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How to Plan the Best Summer Vacation

Are you wondering how you can be sure you’re planning the best summer vacation? Are you not sure how to go about preparing for your vacation this summer? Depending on your circumstances and experience, planning a vacation can seem daunting. And a poorly-planned trip can be more of a headache than a relaxing vacation. Here are some tips to help you prepare and get the most out of your summer vacation this year.

Flexibility

It may seem contradictory, but part of great planning is flexibility. If you expect every detail of your plan to play out exactly as it is on paper, you’re likely to end up frustrated. Some things are just not in your control. For instance, heavy traffic, flight delays, and weather can all affect your travel time. So, it’s a good idea to allow some extra time for these unpredictable things and to have a back-up plan (more on that below).

Flexibility also allows for sight-seeing and other diversions. Unplanned stops can make for great memories and experiences.

Back-up Plans

It’s not a bad idea to have a back-up plan in case of unforeseen events. For instance, even if you leave early and allow time for a traffic jam, circumstances could come together in such a way that you must spend the night somewhere before reaching your destination. Before leaving, scope out hotels that are along your route, and bring their information with you.

Food

It can cost valuable time if you must hunt down a restaurant for every meal on travel day. Like the hotels, look ahead to find out where restaurants are in route. Plan your travel time so that restaurant stops will hit close to meal times.

Also, on the topic of food, it’s a good idea to bring snacks, drinks, and non-perishables (like granola bars and trail mix). It gives you an option if you run out of time and can’t stop for a meal, or it prevents having to find a place to pull off and buy a snack.

Pack Light, but be Prepared

It can be a little tricky to be prepared while keeping your packing light. The key is knowing what to expect. For instance, you can’t be ready for absolutely everything (or else you’ll end up taking the entire contents of your home along with you!); but you can prepare for some basic things. For instance, make for various weather events by packing outfits that can be layered (you can add or remove layers according to the weather). It saves space by not packing different outfits for each possible weather scenario, but it keeps you covered.

A basic first-aid kit is also a good use of your packing space. It doesn’t have to be big, but it can make all the difference.

We hope this information was beneficial. You can have anything you want if you are enthusiastic about putting in the time, effort and plans to get to your goals. Discover the secrets why the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. Click Here to view a video with more life tips!

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Gas-Saving Trips for Vacation Season

Given the trending of gas prices toward ever-higher dollar amounts, many people are using more and more of their vacation budget on gas. While no one seems to be able to make gas cheap again, there are still some things you can do to help save on gas this vacation season. Here are some tips.

Slow Up, Speed Down

When you are on the road, going slowly up hills and more quickly downhill is said to save fuel. This is because your car must work much harder going uphill (especially if you are using air conditioning and have luggage and multiple passengers), whereas gravity is your friend going downhill and speaking of speed, observing the speed limit and not speeding also saves gas. It’s safer, too.

Know When to Turn Off the AC

While traveling in the heat without air conditioning can be downright dangerous, there are times when you can turn it off to save fuel. For example, turning off the AC when driving uphill can reduce the power pull on your engine by quite a bit, sources say. Of course, you can leave the fans going and the residual cooling effect lasts for a few minutes. When you’re on the level or going downhill, turn the AC back on.

Tires

If your tires are worn, get them rotated before your trip or, if they are very worn, get them replaced. Proper air pressure is said to be very important, too – look at the inside of the driver’s side door if you are unsure as to your tires’ PSI (pounds per square inch). Adding too much or too little air can both be a problem, so if you are in doubt, have your mechanic do it.

A Vehicle Check-up

Before your vacation, get your car thoroughly looked over. Make sure everything is running as efficiently as possible. Efficiency in your engine means greater efficiency on fuel usage. Have the oil changed, get a “tune-up” if needed, and have all the fluids checked in addition to any necessary work on the tires.

Travel Light

As mentioned above, a lot of excess cargo can really draw on the engine’s power. It’s said that every 100 pounds added to your car’s weight will decrease the gas mileage by 1 percent. So, try to be careful to use lightweight baggage carriers (such as duffle bags rather than heavy suitcases), and only pack necessities.

How You Drive

When you hit the accelerator pedal, that’s when your car is using the most gas. So, try to avoid the speed up, brake fast pattern that so many drivers fall into. Instead, try to coast at a continuous speed. Keep the ride as smooth as possible to save on fuel.

In closing, we invite you to share your comments on this and our other posts. If you find the information useful, please Like & Share us and subscribe to this channel for an update as we reveal new strategies. Remember to keep an open mind and Shift 4 Freedom.

Top Tips for Traveling Responsibly on a Budget

Traveling responsibly on a budget can be an incredible challenge. Not only do you want to save money, but you want to do so in a way that respects the local country.

Here are a few tips to help you do this.

Start with Setting a Weekly Budget

Setting daily budgets while traveling is rather unrealistic. That’s because your expenses can fluctuate drastically.

Crossing the border from Laos to Cambodia might cost you $50, plus $40 for the visa. If that went into your daily expense, that’d mean you couldn’t eat or sleep that day.

Instead of using daily expenses, use weekly expenses. If you have high expenses one day, compensate by lowering your expenses on a different day.

Make sure you’re tracking your expenses while you travel. It can be very tough to keep track of everything but do your best to write down everything you spend when you spend it.

Eat at Small, Local Shops

Eating at small local shops is a great way to save money and support the local economy.

In most major tourist destinations today you’ll find KFC, McDonald’s and other major chains. You’ll also find many upper-class restaurants and many restaurants that sell Western food.

By and large, however, these restaurants are much more expensive than just eating local foods. They’re also often owned by foreigners or global corporations.

Beware of Waste

You can save money and travel responsibly by reducing the amount of waste you produce.

Try to buy as few water bottles as possible. Refill wherever you can find clean water.

Trade books with other travelers rather than buy books. Most hostels and guesthouses have book trade shelves set up, which makes it easy to find interesting reads along the way.

Try not to print anything unless it’s necessary. Get maps from hostels or hotels instead of printing them yourself.

Get to Know Locals

Getting to know locals is not only fun – but it can also save you a lot of money.

Locals don’t eat at the same places that tourists do. They eat at little-known places that taste great and cost half the price.

It’s very difficult to find great places to eat and shop when you’re in a different country. Anything that’s written about in guidebooks is likely to be overpriced and will surely attract people just trying to sell to tourists.

Instead, have a local show you all the most amazing places that nobody else has discovered. You’ll get the real scoop on what it’s like to live in that city.

These are a few different ways you can stick to a reasonable budget while interacting responsibly with the culture and people.

Can you Afford to Retire?

No longer do people retire and sit at home inactive. Today’s retirees are more active than ever. Unfortunately, those activities take money and unless you’re planning to sit at home and wait for death you should be making plans to take care of all those things you wish you had done earlier in life once you retire. See the 40/40/40 plan did not work. Working for 40 hours per week doing that work for 40 years to retire on 40% of your current pay.

While you are planning for your financial retirement you should also take the time to make plans for what you will do once you retire. Do you need to join a travel club now in order to have an established membership when the time comes to actually enjoy the benefits of belonging? How about that book of the month club? Many of these clubs are great to join while you have the extra ‘disposable’ income that goes along with working and having a career. You can take the time now to build up your library. Even if you read the books now, chances are that by the time you retire you’ll enjoy the ability to read them again.

If you are retiring today you will want to make plans to go parasailing, take cruises, ride horses, and maybe learn to golf and/or knit. You do not want to spend your golden years sitting at home waiting for the inevitable end. You want to leave this world laughing about all the fun and good times you’ve had. The stereotypes associated with retirees are changing quickly as the world evolves and people are living longer than ever before.

When you plan your funds you also might want to take the time to have a few daydreams about the places you will go and save a page or two to write about those dreams and sharing them with your partner in life. You should also take time to find out what he or she hopes to do, where he or she hopes to go, and the things that he or she would like to see when making plans for your retirement. After all, you have shared your lives together it only makes sense that you will share the best years of your lives with one another.

There is no better input to get when it comes to your retirement than the input of your life partner. You should also take things in stages and not try to do and see everything in the first months or year of your retirement. The novelty of not going into the office each and every day will wear off quite soon. You will then find that you can only mow your lawn so many times a day without actually doing more harm than good to your grass. You’ll know every leave of every flower in your garden, and you will know the inside and outside of every book on your shelves.

Don’t become a victim of boredom in your retirement as that brings on spending sprees. Make sure you have some interests to occupy your time so you are not spending your precious retirement funds on unnecessary things. To learn more watch this short video before it is too late… Click Here!