Spontaneous vacations are often strongly romanticized. And is it really that surprising? There are few things that sound cooler than just deciding, almost out of the blue, to go on vacation, and then to actually be on that vacation in a matter of days. It feels so distinctly modern, carefree, rock and roll. Forget about planning. Forget about responsibilities. Just get out there and do it.
There are lots of advocates for this sort of thing. After all, a lot of us end up wishing that we’d spent more time in our youth traveling by the time we get a bit older and have settled down; scenarios in which traveling suddenly seems a lot less feasible. So, in that sense, there’s a carpe diem vibe to spontaneous vacations. You only live once, right?
There’s a strong attraction to spontaneous vacations, that much is clear. But going into such a thing with absolutely no planning or thought for your responsibilities at home? Bad move. Sure, you might think this goes against the ‘philosophy’ of the spontaneous vacation, but you really should be a bit more careful in your approach to it. It doesn’t mean the vacation isn’t spontaneous any more - it just means you’re being a bit smarter about it!
Here are a few things you need to consider seriously before getting hyped up about a spontaneous vacation.
Permission
Part of the problem with being spontaneous in your approach is that you might not leave yourself enough time to get permission to enter the country. Of course, this depends entirely on where it is you want to go, as well as your intended purpose of the trip. With many countries, there are several options available to you. If you’re going to Canada, for example, you can look into electronic authorization, which can be much quicker. Visit the Canada ETA site for more info. Make sure you have enough time to complete the process!
Responsibility
A spontaneous vacation tends to see a very quick dropping of all responsibilities back home. While many people will understand with your desire to do this, you need to ensure that you’re not just leaving people in the lurch. You don’t want to gain a reputation at the office for having a proclivity for going on sudden vacations (even if they’re perfectly happy to give you the time off on such short notice) if you’re trying to move up the career ladder! Make sure everything is properly covered first.
Buying tickets
One of the biggest errors that people make when they’re being spontaneous is that they end up buying the first tickets and vacation package deals they see. Don’t let being in a hurry to get out there allow you to dismiss the many ways in which you can get the best deals for flights. Of course, sometimes people go on spontaneous vacations precisely because they happen to come across what they see as a really good and rare deal. Still, you should do a little research even if the deal sounds good. You also have to consider the other costs associated with the trip, such as what you’ll do when you’re there!
