Make a Good Vacation Great!

No, I’m not going to tell you to pack your bags and head to Flo­rence Italy, although that would do the trick too!

I have one word for you…Tri­pad­vi­sor! (no I do not own stock in them, no I do not gain finan­cially in any way, shape or form) I truly love this site! Tri­pad­vi­sor has been my “go to” guide for every­thing travel. Although this site can help with find­ing deals, I mainly use it for reviews.  I have never been let down by a false review, although I’m sure there is always room for fraud in this world. I hon­estly thought every­one knew about this site, but I’m learn­ing many of you haven’t. So here’s how it can help.

1) Get reviews on every­thing from hotels to restau­rants to spas.

2) My favorite, ask ques­tions in forums. For exam­ple, if I’m torn between 2 hotel choices I post my dilem­mas in the forum and peo­ple always respond with great feed­back. Let’s say I can only splurge on one great restau­rant, I ask which one is the best. The com­mu­nity in the forum is truly awe­some on this site!

3) Get deals. After decid­ing on your hotel, you can type in your dates and it will con­nect you to all the top dis­count sites show­ing you their prices. It’s like one stop shop­ping! I love this feature.

You can even cre­ate free slideshows! This travel site is jam packed with good­ies to explore. I highly encour­age you to check it out to help you plan your next get­away. It has made my vaca­tions bet­ter and bet­ter every time! Don’t for­get to “play it for­ward” and con­tribute reviews too…

Tips:

You can read the “pro­file of the reviewer” to help you decide if you think their advice is good. For exam­ple: If some­one from the United States is com­ment­ing on how small a room in Paris is, they might not know that’s pretty much the norm! Whereas the per­son from Ger­many is say­ing how roomy the hotel is prob­a­bly has a bet­ter take on the real­ity of Euro­pean hotels. If you’re torn between 2 reviews, one say­ing it’s great and the other not, focus on their pro­files to see which one bet­ter matches your lifestyle and inter­ests. Another great added bonus is many times you can con­tact the per­son directly through Tri­pad­vi­sor and ask more spe­cific ques­tions regard­ing their review or stay. The awe­some­ness is endless!!

When post­ing in a forum, be sure to men­tion the occa­sion for your trav­els such as a hon­ey­moon. That will help peo­ple give the best advice and rec­om­men­da­tions possible.