You’re finally planning a long overdue and well-deserved vacation. You’re getting away from it all and you’ve planned your journey to a delightful and exotic spot. But it takes more than packing a bag and hopping on a plane, train or bus to ensure a satisfying vacation. By following a few strategies you will be guaranteed that your vacation will be one that you remember fondly for years to come.
Travel Tips To Enjoy Your All-Inclusive Luxury Vacation
All-Inclusive Vacations | (cc) Photo By jeremy_h
Set Aside Spending Money
Have a think about the things you want to see and do beforehand. Set aside the amount of money you want to spend for these activities. With this strategy you can avoid overspending on your vacation or stressing out about every penny that you spend on your trip.
Map out a rough itinerary of activities that you want to take part in during your vacation and note down their approximate costs. Be sure to include meals, taxis and other incidental expenses. Set aside a certain amount of cash to cover the costs of these activities in a readily available form, such as cash, travelers’ checks or reloadable prepaid card. Make this amount as generous as possible so that you’re not pinching pennies.
Make It All-Inclusive
One of the major appeals of a cruise ship vacation is that once you’ve booked the cruise, most of your decision-making has been made for you. There is no need to book a hotel, worry about meals or even transportation, except for getting around whilst you’re at your port of call. You can enjoy the same worry-free atmosphere with all-inclusive resort based getaways that come with luxury breaks with Club Med.
Unpack And Settle In
Once you arrive at your destination, take a few minutes to unpack completely. That means hanging up dresses and suits in the closet, packing undies, t-shirts, shorts and swimwear in the drawers and setting up the bathroom to simulate your setup as far as possible. You’ll thank yourself every morning when you don’t have to rummage around in your suitcase for your toothbrush or your guidebook, and your accommodation will seem more like a home away from home.
Be Incommunicado
Once upon a time, Wi-Fi was unheard of in hotel rooms. In really ancient times, there wasn’t even cable television. In some cases, there weren’t even telephones. However, did people enjoy themselves? Shockingly enough, they made do by taking in the local scenery and interacting with the local population. Of course, if you have children or other family responsibilities, you must provide some means to be reached in an emergency. In addition, many Smartphone apps are designed to enhance your vacation. However, you should make it clear to your co-workers and your boss that you’ve ensured that your work assignments were in good order before you left and that you’ve made arrangements for your responsibilities to be handled while you’re gone. If you plan to be gone for weeks and you’re in the middle of a truly critical project, checking your email in-box ONCE each week is allowed.
Follow Suggestions, Not Schedules
It’s natural to want to hit all the highlights while you’re on vacation, especially if you’re in a spot you’re not likely to visit again. But scheduling every second of every day will leave you feeling worn out and frustrated. Worse, you may miss that spectacular sunset or that spontaneous invitation to a beachfront picnic, where you would otherwise form friendships that could last a lifetime.
Alex Norman loves to take his wife of 40 years on luxury vacations and then he shares his travel tales on various blog sites.
My name is Salika Jay, and I'd like to welcome you to my travel blog! Ever since I was a kid, I loved traveling the world. I started this blog to share my journeys around the world and everything travel.
Neither cruises nor all-inclusive have a great appeal to me, so I can certainly use a few tips on how to enjoy it.
If you ever go on such tours, hope these tips will help.
Great tips, Alex and Salika! I agree with almost all your suggestions.
Would you believe I never unpack totally? On one of my trips, I left a lovely jacket in the closet of the hotel I was staying. When I got to my next destination, I called and sure enough it was there. I was relieved and told the hotel I’d have a friend pick it up. No problem they say, they’d keep it at the front desk. Except when my friend arrived, they said it wasn’t there. I was so bummed. Now, I only unpack what I need. I keep my things in no more than 3 places so I don’t forget anything.
When something like that happens you tend to be extra cautious. It’s good you have your own system that works for you :)
I don’t think I can afford luxury trips, much less all inclusive ones. Sigh
I think luxury travels are good for couples or families. One day perhaps :)
Getting excited about reading much more. Great article post.Truly thank you! Wonderful.
Being incommunicado – as I was for two weeks recently – is to me the best way to unplug. It was a real treat to not have to hear a ringing phone or ever check the internet.
I can’t agree with you more on ringing phones. It’s nice not to hear the phone ring when on a vacation. Hope you enjoyed your two week adventure.
Hi Salika, the first photo is like paradise! I want to be there right now.
I love the Be Incommunicado advise. We have tried it several times and it really left our minds so refreshed. We highly recommend unplugging while on vacation.
Hi Marisol, it sure allows us to enjoy the vacation and be refreshed. Thanks for the confirmation.
oooh that photo looks like paradise. I so want to be there ! Great tips for a very relaxing vacation.
That’s an over the water bungalow in Bora Bora.
Awesome article! Love the tips, would love it even more if I could actually be incommunicado for more than a day… :D
I know what you mean…my husband won’t survive without Internet for a day :)
Great article :)
Thank you Muza-chan! :)
Very good points here. I especially like Be Incommunicado. I have a hard time staying off the phone and having no wi-fi would probably be a blessing in disguise. Luckily, I like to unpack and settle in when we get there too.
I’m good without Internet for like 2-3 days but not more. It has become a way of life it seems.
Very nice and informative article. Cruises – what i like about them is that everything is planned and fixed already for you. So no hassles.
That’s true about cruises. Everything is set as far as travel plans are concerned.
I especially like the unpack and settle in suggestion which is something I never do. I tend to just leave things in my bag in case I have to leave in a hurry for some reason.
Unpacking is one of the first things I do. Makes it so much easier for the whole stay.
Good article on luxury vacations. You are right about thinking what to do when you at the destination specially if one is going to spend a lot of money.
Thank you Shalu!