In 2012, I am looking to take a family vacation, however, times like these have made it difficult to get the most out of your travel budget. Some of the biggest expenses for travel are transportation, food costs and lodging. With volatile oil and gasoline prices, it becomes difficult to travel as far as we would like, limiting possible destinations. Over the past few years, as business travel increases and there is less construction of new hotels, hotels have higher occupancy rates.
Initial Research For Traveling
As a former business traveler, I subscribe to email lists from a variety of airlines, hotel chains and third-party travel services. These services can also be used as a research tool for family vacations. Many airlines, such as Southwest, offers Southwest Vacations, where bundled vacations that include flights, lodging and family activities are sold for one low price. It can help you get ideas what is available to entertain you and your family while traveling to a destination.
Finding Out About Great Locations Almost Anywhere
Yo u do not even have to leave your couch to find out new and exotic family destinations. Television programming on The Food Network or the Travel Channel, for instance, offer insight from professionals and experts who can help give you ideas.
If you desire input from other members of the vacation party, I like to enjoy certain programming with them to gauge their initial interest.
Once I Decide Where I Am Traveling
Between the moment we decide on where we are going to go and when, I do things such as save money and plan an itinerary. Regarding saving money for a vacation, I like to take a portion of my earnings and earmark it for that purpose. Planning an itinerary is so easy nowadays. There are so many word-of-mouth ways to save money. Websites such as Yelp!, TripAdvisor and Yahoo! Travel offer user generated content that can offer ideas for restaurants, lodging and even travel. When I travel by car, for instance, I download apps to my Iphone of common gas stations along the routes. Some of them include RaceTrac, Pilot and Love’s.
One last thing to do when you travel is to carry a credit card that offers coverage on rental cars and flights. They are quite commonplace. Get in contact with your credit card provider to get more information on specifics for your card. They may offer additional services if you end up stranded.
http://mylovesstores.com/corpMobileAppsDownload.aspx?matn=iphone
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Blog.aspx/7147/A-wish-list-for-the-US-hotel-industry
http://www.southwest.com
http://www.southwestvacations.com/
http://www.foodnetwork.com/
http://www.travelchannel.com/
http://www.yelp.com
http://www.tripadvisor.com/
http://travel.yahoo.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mypilot/id474259675?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/racetrac-fuel-pricing-application/id424857512?mt=8