Some people are more spontaneous than others and tend to wait until just a few weeks before departing to think about planning their vacations.

It’s now less than 4 weeks until Thanksgiving and less than 8 weeks until Christmas and yes, the team at My Vacation Lady is still getting calls for Thanksgiving and Christmas week vacations.

We’ve gotten requests for a good number of Christmas week (or Festive Week as it is called in the travel business) vacations.  In some cases, we asked the clients if they had the ability to travel at a different time since we already knew that the cost of the airfare + limited availability at the resorts would be way over the budgets that they had in mind.  Although we are not in the habit of talking clients OUT of traveling, we do need to be realistic.  Going away during Christmas week to the Caribbean is not going to work on a $2500-3000 budget when airfare alone is over $1000 per person.

So what is a traveler supposed to do when they want to vacation during the holiday season?

  1. Book EARLY.  We have said this before, but it is worth repeating— book Christmas vacations around Easter and book Easter vacations by Labor Day.
  2. Be flexible with dates.  Sometimes you may find availability by traveling on Christmas morning or New Years Day morning when you may not find availability on the day after Christmas or on Jan 2.   If you can hold off on your vacation until after Jan 5, the prices will be lower and there will be more flights and hotel rooms available.
  3. Consider departing from different airports and flying into less popular airports to get availability.  If you only want to fly from Newark to Punta Cana on Dec 26 for a week, the current rate of airfare is $1939 per person.   Leaving from JFK is running about $500 per person less.
  4. Consider connecting flights.
  5. Be realistic with your budget.  We don’t make up pricing.  The prices that we can offer you are going to be based on a combination of airfare + the resort.  If you only have $2500 to spend during Christmas week, consider a destination that you can drive to.

We are in the business of making our clients happy so instead of spending a ton of money on a mediocre Christmas week vacation, how about saving the money and booking a fabulous vacation at a different time of the year?

If you are thinking about going away during Presidents week, Valentines Day or Easter week, book it now.  While not quite as bad, anytime schools or businesses are closed for a holiday, airfare goes up so booking early is key.

The team at My Vacation Lady can help you plan your next vacation.