Budget Travel Archives - Page 2 of 7

November 27, 2016 by Jeremy

How to Make Your Vacation Memorable

Vacations are what we look forward to all year when sitting in our cubicle daydreaming. Sadly, our vacations don’t always live up to our expectations. Here are some tips on how to make your vacation memorable. Follow these tips and you will be ensure that your next big trip is like nothing you have every experienced.

Do Something Unexpected
If you want to make your vacation memorable you should do something unexpected, something you have never tried before. This could be taking a class to learn to scuba dive or volunteering working with stray animals in a developing country. While we all love to relax at the beach try to do something unusual or unexpected on your next vacation, not only will this make sure you never forget this trip but it will also allow to learn more about yourself, meet new and interesting people, and maybe develop a new passion. So take some risks and get out there!

Eat Local
Whether you are traveling in America or backpacking around Eastern Europe what you eat can be a big part of your vacation experience. In today’s globalized world you can easily see the 7 wonders of the world and eating nothing but McDonald’s and KFC throughout your trip. But doing this would be a huge mistake! Some of the best ways to experience the culture of a city or country is through their cuisine. This usually means getting out of the hotel and venturing to where the locals eat. Pull up a plastic stool at a Vietnamese noodle shop (even Obama does it!) or grab some pub-grub in London, this is one of the best ways to get a feel for a place and meet some everyday people. Who knows you might just find your new favorite food.

Ditch the Group
While having a tour guide can really add to your experience at many sites, often large tour groups can make for lackluster travel experiences. If you wan to make sure that you have a memorable vacation, plan your own route. The internet is full on resources on what to see and how to get their safely, so you can plan your own trip. Though it may not always go quite as smooth as a group trip, chances are you will have an adventure and meet people that aren’t just tourists; this allows you to meet some locals and really soak in the culture. You can also save some money this may. A memorable vacation involves a bit of adventure and you rarely find this on big tourist groups.

We hope these tips will allow you to plan to make your next vacation memorable. Whether you want to plan your route, eat like a local, try something new and unexpected; your next trip is bound to be one like never before. Once you start traveling using our tips, you will never travel the way you did before. So get out there and start building memories!

January 1, 2016 by Jeremy

Take advantage of the super Groupon savings on beauty treatments

If you’re one of those people who likes nothing more than to be pampered and waited on hand and foot, we’ve found a great little treat for you. Beauty and wellness treatments are normally considered luxuries, but that’s not really true if you know where to look.

For example, check out the new Beauty and Wellness pages over at Groupon.com, and you’ll be surprised to see hundreds of promotions and special offers for numerous different services that are guaranteed to leave you looking gorgeous. Check out this Tattoo Removal in Austin listing for an example of what we mean.

March 6, 2015 by Jeremy

Opting for a tailor-made holiday

Have you ever gotten back from a holiday feeling more exhausted than recharged? If so, it’s likely that the way your flights, hotels and/or activities were planned sabotaged the main aim of your time off. By opting for a tailor-made holiday, you can take the elements of your last trip that robbed you of the relaxation that you were supposed to enjoy, and plan them out so that your next one will be the rejuvenating experience that it should always be.

A holiday built around your interests

Have you ever went sightseeing to museums or other points of interest because you felt like you would be letting other people down by missing them? There’s no worse way to burn up your precious holiday time then by spending it by living out somebody else’s high-minded vision of what a travel experience should be like.

In order to build a journey that will appeal to you, a professional travel agent can come up with a customized itinerary that will avoid all of the sights that will bore you to death, while including all of the attractions that will have you engaged and excited from start to finish.

Hotels that meet your expectations

Whether you view a hotel as an integral cornerstone of one’s travel experience, or merely as a place to lay your head at night in between adventures during the day, a travel agent can select accommodation options that will meet your needs.

Want to make sure that your hotel has a hot tub waiting to assuage your aching body after a day of intense activity? They can track one down. Do you consider a hotel as a secondary part of your travels, but still wish to avoid a place that has uncomfortable mattresses or unpleasant surprises lurking within? They will do the in-depth research to ensure that your basic pad is clean and comfortable.

Staying for a month? Only have time for a weekend getaway?

Most pre-planned itineraries are built around the standard one to two week holidays that most people these days feel fortunate to be still receiving. However, you might have structured your life in such a way where you can get away for a whole month … or you might be so unbelievably busy that you can only escape for a weekend under the Caribbean sun.

In these instances, your travel agent can keep things simple and limited to the absolute essentials for the time-starved among us, or they can space out activities and include things like multi-day diving expeditions for those that have a wealth of holiday time.

September 19, 2014 by Jeremy

Three Ways to Protect Your Home While You’re away Travelling

Many people are taking it upon themselves to leave the UK in search of an adventure. Whether you’re going it alone or you’re going as a group, getting to explore different parts of the world as well as encountering the different people and cultures, it is increasingly becoming a standard part of being an adult here in the UK.

So, if you’re thinking about going travelling, what do you need to plan? Well, naturally there’s where you’re going to go and who with, but there’s also the important matter of taking care of your home back in the UK too. While you’re away, you’ll be leaving it prone to burglars and vandals, so we’re here to explain how to protect your home while you’re away travelling.

1 – Have a Friend Come over Once a Week, or Let It out

The first thing you need to do is ensure that – for at least some of the time – your property is occupied. Most thieves go on scouting missions to locate the houses they want to steal from, so if they go past yours and see that it’s occupied, they’re less likely to choose your house to steal from.

There are really two options here, you can either simply arrange to have a friend or family member visit your home once a week, or alternatively, you could let/sublet your property out. This is a bonus as it means that you’d have steady money coming in while you’re away.

2 – Insure Your Home Against Theft

Secondly, you should definitely make sure that your house is insured for the period while you’re away. Of course this is a purely precautionary measure, and you hopefully will never have to make a claim. However, there might come a time where making a claim is essential, and if you don’t have insurance you’re going to wish you would have talked to a company like UKInsuranceNet.

3 – Set up Smart Surveillance

Finally, you should invest in some surveillance to monitor your home. If you’re taking a smart phone or tablet with you on your travels, you could get your security camera to hook up remotely to your smart device, allowing you to keep a look out on your home from wherever you are in the world. If you’re not planning on taking a smart device with you, your surveillance will allow you to more easily back up an insurance claim, should you need to make one.

So there you have it: three of the easiest ways to protect your home if you’re going away travelling.

September 16, 2014 by Jeremy

Helpful Advice about Choosing the Right Holiday for You

Choosing the right holiday takes time, so make sure you pick the one you want!

Your holiday is time for you to free yourself from the shackles of the working world and experience something wonderful, creating memories that stay with you for a lifetime.

To ensure that you have the holiday that you deserve though, there are several aspects you need to consider when choosing the right holiday that cover the practicalities and put in place contingency plans for any potential problems:

What kind of Holiday?

First and foremost you need to decide what kind of holiday you are after. This can be broken down into different sections you can cherry-pick from to design the trip you want:

– Relaxation
– Pool and Beach
– Adventure and activity
– Pampering
– Romantic
– Touristic and sightseeing
– Parties and Clubbing

It is important you sort this first so you don’t end up disappointed when you arrive at your destination and find it is not what you expected.

The Needs of Others

Next, you need to consult the people you are going with, be it friends or family. Make the decision a democracy and ensure everybody is on board with the kind of holiday you are planning on taking.

Thorough Research

The internet is a wonderful resource for finding out the honest truth about your preferred destination; scour the online forums and travel blogs for information about:

– The best accommodation and the amenities it will offer.
– The surrounding area and what trips/activities can be organised.
– Where there is to eat for the best value and most enjoyment.
– Any local secrets or areas of interest that might not be as well-known.

At this point, it’s worth planning out an itinerary for your travels; try to book at least one activity or thing to do in each day you are there. Treat these as back-up plans and only pencil them in, so to speak, as you may find something else to do or find your preferences change when you arrive. Either way, with this method you are covered with an abundance of things to do, so you don’t end up feeling bored.

Cost, Expenses and Booking

What you need to do now is weigh-up the costs of your preferred holiday; there are websites like www.letsgo2.com that provide helpful easy-to-use menus that accommodate your preferences and let you compare the overall cost. Again, your research and planning will pay off here as you can shop around to find the best deal possible.

Further to this, as a back-up ensure you have enough travel money to avoid any worst-case scenarios like theft, and when you are completely satisfied all there is left to do is book and enjoy.