Choosing a vacation can often be more complicated than it seems, and a few overlooked details can influence the entire trip. To learn more about planning a vacation and what are the mistakes that many people make, HotNews spoke to an experienced traveler: Andra Dodite, one of the founders of the travel site with hundreds of thousands of followers “Holiday air“.
- “Although many people want to travel in high season periods such as July or August, moving the vacation just a few days outside the classic periods can cut the price of the plane ticket in half,” says Andra Dodite.
What does the number of reviews on accommodation sites tell us?
Choosing accommodation is not just about looking at a few pictures and making decisions based on first impressions.
“I enter an accommodation search engine, be it Booking, Airbnb, Agoda, and I select that the score is above 8. It is a mandatory criterion to. The next thing is to choose the order of prices from low to high, to see where things stand. After that, I start to put the conditions that interest me. For example, if I go on vacation by car, I choose that there is a parking space or that there is one nearby. If I want a pool, the same. From this point, things start to get very sorted a lot. Another very important detail: to have a generous number of reviews. If there are few, they can be fake”, says Andra Dodite.
The hotel's own website, a way to save money
The search engine can be just one way to discover hotels, but it doesn't have to be the place where we buy. Many accommodation locations have their own website, where the prices are often lower, because they do not include the commissions of the Booking platforms.
If the desired destination does not have many accommodation options, such as the European capitals, the specialist recommends searching on Google Maps.
“We can also find good hotels on Google Maps, where you can select a period and see the price, accompanied by reviews of the location.”
Hotels with free cancellation, an advantage in times of uncertainty
An additional criterion when looking for accommodation, especially when our destination is not close to home, but an exotic one, is the possibility of canceling the stay.
“I would look for hotels with free cancellation. Nowadays and with everything going on now, you never know when a vacation can be canceled, you never know when a flight can be delayed. Many times, hotels don't have free cancellation or they charge very high fees. So it would be a good idea, especially for an exotic vacation, which is much more expensive to begin with, because the flight is also more expensive, to look for a hotel with free cancellation.”
When to buy the plane ticket
And in the case of the plane, technology comes to the aid of the traveler. There are platforms such as Skyscanner, Google flights, but also airline newsletters that offer the possibility of finding cheap flights. However, contrary to popular belief, there is no clear period before the flight when the price is the most advantageous.
“I've heard this thing before, that there is a secret for when to get your plane ticket. There is no clear period when flights are cheaper. They are often cheaper several months in advance. There are also offers on last minute flights. For example, a week or two before. In general, they say that we should buy the flights two or three months before. There are also cases when a new route opens, and then the tickets are very cheap,” says Andra.
Here is added the possibility to be flexible with the vacation period. Although many people want to travel in high season periods, such as July or August, moving the vacation just a few days outside the classic periods can halve the price of the plane ticket, Andra explains.
“It also depends on demand. Low-cost companies have rates that fluctuate a lot from one day to the next. Today a ticket can be 1000 lei, and the next day it can be 300. The companies also have a calendar function, when you can see the price per day.”
Small but important details
When we think of vacation, things don't stop at accommodation and transportation. There are a few seemingly minor issues to keep in mind. Depending on the destination, planning can be thorough, as is the case with exotic destinations.
“It's very romantic to go to a place and have no plans, but if you have ten days and you've taken accommodation in one city, you've already lost, because maybe you have long distances to travel, and the important places are in different cities. You have to have an itinerary before, that's why I think it's good to be inspired by those who create travel content and have been to the destination where we want to go too,” says Andra.
In such a situation, she argues, we must know very clearly what we are after: do we want a relaxing vacation or one in which we want to discover as much as possible? There are plenty of options, from gastronomic tours to excursions to the most important monuments.
“There are popular destinations now, such as Japan, where there are people who reserve a place in a restaurant a few weeks in advance. It may seem more stressful, but I think that a clear preparation can help you enjoy your vacation. If you don't want to worry, you can also call a travel agency so that they can crochet your vacation from A to Z,” adds Andra.
Last but not least, especially when we are talking about an exotic destination, we need to download our offline maps, find out what kind of sockets are at the destination, because we may need a special adapter just to charge our phones. Information related to the local currency and the possibility of currency exchange is also added here.
Restaurants near tourist areas should be avoided
Vacation destinations mean many tourists. When there are many tourists, the various methods by which business owners make the most of it also automatically appear. A tip from Andrei is to avoid restaurants located near tourist attractions. I am what is called a “tourist trap”. The most convenient method being the much higher prices for services that do not justify the money.
“For Europe, I think these are the number one trap. I lived in Madrid for 14 years. No Spaniard eats in ground zero, they can drink a beer at most.”
The solution proposed by Andra is to look for local restaurants, as far as possible from the tourist areas. And here it is very important to check what impressions customers have left on Google or other platforms.
To the tourist traps, the gift bracelet method is added, that is, a person puts a bracelet on your hand, usually made of a textile material, then it follows you until you give them money, or the well-known black-and-white game. There are also fake taxis, usually positioned around hotels or important places, that charge a much higher price than the registered ones.
“Other pitfalls can be the tours. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a scam, but it might not be what you expected. In Greece, you can take tours directly from the port. You might think you're going to be on a boat with ten other people, but you find yourself with 250 people and you don't get to see anything.”
Some tips from Romania
In case we opt for an easier vacation, where the preparations do not require so much time, there are always the options in Romania.
“Here we can do mini city breaks in several regions. Bucovina is a region that I like very much. The Danube Delta as well. It seems to me that every Romanian should go to the Danube Delta at least once, because we have a paradise there, something unique in Europe. Colibița is also an option, simply a very quiet area”, explains Andra.
And in the case of holidays in Romania, Andrei's recommendation is to avoid crowded periods, which are generally the same.
“August weekends are quite crowded everywhere. That can take away from the enjoyment of the place. However, no matter what it is, any trip opens your mind and certainly any vacation can be a very beautiful one”, concluded Andra Dodite, co-founder of “Aer de Vacanța”.
