Planning a Summer Getaway

June 20, 2017

Summer is here and with that comes VACATION MODE. My Birthday was just last week and when my husband asked me what I wanted- all I could think of was just to get away! It is actually a crazy time for us to be traveling because a lot is going on between moving showrooms for work and looking for a new home. But we both agreed that we need to get away next month and escape all the craziness! So as I am sitting in the office starting to plan, I thought why not share with you my 5 step guide to planning a summer getaway!

5 Steps To Planing a Summer Getaway

What’s your budget? This isn’t the fun part but realistically setting a budget is the first step before you can decide on where to go and where to stay.
Choose a Location: I personally created a bucket list of places I want to visit inspired by other bloggers, friends and of course Pinterest! If traveling with children make sure to do some research on locations and hotels. Last year we traveled to Santorini with Linor and were forced to change hotels last minute after discovering it was an adults only hotel. (read more about it HERE)
Research Research Research- Before I go on to finding hotels/flights I do some research on sites, beaches, or city’s that inspired me to travel there in the first place. A big help in this part is reading and looking at bloggers experiences and if you have more questions I would even DM them. Obviously, Pinterest is another top place to researching inspo for sites to see. When I am stuck I literally just google- top beaches in ____, top views in ____, sites in___ etc… You would be surprised with what articles you can find!
Where to stay? Based on your list of sites take a look on a map to map out the exact cities you want to go to. Then research hotels in those areas using pinterest, blogger recommendations, kayak or google. Sometimes, I even check out the location via instagram search engine to see where others are currently staying in that location (this also helps when searching for more sites) If they are in different cities or islands make sure you check distance and travel routes. Once I have hotel options (at least three) I go ahead and look for flights.
Flights: If it is one destination this can be fairly simple but it gets tricky when you are mapping out a few locations or cities. What I do first is look up different routes from the different cities I am planning to visit and figure out which is the cheapest option with the shortest duration. If you are flexible with dates sites such as Kayak and Google Travel can show you different dates around same time period for a cheaper option. This part is sort of like a puzzle because but once you figured out the route you can go back to the previous steps and book the hotels and create your itinerary based on research you have done earlier! Keep your eyes out for other travel options such as ferries, trains, or busses because sometimes that can also be a simpler route rather then flying!

Hope this guide helps you as you are planning your summer vacations and if you have any questions please feel free to message me!