Summer is travel season. It’s time to pack your bags and explore the world. If you haven’t decided where you want to go, for how long and with whom, here is a checklist that will help you choose your next holiday destination. Take initiative and turn the most exciting time of the year into wonderful memories.

1. What is your budget?
First of all, talking about the budget is probably the most important question you have to answer before you start planning. Knowing how much money you have at your disposal helps to narrow down potential destinations. Will you backpack; stay in the UK or travel abroad; enjoy bed & breakfast or a cruise? Besides that, there won’t be any surprises during your trip. So you can enjoy your holidays without feeling too guilty.

2. What activities do you want to do?
Holidays are the best time of the year and should be used for lots of fun activities. The difficult thing is to decide on what activities to do. Besides that, it depends on who is travelling: families with children, older couples or students.  Do you like lying on the beach the whole day? Are you into hiking or mountain biking? Do you want to get to know the local culture? Or is backpacking your preferred way of travelling? These are a lot of questions that need to be answered upfront. The better you know what everyone wants to do, the more likely it is that you have fun.

Personally, I prefer a bit of everything: hiking, lying on the beach and local culture. By the way, if you decide for a beach holiday or hiking in the mountains, I explicitly recommend you bring a polarizing filter for your camera. A 72mm circular polarizer filter for example reduces reflections and increases colour saturations. Such a filter is therefore the perfect device for taking amazing pictures of lonely mountain lakes or turquoise-coloured beaches.

3. How do you want to travel?
When you plan your holiday, you also have to think about how to get there. In principle, you can go by car, train or plane. It really depends on your destination. If you don’t like long distance flights a trip to Hawaii might not be a good choice. However, considering the fact that a volcano in Iceland can slow you down dramatically and even ruin your trip, you should think of alternatives to travelling by plane anyway. If you look for a greener way of travelling, taking the train is definitely an option especially when you stay in the UK or on the continent. If you want to enjoy England’s seaside you could even go by car. No matter what you decide for, just make sure that your means of transportation fit your needs so you can enjoy the trip as soon as you leave the house.

4. What weather do you prefer?
Another crucial question is how the weather will be at your preferred destination. Well, living in the UK we are used to bad weather. That’s why most of us tend to choose warmer and sunnier destinations. You need to do some research beforehand. If you crave for steady weather conditions, you should choose your holiday destination accordingly to avoid disappointment and frustration. A city trip, a sunshine getaway or a hiking tour require different weather conditions. Again, planning and research in advance is the key to a satisfying holiday experience.

5. How do you want to book – online or at a travel agency?
When you eventually made your decision where to spend your holidays, you have to book it. There are two possibilities: online booking or booking at a travel agency. The online booking process might be less expensive but it takes more time to do the research. You should be careful and book only at trusted travel sites. Often there are review sites as well so that you can check hotels before you book them. Booking at a travel agency is more convenient but costlier. Usually, you can trust them as they offer selected and approved destinations. Either way, you should check the things mentioned above before you make a reservation.

Conclusion
To sum it up, planning your holiday can be as exciting as the trip itself. Just plan well ahead so that there is enough time to change your plans if necessary. If you travel to non-English speaking countries take a dictionary with you. The Ectaco electronic dictionary is the perfect travel companion who speaks French, German, Spanish, Russian, Latvian, Estonian and many more languages. No matter where you go, knowing some phrases in the local language might be helpful if not life-saving…

Another essential part of your travel equipment should be a camera like the latest Sony Cybershot digital camera model. It’s easy to stow away because it is very lightweight and small. But its best feature is definitely the camera’s panorama function that automatically stitches multiple shots together. I really love it.  So you can save your holiday memories in a very impressive way.
Happy holidays and have fun!

Did you know?

Europe is the most popular destination for UK residents, accounting for 80 per cent of visits abroad. Spain has been the most popular country to visit since 1994 and France was second in popularity. The number of visits abroad made by UK residents has more than tripled since 1985, to a record 66.4 million visits in 2005.

- Manuela

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