By Samuel Rosenberg From Caribbean360

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Friday July 18, 2015 – It’s summer time and if you plan to travel abroad, it means it’s also time to plan. Your plan should include finding savings, wherever possible, so that you can enjoy the holiday without worrying about finances.

Here’s a bit of advice on planning for overseas travel:

There are advantages to booking your summer travel early, but there are also some benefits to booking late. By making arrangements early, you give yourself sufficient time to save. Alternately, there are websites that specialize in last-minute deals, so you can take advantage of those savings.

Your holiday is not just the cost of your flight and hotel and you will need to budget for other incidentals that are not instantly obvious. By purchasing travel insurance you could cover yourself against flight delays and lost luggage. While some may say they can’t afford that insurance, the question that must be answered is whether you can afford flight delays or to replace lost items? You will need to budget for all of these extra costs for the entire holiday.

By choosing the right time of the day or week to fly, you can achieve significant savings. For example, you may find that the cost of a ticket for departure on a week day is cheaper than heading to your destination on the weekend.

A hotel off the beaten track is likely to be more costly than a hotel situated in an area with multiple hotels competing for your business.
When you are a tourist, it is best to avoid “tourist restaurants” that will charge more for meals. Take the time to find out where the locals are eating. To save even more money, you could also order a variety of appetizers and eliminate the more expensive main courses.

Avoid taking multiple, long trips. If you choose to be away from your workplace for two or three weeks, on your return you might find yourself out of step with your work colleagues and it will take you time to recover. Travelling long distances can cause tiredness and delays. When you have to travel across time zones, and are not a good sleeper on airplanes, you may be jetlagged when it’s time to return to work.
You can certainly get more for your holiday dollar by carefully planning where you are going to go and where you’re going to stay. A little extra work and earlier planning will help your finances go further on vacation.

Samuel Rosenberg is the founder and CEO of Axcel Finance Ltd., the leading regional microfinance institution.

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbean360.com/business/6-tips-for-planning-overseas-travel-samuel-rosenberg#ixzz3gC8cjUt2