I'm 43 years old and I finally got to go to the USA. I was born in Hawaii and been there many times but to get to the states has been a long time coming!! So I get to go with my husband and our 17 year old sons and my husband's sister.... and this is what I learnt that hopefully will save you some time ;-)
I went on a diet before I left. It was one of those ridiculous quick-loss ones where you eat 'air' practically every day ;-) I went on in specifically for one reason - to make sure I fit the rides. You see I am a big girl with a bigger appetite so there was no guarantee that I was going to be able to fit some things..... as it turned out - even after quitting my diet prematurely (before I got on the plane!!) I fit ;-) So tip number one - if you are going to go on a diet make sure it works (the downsize) and be prepared to have to go back on it after your holiday (due to the upsizing)!!
BUDGETING
We have friends that travel regularly and they have a formula of spending $100 a day between the both of them. So we figured we could do the same EXCEPT we hadn't figured into the equation that the children have to eat too (and making them pay for their food out of their spending money was a bit harsh ;-)) - so we quickly did some re-thinking on that one...which least to tip number two - figure out a budget that is realistic AND be prepared to make some changes all the time. The last thing you want to do is fight over money while on holiday.... that's a bit of a drag ain't it Mr M....
I don't know how people used to do it in the olden days - but thank goodness we didn't have to do it just recently....We almost left the airport without one due to booking problems so make sure you have booked and CONFIRMED your car booking WITH a GPS before you leave home. You may find that your GPS has a hard time breaking the male hearing barrier as I found with Mr M being not too good at listening to it (we heard "re-calculating" quite frequently) - but one thing I will tell you for free - Mr M got us to where we needed to go EVERY TIME ;-) Thank heavens for the GPS!!
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
Some people like to turn up to things and see how they feel before making decisions which is awesome - however, tip number four is that unless you have perfect travelling conditions (weather, children, money, car, air conditioning - EVERYTHING is perfect!!) then I would suggest you plan as much as you can. I used expedia, vegas.com, and paid and printed tickets (even parking coupons) directly from amusement parks before we left the country. This cut down on heaps of waiting time in lines for tickets - HEAPs. Mr M went alittle further and had an itinerary - which was great but sometimes changes had to be made so as long as your plan has room for unexpected turns..... then it will work a treat!
The one thing we got told to look out for was the best advice we could get - and that was to book accomodation that offers a free breakfast! Thankfully we did that and it was great - however the next time, I will investigate exactly what is breakfast as we had a range of a muffin and juice and/or a hot drink to a full cooked breakfast and two of our seven hotels had none (although one did give coupons for 20% off from a local eatery) The other thing I would make sure we have next time is free Wi-Fi - all but one had, however even with it - coverage was sketchy some days so it will pay to read the customer comments to make sure.... Why Wi-fi? For us it was so handy because I would go online every night and have a look for addresses for things that we were going to do the next day so all we had to do was input it in the GPS and after a few re-calculations we made it there...
- Remember that the intention for all holidays is to make memories so do whatever you can to make sure that the ones being collected are the very best.
- Make sure you schedule in rest days or be prepared to recover when you get back because you have to make up those 'rest' hours somewhere.
- If you have been to somewhere before and travelling with people who haven't - be gracious about it and try and find something different or interesting because the people who are travelling with you are discovering things for the first time and it is ALL AMAZING!!!
- Not everyone wants to see what you do - so be prepared to go on your own...
- Take a camera.... and all the cords you have to keep it charged and all the connectors to take it off your camera and download to a laptop or an external source...
- Do what our friends told us to do but I didn't and will NEXT time - take the very bare minimum of clothes with you as you will find that your shopping will keep you dressed for some time....
- Travel with people you like and can be yourself with....
- Front of line passes are worth it at Disneyland but maybe not so needed at other places - so ask around...
- Ask around from people who are well-travelled for some more tips - you can never have enough although don't forget - no two people's experiences are going to be the same...
- Remember how blessed you are to be travelling and realise that many people you know will NEVER get this wonderful experience so be grateful for every one you have, and lastly,
- PLEASE take me with you..... ;-)
Mxo
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