Summer Holiday Plan

Planning a Summer holiday for your family requires a balancing act of priorities, for yourself, partner, and any children. Planning months ahead for your trip, should translate to better deals (e.g. affordable, discounts), favorable and smarter accommodation, and maybe additional trips such as day walks, or cruises around Auckland Harbour including fishing charters. Discuss with your family about a suitable destination (including hotel or motel location), and to involve yourselves as a family, along with your individual choices. You might have to reach a comprise to try suit everyone.

Goals for Travel Holiday
* Mobility - Preference - Perhaps stay in one location (e.g. Central City, Waterfront, Viaduct) or travel Countrywide?
* Weather - hot, humid, cool, or cold - what suits? (Check local and national weather reports)
* Spending amount and budgeting - is a strict budget required, and payment types to suit (e.g. credit card, eftpos, cash). Or is money no barrier?
* Length of time - few days, a week, or several weeks can make or some cases break your plans (plans can change during holidaying). Perhaps have a fixed holiday duration.
* Evaluating what you and others enjoy, and that you get to do the things that you planned for.
* Reason for Holiday? - to visit various locations, to go family fishing or shopping, or boat cruising. Or to do a series of adventures within one locality?

Accommodation and Location Research
Perhaps seek advice from a knowledgeable travel agency, ask in online forums, and participate in trip adviser, which may include photo's of accommodation and user ratings. Also visit hotel websites, travel directories, and major city websites such as Auckland NZ. Sign up to newsletters, read their guides, travel advice, and other information. Browse Google maps, with street view activated, to view and "virtual walk" through street locations. Consider the type and cost of accommodation - e.g. a hotel with citywide views, or a cosy motel, isolated lodge, high rise apartment, or perhaps cheaper self contained units, country cottage, or a beach bach.

Cheaper might mean fewer or limited services and facilities, further amenity travel, marginal wireless broadband, or  poor television reception. Kids need to be entertained and occupied in their rooms, and basic essentials, if lacking might suddenly become essential - e.g. for notebooks, and the humble mobile or smart phone. If it's a hot summer, is there a pool, lake, or beach nearby? Make sure to ask management - as in ring and/or email (for future reference) about facilities.

Budget - Create a Plan
Costing might be a worry, as expenditure might increase higher than expected, e.g. for eating out, unforeseen circumstances, or detouring too much to unplanned side trips, adventure outings, and even shopping for any kids (don't they want more items or excursions than you? prey not...). But categorize your spend, e.g. for any car rental, insurance, food, petrol, outings, entertainment, and importantly accommodation. Also include extra money for those unforeseen or contingency events or plans. Maybe try out a online budget travel calculator such as independent traveler.

Bookings
Sign up to rss feeds, newsletter, and email updates, in addition to browsing daily, online travel and hotel websites. Hotel websites and reservation sites like Wotif, Expedia, Hotels Combined, etc, may offer a range of costings, packages, and deals if you book earlier, particularly during the off seasons. Travel sites like house of travel, and flight centre, etc, might have deals, competitions, and promotions. Early bookings will allow a better chance of dates to suit. This also applies to car rentals and tour buses, of which you may be able to make deals, to try get the best price, as with any hotel or motel bookings. Hopefully lower costs, than quotes you may have seen.

Tips for Packing and Traveling Abroad

View more PowerPoint from Quantabay

Best to taxi or get dropped off at the departure airport, unless you can arrange suitable parking for your car. I have written articles about researching location (for Auckland) , general reservation tips, and accommodating kids (View sidebar at left) and other, hopefully useful tips. Includes keeping (i.e. backing up online or creating a list) of essential phone numbers, prescriptions (if relevant), rental companies and contact details, insurance details, etc, that you may need to refer to when away from home.

Pack Away
Well maybe. Try do your best with less. Adapt and share, with hygiene in mind when in your motel or hotel. Create a packing list and try slim down. Maybe one netbook, camcorder might do. Discuss what's important. Mobile phone - maybe more than one, as a backup, including essential and emergency contact details (also backed up online). Fewer towels, shoes, clothing, and personals, including first aid kit, torch, and maybe a portable alarm and light for additional room security. Less weight and number of items, means less to worry about, and perhaps lower luggage expense.

Videos of Vacation Packing Tips

Short Vacation	Airline Guys - Pack Pro's

Itemize amongst your family, and allocate an acceptable amount of luggage to each, and find out what is acceptable by airline and chartered bus companies. How to shrink luggage (for women) describes a useful check list for clothing prior to traveling. Perhaps try online packing tools such as the universal packing list or the interactive packing list.

Being prepared for travel involves at least research, prioritizing, detailing itineraries, vacation budget, along with suitable travel and accommodation dates. Time spent planning means more time to enjoy and appreciate your Summer holiday. Effectively combining all these components together should result in favorable outcome for all, and better yet to remember long after your holiday.

Summer Holiday Plan