The first few years out of college all of my vacations were either with my family or to visit friends that had moved to other cities after graduation. Then in my mid-twenties began the vacations planned around friends’ weddings, my own wedding/related planning trips and honeymoon. Now that my husband and I are in our late twenties, have more discretionary income and can be more selfish with our (relatively speaking) newlywed time, vacation planning is a bit different…

There are so many different options and so many resources easily available that the process can be overwhelming. And not everyone wants to pay for for a travel agent to make all the arrangements – but they don’t want to spend hours doing the research either. Luckily, I really enjoy doing travel research – whether it’s looking for the best hotels or restaurants or figuring out when is the best time to visit a particular destination. So I thought I’d put together a mini-series on How To Plan A Grown-up Vacation and break it down into a couple parts: Part I: Setting a Budget, Part II: Choosing a Location and Booking Flights, Part III: Making Hotel Reservations and Part IV: Planning An Itinerary.

By sharing travel tips, helpful resources and things I’ve learned while planning my own travels, my goal is to help others plan the most luxurious vacation possible within their budget, so they can actually enjoy their trip!     Continue reading →