Global Resorts Network Travel Source

Steps to help you prepare and map out your first vacation to Europe

 Step 1: Making General Plans

Prior to your preferred vacation date, plan as early as six months. Make a list of places that you wish to visit. Consider the amount of free time you can allocate to your vacation and make sure you have at least a day or two to dedicate to a single city to make the most out of it.

Start learning the various foreign languages you expect to speak when you finally head off to Europe. Overcoming language barriers will help save money in more ways than one.

Step 2: Start Paying

Once you’ve got your itinerary for your European vacation ready, you should start making arrangements for your flight. Shop online for the best airfare deals. Be sure you know the dates of public holidays as they could make a significant impact on your travel plans. Besides the usual holidays, Europe also celebrates Assumption Day on August 15 and the Epiphany on January 6. Munich has Oktoberfest, but celebrations could start as early as September while Venice has Carnevale on February.

Allocate three months for preparing paperwork if you need to renew your passport or apply for visa. This is also the best time to start shopping for shoes that can get you around Europe, walking the cobbled lanes of old English town and cross the thresholds of the best French restaurants.

If possible, transact with just one or two persons for your travel arrangements. This would entitle you to more discounts. Advanced bookings for accommodations would also help you in saving money. Remember that your choices aren’t limited to just rooms and suites of hotels and resorts. You can also rent out cabins, lofts, apartments, cottages, and condo units.

Step 3:  Choose Your Method of Transportation

If you are proficient with right-hand driving then you can save a lot of money by renting out a car; make sure your rental dates coincide with your arrival and departure date on the cities you’ll visit.

Transportation, however, can also be an adventure. You might be familiar with the Metro in Paris and the Underground in London, but are you aware of the trams, buses, and the T-bana in Stockholm? In Venice, you’ll have to ride the waterbus or vaporetto – and yes, there are always gondolas for scenic tours – and funiculars in Lisbon.

Rail systems can be quite complex in the large cities so make sure you have your map with you at all times. Purchase a multi-day or daily pass as well as frequent checks because they offer greater traveling convenience.

Step 4: Start Packing

Yes, it’s now time to pack and your motto shouldn’t be ‘pack everything possible’ in case of emergencies but to ‘pack lightly’ for traveling convenience. Yes, it’s nice that you prefer to pack for all sorts of emergencies, but if such items are also sold in Europe then it’s best not to pack them with you.

Choose clothing that will provide you the appropriate protection from whatever weather you expect to greet you in Europe. Make a list and be sure to double and triple-check it every week and until the day prior to your departure date. Register your travel arrangements with the State Department and make photocopies of your passport, ID cards, and other pertinent papers.

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A vacation to Europe can be affordable or expensive, and it all depends on your travel preferences.

Transportation

     One of the best things about Europe is that you can go country-hopping by car. As long as you’re proficient with right-hand driving, you’ll have greater – possibly cheaper as well – means of exploring the best Europe has to offer. Fuel could be a huge drain on your money, but not if you choose the ideal car for travel; another thing you should keep in mind is that diesel costs less than gas in Europe. Lastly, take your time shopping for car rental rates to save on insurance and other rental-related fees.

     If you don’t feel like driving, you can opt for train or rail passes. Train rides in UK can be quite costly, but they’re very cheap when you find yourself in Italy. Finally, there’s always the alternative of walking. It’s tiring but costs you nothing and when you find yourself in the beautiful cities of Venice, Rome, Paris, Cornwall, and Heidelberg, you may think that walking is the best option after all.

Accommodations

     The cost of lodgings will, again, depend on your preferences. Summer in the Mediterranean regions like Italy and Greece can be especially hot and this might prompt you to pay more for air-conditioned rooms, lobbies, and restaurants.

     Studios, condo units, cottages, cabins, and the likes are also available for transients, but you’d do better to book them in advance. It could be hard to negotiate when you’re an American in Holland and you’ll have to overcome huge language barriers.

     Naturally, you can expect to pay less if you’re willing to rough it out and enjoy the quaint charm of traditional living in the European countryside. Authentic traditions, however, can be quite expensive, too, if you insist on renting out a room in an honest-to-goodness castle in Scotland or maybe a chateau in England and France.

Food and Dining

     First-time travelers, beware: restaurants located in less popular and populated areas are actually more expensive than those in tourist-friendly areas like Brussels, Milan, and Madrid. Nevertheless, if you’re worried about draining your pockets too much, there are always tapas, snack bars, and the likes scattered all over Europe. They may not offer air-conditioned rooms to relieve you from the heat outside, but at least they’ll allow you to extend your vacation a day or two.

     Vegetarians might have difficulties looking for restaurants catering to their preferences in Spain. Wine, overall, costs cheaper than what you’d expect to pay here in the US and, you can definitely expect to pay less and enjoy more if you’re willing to try out traditional cuisine or local dishes and the likes.

How to Lower Expenses for Your European Vacation

      To end this with a perfect note, we’ll let you on a couple of secrets to keep your vacation expenses low while exploring Europe.

• Be multilingual. Take the time and effort to know simple words and phrases of the local language. It’s hard to get advice about the best places to shop or dine when you can’t understand each other.

• Don’t convert your money. Rather, just obtain cash from ATMs or pay by credit card. It saves you from paying conversion fees.

• Use prepaid phone cards. It costs less than maintaining your postpaid subscription while you go around backpacking in Europe.

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Do you have a wedding coming up?

Are you sick of trying to plan a wedding and fight for overbooked halls and churches and caterers?  Wouldn’t you rather get married on the white sands of Jamaica surrounded by a turquoise ocean and your most beloved family and friends? If so, you should plan a destination wedding in Jamaica. Destination weddings are very trendy right now. 

Destination weddings might seem decadent but really they are very practical. The bride and groom can honeymoon without having to go anywhere and all the wedding guests get a nice vacation in addition to being able to see a loved one get married.  When you plan a destination wedding you don’t have to worry over what hall to choose and what church to hold the service at or anything like that either.

Most of the time when you book a destination wedding all the arrangements are handled at the hotel and the event is held at the hotel or on the beach.  Some resorts even have private beaches that are perfect for weddings.  Think of how great it would be to just be able to relax and be excited about your wedding and let the hotel staff handle all the arrangements.

Often when you book a destination wedding there is a wedding planner assigned to help you that can tell you about different packages that the hotel offers. Many wedding packages are all-inclusive so you don’t need to worry about silverware, linens, glasses, food, the bar, entertainment or anything else. You can just relax and enjoy the georgeous tropical sunshine.

Jamaica is the perfect place for a destination wedding. It’s warm and tropical and beautiful and yet it’s close and accessible too so that travel isn’t a huge hassle for friends and family who want to attend the wedding. 

There are several resorts in the larger tourist towns that cater to brides who are planning weddings but any hotel or resort will have staff on hand to help you plan a wedding.  Plus you can usually get a substantial discount from a hotel or resort when you book rooms for all your family and friends and have your wedding and honeymoon at that resort. 

Since the bride and groom are expected to pay for the accommodations and expenses of the entire bridal party and often the guests as well that discount from the hotels can really help out your bottom line.  But a destination wedding isn’t as costly as you might think; it’s really very close to the price of a traditional wedding in most cases even with the expense of paying for the accommodations of your family and friends.

For the price of a traditional wedding you can have a lovely destination wedding and vacation combined in Jamaica. Just picture what it would be like to be exchanging vows with your partner at sunset on a white Jamaican beach with all your loved ones there to wish you well. Wouldn’t that be a beautiful way to start your new life together!

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