Hey Everyone!
I’m pretty sure I say this every month, but once again…it’s one of my favorite days of the month. The time when Shay and I host our How We… link-up! The hope is for us to share HOW WE, you guys share how you, and we can all learn a little from each other.
Today the topic is HOW WE…PLAN OUR SUMMER VACATIONS!
I’ve gotta be honest. Since becoming a travel agent, I think about vacation destinations ALL THE TIME! Tab would completely agree with that statement. 😉
I’m sure every family has some criteria when making out their vacation plans. Here’s how we do it in our family…
*BUDGET*
As much as I wish I didn’t have one of these, we do. ha! We tend to look at our vacation money as a whole for the year. So, if we’ve done a big Spring Break trip, then we’ll take a less expensive summer vacation or vice versa. As much as I’d like to check all the destinations off my list, budget comes first. We have to prioritize where we want to go with the money we have set aside.
*SCHEDULES and WEATHER*
When we decide on destinations, we then figure out the best time for us to go…winter break, Spring Break, summer, etc. We also research the best times to visit that area and hopefully, it aligns with when we can visit! Our Disney Land and Sea trip due to scheduling and temperatures just made more sense for us during Spring Break.
And our Vail/Denver Spring Break 2017 was the same way…scheduling and weather made this trip work the best in March.
This 2016 Disney Cruise as well, BUT it’d also make a great vacation in the summer months.
*FOOTBALL*
(Kind of goes along with scheduling)
This is gonna also speak to coaches’ families…ha! Not a typical thing most people are thinking about when planning trips, I’m sure. Tab typically finds out the week after all football games are over and bowl games have been announced when and if he’s officiating a bowl game. We kind of have to play the “what-if” game when it comes to budgeting and such with trips around football. We keep that in mind when planning for summer vacations. Again, something most people aren’t thinking about I’m sure, but I’m keeping it real! 🙂 In 2017 when we got Tab’s assignment and looked at our kiddos’ school schedule, we realized we had a week to work with to hit the slopes. We booked our Colorado Ski Trip super last minute in December last year.
We oftentimes get to check cities off our box due to a football game Tab has. We can turn a game into a little getaway and get to visit places like…Atlanta, Georgia.
Well, more importantly on that trip…Stars Hollow. 🙂
*VISITING FAMILY*
If you’re like us {and don’t live super close to most of your family}, we can turn a little long-distance family meet up into a little vacation. There I go checking more places off my invisible box. 😉 Last year over Thanksgiving we had a quick little vacation in Branson, Missouri. Growing up, this was our go-to vaca spot being just about four hours from my hometown.
*ADULT TIME*
Tab and I try to have a nice mix of grown-up trips without kids and family trips. Like to Park City last year in 2017, we left the kiddos at home and made it adult-only with the Shulls.
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We keep all of those things in mind when planning our summer vacations…are we doing other little trips throughout the year, what’s the budget like, how much time do we have, etc. and then we make our plans.
A super memorable summer vacation was our week in Mexico.
One of our favorite summer destinations are the white, sandy beaches of Florida. We’ve vacationed in a variety of spots in the Destin area and are looking forward to adding another trip to our books in just a few weeks.
I pretty much always have a running list going of places I’d like to visit. Tab and I discuss periodically and we’re also getting input from the kids. A few spots on my immediate bucket list (if you’re like me, I have a bucket list for a variety of kiddos’ ages)…
*Marcos Island, Florida (I was just chatting with some friends about this at the pool on Monday) We’re big Marriott fans and Marriott resort there looks so nice. I’ve heard great things!
*Hilton Head, South Carolina (Southern Charm has me wanting to go ASAP!-ha!)
*California Spots with the kiddos…Tab and I have been several times, but the kids haven’t.
*New England-I’d love to do this in the fall but football makes a fall trip SO tough. My kiddos had an absolute blast in NYC so we want to hit some other spots on the East Coast eventually.
*Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon-if you’ve done any of these trips with your family, please share what age is too young, in your opinion? How old should Britt be?
*Europe-of course, I’m adding this one to the list.
*Europe-of course, I’m adding this one to the list.
And I could go on and on, but I’ll stop there. 🙂 I’m telling you trips are on my mind constantly and a huge part of that is due to Mix and Match Travel. I love talking to families about vacation destinations and helping them plan a fabulous getaway.
What about YOU? What’s on your family’s vacation destination bucket list? And how do you decide where your family is heading on vacation?
If you blogged, please link-up with us and be sure to join us next month when we chat about motivating our kids. Happy Wednesday!
See you tomorrow!
XO
