Time Management Part I
Travel Tip #1
The greatest travel mistake that everyone will eventually make occurs well before packing their luggage, and purchasing their sunblock. With more than 30 years of extensive travel experience, I have learned arranging for the proper amount of time is imperative to enjoying a holiday. The old adage 'we should never grocery shop while hungry,' also applies to travel. Inexperienced travelers tend to either under or over estimate time needed, resulting in either feeling rushed to seeing too many attractions in too little time, or bored having run out of things to see too early. To help maximize your enjoyment, I am sharing a few personal guidelines I have developed.
Be honest with yourself:
First, you must really be honest with yourself in what you are expecting from your holiday. If 'sight seeing' is the objective, with exception to major destinations, most locations will not have enough attractions to justify a stay beyond 3 or 4 days. In the case of Island stays, this may be less, averaging 1-3 days, again with exception major destinations. If sitting on a beach to rest, and read a good book is what you have in mind, then understanding how much time you will require balancing between personal down time with other activity will help you plan more effectively. Trust me, as a long time resident of Florida, and originally from Brazil, more than 4 days on a beach without other options can be a trial of your patience. Be sure to 'understand yourself', and then plan accordingly.
Know where you are going:
Second, as already stated above, with the exception to major destinations, most locations will not have enough attractions to support a visit beyond 3 or 4 days, while the major destinations may easily require 10 days and beyond to see everything properly. This means having a firm understanding of what you want to see, prioritizing what is important to you, and where each attraction is located and the time necessary to not only commute between attractions but also to properly experience them will help you manage your time more efficiently. Once you have done this, you can easily schedule a day planner, leaving enough time in between each attraction to rest. My best guidance to scheduling your day planner, is to plan it with 'Highs and Lows' where the day of low impact sight seeing is placed in between the hard charging days. This will end up feeling a lot like a beautiful symphony and keep everyone with you in harmony.
Rule of thumb (One/One/One):
While there are exceptions to every rule, over time, I have developed a rule of thumb to planning my holiday time that has worked so well, I considered almost to be my 'law of travel.' My rule of thumb (One/One/One) works like this; when considering how long I should book my stay at my final destination, I consider how long a one way commute to the final destination will take in hours and then multiply that round number by days as my approximate duration. What is wonderful about this rule is that it has worked regardless of the mode of travel I take; car, high speed train, or plane.
Here is an example; Let's say I want to visit Brazil, and I live in Orlando, Florida. I find that a one way flight to Brazil will take 8 hours. So, my rule of thumb says, 1 day for every one hour of the one way trip. This means I should consider staying in Brazil no less than 8 days. If I am also following the first two pieces of advice, of being honest with myself, and knowing where I am going I am well on my way to avoiding beginner travel mistakes.
Are you interested in my other stories?
Ready to book or have a question ?
Call or Text (407) 432-0673
Visit: adasilva.dreamvacations email: adasilva@dreamvacations.com
Full Service | Travel Agent | Longwood, Fl.
No comments:
Post a Comment