Travel Tips Tuesday: 5 Tips for Avoiding Travel Disturbances
Travel Tips Tuesday: 5 Tips for Avoiding Travel Disturbances
Jet It Owners may not have to worry about the inconveniences the pandemic has induced on commercial flight travel, but without proper planning and consideration, it’s possible your destinations may be overcrowded or hampered with other annoyances. This week, we’ve got 5 tips for avoiding travel disturbances to ensure your vacation lives up to your expectations.
Tip #1: Visit an Underrated/Overlooked Location
Whether it’s an overlooked city or a hidden nature preserve, there are plenty of places off the beaten path that offer comparable experiences to more popular, and thus more crowded and difficult, destinations.
Jet It has made plenty of recommendations for underrated cities and locations, but a few places to start are with locations in the Midwest and Northwest (except Seattle and Portland), or overlooked New England locales like Portland, ME (for city lovers), or Vermont (for hikers and outdoors enthusiasts).
Photo by Click Sluice on Unsplash
Tip #2: Travel in the Low Season
One of the simplest ways to make sure your travel experience isn’t diminished by crowds (and thus inconvenient COVID protocols) is to visit in the low season. Expect fewer crowds, easier accommodations for restaurant and event reservations. This is crucial because so many services are understaffed and have necessary safety protocols that make combatting large crowds even more of a pain.
Determining the low season can be tricky, however, because the high season may not always be obvious for certain locations. For instance, high season in the Caribbean isn’t the summer despite the tropical setting, it’s midwinter when travelers in the U.S. and Canada flee colder climates for sunny beaches.
The easiest and best way to make sure you are traveling in the offseason is to do some research beforehand. A simple Google search can help you determine what the low season is for your location.
Tip #3: Book Private Events
This is so important for a good travel experience, especially when the travel conditions are unpredictable and fluid. Thankfully, due to increased demand, private services are becoming more prevalent. The benefits of booking private events are similar to the benefits of flying on a private jet: greater autonomy, a personalized experience, and better use of your time.
Most events or event services will offer private tours or services. If not you or your travel agent can inquire. Don’t have a travel agent? Agents will have a deep knowledge and network of travel services that provide private events. If you’re interested in booking one, now is a fantastic time.
Tip #4: Book Private Lodgings
While amenities and services in large hotels can be great, the experience is typically far from personalized, and you’re likely to run into larger crowds. Instead, look into boutique hotels which are known to have highly personalized services, fewer guests, locally authentic cuisine, and unique concept designs usually inspired by the surrounding culture.
However, if you are searching for more private accommodations, the rise in popularity of AirBnb and VRBO provided plenty of options to book private lodgings. Sometimes you’ll even get the whole building to yourself! We’ve discussed the benefits of a luxury AirBnb in depth before but with the ongoing pandemic, the advantages of private lodgings are even more pronounced.
Tip #5: Personalize Your Experience
Our last tip is a big one and encompasses everything from the location you choose to how you want to spend your time away. The best way you can ensure COVID doesn’t dampen your experience is to personalize it. This means finding a place that appeals to you rather than seeking out popular destinations known for drawing tourists and travelers. Find events or activities that are meaningful to you rather than doing what’s customarily done in a location. Avoid big, well-known restaurants and shops and tourist traps in favor of activities that hold a special interest to you. This may seem obvious but so often we see travelers choose destinations and activities based on popularity rather than their personal interests.