By Ayush Bhargava

With winter holidays approaching, people have started planning for the short trip to nearby destination. Going on exotic vacation need proper planning and require thorough research and very few people are successful in planning it well. People go over budget on vacation and thus fail to enjoy it fully.

Many people do not take vacations often enough due to work, time and money problem. They think that vacation will cost a lot of money. Yes, it will cost a lot of money and with the continuous increase in the hotel rent, travelling cost and food cost, it will cost more every year but if they plan it well in advance then they can enjoy and feel relaxed during and after the vacation. So, how to plan for a vacation?

Someone said ,“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” and there is no better time than now to start planning, so let’s discuss in brief the points to consider while planning for a vacation.

1. Finding hotels expensive? Try “Airbnb”: Most of the times people find it difficult to get a budget hotel for their stay. Even the websites which claim to list budget hotels are sometimes very expensive. However, with the options like “Airbnb”, now people can find a single room or whole apartment at much cheaper rate than hotel.

People who have extra rooms in their apartment, they rent it out at very reasonable cost for business travellers and families. If the stay is getting extended one can even book room for a week or fortnight. Few even allow you to cook food.

2. Online Travel Portals can help to save a lot: Very less people have a habit of visiting websites for a proper travel package. They do not understand that it can save them lot of money and time. Many websites like Groupon, Makemytrip.com and Expedia can help you in finding attractive deals and packages all across the year.
3. Follow reviews on different portals and blogs: On the travel portals one can find reviews of the different destinations. You can actually get to know about the best time to travel to the place, list of tourist spots in that city, hotels and the food of the place.Also there are many travel blogs available on which people share their experience about vacation. This exercise can help you in saving a lot of time and money during your visit.
4. Keep a separate goal for vacation in your Financial Plan: There are many families who plan to go for local vacation once in a year and international vacation every 5 – 6 years. While local vacation can be planned with small saving deposits, the international vacation goal can be included in your financial plan and savings can be done through proper asset allocation with a proper mix of equity and debt.
5. Taking loan for vacation is a bad idea: During vacation season, many banks and financial institution offer loans to travel overseas. Sometimes people also take a loan on their insurance policies to go on vacation. This is the wrong approach. Instead one can plan in advance for the vacation by saving little amount every month.

The planned vacation can be more exiting when you are less worried about expenses and location. Please remember you don’t have to be Richie rich to enjoy a great vacation. The perfect mix of family and friends with little planning can also make your trip memorable.It does not matter where you go for vacation, what matter is how you enjoy your quality time and collect great memories.

Ayush Bhargava is a CFPCM and specializes in helping young families to setup their personal finance roadmap. Ayush is associated with GettingYouRich, a financial planning firm.