|
You are here:
the-vu>
Travel> Simple
Planning
Simple Planning
Makes for a More Enjoyable Vacation
By Kathy Paauw
© 2001
Published July 2001
June is "Rebuild Your Life" Month...
time to think of ways that you can rejuvenate
yourself and reconnect with those you care
about most. If your vacation includes travel,
I encourage you to plan at least one trip
that is purely vacation. Make the first
day of summer (June 21) your deadline for
finalizing summer travel and vacation plans.
The annual family vacation is typically
a time for fun and relaxation... if you
plan ahead. For those who don't plan accordingly,
it can also be a time of disaster, stress,
and heartache. Unfortunately, most people
don't associate planning with fun. I've
learned that leaving even the smallest details
unattended to can be a recipe for disaster.
I'll illustrate my point by sharing some
personal experiences.
Six years ago my family planned a summer
vacation to Alaska. Because Alaska only
has a couple months of warm weather, we
knew that the month of July would be a busy
time to travel there. That's why we purchased
our airline tickets six months in advance.
With paid tickets in hand, I called the
airline the day before to confirm our reservations.
They confirmed that we had paid reservations
for the flight.
The next day we got to the airport 1.5
hours before departure time. That's when
we were told that the flight was oversold
and we did not have confirmed seats on the
plane. I said, "How can this be? We
bought these tickets six months ago! We
were among the first passengers to purchase
tickets for this flight! And we're here
early... most other passengers have not
even checked in yet!!" The agent behind
the ticket counter explained to me that,
because we had purchased the tickets so
far in advance, seat assignments were not
made at the time of purchase. (We since
learned that most airlines do not have their
computers set up for seat assignments until
60-90 days out.) Those who purchased tickets
or called to request seat assignments within
60 days of departure had reserved seats.
We were placed on the waiting list.
Our story had a happy ending. We got the
last three seats available... all in First
Class! Although we had a favorable outcome,
our vacation could have ended in disaster.
This is one lesson I will never forget!
I've just purchased airline tickets for
December to Hawaii. Although the flight
is almost sold out, the airline will not
make seat assignments until 90 days prior
to departure. Guess who has a reminder in
her tickler file to call the airline in
September! (Learn more about setting up
your own tickler file at this link)
The summer following our trip to Alaska,
our family vacationed in Minnesota. Our
flight was scheduled to land very late in
the evening, so I asked our travel agent
to set up a guarantee for late arrival when
she booked the hotel reservations. Our agent
confirmed that she had given the hotel our
credit card to hold the room. As planned,
we arrived at the Doubletree Hotel at about
11:30 PM. When I went to the registration
desk to check in, I was told that there
were no rooms available. I was shocked!
I presented them with a printout from our
travel agent, which confirmed our guarantee
for late arrival.
In search for a greater understanding of
what a "guarantee for late arrival"
meant, I asked to speak with the manager
on duty. I asked him, "If we had not
checked in tonight, would the hotel have
billed our credit card for the room, even
though there are no rooms available?"
That's when I learned that the Doubletree
Hotel's guarantee was only a one-way guarantee.
He confirmed that this was their standard
policy. Having difficulty comprehending
this policy, I reframed the question: "So
if we are paying for the room, why is someone
else sleeping in it right now?" He
informed me that the guarantee did not obligate
them to provide accommodations in their
hotel; it simply meant that they guaranteed
we would have a place to sleep that night.
As I stood at the counter, the desk attendant
spent the next 20 minutes calling other
hotels and motels in the area. Finally he
informed me that they would put us up at
no charge at the Prime Rate Motel down the
road! Hardly the accommodations we had planned
on... and "down the road" was
15 miles away!
When we returned home from our trip, I
called the Doubletree Hotel headquarters
in Phoenix to see if this was their corporate
policy, or just the local policy for that
particular location. I was shocked when
their customer service rep informed me that
this was "standard practice in the
industry," adding that "the airlines
do it all the time." From now on, when
I know I will be checking in late, I ask
explicit questions about a hotel's policy
regarding guaranteed late arrivals.
Of course, some things are simply beyond
our control, and no amount of planning can
guarantee a flawless vacation. I remember
one of my first trips to Jakarta, Indonesia,
where my husband's brother and his family
live. We had made the long flight halfway
around the world, and I was exhausted. (A
quick geography refresher: Jakarta is near
the equator, and it is very hot and humid
there.) We were staying in a nice hotel
with the modern comforts of air conditioning
and purified water... two important elements
for me.
When we checked into the hotel, we were
informed that they would be doing some electrical
work on the elevator shafts, and would therefore
be turning the electricity off for the entire
hotel from 2:00 AM to 8:00 AM while they
did the work. I thought to myself, "Well,
by then I will be asleep and I won't even
notice it."
Boy, was I wrong! At 2:40 AM I woke up in
a sweat. By 3:00 AM I was really hot and
sticky. I had a brilliant idea! We were
on the 12th floor, and I decided to open
the windows to let in some fresh air. There
were no screens on the windows, but I figured
that we were high enough off the ground
that it would be safe to open them. I made
an assumption that mosquitoes would not
fly that high. Again, I was wrong. Within
a few minutes I had 32 mosquito bites covering
my body and more were buzzing in my ear.
Now I was not only hot and sticky, but I
also felt like one huge, itchy, miserable
welt. (My husband only had two mosquito
bites. For some reason, mosquitoes have
always liked me more than him.) We ended
up leaving our hotel room and walking around
the lobby the rest of the night.
I hope that by sharing my personal experiences,
you will avoid learning similar lessons
the hard way. And it goes to show that those
little details in the planning of a vacation
can make a huge difference in the outcome.
You can make your next vacation relaxing
and enjoyable by following these simple
vacation planning tips.
- Keep your vacation
planning information in one place. Create
a labeled file folder ("Hawaii Vacation")
and use it to keep your airline, hotel,
car rental information, as well as maps
or AAA guide books, tourist information,
contact information for people you know
in that city, etc. To read about
some programs related to travel that you
can download onto a handheld organizer,
check out the applications mentioned on
the Handango
Website.
- Plan ahead for your
wardrobe. Think about all of the activities
you might do, and imagine what you'd want
to wear for each activity. For example,
on the beach you might want a swimsuit,
cover-up, slip-on footwear or water shoes,
a sun hat, sunglasses... maybe even a
face mask, snorkel, and some flippers.
Will the kids want shovels and buckets
to build a sand castle? Do you need to
supply your own beach towel, or will you
be staying somewhere that supplies this
for you? What about waterproof sunscreen?
The more you can visualize yourself on
the beach, the better prepared you will
be. One helpful tool I've found for wardrobe
planning is a Website that offers historical
weather averages for thousands of cities
around the globe.
http://www.worldclimate.com/
- Use a travel checklist.
I've created a Packing List to get you
started. Once you've tailored this to
your needs, keep it in the travel file
you've created. This will help you remember
to pack both the basic necessities, as
well as some of the more obscure things
you might not remember but would want
to take with you. http://www.orgcoach.net/packlist.html
- Let children pack their
own travel bags, and make sure their bag
is small enough that they can carry it
themselves. Help them select things they
can do on the road or in the air: Walkman
and cassettes or CDs, books, handheld
video games, portable crafts, card games.
Talk about seating arrangements ahead
of time to avoid conflict among siblings
about who will sit where.
- Pack a carry-on that
is small enough to stay with you at all
times. Include necessities that you must
have, in the event that you get separated
from your other luggage for a day. If
you need to take medication on a regular
basis, be sure this is with you, and not
in your checked luggage. If you are combining
a business and vacation trip and need
something for a presentation the next
day, take it in your carry-on rather than
checking it.
- Plan early to get
the best selection and to get early booking
discounts. If you're really adventuresome
and are not particular about where you
want to go, you can also book reservations
last-minute. There is some risk involved
in doing this, but you can also get some
great deals this way. CheapTickets
sells surplus seats, a.k.a. "distressed
inventory," at some great bargains.
If you have any concerns about your safety
while traveling to a particular destination,
you might check out a Website that offers
a report on global hot
spots to avoid.
I've recently found a wonderful Website
called SideStep,
which does a search of more than 70 travel-related
Websites and finds the best AVAILABLE
flights, hotels, and rental cars on a
given date. Many Websites will find the
"best deals" but when you go
to the site you discover that they are
sold out for the dates you want. This
site does not waste your time if a flight
is sold out. For more links to some helpful
travel-related sites, visit the travel
section of my Links
to Great Sites page.
For who insist on combining business and
pleasure during your travels, I offer
10 Tips to Tame the Paper Tiger When You
Travel.
http://www.orgcoach.net/traveltips.html
- If you're driving,
you may wish to map out your trip ahead
of time and make hotel reservations along
the way if you are traveling during peak
vacation time. Mapquest
offers a helpful Website for mapping
out your route and estimating travel time
under normal driving conditions.
- If you're traveling
to another country, check out the Currency
Converter for International Exchange
Rates. If you'd like to master a few useful
phrases in a foreign language, visit the
Foreign Language Assistance Website.
It even contains some sound clips so you
can pronounce words properly.
- If your vacation plans
include staying home rather than traveling,
plan how you will spend your vacation
to rejuvenate yourself. Perhaps there
are some local attractions that you've
been wanting to experience but have not
had the time to experience. Are there
people you want to connect with? Get clear
about what you want to do and who you
want to do it with, and then plan to make
it happen. If your vacation includes having
a friend or relative flying in to visit
you, you can check the status of a flight
to see if they will arrive on time. You
can even get a real-time map of the plane
and its progress, based on radar data.
http://www.flightview.com/
Visit Earthcam
to view hundreds of images from all over
the world without leaving your chair.
The digital images are updated regularly,
and some are live.
- This is the most
important tip of all: pack the right
attitude. Let go of the "what if"
and enjoy the moment. Remind yourself
what matters most, and focus on that.
If this is a vacation to get away and
relax, then focus on activities and thoughts
that will be relaxing. If your goal is
to reconnect with family and build memories
together, that can be done regardless
of circumstances (missing a flight, not
getting tickets to an event you wanted
to attend, etc.). If your goal is to sight-see
and take in some special attractions or
shows, then plan ahead and make the reservations
necessary to ensure that you can do what
you want to do when you get there.
About this
author:
Kathy Paauw,
President of Paauwerfully Organized, specializes
in helping busy executives, professionals,
and entrepreneurs declutter their schedules,
spaces and minds. She is a certified business/personal
coach and professional organizer. Contact
her at mailto:orgcoach@gte.net
or visit her Website at http://www.orgcoach.net
and learn how you can Find ANYTHING in
5 Seconds - Guaranteed!
You are here: the-vu>
Travel> Simple
Planning
|
