Carry on Beautiful!

For many, a holiday or trip of a lifetime might be something that they do when they’re retired. It could have been something that you did on a gap year before going to University. The thing is, though, anyone can plan and have a holiday of a lifetime. You can see all of the things that you want to experience or have dreamt about. You do just need to plan carefully to be able to make the dream become a reality. Here are some tips for planning an amazing, once in a lifetime trip.

Choose Your Location

First things first; you need to decide where you would like to go. It might be that you want to head to Disney World with the kids or go on a Caribbean cruise. Heading out to Australia and New Zealand is on a lot of people’s bucket lists too, I know New Zealand is definitely on mine just for the chance to see Hobbiton. Think about the things that you want to see, or the experiences that you want to have. The trips don’t have to be off in far-flung locations either. It might just be something that you have always wanted to see. You don’t have to travel far to see phenomenal things like the Giant’s Causeway or the Northern Lights. Personally, its always been a dream of mine to go to Stone Henge which really isn’t too far away! If you’re not sure, look around. Ask friends or family for recommendations. You can get down to the nitty-gritty of things like hotel details nearer the time. Just choose a location first. Then you can start planning an itinerary.

Decide on a Budget

If money were no object, it would be amazing to travel the world as often as we would like. For most of us, though, it is very much not like that. So you’d need to plan your trip around a budget. Have you got any savings that you have been setting aside? Would you consider something like home owner loans to get some extra cash up front? However you decide to fund the trip, one of the best ways to budget, is to choose a daily spend. If you roughly decide how much you’d want to spend on food and amusements, you can work around it. Then you can see how much travel and accommodation is. Then it is easier to be specific about precisely how much it is going to cost you. I find, though, that when you make something a priority, it will happen.

Search For Deals

When you know roughly how much money you have to play with, plus a destination in mind, it is time to start booking. Using comparison websites online is a great way to get the best deal, especially for things like flights. If you are flying solo, it can be so much cheaper to get flights with layovers. It might mean a slightly longer journey, but it can save you quite a hefty amount and sometimes it means you get to look around a city you’ve never been to for a couple of hours. So if your budget is tight, comparison sites are great for checking things like that. Look for accommodation deals too. There are so many options like Airbnb nowadays too. It doesn’t have to be all about pricey hotels, and youth hostels aren’t usually just for youths either.

Do you have any extra tips I’ve missed out on? I’d love to hear them!

-Dana