If suffering through a pandemic has made one thing clear, it’s that life and prosperity aren’t guaranteed. Most people didn’t spend the last year and a half doing what they wanted to do: limited by countless national and international restrictions, all they could do was imagine what they would do given the opportunity. This is a shame, yes, but it does have an upside: we’ve all been reminded of how important it is to seize the day when circumstances allow it.
Now that the world is opening up, with countries becoming increasingly willing to support tourism, you have such a carpe diem moment. This isn’t the time to scrimp and save. It’s a time to break out your pandemic savings and get away for the holiday of your dreams. After all, who knows what might happen six months from now? Another outbreak could come along to limit travel possibilities and send us back into our homes for extended periods.
So don’t waste your chance. Putting some time into preparation before you have a luxury holiday will help you make the most of it. Here are three things you should research early:
It’s going to take a long time for everything to get back to normal, if that’s going to happen at all. For the moment, anywhere you go is likely to have some policies in place to limit the impact of COVID-19. You might need to quarantine in a specific hotel or place, for instance, or only have meager options for traveling locally. This can seriously impact the quality of your trip.
To some extent it’s about the money you’re spending, of course. If you’re funding your luxury holiday with money you’ve saved during downtime, it isn’t a level of spending you can afford to repeat. This is why travel insurance is a must-have. With the right terms, insurance for traveling can cover just about everything coronavirus-related that can go wrong.
In the end, though, it’s more about ensuring that you can fully enjoy the place you visit. If your dream location is currently under heavy restrictions, you might want to hold off on the trip, or simply choose another place you’ve always wanted to visit. Don’t compromise on quality.
Luxury resorts everywhere compete to offer the most compelling packages, including many enticing elements to lure visitors, and this is something you need to carefully consider when planning your luxury holiday. Your elevated budget puts you in a position of relative strength. So many places want your money, after all, particularly after a difficult time for the travel industry.
If you feel like it, you can even play resorts against one another. Instead of haggling for better prices (common for budget-minded trips), see who can offer you the most in return for your money. You might not be able to win many concessions, but you might get a few more extras thrown in to sweeten the deal. You also need to read up on everything that’s included so you don’t make the mistake of bringing items you don’t actually need.
If there are going to be plenty of towels for you, for instance, there’s no point in packing your own towels. Keep as much space as you can so you can bring back bountiful souvenirs. It’s all about making memories that will last you for the rest of your life.
When you’re going on a regular holiday, you can settle for basic eateries — but when you’re going on a luxury holiday, you need to go for the best of the best. And luxury restaurants book up quickly, even during these odd times. Due to this, you can’t afford to wing it. You need to have some idea ahead of time of where you want to eat and drink, and you need to book.
This will obviously depend on where you want to go, because it won’t be practical to go hundreds of miles out of your way just for one high-end restaurant (unless your budget is unlimited, of course). But if you figure out the area you’ll be staying in, you can line up the best places nearby and make reservations so you won’t miss out. Image credit: Hush Hush
