Researching Your Vacation

Yes.  Believe it or not. Vacation takes some research to plan.  But I am sure you don’t want to just get somewhere and be clueless as what there is.  There is plenty to do with planning your vacation.  Researching and planning your vacation can actually save you some BIG BUCKS! Being a family with kids, you have to have some sort of plan of what you would like to, what you want to see and what you could see if you have the time. Time and kids. This is one of the reasons as to why we don’t write up an itinerary.  Everyone’s time is different.  I say time in italics because everyone’s description for time is different.  Between potty breaks, eating (forever), resting and etc., sometimes we just can’t get to everything… but guess what?  That is perfectly OK (to us that is)! We have landed ourselves in Paris two times and we have not stopped! We loved Paris!

So what do I do to help us prepare? So for our upcoming trip to London I created a group on Facebook and titled it by our trip’s name (i.e. Our “_____” trip).  Why?  That way when I am finding things on the internet I can put the link on the wall and can find it right away instead of scrolling through posts on my wall.  Not only that, I also compiled everything that I found into a word document.  I put our flight information, our apartment’s information, how to get to the train at the airport, to Liverpool Station and then also to our apartment.  I also have an attraction list (which includes how much attractions cost, where they are located, who they would appease and so forth). It is always nice to be prepared. Right? And like I said if we don’t see everything we want… that is ok! We can come again!

So here are some tips to ask yourself when you are planning your next trip:

  • When is the best the best time go? Weather? Any festivals going on? Season?
  • How much you want to spend? Or… how much you NEED to spend,
  • Where you want to go.
  • Where are you wanting to stay? More central? Outside of town? Apartment? Hotel? Castle? Glamping?
  • Driving? Flying? Bus? Train?

Those all play a HUGE part.

Budgeting: First of all, you need to set a budget.  Is it just you? Family? Couple? For us, it is usually ALWAYS me + 3 kids. Most of the time, my husband tags along if he can.  Now since it is during the school year we just don’t travel very much unless my children have extended weekends( 3-4 days).  With those we will do short trips (i.e. 4 days in London for Thanksgiving!).  Yes, my children attend an on-campus school… though sometimes I wish I would home school… just can’t do it. Ha

Here are some AWESOME websites that I use for researching our travel here in Europe. (If you have any to share please post below)

Accommodations

Hotels

Apartments

  • AirBnB: Is a great website if you need a few days to stay in one place.
  • Wimdu– I highly recommend Wimdu especially when you are looking at somewhere for less than 3 days.
  • Tripping … this platforms searches MANY websites all at once (except for Wimdu)
  • Edlets.com– for apartments in Edinburgh, Scotland

Hostels

Camping (aka glamping)

There are MANY more “glamping” sites in Europe!

Trip Planning

Those That Move (Planes, Bus & Trains, Cruises) & Travel Packages!

  • GoEuro: Found this amazing website just recently! It will show airfare, bus fares, train fares and how much it would be to drive to your destination.  They also have an app!
  • SkyScanner: Great way to see how much plane tickets are.  You can even do it by monthly and even cheapest month!
  • GovVacationRewards: I used this website to book my plane tickets to Croatia  This website is exclusively for those that serve or have served in the US Military! Plus you can get points that you can use for a future vacation
  • Military Cruise Deals: Again another website for military you can use for booking cruises all over the globe!
  • Magical Starr Travel: For all of your Disney needs!

Also don’t forget while you are traveling around Europe that there are ferrys that will take you all over! You can bring your vehicles PLUS your pets!

So I hope that my tips have helped you gain a better perspective of how to travel. Please be sure to follow my blog for more tips and our review on travel! Also please like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, and check us out on Pinterest!

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