to find top-rated restaurants in a particular city.  They have an over-all list, but you can also find something in a particular category.  For example, when we were in Las Vegas, I searched in the “Cheap Eats” category to find a really good restaurant that was easy on the wallet.  You can also search based on the type of food, like Mexican or Italian.  So, go to TripAdvisor.com, select Restaurants from the options at the very top of the page, then type in the city you are visiting (example – San Francisco, California), then click “Find restaurants” and the list will come up on the next page.

Once you have decided on a destination for your next adventure, you can also find out a lot of information about the area by once again using TripAdvisor and going to a forums page.  This one is a little more tricky.  As much as I have used this website, I usually can’t navigate through the pages to find the forums very easily.

But first let me explain.  Just about any place you want to go, you can find a forums page for that destination on TripAdvisor.  When we traveled to Ireland last year, I visited the forums page for Ireland many, many times, and I found out so much excellent information there that helped me with my trip.  There will usually be posts on the right hand side of the screen that are answers to frequently asked questions.  Those posts will be there all the time.  There’s also a list of posts in the center of the page that are always changing, as new ones are always being posted at the top and moving the older ones down.  You can also ask questions and some fantastic people will answer them for you!  These are people that are so nice and they take time out of their day to share their expertise with you.  It really is amazing.

So, the easiest way to get to the forum pages is to just go to good old Google and type into the search bar “forums Ireland” or “forums Las Vegas” or “forums (insert your destination).”  This really is much easier than trying to go to TripAdvisor and trying to navigate around to the forums page you are looking for.

Well, I hope that the information that I have shared is helpful to you.  Some of it is pretty basic, and you might be thinking, “I already knew all this stuff!”  If so, please come back around!  And if you learned something new, please come back and visit again.  I have a lot more to share and will be adding much more in the days ahead.

Until the next time – Happy Traveling!