Enjoy the following guest post that was sent in by a mom blog reader from the UK.
Summer is here and, while the weather here in the UK might be temperamental at best, there are plenty of top destinations to be enjoyed by you and your friends this summer; yet the luxury of the Costa Del Sol or the South of France can be expensive, meaning that far too many (especially with the current economic situation) might miss out on the holiday they really deserve! The point of this article is therefore to help any hard-up but hard working people who want to make the most of this summer whilst on a budget.
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The price of a holiday will vary according to your destination and what you expect; an all inclusive stay in Cannes will differ vastly from a budget week in Mallorca. It is common sense to spend according to your means, so depending on how much or how little you have available you are going to have to shop around for your ideal destination; travel review sites offer the tools to do this, allowing the savvy holiday maker to find the best value destination without scrimping on quality. Read around a wide range of comments and reviews to make sure that you get an accurate impression of where you want to go; many countries themselves have a standardized hotel rating system as well that should easily allow you to assess the value of the abilities available and make sure you don’t waste your money.
The next step is to try and get a good price for your holiday; this is the main part of getting a good deal for obvious reasons. Now it might be tempting to go straight to a travel agency and while many do offer really good deals it is best to know the situation before you hand over any cash; check out the situation first, with individual prices for your hotel and flights. The aim to this additional research is that, when you get to a travel agency, you can immediately tell whether or not the deal you are getting is good value, allowing you to negotiate a better one or take your custom elsewhere!
So at this point you would hopefully have your hotel booked, flights sorted etc; by now you have probably spent a good portion of your budget on necessary expenses, but how do you account for the extras? Additional costs like all inclusive are once again a personal choice, depending on how luxurious you want your holiday to be and how much money you are willing or able to spend! The quality of these extras can vary a lot depending on the operating company and the hotel that provides them, so the best advice would be to research them once again; chances are that there will be competing businesses that can offer comparable activities that are far better value. Exploration off the beaten track is also a good idea for some of the more spontaneous activities; simply looking beyond your hotel resort for instance is a great opportunity for you to find good deals and get the most out of your summer break.
Basically, the central point of making sure that a summer holiday is good value is that you need to be flexible and confident; flexible in the sense that you are willing to compromise on your expectations according to your budget, and confidant in that you are willing to explore and negotiate for the best value once you know exactly what you want! Once you have the hang of this then chances are you will find more and more great deals out there for a week or two of sun, sea and sand, so happy holidays!