If you are feeling quite stressed and need to get away from your life for a while or you just have some spare time, then it could be worth thinking about booking a longer vacation. Instead of heading away for a couple of weeks, you could plan to stay for a few months or perhaps longer. It largely depends on whether you have commitments and if you have family, whether they can come with you. Some people will always be more suitable for this type of option compared with others. For instance, if you’re a freelancer, you could have a lot of freedom to travel as long as you like. However, you’ll still need to make sure that you are taking the right steps here. So, let’s break down some of the best ways that you can plan for this type of vacation.
Think About Visas
It’s easier to plan a shorter vacation. When you plan on going somewhere for a shorter time, governments aren’t too worried about your travel plans. Some countries will investigate you a little more, but as long as you don’t have glaring issues, you should have no issue getting approved. When you’re planning on going for a few months, half a year, or longer, governments are a little warier. They’re concerned about people who are planning to stay in the country illegally.
Be aware that it can take quite a lot of time to get permission to say in a country on vacation for longer. This becomes more complicated if you are planning to hop across borders to different countries. The best way to convince a government that you’re not planning to stay past your welcome is to ensure that you have a clear plan of where you’re going to stay and how long you’ll be there before. You’ll find this easier if you are staying in a hotel, rather than, for instance, a home of a friend. This can look a little suspicious to a government. Be aware of your visa is rejected the first time, you can always apply a second time.
The process of obtaining a long term visa will differ depending on where you are visiting. Make sure that you research this thoroughly and ensure that you take all the right steps before you start to think about jumping on board a plane.
Consider Your Finances
The next step is to know how you are going to fund your long vacation. It’s important to take all the costs into account here. For instance, you should research the average cost per day of living for the location that you’re planning to visit. You can typically find this information online and it’s a good baseline as you can simply multiply it by the number of days you’re planning to stay. You should then factor in emergency costs and ensure that you do consider additional expenses like flight, travel, and activities that you’re interested in experiencing on vacation.
You should probably think about adding at least a couple thousand onto the initial number that you come up with for the cost of living. This will ensure that you have more than enough to get by for the duration of your trip.
Next, think about whether you’re going to save all the money or are you going to work while you’re over there. Be aware if you are planning to work in the country that you’re visiting, then you must declare this on your visa application. There are lots of choices that you can think about if you do want to work while you’re on vacation. For instance, you could complete charity work. There are organizations that help people find opportunities like this in different international locations. The adventure usually comes as a package so it makes things far simpler. Alternatively, you could explore seasonal jobs. For instance, you could work in the chalets in the swiss alps.
There is always a surplus of regional jobs at certain points throughout the year. Be aware many of these jobs do involve quite a lot of manual labor. So, it’s worth thinking about whether you are young enough or perhaps fit enough for the role in question. Remember, if you are planning to work to earn, losing a job could cut your planned long term vacation quite short.
You also need to think about what type of vacation you are looking for. If you’re planning on heading away for a longer period, then it’s always going to be easier if you’re open to traveling on a budget. You could, for instance, look at the highest rated hostels in the area that you’re planning to visit. Or, you could stay with locals as long as you arrange this beforehand and do declare it on your visa. If you’re looking for a more luxurious long term vacation, you’re going to need to spend a little more time-saving. Check out a site like https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/ to get more information on saving for this trip.
Keeping Connected
Next, you need to think about how you’re going to stay connected to people while you’re traveling for a longer period. This is particularly important if you are planning to leave people back at home. When you are booking hotels or places to stay, you should check for connectivity issues. Is there signal for your phone where you’re staying? Are there going to be dead zones and does the accommodation offer free wifi or will you need to pay extra? Most places these days do have some form of wifi and that’s a great way to cut the costs down considerably.
Now might also be the best time to start thinking about whether you’re getting the best value on your mobile phone contract. Sites such as https://halfcooked.co.uk are great for providing the information that you need here. You can directly compare different contracts and ensure that you do find the right deal that will be perfect for you.
Of course, you can also explore more old fashioned routes to staying connected to people. For instance, you could think about writing letters or sending postcards. This can be great fun and a longer trip is a wonderful time to get back into this type of routine. It’s also lovely if you’ve left your partner at home and could be rather romantic, reminding you of simpler times.
Transport
Next, you should think about transport while you’re over there. Again, this largely depends on where you’re heading and what you’re planning to do there. Certain parts of Europe such as Italy are renowned for having a fantastic public transport setup. As such, there’s no need to book private transport if you’re visiting a location like this. However, there are other places where the public transport is nowhere near as great. If that’s the case then it makes sense to go private. You can rent a car or you could even arrange for your own car to be transported to your chosen location. Companies like Shiply will arrange this for you and ensure that you have your car exactly when you need it. They’ll pick up the car at the end of the trip too, providing a completely stress-free experience.
Insurance
You should also make sure that you are thinking about insurance plans. If you are traveling for a longer period, travel insurance becomes even more important. You need to make sure that you are covered for travel emergencies. This does include things like falling ill or getting hurt. Without travel insurance, you won’t be able to pay for the support that you’ll require. Instead, you could face massive bills when you return. There are sites like … where you will be able to compare different insurance options.
Protect Your Home
Finally, you need to make sure that you are thinking about your home when you are going on vacation. It’s important to realize that you’ll be leaving your home for a long period. This means that it will be vulnerable. There are a few ways to deal with this. For instance, you can think about letting your neighbors know you’re going away and asking them to look after it. Alternatively, you might want to think about investing in more security for your home. The latest CCTV systems will allow you to keep a check on your home even when you are half a world away.. You can find out more about this on a site like https://www.which.co.uk/. This is due to the fact that they can be connected to a cloud server.
We hope this helps you understand some of the key steps that you need to take or at least keep in mind when you are planning for longer trips. A longer vacation can be great fun particularly if you are taking a journey to a new destination. But, if you don’t put the right plans in place, then you can easily end up in trouble here. You could run out of money or you could just find that there weren’t as many interesting things at your chosen location. When it comes to longer vacations, it will always pay off to spend as much time during the planning stage as you can.
Luciana joined our team as a mum blogger in 2020. A dedicated mum to a lively daughter and a dog, Luna, Luciana brings authenticity and passion to every post. Her expertise in parenting and lifestyle topics offers practical, relatable advice for real-life situations.
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