Travel – and discovering new places – is an excellent way to blow away the cobwebs and hit the refresh button on life. A change of scenery is undoubtedly welcome after spending so much time at home during the Covid pandemic.
After the difficulties of the past year, being able to travel again is an exciting prospect, so you may be planning to make the most of this opportunity and head off on an extended holiday. Taking the time out to enjoy a long trip does take more effort to arrange, but it is well worth it to ensure you have the best possible time.
Here are some tips for organising a perfect extended holiday:
Destination and holiday type
It can be tough deciding where to visit on your travels and while there are still Covid travel restrictions, the world might feel like a smaller place. The first thing ton do is to take a look at green light countries. Each country has their own list set by the governments.
Once you have chosen a destination, you’ll need to decided how to enjoy your extended trip. Will you stay in one place or a single region? If so, you could choose to take day trips to see all the different sights and attractions while based in one place. To do this type of trip, you’ll probably want to book a longer term let for a self-catering property.
A road trip can be a great idea, too, if you want to have the freedom to pick and choose the places where you stop along the way and travel at your own pace. Maybe you will drive around the UK or across to Europe? Or you could hire a car, camper van or motorhome in your chosen destination.
Another idea is to embrace your love of the great outdoors and take an extended backpacking, bikepacking or camping trip. While your travel distances will be shorter, you will experience a country or region from a much closer and personal perspective. Many people enjoy walking and cycling holidays.
There are so many different options to choose from, which makes it a lot of fun trying to shortlist your choices and decide on your perfect break.
Seek travel advice
Just to reiterate, it is important to keep up to date with all the latest travel advice to ensure you are aware of anything that may impact your trip. You may want to keep a back-up plan in mind, so you don’t miss out on getting away just in case your original travel plans are disrupted.
Practical arrangements
The practicalities of your long trip may mean that you have to make a lot of arrangements before you travel. Write a list of all the different arrangements you need to make to ensure everything is taken care of at home while you are away. For example, pet sitting, plant watering, grass cutting, putting our bins, paying bills etc.
To ensure that you don’t miss any important correspondence while you are away, you may want to sort out a physical address for mail so that you can check your post online while you are not at home.
Booking everything in advance and in good time will take away the stress of doing things last minute and it will also help to ensure you have help/ people in place.
Check local restrictions
Although life is beginning to get back to normal, it is likely there could be restrictions in place from time to time in your destination of choise. Carrying out some research to check if there are restrictions in the areas you are travelling to, such as masks needing to be worn, will help you prepare for this eventuality and make sure you pack everything needed for your long-awaited trip.
Pack thoughtfully
If you are planing to travel around your destination of choice, it pays to pack less rather than more in a suitcase or rucksack. Moving your luggage can become a chore if you have a heavy load. If you plan to backpack or bike pack, you’ll need to be even more thoughtful about what you really need – and what you can do without.
A tip is to lay out everything you think you’ll need, then be very practical about what you actually will need. Usually, you can end up with two-thirds of the items you originally planned to pack.
Remember you can wash clothing and buy items while you are on your extended trip, so think about what is the minimum you could pack.
