Traveling
If you are a wanderer like me you probably day-dream of what’s just outside the country’s border. Or you may have a long list of places to visit like mine! Being a military family, we cannot always travel when we want to, or even where we want to at certain times. With that being said my husband and I have learned how to work around the military, and plan vacations outside the country to ill our adventurous souls.
We go on two big vacations a year. Big vacations meaning outside the country or having to cross a body of water. Anything inside the United States is just a regular vacation to us.
Pets
What do we do with our dog you may ask? Well my dog is a service dog. He usually comes with me where ever I am. However, some places you just can’t take him, or sometimes its just easier not to take him. For example, my husband skis and I snowboard. There is no way for our dog to go up the slopes with us. So normally I would just put him in doggie daycare for the few hours we are on the slopes. However, our next trip we are flying home first to visit family. From there my mother and stepdad are watching my dog while we are gone for just a few short days, then we are flying back home to visit family more, and then coming back to California.
Our next two vacations our dog will be coming with us outside the United States! We have to get his paperwork started in July for his months of quarantine. Each country is different, some countries require it longer than others. So, if you ever are taking your dog outside the country start planning at least 9 months earlier so you know what needs to be done at certain times.
Also, those who board your dogs. Animal house in Jacksonville North Carolina is absolutely amazing! They take photos, have live video cams for you to watch, and don’t care if you call everyday to check up on them. They will also work on anything you need for your dog. When my dog stayed there I asked if they could spend extra time with him in the pool so he gets use to swimming and being in water and they did! Since being in SoCal I have yet to find a place even close to how wonderful Animal House is. I have done doggie daycare at PetSmart three times. However, the last doggie daycare I did they never fed my dog the whole entire day.
All Inclusive
All inclusive is usually the best way to go. In the end its cheaper than paying for food, drinks (even alcohol), hotels, rentals, and air fare separately even with military discounts applied. If you want to go to the Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Aruba, etc cheapcarribean.com is the cheapest place to book for all-inclusive deals. I think we scored a deal for around $800 a person for 4 days with everything included, and we bought some island excursions to do. This website does offer cancellation insurance, and shuttle options to and from airport, along with upgrading your seat on the plane if wanted.
Another website that is good for deals for further out destinations like Ireland, Indonesia etc is GROUPON! Yes, groupon. They have some really good deals for vacations and they give you a 4-month span to use the vacation. For example, I went on today 5/4/18 and found and Ireland trip. The trip dates are for anywhere between 7/18/18-11/28/18. You just have to look at the dates and plan accordingly.
Buying Separate Plane Tickets for Anywhere
If you are just buying plane tickets for vacation or even going home there are a few good sites to book through. First is Southwest. They offer “military fare” and “Getaway Fare”. THE MILITARY FARE IS MORE EXPENSIVE THEN GETAWAY FARE, now this getaway fare cannot be refunded, however, if you can’t make it they give you whatever you paid for it in southwest credit to book another flight with them, within a year. CheapOAir.com is also another wonderful sight, I actually found it cheaper than Southwest “getaway fare”. This site you put in the dates and to and from your wanting to fly, it then scans all flights available and list them cheapest to most expensive. It takes about two minutes for all flights to load and pop up on the website. The website does offer cancellation insurance!
