Being the debut of this intended-to-be-edifying travel tips made simple blog, I reckon I ought to begin at the beginning. Italians excitedly proclaim, “Eccociqua!” (“Echo-chee-qua”) when we’ve happily arrived at our destination. Translating to “Here we are,” it seems a fitting beginning to this blog. It’s a blog with a slant toward minimalism and simple enjoyment of global adventures. “Ecco qua,” or here it goes!

Carefully peak behind the wizard’s curtain with me. Over the next publications, we will see the hospitality business from backstage. My joy is to offer insights and travel tips about packing, which day to book flights for the best value, visa procurement, and about what hotels are not always disclosing to you. See what the travel and hospitality industries are legitimately like, beyond the smoke and mirrors.

This will ultimately create one thing: your haute couture designed holiday, replete with insider’s anecdotes and from-the-ground-up advice.

Stage one: Plan that Holiday

Today, there is one travel tip question I will help you answer, as I am perennially asked them by friends and clients: Where should I go and when should I go there?

How much time do you have? With only four to five days of holiday, please do not attempt the “London-Paris-Venice-Florence-Rome-Capri” shuffle. I promise you will not remember what you see, you will be in a Petri dish of anxiety and you may want to exsanguinate your family and friends upon disembarkation. 

The average American job affords eight to eleven days of annual holiday. Bigthink.com reports that Americans are afraid to take even one week of holiday time for fear of jeopardizing their jobs. And one in four employees get no paid holiday time at all. This means Americans truly need to maximize inside tricks in order to add even more precious value to their meager holidays.

So let’s get started making plans! Grab a pen and paper: Create a list of places you need to see, want to see, and “it’d be nice to see sometime.” Realistically parcel out your time in favorite cities, including travel time (trains, motors) between destinations. Across from the cities you fancy visiting, write how many days you would like to spend in each. Metropolises like Rome, Paris, London, and Athens, take more than three days. Barter your days back and forth until you have a realistic apportionment of holidays and cities. This is a hard but important travel tip: Happily leave places for next time and the time after that.

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Maximize your time and your budget

It’s generally accepted that Tuesday is the cheapest day to fly. Short-haul flights on Monday-Wednesday come in second. Long-haul flights are trickier. Thursday appears to be the cheapest day to fly out internationally, with Monday the cheapest day to return. Thursday to Monday is the cheapest itinerary. Saturday is the most expensive day to fly in or out in long-haul flights, unless one flies out on a Saturday and returns on a Saturday. This is the second most economical itinerary on long-haul flights. Kayak reports that for domestic flights, Sunday is the most costly day to fly out, yet for international hauls, weekdays are more expensive. Ergo: Fly to Europe on the weekend and New York during the week. The general rule for major holidays, the closer you book, the cheaper the ticket. However, this comes with the stress of “will you get a seat on the flight you desire?”

Ask yourself what kind of weather you want to experience. Europe gets hot in the summer; in shoulder seasons (April, May and September, October) the weather cools down and crowds dissipate noticeably.

Your day stay hotel awaits

No matter where you decide to vacation, HotelsByDay is the premier solution in assuaging harried travelers’ hotel woes. And for boosting hotel revenues by occupying idle rooms between 10 am-5 pm. With hotel partners in over 600 domestic cities and 106 countries worldwide to ameliorate the frustrating problem of rigid check in and check out times. Whatever you fancy, there are New York day stay hotels and San Francisco day use hotels. And everywhere in between. And this travel tip blog should have helped you determine where you should go – and as you know, there’s a day booking hotel just waiting for your arrival.

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Victoria Sangiovese