Peak season has changed + How to double (or triple) your vacation time
Published about 1 month agoΒ β’Β 6 min read
Hi Reader,
How are you? Where are you?
I am at home, getting ready to fly to bali tomorrow for our Inaugural trip, yay!
We have two sold out trips and only 2 spots left on the 3rd tour this year, in October, and this one promises to be an amazing one with spirituality, fresh food, beautiful landscapes and remote parts of the island only locals visit.
We decided to stay away from the Instagram spots built for photos, in favor of Balinese experiences and parts of the island that receive few visitors.
Check out the itinerary here and snatch the last 2 spots!
As always, you can follow our exploration on Instagram starting this coming weekend.
July and August are no longer peak season months in the most popular parts of Europe, should you consider traveling then?
The tricks I used to maximise my time off by using public holidays to double or triple my time off (using minimal vacation)
Peak season in Europe has changed
In Costa Brava, near Barcelona
Nothing says summer like a trip to Europe.
But our joint definition of summer has been evolving recently and I am here to tell you that July and August should not be feared anymore.
What used to be the peak summer months with queues, traffic jams, crowds and, the scariest, peak season prices is no more.
In major cities like Florence, Rome (with the exception of this Jubilee year), Barcelona and Paris (among others), rates are now cheaper in July and August than in June and September. We have experienced this ourselves with our tours.
As someone who lives in a very popular summer town, packed with tourists from April to October, I can testify to the fact that hotels and restaurants are now busier in June and September than in July and August.
In Tuscany, September has been the busiest and most expensive month for a while owing to the wine harvesting season, not July or August.
And to be honest, with climate change, the fist week of July or the last of August are pretty much the same as June or September.
This year we took advantage of this to launch a Tuscany tour starting on the last day of August, taking advantage of quieter towns, and our Barcelona tour in the last days of June.
Be smart and consider the "shoulder week", as I call it, when planning your summer trips. The crowds are now lower than they are in June and September and so are the prices.
Check out our summer European tours:
βBarcelona 14 to 22 June (SOLD OUT) || 28 June to 4 July
βTuscany 31 August to 7 September || 7 to 14 September (SOLD OUT) || 21 to 28 September
Or take a look at the price of hotels in major European cities this July and August to see how the trend is starting to show and prices are lower.
And if the heat worries you, here are my tips - They are useful also in June and September or if you are traveling to a hot destination (think the tropics), year round:
Neck fan: Guests rave about this portable air neck fan conditioner you wear around your neck. The fan blows out cool air and can be recharged with a USB cable.
Light weight UV protection umbrella: What everyone in Singapore or Asia use to protect from the sun, the heat and the UV rays. A small purse one is perfect.
Power banklike this one. To charge your phone and fans.
Electrolytes or rehydration tablets: When you sweat so much, it's hard to keep hydrated. I like Nuun's tablets.
A sun hat or cap: I wear a straw hat like this one every time I step outside from April to October.
Wet wipes: These ones are plant-based and biodegradable.
How to multiply your public holidays
Baby elephant in Tanzania
When I had a full time corporate job I mastered the art of multiplying my time off. I had 20 days and managed to turn that into many more.
How?
By utilising the public holidays to maximise the time away, taking overnight flights to not waste any time and squeezing every minute out of my time off.
For example, if a public holiday fell on a Thursday, I took the Friday off and had 4 days of holiday with only 1. If a week had 2 public holidays, I would take 3 and make it 9, and so on.
In case you didn't notice, we plan many of our tours around the public holidays in Australia, Canada, the US, the UK and Europe in general, where public holidays often fall on the same days.
If you look at our calendar, you will see that most tours are scheduled around the May, June, October and November public holidays.
Here is how to maximise 2025 year's public holidays with just 15 days of holidays.
πΊπΈ If you are employed in the US
Take these days off:
26 May
29 August & 1 September
13, 15, 16 & 17 October
10 & 28 November
23, 24, 26, 27, 30 & 31 December
And you'll have these many days of holidays: 38
For this number of holidays used: 15
π¨π¦ If you employed in Canada
Take these days off:
19, 21, 22, 23 & 26 May
4 August
26 & 29 September
13 October
23, 24, 26, 27, 30 & 31 December
And you'll have these many days of holidays: 37
For this number of holidays used: 15
π¬π§ If you employed in the UK
Take these days off:
5, 23, 26 & 28 May
25 August
13, 15, 16 & 17 October
23, 24, 26, 27, 30 & 31 December
And you'll have these many days of holidays: 35
For this number of holidays used: 15
Note: There are also many regional holidays I did not consider for the below calculations.
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ββ Do you do the same? What are your trick to multiply your time off?
=> Hit reply and let me know and I'll share your tips next week.
1 Spot opened up on our Greek sailing trip!
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Last minute availability on our Greek Islands sailing trip.
When: 30 May to 6 June at 3,995 EUR.
Where: Mykonos, Santorini, Paros, Poros, Folegandros, Milos, Delos and Agistri.
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Amazing curated experiences await in this fun summer celebration.
I will be on this trip and can't wait to meet you!
The Iron Ore train that crosses the north of Mauritania has become a tourist attraction with visitors and the only reason many visit the country. It is a logistics train transporting iron ore from the mines to the port but tourists ride it at the top, sitting on iron ore mineral and braving the sun and dust for several hours.
Nobody guessed this one, it was a tough one, I admit it.
This week's photo is below, can you guess where it was taken? Hint: It's at more than 3,500m above sea level
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In case you missed it
Interesting conversations in the group, travel news and inspiration right to your inbox!
βHere is a great song in honor of our periods, worthwhile watching!
βInspiration: Nigerian Omotoke Fatoki road trip from Lagos to Namibia
Hungary ratified an amendment to the constitution that bans PGBTQI+ events and allows the the Government to use facial recognition software to identify and fine people. LGBTQI+ travelers should be extra careful about displays of public affection as same sex relationships are illegal. More here.
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