How far out do you plan vacations?

[BellBarbara]

My husband wants to plan out 5 years (locations and budget)....just curious about others. Obviously things can change due to many factors but he wants a blue print of sorts. Not against this....

 

[braumeister]

I try to plan the next 12 months of travel, but only major trips. I'm perfectly capable of just going off for a week or more with only a couple of days notice.

 

[TNBound]

Typically a year out, but then most of our travel is domestic. We use our timeshare points/exchanges for most of our vacations and the prime areas require reserving about a year in advance.

 

[Ronstar]

We planned for Europe about 9 months out. Usually plan US road trips involving several different hotels/etc a few months out. Short one stop trips about a month out.

 

[Senator]

I have places on my wish list a few years out, but no actual planning, like reservations, etc. until ~6 months or so.

My Trip to Branson, MO last week was planned ~3 months ago, but no reservations until 3 days before we left. In case I decided to change.

Hotel reservations are easy to cancel. So I sometimes make a tentative reservation and cancel when my plans firm up.

 

[Meadbh]

I generally begin planning complex international trips 6-12 months in advance. Simple trips, like a week in a private residence club, are often planned weeks to months in advance. Local journeys such as road trips can be organized at short notice unless I need accommodation in high season.

I would not plan 5 years in advance, because (a) many things might change in that timeframe, (b) who knows whether I will want to visit the same places in 5 years and (c) whether I will still want to travel at all?

 

[grasshopper]

Galapagos and Machu Picchu was booked 2 years ahead because there are only 24 cabins. Most trips are usually 1 year, but we have a friend at the cruise company, that will call us if the last cheap cabin is left when we want to go. We always book the cheap seats as we are at the bar or out and about. We even book our house sitter 9-12 months before we go.

 

[DrRoy]

We have made a list of things that we want to do over several years, but do not do any specific planning until about a year out. Less than that and you can find that some options are already gone, like getting the room you want in a national park lodge, or getting a frequent flyer ticket to Hawaii.

 

[kcowan]

I think our record for 14 months. Usually with Europe, we book flights 9-12 months ahead but fill in the details 2-3 months before the trip.

(I think it is OK to have a block plan for many years but details will change.)

 

[Midpack]

Wow, travel is not as big a priority for us, but we certainly 'vacation travel' 2-3 times/year. Planning is usually 3-5 months in advance. But where I (not DW) used to overplan, I've learned to research locations we travel to, but we just 'let things unfold now' - so planning is less intense.

 

[2017ish]

Depends on the destination. We are still working now; DW has liked to book 6-9 months in advance to minimize disruption of her patients' scheduling, while I'd have preferred booking a week in advance to ensure that last minute litigation scheduling doesn't tube us.... Generally, book 6 months and keep fingers crossed--but have done over a year in advance for certain dive boats that are in high demand. (I've only had to cancel twice, so not bad.)

Looking to retirement, we recently booked right at two years in advance for Humpbacks in Tonga and a 10 day dive cruise in Fiji with the same boat (which is largely sold out already even for 2019 whale trips)--but are leaving the 2 months in the middle for filling in later.... We are both hoping for a mix of spontaneity and long-range planning going forward.

E.T.A.

 

[Car-Guy]

When I worked, personal vacations were planned months in advanced for "work scheduling" purposes. Since I've retired, I consider myself on vacation permanently. Planned that one for 40+ years.

So now it's "traveling". Short trips and/or overnight stays are often done on the "spur of the moment". No planning until that day unless it's to make it to specific scheduled event "somewhere" (e.g. car show). Trips of a few days or a week or more are also done with little advanced planning. Sometimes I'll "think about" longer trips weeks or months in advance, but the decision to go, is usually made a few days before and then off I go. I actually keep a travel bag packed "at all times" with the "essentials" just in case I forget something important in the "spur of the moment" haste. Since all my traveling now is simply US domestic and by car, I don't need to plan much of anything. I might make some hotel reservations the day before I leave but usually not even that.

 

[rodi]

We have a wish list that we roughly plan out (which year we'll go where)... But the actual booking doesn't usually happen till 6-9 months in advance.

I often start researching one of the future trips well in advance... but hold off booking till closer in.

Our domestic trips - if it's a national park we book about 9 months in advance - I prefer in park lodging (vs having to wait in line to get into the park every morning) so you have to book in advance. Also - we're still tied to kids school schedules - so, unfortunately, we're always in high season. 5 years till we can travel in the shoulder seasons because both kids will be off at school. Yay!!!

 

[brett]

Five years! I could get hit by a bus next week and all that work would be for naught.

It depends for us. Recently returned from an AI in Mexico. Booked it about six days prior to departure.

We each have a bucket list. If we see an attractive offer we jump on it and build around it. Our booked our first winter flight to SE Asia 12 days before departure. Our next month's South America trip was book ended two months ago when we snagged a great offer of a cruise and managed to get good reward air home through Central America.

So, it depends. Bottom line is that we cherry pick whenever possible. We take advantage of shoulder seasons, slight civil unrest issues that cause tourist booking to plunge, and late bookings. We planned Africa six months in advance. That was the furthest out.

 

[Souschef]

When we were traveling to Europe. we would plan 330 days in advance, to lock in Business class with British Airway miles. Since we are only traveling domestically, we are on a shorter time frame.
The only trip we have planned longer is for our 10th anniversary in October.

 

[Senator]

FWIW. The best time to book a flight is 7-9 weeks out. That is what I read on the internet. 47 days for a domestic flight.


https://www.cheapair.com/blog/travel-tips/when-to-buy-airline-tickets-based-on-1-5-billion-airfares/

 

[Totoro]

Assuming international travel?

Leaving to Egypt tomorrow, decided to go there a month ago. That's pretty typical.

Most of my trips I only plan the inbound and return flight plus first night lodging, and make up the rest as I go along. Unless the destination warrants preplanning. Egypt right now isn't safe everywhere, so I arranged a taxi pickup.

I do pay attention to seasons for more adventurous things. Work with a bucket list. New Zealand I wanted to go for a long while, and then the timing just worked. So I booked it, a few months in advance. Only the inbound flight this time. Came back via Asia with a few stops in between, just because I had time and a friend in the area to visit.

Same thing: Canada is on my list. When I'll go, I don't know, but very likely a summer. So when a summer rolls around and it fits money/timewise, I'll probably book in april or so.

Longest preplan ever was Nepal. Had to get fit and was inexperienced in solo travel. Shortest preplan Suriname. That was a few days between idea and actually leaving.

 

[athena53]

I think our record for 14 months. Usually with Europe, we book flights 9-12 months ahead but fill in the details 2-3 months before the trip.

Typically DH and I did this, too- booked the flights for our annual major trip 9-12 months out (knowing, of course, that they'd mess with the schedules in the interim). Hotels- depended on the destination. I booked further in advance if it was a place with few desirable alternatives, an extremely desirable location, or we were using loyalty points.

And I never tortured myself by going back and seeing if the airfare went down.

Excursions, day trips, etc. were booked much closer to the date- preferably left to our whims when we got up each morning although some had to be booked in advance.

I could see including a budget item for travel in a 5-year plan and having a list of places you want to go, but not assigning them to a year. I had planned to go to Australia/NZ in 2017 but Business Class airfares were insane. I'm taking UnCruise from Panama City, through the Canal and to Costa Rica instead, for less than the airfare to Australia. Maybe if airfares ever go down or I have a year with no nasty financial surprises (already I see that 2017 will be a bad income tax year thanks to very good investment results), I may get there. If not, Edinburgh and Reykjavik are on my list, too.

 

[Texas Proud]

I think, as you can see by the responses, there is a big difference in what is considered 'planning'.....


I consider planning when you start to lay cash out or book rooms etc. for what you want to do.... or, in our case who will take care of our daughter if we decide to go during the school year....


I think our longest is 12 or so months.... usually DW starts between 6 and 12 for most trips... but as others have mentioned a spur of the moment can be short... MIL is in town now and DW decided to take her on a trip this week and only started to plan last week.... however, they both went on a cruise that DW planned and booked 9 months ago...


As for 'wish list'.... DW has been talking about Australia and NZ for over 8 years.... and she keeps saying she is going to go to Bora Bora and I say I am not... she said she can go without me.... these will not happen anytime soon...

 

[LauAnn]

About 6-9 months out. I book the flight as soon as the airlines opens up their schedules for the month I'm travelling.

 

[RunningBum]

I keep a list of places I want to go "some day", with some priority. I know where I want to go in summer 2017 but haven't booked yet, mostly because I need to make sure I get into a race I want to do there, and registration doesn't open until next month. I have in mind something for 2018 but won't decide until next summer or fall about it. There's not too much that I've seen that you can book over a year in advance, so even if I have plans longer than that, it's all flexible.

 

[audreyh1]

About 6-9 months out. I book the flight as soon as the airlines opens up their schedules for the month I'm travelling.

International trips - usually no more than 4 months in advance, and usually book flights 2 months in advance. Domestic trips including Hawaii - about 2 months in advance, sometimes 3, and sometimes less.

By the start of the year I usually haven't yet decided what we'll do that summer. We may have vague ideas, but they usually change when we start to really lay out the calendar and specific destinations.

 

[Nemo2]

Probably 6-9 months, although we did book one transatlantic repositioning cruise about 10 days before it sailed from Civitavecchia to Florida, (we were in Canada).

We met a couple from Quebec a couple years ago, they were in Florida and she found that the French ship we met them on was sailing to Barcelona from Santo Domingo in a couple days....they booked it and caught it.

 

[CaliKid]

I would say there are a few things I plan 5 years ahead but even then it's a pretty rough plan. Travel is not one of those things I plan that far in advance. Retirement for me and college for the kids are about the only two items.

Travel is usually planned 6-12 months ahead. However, the lat week I was looking into trips to warm sun for next week. Surprisingly the prices were much cheaper than I thought they would be. Airfare between 20-50% more than normal but not such a big deal. However, lodging, since we often rent other people's timeshare units was super cheap. Like a week in Hawaii, 2 bedroom, ocean view, Marriott/Hilton, etc..., for $1,500-2,000. With lodging so cheap the trip would be cheaper than normal. In the end I was vetoed so doing a couple days with my better half and no kids in party town USA. I felt very wild planning a trip only one week ahead. Lol.

 

[foxfirev5]

Generally when we get home from our winter trip we start planning the next one. Usually by 9 months out we have our first hotel reservations made. Then periodically shop the rates to get the lowest possible price. It is not unusual for us to cancel and rebook a couple of times. We did this for next month and saved over $500 plus a super Oceanfront suite upgrade to boot.
About 4 months out we work on the airfares. If it's too high we keep driving as a plan B. On our upcoming trip we got first class tickets from DTW to FLL for under $400. Yeah I know there are cheaper options but it is the only way I'm getting on a plane after years of business travel.