Here’s what we have so far.
Planning for my December vacation is about to enter its final stages. So I want to start bringing together all of the tips that I’ve used so far.
1. Part One (The Rationale). This article highlighted the importance of planning ahead. Maximizing your vacation dollar means that you need a plan.
2. Part Two (Planning and Budgeting). Continues the Rational with my sketched out plan for the trip with break downs on pricing. Knowing what to expect cost-wise is the first step toward budgeting for it.
3. Part Three (Planning Helpers). In this article I went over a lot of the tools and apps that I use when planning a vacation. I introduced Tripit. And in this article I’ll highlight the importance of this valuable tool.
There seems to be people of two minds on air travel. One group that likes to book early and lock in a fair price and another which likes to wait until later when the discount airlines begin to publish their rates to see if a fare war will launch. Believe it or not, a new study suggests that the cheapest tickets can be had about six weeks before your trip. But before you get on your Indiana Jones hat for that adventure remember that snagging that deal may not only be elusive but, darn right difficult to obtain. If your travel plans are during a peak season you need to remember that you’ll be in competition with all of America for those cheap fares. Plus, you’ll need to be ever vigilant about checking the airfares daily or even hourly to see if they are fluctuating. And, when all is said and done you may not have been able to snag a great deal and now you are forced to either cancel your trip or pay peak airfare prices. For my Christmas Vacation, I decided not to risk it and purchased the tickets early for what I believe is a fair price for that time of year. I had not set any plans into stone until I had gotten our transportation hammered out. So, once United had sent me my confirmation email, I quickly forwarded it on to plans@tripit.com and started building my itinerary.
One of the benefits to using Tripit is that you can see your vacation in a timeline sort of fashion. This allows you to see any gaps in planning that you may have or, plans that you have forgotten to make. Now that I have airfare, I forwarded on my reservation for Disney World to tripit as well.
Pre-flight hotel. I live between 2 and 3 hours (depending on traffic) away from any major airport. And since I’m planning on flying cross-country, I can expect the first and last days of my vacation to be nothing but travel. I rarely land across the continent with time to spare for touring. Usually just in time for bed. So I factor in these travel days with my planning. But one thing I have grown to hate is the early morning drive to the airport. If I’m catching a flight at 6 am and the airport wants me there early (1-2 hours) then that means that I need to leave my house between 2 and 3 am to make my flight. Add to that the entire day of travelling and you have one miserable day! That is why I’ve come to love the Park, Sleep, Fly deals that hotels offer. A refreshing night’s sleep prior to the flight coupled with the short drive (via shuttle) to the airport and factoring in that it usually only costs me slightly more than airport parking for the duration of my trip have taught me that saving money isn’t everything. So, I’ve made my reservation for that as well and forwarded it on to tripit.
Now, here’s what it all looks like according to Tripit.
Wed, Dec 25
0800 Park-Sleep-Fly Arrive
La Quinta Inn- San Francisco
0810 Map of La Quinta Inn- San Francisco
Conf #########
Yes, the app includes maps so that you know where to go. Nifty!
Thu, Dec 26
0600 Park-Sleep-Fly Depart
0600 San Francisco (SFO) to Chicago (ORD) Flight ####
1210 Arrive Chicago (ORD)
The app then lists the confirmation number and details of the flight along with all the ticketed passengers.
1600 Chicago (ORD) to Orlando (MCO) Flight ####
1943 Arrive Orlando (MCO)
Conf #######
2143 Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Lodging – Arrive
Conf ######, Room details and booking info.
Then Tripit gives me a breakdown for the average temps and weather for that time of year.
Thu, Jan 2
1101 Port Orleans Riverside- Depart
1422 Orlando (MCO) to Chicago (ORD) Flight ####
1619 Arrive Chicago (ORD)
1830 Chicago (ORD) to San Francisco (SFO) Flight ####
2101 Arrive San Francisco (SFO)
So, what’s next? Here’s where the fun part comes in. Laura and I have already been discussing the Parks to visit and when as well as the restaurants that we want to eat in. And since Disney allows us to make the reservations up to 180 days in advance, our window will open up early next month. So hammering down these details will become very important very soon.
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