Your Next Romantic Vacation: 4 Pitfalls To Avoid By Badejo Ibukun (Travelgeniuz)

Let’s be honest, vacations are expensive, in fact very expensive. Spending so much money within a short time could be quite daunting, but on the flip side, the experience is priceless. Couples get to bond on a deeper level, experience new things together and grow their relationship. No amount of investment is too much for this.
I would like to teach you some smart moves you can use that will guarantee that you have the best experience with your spouse and kid(s) while you save money.
I will be sharing four tips to help you plan your next family vacation.

Let’s begin:

1) Plan your Trip Early
Planning a memorable vacation for your spouse and kids involves a lot of planning. It is best to start your planning at least three months before your intended date of travel.

This is because a vacation has a lot of moving parts, some decisions, such as where to go on vacation, how to get the visa(s), which airline to fly, which hotel/hostel to book, could pose a big problem if not properly planned.
The airline/hospitality industry has three major seasons; Peak season (August-October, December) Shoulder season (November, May, June and July) and low season (January, February, March and April).
The season you intend vacationing in will determine how cheap or expensive your vacation will be. Choose wisely.

2) Book Your Flight Early
Flight ticket constitutes about 40% of your total vacation budget. I am assuming that you do not want to waste any money here.

There are several tips I use personally in getting cheap flights for my clients. I will share a few of them to assist you in getting a cheap flight.
They are: Booking your flight at least three months before your travel date (most of the fares are gotten at this time); opting into airline newsletters to get informed about promotional fares; using several booking search engines to compare prices; using alternate airport in your country; booking directly with the airline instead of third party websites, to name a few.

You will be surprised with the variation in prices if you try some of these tips.
I must also state that getting a cheap flight is great, but you have to consider some other factors, e.g Let’s assume you got a cheap flight for $200 which has 2 layovers and another slightly higher fare for $300 which is a direct flight. Which of these flights will you choose?
A lot of vacationers will choose the $200 flight because it is cheap, but this may be a big mistake in the long run. I will explain better.

When you are travelling on a budget with your family, there are several factors you must consider before choosing a flight type which are: How much am I willing to pay for flight tickets? How many layover does the flight have? What is the duration of the layover?
In my opinion, if the flight has more than one layover and the durations span for 6 hours and above, this might not be ideal for your family because it will cause a lot of stress/discomfort to your family.

3) Always Check The Visa Rules Of The Country You Are Visiting
This point cannot be overemphasized. A lot of families on vacation have been rejected entry to their vacation destination because they did not pay attention to the visa rules.
Just last year, South Africa included in their visa rule that minors (<18) travelling to South Africa with their parents/wards must provide their birth certificate at the point of entry (POE). Do you know how many families where denied entrance at the point of entry to South Africa? A lot.

Also, some countries like Brazil, Tanzania, South Africa require that visitors have yellow fever vaccination, others require polio vaccination. Whatever the rule, just ensure you fulfill it.

4) Go For Medical Checkup / Buy Travel Insurance
A lot of people do not see the usefulness in going for medical check-up before their vacation. It is estimated that over 63% of vacationers fall ill during their vacation. The cause of the illness could vary from food poisoning to flu to bad infection, to name a few.

It will be a wise decision to go for medical checkup/buy a travel insurance next time you are vacationing with your spouse and kids in order to shield you from the high cost of treatment in a foreign land. Some tourists who did not have comprehensive travel insurance have had to part away with $600 and above to get a decent treatment.

I hope you have been able to learn a few new tips. Kindly share your questions/additions in the comment section below.

 

Badejo Ibukun a.k.a  travelgeniuz is an IATA certified travel and tour personnel. He helps busy professionals, honeymooners and families plan seamless and cost effective travel so that they can have fun and save cost. He blogs at www.travelgeniuz.com. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn . You can click here to get his free guide on how to get very cheap airfares.