Planning for a BIG Vacation! Type A Style

Well....if you know me, I'm not a last minute kind of person. I plan ahead, and then I plan some more, and then I plan some more, and then.........

Our trip to Hawaii is less than 11 days away and my lists are growing by the minute.  I am packing for myself and my 2 girls.  Don is on his own, and he likes it that way.  He will pack the night before we leave and won’t forget a thing.  I have been packing now for 3 weeks and will hopefully not forget anything. :)

So here goes...my guide to preparing for an extended vacation!

 Start planning a year in advance - people think I'm crazy, but that's how we vacation. As soon as we get home from one, we start planning the next. 

 Plan the budget a year in advance - we figure out how much it will cost for travel, hotel, and added activities and start saving!  Aside from a vacation account, we also have a coin jar which will usually cover about $100.00 of our incidentals.  It's amazing how much money you can save in coins during one year.

 Live on Tripadvisor.com!  I found this website by accident one day a few years ago, and it has become my travel lifeline.  You put in the name of a hotel, location, tourist attraction, restaurant and you will usually get many different HONEST reviews of the location. We've avoided many bad hotels, and restaurants because of Tripadvisor.com.  We've also found some great places that we wouldn't have even considered.  Trust me; use this site for your next vacation.

Tripadvisor.com 

Convince everyone around you that you are not that crazy. Yes you are a planner (Type A Personality), but it is worth it to have a great vacation with good restaurants, fun shopping, great activities and great lodging!  Planning a year out gives you a lot of time to "figure things out."  Don has accepted this and actually appreciates the planning that I do.  We have GREAT vacations because I have done the research. 
 
Promise those around you that there will be some spontaneity during your vacation.  :) I may plan, but I don't plan every minute.  I do the research beforehand and figure out a rough plan for the time, but plans are made to be changed!

Clear out a room of your house to use as your "staging zone"  - ours is the extra room upstairs that is usually my sewing room, otherwise known as my put it there until I need it room. I will start putting things aside for our next vacation as soon as we start planning it.  Then the few weeks before the actual trip - like right now! - the room becomes Vacation Central.....

Make Lists!  If it is not on a list, then I wake up in the middle of the night worried about it, or in the shower, or driving to work, or.....

Get your family involved.  We spend a lot of dinner times talking about where we want to go, or what we want to do once we get there.  We look at You Tube videos, we find websites with pictures.  I'm not the only one planning - Don and the girls have as much input as I do.  I do the research and then we all talk about where and when and for how long!

Think about those last minute things that would make your trip the tiniest bit easier!  For example, pillows for the plane trip to Hawaii! (see below)  or...figuring out what movies will be showing on the flight before you get on the flight, to know how many DVD's you need to pack for the 10 hours of plane time that is coming. :)

HAVE FUN! The above 9 items may sound stressful, but for me it is pure joy! Planning vacations, some would say, is one of my hobbies. (When I'm not tracking winter storms) I love the research and learning about new places, but I also love the thrill of airports, hotels and even rental cars. :)

 So there it is!  That is how I plan for our one BIG trip every year.  Yes, we take smaller trips and they are a bit more spontaneous, but still full of just as much adventure.  In 11 days, we will be in LA waiting for our flight to Maui!  

Wow!.....gotta go, lots to do.....