Taking off Travel blog

Columbus Day is coming up and it’s time to think about weekend getaways. We all love long weekends, and if we can tack on a couple of days at either end, we could have a break of as much as a week. If you want the perfect long weekend, though, you’ll have to be savvy. Here are our tips for planning the perfect weekend holiday.

Plan Ahead Or Leave It Late

If you’re one of those people who knows a year out exactly where you will want to be on a given long weekend, then go ahead and book it. Advance booking can usually save you a small fortune, as the travel companies can offer great discounts on their top destinations. However, if you’re not even sure whether you’re going anywhere yet, then it’s not too late. Check out a website that specializes in late deals and see what’s available. You can often get great fares if getting away is more important than where you go. Lastminute.com and TravelZoo are just two of the places you can try for a great deal. Once you’ve found a deal you like, don’t forget to book offsite airport parking to save even more.

Save On Popular Destinations

Everyone says that October is a great time to visit Disneyworld, which can be a zoo in summer. In October the prices are better, the lines are shorter and it’s still warm enough to be enjoyable. The same is true of other popular summer destinations, so now might be the perfect time to plan a trip to some of the most famous destinations in the world. If you haven’t been to Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon, consider this for an autumn getaway. Save even more money - and hassle - by avoiding traveling on Friday night, Sunday night or Monday morning.

Pack Light

One reason to pack light is so that you can breeze through check in, security and customs, but if you want to be prepared for anything, how do you do it. The golden rule of packing light, according to What Not To Wear’s Clinton Kelly, is never to pack anything that doesn’t go with at least two other pieces. Grey and black are good neutrals around which you can build a getaway wardrobe. The Ladies Home Journal also gives some tips, including putting clothes that won’t wrinkle into your shoes to save space. Most hotels provide hair dryers and bath accessories, so you don’t need to pack these.

All this planning means you can spend less time at the airport and more time enjoying your weekend getaway. And of course, you could save even more by planning your weekend getaway on a non-holiday weekend.

Planning a fall getaway? ParkRideFlyUSA is offering a 10% discount on three days or more of airport parking booked by November 30.

Tags: columbus day, holiday, late deals, offsite airport parking, tips, weekend

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 4:39 am and is filed under Travel Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.