Europe in the Summer:
Well, you know how we go out and buy those Tour Books for travel before we go on our trips? Well, they leave out so much information that I decided to start a Blog to tell you some things you would never know otherwise.
To begin with:
Getting your travel dates set: It's important to decide do you care about the weather, crowds, or availability?
Flights: It's important to pick some dates and start checking flight pricing by starting with Expedia.com. This starts my search to see what airlines go to the place I am going. Next, I go directly to the airline website to see if the prices are comparable to travel agencies online. Sometimes you can get a better price if you go directly to the airlines, but other times you do not. This process can take about an hour or two so make sure you have some time on your hands.
Once you have secured your dates and have your flight set now it's time to find a place to stay unless you have a Time Share then you MUST book with your Timeshare prior to booking your flight. This method may require you to even change your travel dates to a time you had not considered due to availability. If you have a time share, make your reservation for your trip 12 months ahead of time. I know this seems like it's too far ahead of time but it is not!
Time Share 1st, flight 2nd! Remember you will most likely need to pay a deposit on overseas fees with your Time Share so be sure you can get that time off first because this fee is non-refundable.
Remember to also check with your Time Share to see if you have enough points to also secure your flight at the same time.
I did and my husband and I ended up going to Spain for free!!! Which means we didn't have to pay for our studio nor did we have to pay for our flight. I think we used about 300,000 points through Fairfield Resorts which is now Wyndham.
We stayed in the south of Spain in Malaga and drove from Portugal to our Time Share. It was a 5 hour drive but the country was beautiful and it gave us an opportunity to really see sites we would not have normally seen.
When we stayed in Italy this summer of 2008, we arrived in Switzerland and then rented a car and drove to our Time Share in Sestrierre, Italy (Winter Olympics) about 6 hours. We then took Easy Jet from Rome to Geneva and then stayed another week in Val de Ilez using our Time Share. There is lots of information in between that I must share so visit back soon.
