Stressing about how to plan your vacation? Here are 5 tips that have helped me make it stress-free!
Travel is on my mind and my agenda! In fact, I am obsessed with it now after a long chat with my friend about a forthcoming road trip and we are so excited about the planning part. I am pretty sure it will go through changes, but there will be some basics that hold good for any trip, no matter what the type of trip.
Let’s face it—with the typical stress associated with daily life, it’s natural to want a break every once in a while. Research shows that a short vacation improves stress-level and well-being.
Although a vacation is much-needed, it comes with the added stress of needing to plan it, especially during these times. You shouldn’t have to let that freak you out, though.
Once you know how to plan your vacation, it can be more of a breeze than you’d think. To get there, you’ll need to keep a few tips and tricks in mind.
How To Plan Your Vacation Without the Stress: 5 Top Tips
1. Be smart with baggage
Packing your bags for a holiday can often be more stressful than you anticipate. It’s something that you’ll need to get the knack of, especially if you haven’t been on many holidays before. When you’re packing, keep weight limits in mind. You wouldn’t want to be charged extra simply because you have a few extra t-shirts in your bag.
Yes, learned that the hard way! I used to be the type who packed various things “just in case” I needed them. I have since learned that there is no such thing.
The good news is, if you find that there is going to be a delay in your hotel room being ready once you’ve landed, no need to worry about what to do with your bags. You can find luggage storage Athens and in other cities that help with this; you can store your bags and explore the city while waiting for your room to be ready.
2. Make sure your medical needs are covered
Getting sick when you’re on vacation can be quite painful. Obviously one of us plans for this to happen; nevertheless, it is best to be prepared in case it does. So do make sure that you are carrying enough medication for common ailments such as fever, diarrhea, nausea, etc. along with any regular medication you take, if any. Make sure you have your doctor’s prescriptions with you so that if you need a refill, you can stock up for your trip.
Check online to see if you need any vaccinations for your vacation; you can easily find this out on your government’s website.
3. Plan for bucket-list activities
Before you go on your vacation, you’ll need to have a general idea of what you’ll want to do while you’re there. While some people are happy with spending the day lounging next to a pool, you might want to do a bit more than that. So, research where you’re going to make a list of all the activities you can engage in.
While we like to wing it when we travel because it is more fun that way, we still like to find out what’s available whether or not we want to participate in them. This helps us determine what we want to do and also check to see if any bookings need to be made in advance. Some popular activities that are also a must-experience can get sold out quickly and end in disappointment—so we prefer to be prepared rather than end up regretting not doing our homework.
It’s worth making sure you know where and when these are on so you can take part.
4. Budget
This is perhaps the most important thing you’ll need to think of—because you will need to do more than budget for your flights and accommodation; your budget will also need to factor in other daily expenses.
Doing a bit of research to figure out the rough costs of vacationing in a particular destination is recommended. Don’t forget to add in all of the activities you think you’ll want to engage in. It’s best to overestimate this a little and add a buffer to your budget—a certain amount of wiggle room, as it means you don’t need to worry about spending a little more on certain days. Make sure to have an emergency fund stashed away in case anything comes up.
5. Avoid tourist areas
While planning your vacation, it is only natural to look at places and go where everyone else is headed. Maybe there’s a logic to this, but not every popular place is the best choice. For example, if you want to plan your vacation for summer, chances are your destinations will be overcrowded, thus hiking up the prices. Hence, the more popular a place is with the tourists, the more expensive it is likely to be. Why not consider going off the beaten path so that you can not only enjoy the cost savings but also a better holiday?
How To Plan Your Vacation Without the Stress: Wrapping Up
Figuring out how to plan your vacation without the stress probably looks impossible when you think about it, thanks to everything that needs to be done, such as flights and hotels, planning your activities, preparing to stay away from work, etc. It doesn’t need to be, however.
Use each of the above tips to make sure that you breeze straight through it. Why let anything stop you from planning your vacation and enjoying it?
2 comments
Its true that avoiding the tourist areas can be very rewarding because often even the basics like food and accommodation will often be more expensive in tourist areas because of supply and demand and also most locals have the perception that tourists have money to spend.
Thanks for sharing all these amazing tips, Vidya. Fabulous post!
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