Flex of off-season travel is gaining traction throughout the world. With quieter destinations, shorter waits, and affordable flights, you can avoid the worst that peak season travel has to offer and skip right to vacation bliss. There’s something special about a quiet town in the autumn or a vacation spot in the spring that isn’t overrun with tourists. Finding the right type of accommodations can make or break your shoulder season getaway.

Different accommodations offer varying levels of flexibility. True flexibility comes with a self-catering vacation. This can be an apartment or cottage. Self-catering vacation accommodations allow guests the ability to come and go as they please, prepare their own food, and give guests freedom from the constraints of a rigid itinerary. If you will be outside of peak season, you will appreciate the vacation rental more for its kitchen and living accommodations, as some local dining and activities will have more limited hours.

For travelers who want even less to worry about, a guest house or small hotel is the way to go. Many smaller guest houses offer improved services during more off the beaten path travel times, as the staff has more flexibility to run the day to day services during these less hectic times.

It is smart to find out in advance if your accommodations include breakfast or other meals since some smaller places will change what they offer based on demand.

The location of your accommodations is important in the shoulder season, and may be more important than in the summer months. A location that is close to amenities and transit will be helpful in the shoulder season because it may mean you do not need to drive to each destination to reach amenities if you do not wish to do so. If you will be traveling to a beach or other outdoor area, think about the distance of the accommodations to those areas. The calm weather in the off season may make the weather good for walking, where as the warm weather of summer might not make walking as enjoyable.

Flexibility in booking is very helpful when you don’t know when you will be traveling. The off-peak weeks will have more flexible booking so if you have to change the dates to fit your family or work obligations, the accommodations you book may not penalise you for doing so.

Accommodations can be much cheaper off-peak, so people book during this time to save money, and the price will vary depending on the specific location. Prices can even change by booking a week or two on either side of a peak season.

Comparing different options rather than booking the first resort is normally beneficial. You should also check to see if the price includes utilities, parking or any extra guest fees.

What do you want to get out of this trip? A shoulder-season break is perfect for travelers who like to take it slow, and don’t want to deal with the summer crowds. This is also good for travelers who just want a change of scenery before or after the summer frenzy. The choice of your accommodations should reflect this. Whether you choose a cottage, an apartment, or a small guest house, your accommodations can provide you with what you need to relax. Researching locations, flexible dates, and booking terms will result in you getting a great deal on travel that will be less stressful than summer travel.

Travelling can be a life-changing experience, but it is a big commitment and not one that you should underestimate. When you decide to go travelling, you will be pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, and you won’t be coming back to the same life – chances are you will be changing job, moving into a different house and generally changing the way in which you live due to your experience. It is not something to take lightly to leave your life behind for months at a time and travel.

Travelling is also a wonderful, eye-opening experience that many people will enjoy for such diverse reasons. Don’t think that you shouldn’t experience it because it might be a little tricky – just make sure you put some serious thought into the logistics. If you have any doubts about your career, speak to your company and see if they can make your job safe for a few months.

It isn’t always easy to budget whilst on the road, especially if you don’t have any income and really need to plan ahead. Travelling is an amazing experience, but you do need to be careful and make sure your money will go as far as possible.

Here are some of the things you can do to budget for your trip:

• Check your balance regularly. Every time you have access to the internet, check your bank account, especially if you are paying for accommodation and flights.
• Account for the expensive parts of the trip. Make sure you take into consideration the parts of the trip that will cost more and account for the amounts.
• Cook your own food when you can. This will save you a lot of money on eating out.
• Travel by bus and do it as cheaply as you can. It might not be comfortable, but if you are short of money, then it’s the best way to save some cash.

Travelling with others may seem like a safer option than travelling alone. This might be the case, but equally, you are going to face a unique set of problems when you are in a group. Here are some of the safety basics to think about to protect yourself abroad:

• Don’t attract attention to yourselves. When you’re having fun in a group, the temptation is to get carried away. Be careful not to have too many drinks in a strange place and find yourselves in a vulnerable situation.
• Plan your route. Look at maps and decide where you are going to go ahead of time. This will help your travel plans to go smoothly.
• Share the responsibility. The temptation is to let one person who may be a good planner take care of everything. Remember that you are all responsible for your time away and share duties, like map reading, transport planning and accommodation booking.

Sun safety is so important. You need to protect your skin in the sun to prevent it from burning, which can have devastating consequences for your health long term. Sunburn can also lead to a very sore and uncomfortable holiday. Here are some tips for enjoying the sun safely whilst on holiday:

• Wear a high factor sun cream. Even if you want to get a tan, you should still wear a good sunscreen to protect your skin whilst you sunbathe.
• Apply sun cream regularly. Some brands say you only need to apply once a day. You should always top up more often than this. Also, it’s possible that you might have missed areas of skin on your first application.
• Take plenty of sun cream with you. It can be expensive to buy in foreign countries and it might not be as high a quality as the sun cream you can buy at home.

Going on holiday is a fantastic opportunity and most families spend a long time looking forward to their breaks away. Some holiday destinations in the UK are extremely popular, so during summer holidays they can get very busy. Newquay for example is a beautiful location on the south west cost of England is attracts thousands of tourists year upon year.

Newquay in Cornwall is not only famous for its golden sand beaches, crystal clear blue sea and Cornish pasties but also for its excellent surfing conditions.

With all this in mind, it is no wonder that the town becomes very heavily over populated during the holiday months. A drive in to Newquay can take a long time purely because of the volume of traffic and parking is often also a nightmare. Planning your route and leaving early can help to avoid sitting in ques of traffic for hours upon end in a boiling hot car.