Holidays - when do you book? Where will you go?

I booked two 2024 trips when I came back from my last holiday in Italy in early October. Because I live in Canada and love to take European holidays organized through British travel companies this means I have the added challenge of finding transatlantic flights on scheduled airlines that don’t cost an arm and a leg and that fit in with the UK departure dates! So starting to plan early is essential for me. If I take this approach I find the cost works out about the same as booking the whole holiday through a Canadian .travel company, but the choice of destinations is somewhat limited…..and it’s not all about cost - it’s about the quality and reliability of the travel company as I go solo. Through trial and error I have found a company based in Norfolk that provides such an excellent choice of destinations and absolutely top notch customer service, so it’s not surprising that their holidays get booked up very quickly and very early because of their reputation.

We have just a family break booked in Easter hols, just adults, 8 of us, at Center Parcs, with all four dogs, we’ve been going here for 26 years. Last year I was so lucky, February Canary Islands with DH and Turkey with him in May, Then 1 week just us two again in cottage in middle of woods in Norfolk with our spaniel and I also had another trip to Turkey with a girl friend, we did a road trip, sharing the driving, and four nights in Spain for a friends 60th birthday and DH and I also had a long weekend on a “luxury Beachut” with our best friends (and we went again in January this year too)

Nothing else yet planned for later in the year, just playing it by ear, though we are hoping to spend most of August 2025 in Canada visiting both friends and families

We have just booked a week in Crete for the first week in July.

Always in advance, a year or more. Can only afford one a year.

I can't afford to go anywhere. Certainly not overseas.

We always book at least 6 months in advance for flights out side of Spain.

Better airfare rates and better hotel rates.

In Spain, which I combine business and pleasure, approx 2 or 3 months in advance - as soon as I know or depending where I or we are going, we may use the AVE High Speed Train or the RENFE train or Coach ..

If my travel involves air travel I usually book well in advance, usually 3 to 6 months.

We are planning a trip to Europe from Western Canada in late Aug/Sept so are staring to look at flights an accommodation now. The thing is we don't know exactly where to go yet! We can get relatively good prices to Barcelona, but not sure where to go after that.

Within the province we usually stay with relatives, we always let them know our dates approx 6 months ahead so they can see if it is convenient for them. (our daughter and DH's sister in separate cities).

And this year I have promised to look after GC for a short break while DD and SIL celebrate their 10th anniversary in October, so off to Victoria for then.

Our main whole family holiday is two weeks on the Isle of Barra. We book the same fortnight for the next year when we settle the bill for our Holiday let.

We book a long way ahead to get what we want, when we want it. We have already booked an apartment on the coast for Xmas (we were there last year). DD and I have booked two weeks in Gran Canaria in July because we know the hotel is very popular. A friend and I have also booked a tour in Portugal for September. WE had booked to go down the Nile with Saga but we aren’t happy to go there now so they let us change the booking.

In the last few years we have had to cancel 2 holidays, both cruises. DD had a stillborn baby and we didn’t want to leave her at such a tragic time. The other one was cancelled because I needed to have an operation. In each case our travel insurance covered the cost although there is an excess on the policy. These were events we could never have foreseen.

I book months in advance and I’m off soon, to Tenerife my insurance will cover all eventualities

We always book in advance as we meed to arrange cat/house sitters. We booked 2 holidays on 3rd January, one to Cyprus in June and a return trip in October to a wonderful hotel we discovered last year in Gocek, Turkey, and loved. I used to work as a tour operator & always told people if they booked in advance, they'd get what they wanted & not what other people didn't!

We usually head for the South Pacific area. It is reasonably close ( nothing is that close here,of course!). Sometimes I do a booking on impulse and sometimes I book well ahead. I have a booking for next December for Vanuatu. Sometimes booking ahead can be a negative. We recently headed for Papua New Guinea having booked many months previously. We couldn’t land in the main centres because they were busy killing each other and it was unsafe. Same with the Covid- we had booked many months ahead and lost the trip because they closed down the airports. Three years later we got the trip but had to pay half as much again and crawl round on our hands and knees to the travel company. Scenic Tours- great tours but terrible customer service !

Until I was in my late 50s our holidays were almost always cheap camping holidays with one extended family holiday in a Cornish cottage. I’m very privileged to be in a position now where I can take more holidays, but I don’t like to book too far in advance because once I’ve booked I’m on tenterhooks in case something goes awry and I need to cancel.

Italy is my go-to place.
I like to stay in beautiful but "off the tourist track" places. I like to have my own pool and self-cater.
I prefer to go the last week of August though Spring is good too.

I book about 3 months ahead if I can.

We’ve not flown for a holiday for five years, environmental reasons, MrJ makes one flight a year to see his Irish family. So, we’re exploring Britain, in particular our southern area that we used to dash away from.
One short break booked for March, looking at two others for June and September.

It depends what and where.
For a favourite place in Greece (not every year) we book specific hotel rooms well in advance.

When we still had 🐶 and 😸, had to book many months in advance, both hols and kennels/cattery - nobody competent or willing to leave them with, and around here they get booked up very quickly.

We haven't flown since about then either Jaxjacky, same reason.
Used to go for 3 weeks or so.

I miss it.

Just booked a Fjords cruise for April, it was a very impulsive but the price was very low.

We usually book in Oct/Nov for the following year. We only holiday in the UK and book outside of the school holidays. We usually stay at Haven campsites because they do great deals especially if you're only looking for somewhere to eat and sleep. We tend to go for the Saver caravan and holiday Mon to Fri. We have four holidays booked this year between March and September ranging in price from £45 to £120 depending when and where we're going.