Rollaboard Travel - Tips on Traveling Light

By: Alexine

With children going back to school and fall weather beginning to set in there is much to think about. The November and December holidays will be here before you know it. While some people live close to their relatives, many do not. This requires lots of people to travel over the holidays. To ensure you get the best deals and make good traveling decisions I have come up with some tips for planning your holiday travels.

Check Schedules

This has got to be the most important part of making plans as everyone has different schedules and vacation availability. Making sure you check K-12 school schedules and college schedules if you have children and work vacation schedules for yourself and your spouse is very important. Sometimes there is a couple of day variance between high school and college break.

Checking the schedules of the people you are visiting is also equally important. This will ensure you all can make the ski trip or tropical vacation together. On the other hand it is important if the family is meeting up at Grandma’s house for the holidays. Because we all know Grandma likes to plan way in advance.

Choose Dates

Now that you have gathered everyone’s schedules it is time to pull the dates together. This may mean you have to be flexible by about two days on either end if you live far away and travel time is lengthy. Remember to give yourself plenty of time if you are driving to a distant airport in case of slick roads and snow storms.

Search Sites

With your dates finalized you now get to start playing with the different airline ticket search sites. You will notice that most offer a flexible date’s search mode that allows you to see dates before and after the ones you came up with. This will show you the rates around that date you enter. Sometimes leaving a day later or coming home a day earlier can cut your costs in half.

When searching on the different airfare sites you will also want to go to the airlines personal sites as well. Sometimes they offer better deals than the larger sites that offer multiple carriers.

Watch Rates

When planning ahead for holiday vacation it is wonderful if you can get started right away. The advantage of getting a head start is that you will be able to watch rates and check for deals with your local carriers. Sometimes buying too far in advance can be very expensive along with buying too close to your departure date. Somewhere in the middle is where the best deals are so watching the rates will really help save you money.

Book & Get Miles

The last steps to planning your holiday vacation are booking the flights and signing up for air miles if you do not already have an account. Once you see the rates and are comfortable with the price it is a good idea to book your flights. Sometimes people wait until it starts going up again which is good but if you can get the best rate go for it before the prices change.

When it comes to the air miles it is a wonderful thing to start accumulating them. After you accumulate many air miles you can cash them in for an airline ticket. There are also credit cards that the airlines have that offer you double miles when you purchase the ticket through them. Take advantage of specials like this to help save on your future travel plans.

Safe Travels

With your travel plans set I hope you can relax and enjoy the next couple of months before the holidays are in full gear. With shopping and prepping to look forward to it is nice to have the travels plans in order with plenty of time to spare. Good luck on your holiday vacation wherever it may be and have safe and happy travels.