A plan to arrange a family vacation using Internet travel websites.
Pick a destination by your own preference or by doing a web search for “great family vacations” or “places to vacation for families”
Go here and use their airline ticket pricing service by putting in the dates of your trip, the departing and arrival airports and number of passengers. You can request non-stop flights if you prefer which cost more, but are great for families with children. If you chose Mexico, I recommend the website Locogringo. We used to stay in hotels in Mexico, but prefer to rent condos now due to the size of the family.
Go to VRBO and look for a condo, house, or cottage to rent for your stay. The site is self-explanatory and includes descriptions and pictures of the outside and inside of the properties. I have used this site to rent condos in San Diego, San Francisco, Florida, and other locations and can frequently find a condo for the same price per night as an expensive hotel. ($150-$250 per night) The days of staying in a small hotel room and eating marginal room service food are over. Instead, sleep, eat, and play in your own condo or rental home for the week. The last place we stayed was a 3BR/3BA, 2200 sq. ft. condo on Jacksonville Beach ($1800 for a week in a high rise luxury condo building).
Arrange a rental car to get you to and from the airport and condo or rental home. Unless you are staying in a big city with great public transportation, you'll need a car for trips to the local attractions and grocery store trips. We frequently eat breakfast and dinner in the condo and dine out for lunch while exploring the area. We take day trips to adjoining areas and need a van for our family of six. I like Alamo or my car rental needs and have always gotten good service and vehicles from Alamo.
Look up the visitor's bureau or chamber of commerce for the proposed destination and get your “free guide to…” mailed to your home in advance to plan out your stay and to avoid missing the top hot spots. These guides are usually free and give ratings for local restaurants.
Make sure to take appropriate electronics to plug in as many of the kids as possible to allow some down time for the parents. We take the Gameboys, Nintendo DS, and our Playstation 2, as well as ten DVD movies. Most of the properties on VRBO are family friendly and many have pools, Flat screen TV's and entertainment centers with DVD players and cable, etc.
If you are going someplace with sun, take the sun block, sunglasses and some Aloe Vera gel for mistakes. Most of the places on VRBO have had beach towels available.
Get a ten-day weather forecast from Yahoo Weather or the Weather Channel to help plan your stay.
Have a good time. Life is short. I have never taken a vacation I regretted. Make sure you use all your vacation time. Some people in the U.S. leave some time on the table at their workplace.
