Vacation planning can be very stressful for many reasons. It can be hard to find a budget friendly vacation or activities that will please everyone in the family. Remembering that vacations are supposed to be fun and taking a little extra time to do some research can remove the stress from your vacation planning and will ensure that you have a vacation that the whole family will enjoy.
Sometimes it can be difficult to find activities that everyone in the family will enjoy. Gather the family together to get some ideas as to how everyone would like to spend their time away from home. If possible, let each family member choose a day of activities. This way, everyone will get to experience something new while on vacation and each child will look forward to their chosen activity.
Destination is an important consideration when choosing a family vacation. If your family likes a slower pace, they probably will not like visiting an amusement park or a large city. Or if your family is the opposite and likes to be on the move, they probably won’t enjoy lying on a beach all week or looking at artifacts in a museum.
Consider the children’s ages when choosing a destination also. Younger children will not appreciate an amusement park if they are not old enough to go on any of the rides and vice versa.
Because of the variety of activities, cruising can be a fun option for family. Cruises usually offer clubs for children of all ages. There are babysitting services for infants and toddlers, kid’s clubs for the elementary school age children and teen clubs for the older kids.
All of the activities on a cruise cater to the age of the child to ensure that the kids are having a great time with other kids their own age.
There are many budget friendly family cruises, especially if you can cruise during the off season. There are many great deals on last minute cruises because cruise companies would rather greatly discount the rooms than sail empty.
For the cheapest possible room rate, you would need to shop early to book the lowest category of rooms available. These inner cabin rooms typically sell out early because they are the lowest priced rooms and many families do not mind not having an ocean view because they do not spend a lot of time in their cabins.
If airline tickets are needed for you destination, be sure to shop as early as possible. With the price of fuel oil lately, the cheapest airline tickets tend to be the ones that are booked the farthest ahead of time. Also, there are not as many flights as in previous years because the airlines do not want to fly half-full. However, if your dates are flexible and you are traveling off-season, you may find a great last minute deal on an airline flight.
Whatever your budget, be sure to include the incidentals along with the larger items. You will know the hotel, airline or cruising costs up front, but don’t forget about the cost of food, transportation, activity fees or admission tickets and souvenirs. Additionally, you may need to budget for airport or cruise port parking fees, kennel costs for the dog, or other incidentals.
No matter what your destination or which type of vacation you choose, be sure to leave a little downtime and flexibility in the schedule. Sometimes the most fun on a vacation can happen during an unplanned activity or in the most unexpected place.
About the Author:
Shawn Richards is a passionate traveller and travel writer. He offers budget travel advice on how to find cheap flights and cheap airfares for both domestic and international flights.