Research And Booking A Vacation For Couples
Where can I get information about couples destinations?
Information on couples destinations is widely available both in newspapers and magazines. Another place you should also check is in guidebooks; there are many guidebook series that concentrate on couples. You also should look to the internet and standard booking third party sites, such as Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity. Those can have good information on packages that might be useful for couples. You should also take a look at places such as JohnnyJet.com for direction. It's a fairly comprehensive website that includes lots of links that you may not be familiar with.
What services can help me find couples destinations?
If you're looking for couples destinations, you have several routes. You can go to a travel agent, and I recommend that. Often, travel agents have a broader knowledge of destinations that work particularly well for couples. They handle a lot of family travel and honeymoon travel. I think a travel agent is a really good starting point if you're interested in couples travel.
Should I use a travel agent to book a couples vacation?
Using a travel agent is a decision that you and your significant other need to come to, but it's one that I actually recommend. When you use a travel agent, you have an advocate. If something goes wrong on that trip or if you need some particular insight, that travel agent is going to be there for you. Usually there is a fee associated with it, but often it is well worth it. A travel agent can take care of many of the details that you either don't know about or will slip your mind, and end up being a source of friction between you and your significant other. I really recommend travel agents as a way to smooth the path.
How far in advance should I book a couples vacation?
Booking couples destinations can be tricky because often couples destinations means honeymoon destinations, and those can fill up . The popular wedding months - June, September, December, for example - mean that the amount of rooms that are available, and the amount of product that is available, can be severely limited, because of the amount of honeymooners. I would recommend booking fairly far in advance, as far in advance as you possibly can. One of the keys in booking far in advance, however, especially if you're doing something that is fairly involved and fairly expensive, is consider travel insurance. This is especially important if you're going to a place where weather could be a factor, or any other natural disaster could be a factor. That is something you should consider before booking a couples vacation.
Where is a good place to book airfare to my couples destination?
There are a lot of places where you can book airfare. First of all, you can go directly to the airlines website and book the there, if you know that is the airline you definitely want to use. You can go to one of the third party sites, such as Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz. You can use what's called an aggregator site to book airfare, such as Sidestep, Mobesimo or Kayak. Of course, you can also use a travel agent, who may be able to help you snag a really great airfare.
Where is a good place to book a rental car for my couples vacation?
There are lots of places to book rental cars. You can go directly to the rental car site. You can use a third party site, such as Travelocity, Expedia or Orbitz. You can go to an aggregator site which actually goes out to the sites and brings back the information, such as Sidestep, Mobissimo or Kayak. Another thing you might want to consider is using an opaque site, such as Priceline or Hotwire. Those often have good deals on rental cars, but make sure you compare side by side what you find elsewhere on the internet with what you think you might be paying through Priceline or Hotwire, just to make sure you're getting a really great deal on a rental car.
What are the pitfalls when booking a couples vacation?
I think there are always pitfalls in booking any vacation, but I think there may be more in booking a couples vacation because it's not just your own interests that you have to take into account. I think the things you need to agree on beforehand include what your interests are and, especially, what you're going to be paying for the vacation. As you consider costs, you need to determine, for example, whether a hotel room is based on the price of two people in a room or is based on the price per person. You need to make sure that you have those details worked out before you book a couples vacation. You need to agree on what your overall budget is, and I think that is probably the biggest pitfall and the biggest source of arguments.
Are there any fees associated with booking a couples vacation online?
The fees that are associated with booking couples vacations are the fees that you would normally pay for any travel service. If you use a travel agent, you can expect to pay a fee. If you use Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia, or any of the third-party online travel agents, you often will pay a fee for an airline ticket. Going directly to the airline site avoids that. There are also other fees that may be associated with a couples vacation if you're going to a resort. There are often resort fees that may be included, so you want to make sure that you know upfront what all those fees are. You need to ask; you need to call the resort and discuss it with them, and make sure you're fully aware of everything that you're gonna be paying for on your couples vacation.
What is a vacation 'off-peak season'?
A vacation off-peak season is pretty much what it sounds like, and that is you're going when everybody else is not. For example, in the summer, the National Parks will receive the most number of visitors. In the winter, not so much. The visitation will drop in half, and that's considered off-peak. Europe, for example, in winter, is considered off-peak, and parts of the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are reversed from ours, tend to be actually terrific vacation destinations because their off-peak season is our peak season and vice versa. You can get great deals to there when we're having our own peak season.
What are the drawbacks of a couples vacation in the off-peak season?
I think the drawbacks of a couples vacation in the off peak season are similar to many other kinds of vacations. However, they may be intensified because your expectations as a couple may be that you're going to go and have this glorious vacation in London in the winter, for example, and suddenly discover the weather is cold and rainy or that something you really wanted to do is not available. Not only do you have your own disappointment to cope with, but you have the disappointment of the other party as well. Sometimes, not that I speak from experience, I think that there might be some blaming behavior going on there that can really derail a vacation. You need to be aware of those things before you even set off on your couples vacation.
