You need to plan your vacation early and April is a good time to start! People are booking their accommodations much earlier, even as much as a year in advance. With COVID on the decline, everyone wants to travel and that means more of a demand on hotels, private rentals such as VRBO‘s, and national and state parks.
In response to the increased tourism to national parks, you now have to purchase a timed ticket to enter Acadia, Arches, Rocky Mountain, Glacier, Shenandoah, Zion, Yosemite, and Redwood National Parks during peak season (generally April-October). This reservation system is for all or parts of these parks. For some trails such as the popular Angel’s Landing in Zion, you need a permit to enter. The lottery system opens two months ahead of time and sells out quickly. This means you need to plan your vacation (no more winging it)!
Before you travel to any national park, check their website for updated information. The pictures below are from our hike up Angel’s Landing in September 2015. This hike should be on your bucket list!
If you are planning on booking a tropical vacation to Mexico or the Caribbean, I highly recommend Funjet Vacations. I used them for my last vacation to Riviera Maya, Mexico and the price included airfare, hotel, transportation, and travel insurance. The prices were competitive but beware that peak season for these areas is our winter season so you’re going to get better deals in the summer time. The pictures below are from our trip in January 2022 to the TRS Yucatan, an adults only resort.
For more trip ideas check out my blogs here. So what’s the take home message: BOOK YOUR TRIP NOW!
Timed tickets! Ugh! But I get it. When I was in Jamaica this past February I was shocked at how many people I met who had never traveled outside the US People are definitely having a knee jerk reaction to so much time in quarantine