(upbeat jazz music)
- Thank you for joining us and this is a Top Five video,
Legacy's Top Five and this time we're talking about
the top five mistakes people make on vacation
and we've got Cathy with us and Erin and I'm Philip,
so I'm gonna lead off if you all don't mind.
- Absolutely.
- Number five on my list and this is gonna be specific
for things like an ocean cruise,
a river cruise, or an escorted tour.
Even when looking at travel, arriving,
for you to arrive on the first day of the trip.
What I mean by that is it's a mistake
to arrive the day that the ship leaves or the day that
the river cruise leaves or the day that the tour leaves
just for so many reasons and the obvious one is
something goes wrong with the airline and you're delayed,
you're gonna have trouble catching up with that ship.
Number two is if you're going a day early,
you get to experience the destination.
Usually, these trips are starting in a pretty cool place.
You get to experience it better.
You get well-rested.
It's kind of fun when on the first day of a cruise,
to get on there and kind of spot
the people who flew in that day
'cause they're the ones that look all haggard and a mess
and have pretty much wasted their first day,
so get in a day early or two days early.
Get rested.
Good breakfast that morning.
Lounge around.
Then when you start the cruise, start the tour,
you're rested and ready to go.
That's my number five.
How about you, Cathy?
- My number five is and I'm not talking about a cruise here,
but I'm talking about a land vacation,
is scheduling too early of a flight in on your first day
and too late of a flight out on your last day.
What people try and do, especially when they don't
get to take very many vacations or whatever is,
oh, I want a six a.m. flight down to Cancun for that resort
'cause I'm gonna be at the resort before lunchtime
and then on their last day they're like,
oh, that six p.m. flight out, that'll be great.
So, what happens is to make a six a.m. flight,
you gotta check in at four a.m.
That puts you waking up at what?
Two a.m. and you're exhausted and you hate your family
by the time you get there and your room isn't ready
till three or four p.m, so you're sitting there
in your clothes, your jeans or whatever
that you wore from Dallas or wherever and you're burning up
and all you wanna do is take a nap
and you don't have a room and it's just miserable.
Same thing on the return.
You have to check out of your room at noon.
Your transfer's not gonna pick you up
until three hours prior, so now you're homeless
for another three hours, especially if you have little kids.
Remember when we went to Crown Paradise that time?
- Oh, I do remember that. - Having to hang out
in the lobby and lasso a two-year-old.
Good heavens to Betsy, that was awful.
- That's a good one.
That's a good point.
- For me, my number five, we're starting with five, right?
- Yep. - Okay, so my number five
is lot of people aren't familiar with their phone plan
and their international data,
so a lot of times people come home from their vacation
thinking, oh, I just had this great vacation, so wonderful
and bam, $500 phone bill or more.
- So true. - That's right.
- So I think it's very important to call your cell carrier
'cause everybody's different.
Every plan is different.
A lot of people just turn off their data roaming
and don't use their phone while in destination,
which is fine, but a lot of companies will offer
a month international plan, so anyway,
be aware of what your plans are
and don't come home to $500. - And going into airplane mode
is the safest. - Yes, yes.
- Go to airplane mode and only use the wifi.
- Exactly. - That's one thing.
- Yep. - But yes.
You should totally check with your cell phone.
- But in some cases, you can't do that.
Somewhere you have to have a phone connection, right?
- Right, exactly.
Like we would never do that
'cause somebody may have to call us.
- So your number five should've been on my list
and it wasn't, but you're right.
That is a huge mistake and we've had
some of our own agents make that mistake, haven't we?
We've had people make the mistake.
Cathy, number four.
- My number four is taking valuables.
- Oh, okay. - I can't tell you
the number of times that, oh, I lost this
$10,000 pair of earrings or whatever.
What were you doing traveling with a
$10,000 pair of earrings? (Erin laughs)
Leave them at home.
Get some costume whatever at Target.
Don't travel with valuables
that you would be heartbroken if you lost.
- That's a good one and that happens.
I mean, it's amazing how much that happens.
- Yeah, you bet.
- So my number four kind of goes along with that.
People taking valuables that they wanna take,
whether it be a wedding ring or whatever,
but they don't put it in the safe.
So many people will bring loads of cash,
which 99% of the time is not necessary.
They'll bring really expensive jewelry
or their phones or laptops or whatever,
not bad to travel with phones or laptops,
but again, if you're leaving your room,
don't just leave stuff out.
Put it in the safe.
- Yep.
- Very true.
- My number four is somewhat like Cathy's number five,
but just in general people on vacation so much
try to do too much and that can be
when they're actually on the vacation,
having it planned out and saying,
"Today we're gonna do da, da, da, da, da."
And it can make it miserable.
Some of the best times you'll have
is just things that happen.
Hanging out in a cafe in Paris.
Wasn't on the schedule, found a cool place.
You sat there for a couple hours,
talked and had a great time.
You know, that's not on the schedule,
so you wanna leave yourself a margin in the actual trip.
Also, as far as doing too much,
it can be the planning of the trip.
We have people come to us and say,
"Okay, I'm gonna be seven days in Europe.
"I want to do Stockholm.
"Let's do Lucerne.
"Let's do Brussels, let's do Rome."
It's like, "Dude, woah."
You know, pick a couple of cities.
You know, don't try and do everything.
All you're gonna be is in a train
or an airplane the whole time for a week,
so don't try and do too much.
Do more quality whether than quantity of places
and leave time to relax.
Erin, number three.
- My number three or yeah,
is this number three or number two?
- Number three. - I mean, number three.
Here we go.
Checking things in your luggage.
So a lot of people, let's say someone decides
to get on that seven, six a.m. whatever flight
and they get to the hotel and they're fine without a room,
but they put their bathing suit in their checked luggage
and let's say their luggage got delayed
and they're not gonna get it till four p.m.
Then they are gonna be stuck in their jeans
and everything else and they're not
gonna be able to enjoy the beach.
Some people check cash in their luggage.
Again, if you're gonna bring things that are really valuable
like jewelry or cash, have them on your person at all times.
- Medications too. - Medications, a big one.
- That was my next one.
So again, just be aware of what
you're checking in your luggage.
What goes in your luggage, even though this is horrible
to think about, just it's worst case scenario,
be able to lose it.
So things that are in your checked luggage,
allow yourself to think, okay, if worst case scenario
my bag is lost, I can buy this in destination.
Everything else bring in a carry-on
or your purse or whatever.
- So true, so true.
- I agree.
My number three is gonna be,
and specifically when we're doing
Europe, Asia, that type of stuff,
don't Americanize your vacation too much.
I mean, if you're gonna go over to Europe,
no point in staying at the Marriott,
eating at McDonald's and TGI Fridays, drinking Budweiser.
You know, if you're gonna be there,
there are fantastic hotels that are international.
- Now I will say that I have a fascination
with stopping at a McDonald's everywhere.
- Because they kind of are a little different.
- So different, so different. (Erin laughs)
- And I will contend that's really weird.
- Yeah, maybe so, but it's still cool.
- But yeah, stay at a brand
from the country where you're staying.
There's some beautiful wonderful hotels.
Same thing as far as the restaurants.
Go try the local cuisine.
Sometimes I hate when people talk about,
oh, I went to such a place and no big deal
and they stayed at an American chain.
They ate American food.
You know, go out there and experience.
Don't Americanize the vacation.
Enjoy the culture.
- Number two? - Yep.
- Or I guess I'm number three?
- Number three. - Okay.
So, I have done welcome home calls for people
from all kinds of trips for close to 30 years now
and so far never one time has anybody ever said,
"You know, I didn't pack enough."
So, my number three mistake is people packing too much.
You're gonna need less than you probably think you will
and one tip that I have for that is
the further in advance, at least for me,
you start packing, the more you're able to pare down.
It's when I pack at the last minute
that I'm just throwing in everything
because I don't have time
to think through what I really need,
so start your packing in advance
so that you can really give some thought
to what you actually need.
- And my number two, which is my pick
for number two is over packing.
(Erin and Cathy laugh)
Yeah, I agree with everything.
It's something that a lot of these cruise ships,
these resorts, that stuff,
they have abilities to wash the clothes.
Now it's gonna be more expensive
than doing it in the States, but this is vacation.
Let them do it.
Yeah, it'd be miserable lugging
that luggage around and stuff,
so try and pare it down as much as possible,
so I had the exact same thing you did.
What's your number two?
- All right, my number two was one of your prior ones.
Packing your schedule too full.
Whether it's the number of destinations you're seeing
during the trip or the number of activities
during the day and yeah, you mentioned on a previous video
our trip to Disney when our daughter, who is now 22
was three and I had, I mean, it was sick.
I had laminated cards with schedules.
- Oh wow. - It was horrible.
I am that person. (Erin laughs)
(Philip laughs)
It was the second or third day
and we were there at the Magic Kingdom
and we had breakfast reservations in the castle
and they opened the gates and we're running to make it
and I hear this sound and I'm like, "What is that?"
Ruthie is screaming, "I wanna go home, I wanna go home."
I took those laminated things out of my pocket.
I threw them in the trash.
I'm like, "Okay, what do you wanna do now?"
That was the rule for the rest of the time.
No more schedules, so anyway,
don't pack your schedule too full.
- Agree completely.
Number two. - Two, yes.
So my number two is missed flights.
So a lot of times people will get super excited
about their vacation and they've got their itinerary
printed out, they've got their passports in their pocket
and everyone kind of looks at each other
and when was our flight again?
They just don't, they're not familiar
with their flight schedule or they think you know what?
I really don't wanna get to the airport
two to three hours early, so I'm gonna leave my house
two hours early 'cause I'm really only 30 minutes away
and it just always ends badly every single time.
So I strongly suggest, even though it sounds a little crazy,
aim to get to the airport three hours prior
because let's say something, oh, I know.
Let's say something does happen.
There's a wreck.
There's construction on the way to the airport.
Whatever it is, you run out of gas.
You have a flat tire.
Aiming to get to the airport three hours early
allows you a little bit of wiggle room
and anyway, so I know it's early.
- It's so true, no one's trip was ever ruined
by arriving at the airport too early.
- Exactly.
- And depending on what time of day,
you can sit and have a mimosa.
You can sit and have a glass of wine
and well, the other day I flew to Chicago
and there was, what happened in security?
No, it was when I was flying home.
Anyway, and I was randomly chosen.
They had to do the thing
where you swab the bags and all that.
They have rules about where people can be
and blah, blah, blah.
Anyway, there wasn't anybody available to do it,
so I was standing there and standing there
and standing there and the guy just kept apologizing,
like, "Sorry it's taking so long."
I'm like, "No, it's fine."
It took longer and he's like,
"Man, mostly people are so grumpy."
I'm like, "I'm really early.
"It's no problem."
- I am due to miss a flight 'cause I tend to, you know,
but I know it's not smart (Erin laughs)
and we have had clients who've had
really really bad problems when they miss the flight
and I mean, it just gave them such a horrible start.
You're probably gonna lose a day or two of your trip.
It's a mess.
- And money 'cause the hotel
is not gonna give you your money back.
- And the airline isn't gonna be very sympathetic.
- No, and I do have to hand it to you though.
When I'm traveling with you, you do bend to
when I wanna leave and stuff and I appreciate that.
- Absolutely, but I am due to miss one.
- But not when he's traveling with me.
(Erin and Philip laugh)
- Number one.
- All right, my number one is expecting perfection.
You've planned your trip, you've chosen as best you could.
You've worked with a professional travel agent
to give yourself the best chance
of everything going smoothly, but guess what?
We live in an imperfect world
and sometimes things don't go well.
Sometimes you're gonna misconnect on your flight
because of a mechanical delay.
Sometimes you're not gonna get your bedding request.
Sometimes your seat assignments aren't gonna be perfect
and that's just part of it
and I just had some people in Australia
and it's two couples and the lady got really sick,
so that's not great.
The other lady of these two couples,
they took a train trip and apparently
she's a little afraid of heights and claustrophobic
and didn't realize that this particular excursion
was gonna kind of hit on both of those things,
but I'll tell you what.
15 years from now when they're talking about this trip,
they're gonna be talking about that train trip
and so just go with the flow as much as possible
because for instance, when you're having
a plane delay or whatever, you can sit there
and just completely lose your mind
at the ticket agent, but guess what?
Doesn't change a thing.
Your flight's still delayed, so just go with the flow.
- That's a good one. - I agree.
- My number one is passports.
(laugh) - (laughs) Yeah.
- I think it's just because I hear it a lot,
but many times the morning of a trip
I'll get a call and someone will say,
"Oh, so and so is calling for you."
I have that brief moment of hesitation thinking
they're supposed to be checking in for their flight.
Okay, here we go and the person just didn't pay attention
and their passport is expired.
It happens so often and we try to
remind people as much as we can.
It's on their invoices.
We tell them when we're on the phone with them,
"Check your passport, check your passport."
- Plus it's common sense, hello.
- Yes, yes, but definitely don't just check
to make sure the names match and everything.
Make sure it doesn't expire
really within six months of you traveling.
- Yeah, that is a thing 'cause some countries require
that it be good for six months.
- That it be valid for six months after your travel, so yep.
- So always check that. - Yeah.
- Mine, I cheated I think 'cause my number one
kind of has three prongs to it,
(Erin laughs) but anyway.
I probably got mismanaging money
and so there are three things about this.
Number one, you want to have enough resources
when you're there and you'll probably be
spending more than you expect.
My number two was to not over pack.
I think it's a common saying.
My daddy used to always say it.
You know, take half as many clothes and twice as much money
when you go on vacation, but really do try and keep in mind
that you are packing a little more than you think.
Money wise, it's also a mistake
to go cheap on certain things.
You know, talk to your agent and say,
"We can save money here, not here."
But you really do need to get a good feel for
in this particular location,
we need to pay more for nicer hotels.
It's gonna be really important,
so don't make the mistake of saving so much money
that you ruin your vacation.
The other thing is have a plan going in
as far as what you're going to spend and prepare for it.
Budget for it.
You know, we do this for a living
and I remember going on a cruise and we got back
and the credit card bill came in and I was not being funny.
I went to my wife and said,
"We already paid the final payment two months ago
"and here's the final payment again."
She goes, "No, that's what we spent onboard the ship."
Be very careful what you're spending
'cause as great as the vacation is,
it can really ruin it or certainly lessen it
when you come back to all these bills
that you weren't expecting, so have a good plan going in.
Keep track of it while you're there.
That's it, agree? - Yeah, talking about being
cheap on the wrong things one time several years ago.
- Oh yeah.
- I was traveling on a trip to Europe with my niece
as a graduation present and I was trying to
cut it a little close because what I was trying to show her
was that it's possible to do really cool things
and you don't have to be rich, so we did several cities
and then the last city was London
and I had an upper respiratory infection by this time.
I was not feeling very good and we got to this place
and we went to check in and they handed us our sheets.
- I remember. (Philip laughs)
- And we walked up the stairs and went in the room
and I looked at it like, "I can't do this."
We walked back down, we got a taxi.
I opened up the guidebook I had with me.
I picked a place, I said, "Take us there."
I didn't get the money back on the original room.
Paid twice or three times as much for the other room.
I was so glad (laughs) to have it, but yeah.
You know, economize, but don't cut it too close to the bone.
- Guidebook, that was a while back, wasn't it?
The guidebook. - Yes, it was.
Yeah, yeah. (Erin laughs)
Yeah, you didn't just look on your phone.
- So those are the mistakes to avoid
and we hope you've found this helpful
and thank you for joining us.