Are you lacking the motivation to sit down and plan your next vacation? Have you opened your last paycheck stub and while excited to see vacation days adding up, you are unsure what to do about it? Is time your excuse, and the difficulty to free up time to research, plan, and book an ideal vacation for yourself and your family?
While it does require some effort to decide where to take your next vacation and to book the perfect itinerary, procrastination gets the better of us all too often. I am proposing an out of the box solution to this problem, one that gets you away from your home and into a travel planner mindset. Why not take one vacation day or a half day if you able, tote your laptop computer to a local coffee shop (one that offers free Wi-Fi), and plan away? With strong coffee, sweet and savory snacks, and free wireless internet access at your disposal, it will be a breeze for you to focus on researching and planning what will be one amazing trip.
Why Not Plan a Vacation from Home?
The answer to this question is the same as to why many people have trouble working from home. The home environment is chock full of distractions and numerous other things that need to get done. And let’s be honest… how likely is it that you will be able to give trip planning the time and attention it deserves? Your family members might be around and demand attention, you will have constant reminders of the overdue chores around the house, and in general something else can and usually does come up. When surrounded by the familiarity of your home and your personal stuff, it can be challenging to invest the energy to kick start your vacation plans.
Another important reason to leave the comforts of your home is to receive the same type of benefit that results from taking a vacation. By packing up your computer and various travel guidebooks and brochures and heading to a wifi zone, you are actually embarking on a (mini) trip. Which cafe will you visit? How cozy will the tables and chairs (or couches) be? What will be on the menu board of specials and treats that day? Who else might be at the same cafe working, meeting up with someone special, or also planning a vacation?
By changing your surroundings and planning your next vacation at a cafe, you will be more open to considering new destinations and embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Instead of making the easy choice and booking another package deal to a familiar beach town or heading to DisneyWorld, the full range of travel possibilities will be there for you to discover. Plus it will be an exciting day out without the stress of work and responsibilities of home.
How to Find an Internet Cafe
There are many online resources whose purpose is to help you locate nearby cafes, coffee shops, restaurants, and public spaces that offer food, drinks, and most importantly free wifi. Before you hit the search button, first think about places you’ve stopped in or walked by in the past with a “Free WiFi Zone” sign in the window. I’ll bet you noticed the handful of people inside clicking and typing away on their computer and wondered what it would be like to do the same. This is your chance to be a mobile (tech savvy) worker for the day, where the cafe is your home office and your one job responsibility is to plan the ultimate vacation. Don’t you wish every day could be this fun?
For those of you who cannot instantly think of cafes with free wifi nearby or if you prefer to visit another town or less familiar neighborhood, go online and discover a new hot spot. There are several useful directories of Internet Cafe’s, Laptop Friendly Cafe’s, Places with Open Wifi Hotspots, and such which are free to search. Here is my list of recommended resources to try:
- Wi•Fi Free Spot (The Wi-Fi FreeSpot Directory)
- Laptopfriendlycafes.com (Listing your local free wifi and power ready laptop spots)
- Open WiFi Spots (The free wireless hotspot finder)
- Urbanspoon Free Wi-Fi Restaurants (Note: Change your location by picking your city name from the top and click Free Wi-Fi from the “Special Features” list below)
A Google search will also help you narrow down the list of possibilities to a single city or zip code. Search in Google or your favorite search engine for “Free Wifi” or “Free Wi-Fi” plus the name of your city or a zip code to target the results. While viewing the list of search results in Google click on the “Maps” link at the top or the “Places” icon on the left (you may have to click the More button to see this option) to change your perspective. Zooming and scrolling the interactive map will cause your search results to be updated instantly to match the geographic area of interest. Local businesses found typically include customer reviews, contact information, and direct links to their websites to learn more.
What Else to Consider
As part of your vacation planning wifi-cafe-day, consider stopping by a bookstore to pick up a few travel guidebooks that cover places which are on your wish list. Even if your favorite guidebook or map is already online (for free with ads), a book is a valuable source of itinerary ideas and maps to reference. Plus if you can’t find a power outlet at the cafe and your laptop battery gets drained, you will have reading material to peruse as you order another skinny latte.
One final reminder – not only do you need to request a day or half day off to plan your next vacation, you may also need to get your actual vacation request approved and on your employer’s calendar. Having your vacation request approval in hand means that you can book flights, hotels, transportation, and other activities right away and without worry. The cost of a family vacation can easily run into the thousands of dollars whether budget or luxury, so using a day off to ensure your vacation dollars are spent wisely is also a smart financial decision.
Happy Traveling…
-Scott
