Happy New Year! It’s Time to Book Your 2023 Vacation!

Welcome 2023! If you’re like many folks, as you put away those holiday decorations, thoughts of travel this year may be dancing in your heads. And you’ll have lots of company, as the weeks following the holiday season are typically when the vast majority of people plan their vacations for the year, and as travel continues its tremendous post-pandemic rebound, this year will likely be no different.

Which brings me to the topic for today. One of the most frequent travel questions that I get – especially at the beginning of a new year – is “when is the best time to book”?  Read more

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Surviving the Crazy Air Travel Summer of 2022

When we experienced 3 flight cancellations in 3 days during last October’s Southwest debacle, I wrote about our experiences and offered some thoughts about what to do if your flight gets cancelled. While that situation seemed unique, cancellations *can* occur for all kinds of reasons – severe weather conditions, technical glitches being the most common reasons.

However, as we’ve come to see over the past several months – as the number of passengers increase with pandemic-weary travelers setting out on those long-awaited vacations – the aviation industry has just not been able to keep up with the volume of travelers that are now headed to the airports. Airline and airport staffing, drastically cut during the pandemic, has not recovered enough to handle the crowds of air travelers.

And so, long wait times, lengthy lines, flight delays and cancellations – and frustrated travelers – have become more common over the past few months and are likely to get a lot worse as the busy summer travel season begins.

So, what’s an eager – but concerned – air traveler to do? Here are the top ways to survive a crazy air travel season.

Stay in Contact with Your Airline – Make sure you are getting your airline’s text messages and you have your airline’s app downloaded on your phone. Keep checking the status there, especially in the last 24 hours before your trip. Even if you have text alerts, check the app. Know the phone number for your airline (or where to get it).

Fly From Major Cities – As a number of airlines are still facing pandemic staffing challenges, chances are that service at the smaller regional airports are likely to face more operational challenges than the major urban hub airports will. Which means, among other things, that if your airline has to reduce flight schedules, these smaller airports will be hit first – and if your flight gets cancelled, there may be fewer alternate flights. If you have the option to fly from a major city, you’ll have more choices, and less chance of being cancelled without any options.

Go. Early. – Travel professionals have always recommended arriving to the airport at least 2 hours before domestic flights (and 3 for international), but now it’s critical that travelers allow more than that in order to make it onto your flight. Lines for security, bag check, and pretty much everything are long – and more than a few people have found themselves missing flights because the security line was short-staffed and it took longer to get through than they were expecting. Don’t cut it too close and give yourself plenty of time – no one wants to be the “Home Alone” family racing through the airport to catch their flight (or worse, miss the flight completely). And if you can avoid checking a bag, that’s one less line to worry about!

Get Travel Insurance – If you haven’t already done so, purchase travel insurance. Having protection for your trip is not a luxury but is now really an essential. Things can change in a minute and the right insurance policy can protect your vacation investment, as well as potentially cover any losses if your flight gets delayed or cancelled.

Have a Back-Up Plan – You know how the motto of the Boy Scouts is “be prepared”? Make that your motto as well and have at least a rough idea of what your options are if your flight is cancelled, delayed, or you miss a connection. While you don’t need an elaborate spreadsheet of options you can still quickly check if there are any other flights that could get you to your destination in time. Look at nearby airports as well as other airlines and also see if driving or the train might be reasonable options. You may not need any of this information, but if your flight is cancelled, you’ll be less likely to panic if you know what your Plan B (or C or D) is!

Bonus Tip – Whatever happens, keep your sense of humor, practice patience, stay calm, and enjoy the fact that – despite the challenges – you’re traveling again!

Learn how the FREE services of a travel agent can make planning your vacation simple and STRESS FREE! 

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Top 10 Tips for Summer Air Travel

While the calendar says we still have a few weeks before summer officially starts, the fact is that once Memorial Day arrives, the “summer travel season” begins. And what a season it is going to be! After two pandemic summers, those who have had limited/no travel since 2019 are raring to go: a Washington Post-Schar School poll found that 72 percent of Americans say they will “definitely” or “probably” go on a summer trip this year.

If you’ll be one of those happy travelers – especially if you’ll be flying – things may be different from the last time you boarded a plane. Here are 10 ways to be prepared for air travel before you even leave for the airport. Read more

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Your Stress-Free Romantic Vacation

Maybe it’s a special anniversary, or maybe it’s your honeymoon. Or perhaps you and your partner just want to plan a romantic, “bucket-list” vacation together. While you may have tons of experience planning those yearly vacations to the beach for your family, this is different. It’s special. It’s to someplace you’ve always wanted to visit, a true bucket-list destination.

In other words, it’s important – and you want to get the planning right. But this is more complicated than that yearly trip to the beach, and there’s a lot to consider!

Cue the vacation planning stress.

The good news is that you don’t have to stress at all, because an expert travel planner, a specialist in just this kind of thing is only an email or call away. And you’ll be amazed at how easy your travel agent will make everything for you! Read more

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Traveling and COVID – Winter 2022 Edition

The beginning of every new year is traditionally a popular time to plan vacations for the coming year and while this year is no exception, COVID continues to hang over our heads and continues to affect how we travel.

As I have noted in the past, everything we have learned about travel in the past nearly 2 years, can be summed up in the following two statements:

  • Things are complicated.
  • Things can – and will – change.

As the pandemic continues to evolve and change, so has travel, as destinations, tour operators, resorts and hotels, airlines, theme parks, and cruise lines all work to find the right balance between staying operational, providing memorable travel experiences for their guests, and keeping everyone – both guests and employees – safe.

It’s a complicated and challenging scenario, and as the situation with the pandemic has changed, guidelines and protocols have adjusted. In some cases, many times. Read more

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