Except for travel during the week of Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and the New Year, we’re in the time of year when most vacations are considered off-season. Families tend to travel when the children are out of school, and most people prefer to vacation when the weather is expected to be nice, whether that’s for beachcombing or skiing. Also, many attractions tend to offer special events only during the high travel season. Still, there are several advantages to traveling in the off-season, which include:
- Lower prices. When hotel rooms sit empty, the resort owners do not make any money. Recognizing this, they tend to drop prices during times that they’re not busy in order to attract the visitors that are coming to the area. Flights and rental cars are also often less expensive during low travel seasons.
- Fewer people. If you want to beat the crowds, then late fall is a great time to travel. Many travelers take a break during the pre-holiday season, so you just might have popular attractions to yourself (relatively speaking).
- Better service. This relates to smaller crowds; when resorts, restaurants and attractions are teeming with people, the staff is less able to give each visitor one-on-one attention. When the crowds are low, however, employees are likely to be less stressed out and better able to give you excellent service.
- A more cooperative employer. While this doesn’t apply to every workplace, it’s often easier to get vacation time when the other employees are not also trying to coordinate time off. Particularly if you don’t have seniority in your company, you might not be able to easily take off during popular vacation times. Since most others won’t want off during early to mid-November or early December, you will likely be free to take your vacation time without any problem.
Once you’ve decided to take a trip during the off-season, you need to choose a vacation destination. Talk to your travel agent to see which airlines and resorts are offering the best deals, if your choices are wide open. You just might find a gem of a location simply by picking a cheap flight or choosing a discounted stay at a fancy hotel. As hurricane season is not quite over, you can probably get a good deal on a cruise to the Caribbean or the Bahamas; the weather in these tropical locations is still quite warm, and the sun and salty air may be just what you need to ward off a case of the early-winter blues. You might also be able to get a discount flight to Europe, if you’re interested in bundling up and enjoying some blustery weather across the pond. Trafalgar Winter breaks and Globus Winter tours are popular options for travel to Europe.
Have you taken any off-season trips in November or December that you’ve enjoyed? Do you make travel during the off-season a yearly tradition? Tell our readers about it!
