You'll get more done if you have a plan! (How do you plan your holidays?)

Member Name: Holidaying

Product:	How do you plan your holidays?
Date:	05/04/09 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: See Headline.

Disadvantages: None for me.

Another holiday related review from Holidaying (who unfortunately is not currently on holiday!)

Where do you get your ideas?
I get my ideas from all sorts of places but two particularly good sources are other people and travel related television programmes such as Lonely Planet.

I love hearing stories from other people about the places they have been to. Not everything inspires me, but I like to hear about the type of people that they met, and importantly whether they were mostly other tourists (in which case I won't be so interested) or locals, and what things they did. If they spent every day by the hotel pool then I don't suppose they can really tell me about the activities of the place they visited, but if they went somewhere where all there was to do was sit by the pool, I'll strike that locale off! On the other hand, if they visited somewhere full of fascinating markets, beautiful scenery and great places to sample the local food, I'll be all ears!

Programmes such as Lonely Planet inspire me because the visual medium in which they're brought to people mean that you actually get to see what's there. This means that rather than relying on a description of a place and being told it is or isn't worth visiting, you can make a bit more of a judgement for yourself!

I also like to look at travel magazines in the lead up to planning to go on holiday!

What do you do before deciding to go somewhere?
I have a short list of things to check before I decide for definite to go to a place.

Firstly, I'll look at the UK government's travel advice, found at www.fco.gov.uk to see if there are any warnings. Before you discount this and think it's only for people that are paranoid, it can be very useful and throw up some surprising information about places we take for granted are generally safe. For example, Thailand which I visited last year and where a great many British tourists go has some quite serious political tensions being played out in the capital which means that anything can happen at any time (such as the airport shut down that occured at the end of last year) and there are serious safety issues in the far south of the country.

After safety, I consider how much it will cost me to visit a country. For this, I look at flights using a site like www.cheapflights.co.uk, and then I consider the cost of accommodation, food and activities. A great website for this is www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations, under 'practical information'.

I also try to find out what the weather will be like when I go on holiday. If I want to be somewhere hot and they're expecting a monsoon, I might consider going somewhere else!

Of course, if you are booking a package holiday then your travel agent will be able to tell you all these things!

What are the final stages of your holiday planning?
Once I have booked the flights and accommodation, I try to make a sketched out plan of what to do whilst there and what to see. For this I like to refer to travel books and to pick the brains of anyone who might have inspired me to go there! The library is a great source of travel books but I like to write in mine so I am likely to get a cheap second hand book from somewhere like Ebay.

If the holiday is for one week I will probably have a plan for five days and on two days just go with the flow or do that most popular of holiday activities, catch up on some sleep! I'll plan how to get to the different places and what the cost will be.

How will you change your holiday planning process in future?
Oh that's an easy question- I'll use dooyoo of course! There are some great reviews in the travel section, full of information and inspiration and I think the best of them will help with every stage of the planning process!

Thanks for reading! Enjoy your next holiday!

Summary: Enjoy the planning as much as the holiday!