7 Hot Vacation Planning Tips You Should Consider ...

Vacation planning tips must start with the ever important question of where to go! Think about places you’ve wanted to visit, friends you want to see, or if you’re completely open, why not try a travel app to help you decide?! There are lots of helpful apps and sites like mTrip, Tripadvisor, Pinterest and Trippy. They can help you decide where to go as well as give you some helpful tips and recommendations. You can also look at personal blogs of some places you want to visit to get a better idea of whether it fits your style and budget.

While you’ll probably want to get a good idea of what your budget is before you plan where you’re going, I say don’t let your wallet dictate your vacay! I’m all for being responsible with your money, but I’m also a big proponent of doing fun things on a budget. I say have your travel cake and eat it too! Decide how much you can and want to spend. You might be able to get to your dream destination by saving on transportation or lodging.

When you’re vacation planning, if you come across any deals or packages that are labeled a top choice, beware. Just because someone says it’s a top pick doesn’t make it the best value or any better quality than the other flights or hotels. Keep in mind that some sites pay for prime real estate in searches, so some of the info can be deceiving. Also keep in mind that some airlines do not list their flights with 3rd party vendors, so you always want to check airline websites directly so you don’t miss a deal!

When you’re planning a vacation, finding decent prices on flights can be one of the hardest things to do. What adds to the confusion and frustration is that there are so many sites offering to compare prices and find cheap flights, which often ends up making the situation worse! What’s a girl to do? Remember that flying isn’t your only option. You can opt for the always cool road trip and travel by car, be adventurous and take a bus or go old school and take a train! If you must travel by plane, try Kayak or Yapta to compare rates and save.

Another part of the vacation planning process that can get a little tricky is to find cheap rooms. Just like with flights, there are lots of sites that will help you compare rates so you get deals on rooms. If you’d rather get room recs based on previous customers and friends, check out sites like Kayak, Gogobot and Momondo. Momondo is a site where you can search for hotels and hostels overseas that many U.S. travel sites don’t include. What a great way to find a unique boarding!

If you find that planning a vacation is much more costly than you imagined, be flexible! You can often get some hot deals on flights by taking red-eye flights or traveling to certain destinations during the off season. It might not sound as glamorous to do so, but you’ll likely save a considerable amount of money and still get to enjoy the vacation you wanted! It’s also a good idea to try vacationing at unconventional spots that are less trendy, like going camping or going to a less popular city that's close to the place you want to see.

Now that you’ve planned your vacay, you can get to the fun part of planning out what you’ll do! If you like to fly by the seat of your pants, feel free to skip this step. But if you have a list of things you want to do and see, make sure you do some research so you know how to get there, how much it costs and how much time you’ll have. Be sure you utilize Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and travel blogs to learn about places and get some tips and recommendations. If you need help figuring out what to do, check out Vayable.com for curated experiences!

Are you ready to book that vacation yet? Take advantage of the free time you have and get away! Treat yourself to a staycation or cross time zones and explore a new area. No matter what your budget is, you can find some place that will provide you with a break from the everyday grind! Do you have any tips on planning a vacation?