fancy A holiday

When it comes to going on holiday, not many people will admit that they know much about the country that they are visiting. By planning ahead you can fit in so many different and wonderful experiences. When people go on holiday, most of them choose a package holiday as they will then also have a holiday representative who will visit the resort regularly. When you first meet the rep they will tell you about the excursions they have on offer and when they take place.

If you know a bit about the country you are visiting, you can then plan what you want to see and where you want to go. You will be very surprised how a little bit of research whether on the Internet or asking friends and family can make your holiday more pleasant. Here are a few examples of what you didn’t know about some of our well loved destinations: Sharm El Sheikh is well known for diving and snorkelling due to its crystal clear waters and extensive and protected coral reefs. Hawaii is known for water sports and surfing. As well as Kenya, India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia also have wildlife safaris.

How to book excursions?
When you go on holiday with a tour operator, you have the services of a rep who can tell you about all the local attractions and things to do and see. What people don’t do is venture out and explore for themselves. Holiday reps charge double to see local attractions and specialist excursions but did you know that if you leave the hotel and wander down the road a few metres away, you could find a local tour guide who will charge you 50% less. Most well known holiday destinations have local tour operators that have booths along the beach or somewhere near the resort and by just having a look you’re not obliged to book an excursion.

If you are not so confident about being able to find reasonably priced excursions whilst on holiday, then you can always pre-book your excursions before travelling. By booking with a local tour operator in the country you are going, you will be definitely getting a better deal than going with the holiday company.

Another reason why pre-booking excursions is a good idea is because people tend to overspend when they go on holiday so by doing this beforehand you should have no excuse to overspend and can manage your money better.

We all want to go on holidays but unfortunately due to limited annual leave, a mediocre salary and family commitments, most people can only afford to go away twice if not only once a year. If you plan ahead and have a holiday timetable, it will help a lot when it comes to managing finances and annual leave and other family commitments.

Creating a holiday timetable

Here are a few things you can do to write your timetable:

• First sit down and make a list of all holiday destinations you would like to visit
• Then go online and find out when these places are in season
• Then write in order of month what countries you would like to visit if it is in season
• If you have children you will be limited to go on holidays only during half term breaks, start looking early for good deals
• All the common places like Spain, Portugal and other places in Europe always appeal to families but by venturing further out like the Caribbean or Egypt, it can work out cheaper sometimes

Try and have a variety of different holidays a year or you will find that you always go on beach holidays and children can get bored of seeing the same thing all the time. Consider skiing, safaris and touring holidays and throw in a multi centre holiday in there too, it will save time. If you want to visit a few places in the same region for example Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand then why not visit them all at the same time? Keep an eye out for travel programs and they might give you some inspiration for your next holiday. There are so many countries which are really beautiful and you should take advantage and visit them and learn about different cultures and traditions. Try not to go to the same places year after year especially with children as the best memories they will ever have will be about holidays.

Remember that there are some countries that require a visa, so take this into consideration when planning holidays as some may take months to process the application.