With these economic challenges here are some creative ways to travel. The cruise lines, tour companies and resorts are stepping up to the plate with special deals and packages. Nationwide spring travel booking figures show most of the leading destinations this year are not linked to the euro. In addition, there are still countries and destinations where the U.S. dollar is strong. From the Caribbean and South America to Asia and simply staying in the U.S., there’s still hope for an affordable vacation. The top spots include Alaska, Orlando, Cancun, Honolulu, Dominican Republic and Argentina.

The cruise industry has been reaping good business from vacationers now attracted by the value of “drive time” vacations. The cruise industry projects 12.8 million people will take a cruise this year, up 200,000 from last year.

Do you remember as a child getting up in the wee hours of the morning to be piled into the family car to drive to a vacation destination? There is a surge in these “drive time” vacations again. As mentioned before, Georgia and the surrounding states have beaches, mountains, state parks and lakes to explore. From a cruising perspective, the Atlanta area is an easy drive to such ports as Mobile, Jacksonville, Tampa, Charleston, and Port Canaveral.

Here are some key things again to remember when planning your trip:

• Travel off-season. Every destination has a season that is considered a “value season”. This means lower prices and less crowds. January and September are great months to find great travel rates.

• Go where the dollar is strong. Visit or cruise to such areas as the South America, Barbados, Jamaica, or Switzerland. Passports are required for international air travel.

• Make it a surprise! This is the perfect time to plan next year’s trip and stay within budget. Also, you can present a gift certificate at the holidays and have the family help plan the actual trip.

• Book a travel package. Very often you can save money by booking package deals that include the airfare, hotel, meals, car rental etc.

• Use promotional “City Cards” to save on attractions. Cities around the world offer City Cards/Passes to tourists that promise savings through discounts on top tourist attractions and public transportation. This is especially true for Orlando.

• Be creative with the planned activities. Plan a picnic lunch, hike along a bubbling stream, fly kites on a windy day, or skip rocks across the mountain lake.

• Travel with extended family or with groups of friends. Split the car rental bill or carpool, split the room costs and take a half price vacation. Or rent a house together on the beach during off season.

• Seek the advice and services of a seasoned travel agent. Unlike a mega online travel seller, these experts not only provide invaluable and personalized service but can often times get unadvertised deals. It is nice to be able to talk to the same person when you have a question.

So plan ahead, seek advice and travel! Don’t let the economy or bad media take the place of truly enjoying time together with your family. Whether it is long weekend at the lake or a cruise to Caribbean, relax and enjoy the escape from reality. It is amazing what being away from the cell phone, television, email, and work can do to regenerate the soul!

With over 16 years of travel experience, Jenny Reed plans cruises and land vacations worldwide. Her agency does not charge a service fee. She can be reached at 678-947-5115, via email at jenny@OurCruisePlanner.com or via her website at www.OurCruisePlanner.com.

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Take Care of The Kids. Every mother is going to worry about her kids while she is away from them.  Make sure that the kids are set up with a really great baby sitter.  For your information, a really great babysitter is someone who: 1) your wife knows and trusts, 2) the kids know and trust, 3) will make sure that your kids stick to the regular schedule while you are gone, with a little extra fun thrown in to take the edge off of you being out of town. If you’ll be gone for more than a couple of days, arrange for breaks for the sitter like a day with family or friends.

A few extra tips to make vacations easier on the kids: invite the sitter to stay at your house so the kids will be more comfortable, record a video of Mom and Dad for the kids to watch while you’re away, make a calendar for them to mark off the time you’re gone.

Also, a few tips to make the time away from the kids easier on you (the husband):  set a once a day rule for checking in with the kids, set a goal to let go of the guilt over being away, choose a vacation spot that isn’t full of kids, pack a photo, and bring back some cool gifts.

Make Sure the Vacation is Planned. If you’re like me, and the thought of planning a trip itinerary makes you start to panic a little bit, here’s an idea: plan a great beginning, a fun activity in the middle, and a relaxing ending to the vacation.  There’s a fine balance between planning too much and not planning enough.  If you hit that fine balance, then your wife will feel like you put some serious effort into planning the vacation and she will feel loved and special for the work that went into it.

You might start with arriving at the hotel early in the day, checking in, resting from the trip, and starting the evening off with a romantic walk in order to get familiar with the area, capped by a really great dinner.  The next day or a couple of days later have a really great activity planned like visiting an aquarium, scuba diving, seeing an active volcano, or something else really interesting and memorable.  Making this the middle of the vacation activity gives you opportunity to explore and get to know the area, and forestalls boredom from setting in when you don’t know what to do.  Finally, spending the last day of the vacation just walking or resting allows you to get rejuvenated so that you don’t come home needing a vacation from your vacation.

Do something different. Along the lines of making sure your trip is planned, make sure you try something different.  Try new foods.  Pick up snippets of a new language.  Participate in some activity that you would never have the opportunity to do at home.  It doesn’t have to be expensive either.  Doing something different builds a sense of anticipation, keeps you interested while you’re there, and gives you something to talk about when you go home.  Oh, by the way, thirty percent of women will choose an exotic destination versus just nineteen percent for men.

Sex.  While we men tend to equate romance with sex, women often do not.  While your wife may love to love you, chances are she’s just looking for some relaxation at the beginning of a vacation, then to make love later.  This is especially true if you have kids together.  While it is true that about 20 percent of vacationing couples rarely leave the bedroom, about 49 percent say they have sex a few times, and 14 percent say they are too exhausted to have sex at all.

In the end, your wife is the best source of information on planning a great trip.  If you know what she likes, then you should be okay.  If you’re not sure, then planning a vacation can be a great opportunity to find out a little bit more about her and what she enjoys doing in her leisure time.

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