With over 12 months of on and off restrictions and lockdowns, so many of us are just desperate to get away. People often used to say that you need a holiday or a holiday will do you good, but does it actually have a positive impact on your health?

In our day to day lives there is often a lot of stress. This may be from a job, money worries, relationship issues or parenting children. Often a holiday can help alleviate this by giving you some down time and time to reflect on what is important. Planning a holiday can also be stressful so you may find that initially you actually feel worse until you are away and can really switch off. If you feel that life is getting a bit too much and you need a break then try and plan a holiday that is going to be easy to enjoy. Go somewhere where you are going to be looked after.  If you are going with children, then make sure there is going to be plenty of things for them to do and too and possibly even a kids club so you can have some time for yourself. Do some research before you go and try and plan in a few activities that you can look forward to and give yourself plenty of time to plan and prepare for the trip.

Being prepared is the simplest way to avoid stress when planning a holiday. Make sure that you have all your documents in place such as passports and insurance and start packing in plenty of time. Making lists can also help to get your organised and ready for your trip.

If you are looking to get away this year but have decided to stay in the UK then you may decide to book a trip to the south coast of England. The south of England often gets the best of the weather as it tends to be warmed the further south you go. The beaches along the south coats are renowned for being beautiful, with golden sand and clear blue seas stretching miles upon miles. Some of the most popular tourist destinations in England are found along the south coastline such as Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. These locations have a number of busy seaside towns which are perfect for families, couples and friends looking to get away for a few nights. The towns are briming with high street and independent shops in the day, beautiful chic eateries and lively bars and restaurants at night. Many people compare places along the south coast to that of being abroad.

Holidays in these locations tend to book up fast, especially for breaks during the school holidays. This year these holidays are in even higher demand than ever due to the travel restrictions and therefore early booking is essential if you want to guarantee a space.

At the moment, many people’s travel plans are on hold yet again but that doesn’t mean that you can’t start to plan ahead for when things start to get easier.

Going on holiday can be very exciting but with everything that has happened recently, it should come as no surprise that lots of us seem to be feeling very anxious about going. If you are planning on going to a country where there are some safety concerns then you may want to spend a little bit more time researching the area, what you should and shouldn’t do and what you need to be aware of. For example, in some countries there are places that are safe and other places that are not considered safe for tourists.

The Government website gives a lot of advice about different countries that all tourists can view. The information covers a variety of subjects such as entry requirements, health advice, safety advice, local cultures as well as travel disruption. The government website will tell you if the UK advise against travel or if only advice travel if unavoidable. IT may be that you need to have certain vaccines before travelling to a country, which you need to ensure you allow enough time for.

This year many of us are holding out hope that we may be able to go on holiday at some point. At the moment, we are in the third national lockdown and going on holiday is not an option but many of us are dying to at least having something booked to look forward to. The rules and regulations are changing quite often and there are currently no dates as to when exact we are going to be able to go away again. Many people are pinning their hopes on things starting to ease up in February but this may not be possible.

If you had a holiday booked last year it may be that it has already been booked again for this year. If the holiday is due to take place in spring you may wish to consider asking them to move it forward again. If you leave it too late to change the date of your holiday there may not be the availability for the dates you want.

If you have not got anything booked then why. Not start looking at where you may like to go. Even making a short list of resorts can be enough to give you that something to look forward too even if you do not feel safe in booking anything just yet. 

So many of us are desperate to go on holiday that we cannot wait to get something booked. It may be that you were due to go this year but had to cancel or that you only go every other year and have missed out.

Holiday companies are starting to take bookings again for next year but there is still a lot of uncertainly at the minute. It may be that you struggle to get insurance that covers you for COVID or that will pay out if you have to cancel due to contracting COVID.

The rules and regulations are changing all the time so it is important to remember that what is said today may very well not be the same advice or rules in a few months’ time. Ideally you should wait until closer to the time to make your booking but there is likely to be a massive surge of holiday bookings so you may not get a place. Be sure to read all the small print and terms and conditions to ensure you know what protection you have and make plans should you have to isolate on your return or should you contract COVID whilst you are away.