Even the best planned out vacations can have a snag in it but it is My Vacation Lady’s goal to try to make sure snags won’t happen to our clients.

Here are some of the top travel mistakes that some people may make when planning their vacations or honeymoons:

Not looking at your passport before you book your trip.  

  • Did you realize that many countries will require that your passport is valid for at least 6 months after your date of return?
  • Did you realize that if your middle name is on your passport, it needs to be on your airline ticket?
  • My Vacation Lady asks that our clients send us copies of their passports before we book their vacation or honeymoon packages.  These are just 2 reasons why we want to see them.

Over scheduling 

More than 1/2 of My Vacation Lady’s clients are planning honeymoons.  In most cases the honeymooners are traveling very shortly after their wedding.  We always advise our honeymooners

  • Not to depart the morning after the wedding.
  • Not to over schedule the number of cities they will visit or excursions they will do.  Right after a wedding, most honeymooners will need some down time, just to breathe and relax a bit.
  • This holds true for all of our clients.  If you want to be constantly on the go, and want to see numerous cities or countries in one vacation, we might suggest an escorted tour where the driving or transportation is incorporated with seeing sites along the way.

Booking a connecting flight to save money if there is a non stop available

There is an expression “penny wise and pound foolish” that I heard many times when I was growing up.  My Vacation Lady respects your vacation or honeymoon budgets and we try to work within your budget as much as possible but when it comes to airlines and flight delays,

  • booking a nonstop flight is the way to go IF you have the option for a non stop flight.  We have seen clients lose a day of their vacations when flight #1 was cancelled due to engine problems and there was no other flight to get them to their destination.
  • Planes are going out full these days due to a reduction in the # of flights and the size of the planes.  IF there is a nonstop flight available, please take it.

Not allowing enough time for connections 

  • The legal connection time for making a connecting flight is 45 minutes, according the the airlines.  We would prefer that you have at least 1.5 hours for connections.  Many of the reasons above hold true on this one, too.  In addition, if your first flight is delayed, you may not have time to make the 2nd flight.  If you have to switch terminals, you will need extra time as well.   If you have to go through customs after your first flight, please allow even more time.

Not packing a change of clothes in your carry on

  • My Vacation Lady always takes a change of clothes in our carry on luggage because we have had so many instances of lost luggage.
  • We also split 1/2 of our clothes into each of the suitcases so that if one bag is lost, we will hopefully, have clean clothes in the other.

We’ve had clients who have had their luggage lost or delayed and had to buy clothes in the hotel gift shops until their luggage made it to them.

Not taking a valid credit card with you when you are renting a car

  • We understand that many of our clients prefer to use debit cards but all car rental companies require a valid credit card in the driver’s name in order to rent the car.   Nothing more needs to be said here.

Not reading your vouchers in advance of travel

  • My Vacation Lady sends out travel vouchers as early as possible to our clients, with the intention that the clients will read the vouchers and ask us any questions in advance.  It is always easier to make a change, if need be, before the trip has started than to try to correct it once you are already on your vacation.

Here are Budget Travel’s top 10 travel mistakes

The team at My Vacation Lady helps our clients plan stress free vacations and honeymoons by combining our knowledge and expertise with our personal approach to vacation and honeymoon planning.    Let us help you plan your dream honeymoon or next vacation.