How To Stop Your Holiday Dream Becoming A Nightmare
Holidays provide some of the most magical memories in our lives. However for most, the opportunities to travel don’t come around nearly as often as we’d like. With this in mind, it’s only natural that you’ll feel the pressure of wanting to make the most of your adventure.
Thankfully, a handful of simple preparations will ensure that your vacation is everything you want it to be, and more. Focus on our steps below on ‘How To Stop Your Holiday Dream Becoming A Nightmare‘ and you won’t go wrong.
7 Top Tips To Stop Your Holiday Dream Becoming A Nightmare
Stop Your Holiday Dream Becoming A Nightmare Tip #1
Prepare For The Journey
Many people overlook the importance of the journey. After all, it’s a necessary step that opens the door to subsequent adventures. Firstly, choosing flights at suitable times to reduce jet lag is heavily advised. Meanwhile, keeping yourself occupied with a good book, film or games like Mahjong is ideal. The fact that you can dip in and out when you have a few minutes to spare can serve you well in airports, on public transport, and more.
The harsh reality is that a bad outward journey will play on your mind throughout the holiday. This is because you’ll be very aware of the return journey that is still to come.
Top Tip: A smooth journey will set you up for the perfect holiday. For the best results, just be sure to remember the onward journey to the accommodation.
Further Reading: Things You Need to Do to Prepare for a Summer Holiday
Stop Your Holiday Dream Becoming A Nightmare Tip #2
Protect Your Health
Once you’ve reached your destination, nothing threatens your vacation like ill health. The symptoms may leave you unable to enjoy the attractions. Even if you can still visit places, the experience will be diluted. So, it’s imperative that you understand potential health risks when travelling and take the right precautions to stop them. If nothing else, gaining control of the situation will put your mind at ease.
Prevention is the best form of protection. Still, you cannot eliminate all risks. Therefore, you should also protect yourself with travel insurance and medical insurance. Otherwise, you could be faced with financial headaches as well as lost enjoyment. Researching the location of the nearest pharmacy in the destination should help too.
Further Reading: Travel Toiletries – No Packing Faux Pas with These Packing Hacks
Stop Your Holiday Dream Becoming A Nightmare Tip #3
Choose Your Travel Party Wisely
Human interaction may be the key to happiness. However, travelling with the wrong people could significantly reduce your enjoyment. Narcissists, needy people, and individuals who spend all their time moaning, or not spending their monies fairly are the worst culprits. The harsh reality is that holidaying together is vastly different to enjoying a local day out. You need to think carefully about whether one party would hinder your experience more than inhance it.
If you’re a parent, travelling with another family can be very appealing. Still, it will be important to have some time separated from them. This allows you to explore the area with your immediate family. Otherwise, you may find that you miss out on many of the bucket list items that you wanted to do.
Stop Your Holiday Dream Becoming A Nightmare Tip #4
Think About The Location Of Your Accommodation
The right choice of accommodation will have a huge influence on your overall holiday experience. While most people focus on the facilities and size of the rooms, the location should be at the top of your agenda. Close proximity to the destination’s top selling points, whether it’s the beach or tourist attractions, allows you to spend more time having fun. Likewise, you’ll save money on travel around the city or countryside.
Few things are more stressful than spending half of your vacation on public transport. It will increase your stress and boredom, and that’s without adding children to the equation! So, start your hotel or private villa search by finding the area that you wish to stay in. From there you can narrow the search to suitable properties.
Further Reading: 14 Tips – How to Prepare for the Ultimate Family Road Trip
Stop Your Holiday Dream Becoming A Nightmare Tip #5
Pre-Book Attractions
A little spontaneity goes a long way to improving a vacation. So, you should schedule some days to relax and enjoy some freedom. Nevertheless, it’s very likely that you’ll also have a list of attractions you want to visit. Pre-booking tickets for a sports event, theme park, or theatre show is advised. Aside from gaining a discount, it’ll help you avoid lines or potentially missing out due to sellouts.
Better still, it allows you to build a rough itinerary. This ensures that you’ll return home knowing that you have enjoyed yourself to the max. Wasting a day and failing to tick off a bucket list experience would leave a sour taste in the mouth. Given that you can now book attractions before you even leave home, there’s no excuse to get it wrong.
Stop Your Holiday Dream Becoming A Nightmare Tip #6
Be Organised
Good organisational skills are important in all aspects of daily life. However, maintaining control is particularly important on vacation. Nowadays, you can download everything from boarding passes to car hire booking details to your smartphone. Meanwhile, having currency converters and translation apps can work wonders. Of course, digital maps can deliver a whole new level of convenience when navigating new places.
You should also take extra care to organise your traveller’s cheques (which aren’t as popular nowadays but still used – prepaid travel cards or your usual debit card are more widely used) and other key documents.
Top Tip: Depending on where you’re travelling to it might be wise to inform both your bank and your smartphone network provider. Otherwise, anti-fraud teams may put a stop to transactions, which, you can imagine, could cause major difficulties.
Stop Your Holiday Dream Becoming A Nightmare Tip #7
Take Time to Relax
Every great holiday should be filled with new adventures and experiences. BUT you should never overlook the need to rest and recharge the batteries too.
Modern life is hectic, but a break from normality can work wonders for the body and mind. Taking some time to sit by the pool or visit a spa can make a big difference. It will leave you feeling ready to attack life head-on once you return home.
Relaxation is also about your mindset. While good organisation and a rough itinerary will aid your cause, try not to put too much pressure on your shoulders. If your plans change due to unforeseen circumstances, that’s OK. As long as you make the most of your experiences, you’ll be absolutely fine.
The Final Word on Holiday Dreams
Most of us spend a good portion of our lives dreaming about our next holiday getaway and adventure. Some of us get anxiety worrying about the nightmares they can bring too. However, with the right planning, using our ‘top tips to stop your holiday dream becoming a nightmare‘, you can take your experience to a whole new level. And when you do, the magical memories you deserve will await.
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