When you’re married to a teacher, you have to get creative with travel planning. Teachers may get the summer months off as well as breaks in winter and spring, but those generally aren’t ideal times to travel. Crowds are at their peak, which means airfare and hotel rates are at their highest as well. And based on the school, teachers usually get very limited time off outside of those breaks. Because of this, we had to come up with a lot of long weekend trip ideas to get our travel fix throughout the year.
If you have limited time off from your jobs but want to travel more, it’s all about maximizing long weekends! Whether it’s a holiday weekend or you’re taking off an extra day before or after a weekend, it’s possible to still visit top destinations and have a great time. Sure, you may not do everything that is available, but just prioritize what’s most important to you. Do you want to go somewhere to relax all weekend? Or do you want a jam-packed schedule and fit in as much as you can? There’s no right or wrong answer, just do what you will enjoy! Here are some of our tips for planning a long weekend trip that has helped us go on some of our favorite adventures:
- Pick a destination where the travel time makes sense. You don’t want to spend your entire long weekend flying or driving, unless the main focus is the road trip itself. So pick a place that’s a reasonable distance away, and get a nonstop flight if possible. Be sure to factor in time zones too! Take any time zone changes into account so that you know how much time you’ll have at your actual destination and what time you’ll get back home. You can use time zones to your advantage too! For example, a flight from Chicago to London may seem long for a 3-day weekend. But if you leave Friday night on a nonstop, you will arrive the next morning (just be sure to try and get some sleep during the flight!) Then even if you don’t leave until mid-afternoon on Monday, you’ll land back in Chicago early evening the same day. This makes your return flight only 2-3 hours in terms of departure and arrival times. This gives you almost all of Saturday, all of Sunday and almost all of Monday in London, while still getting you back home at a reasonable time. So get creative with time zones! Or keep it simple, whatever floats your boat!
- Get a head-start on your trip the night before your 3-day weekend. Are you going to be off Saturday through Monday? Leave Friday night. If you’re road tripping for a long weekend, then it goes without saying that leaving the night before will help you get to your destination quicker. If you’re flying, you may get in pretty late if you can’t get a flight until after getting off work. But then, you’ll have the whole next day to explore your destination. One thing we like doing is to stay at an airport hotel after we land late on a Friday. Most have free shuttles from the airport to the hotel. And since they’re close by, you can get to a bed quickly if you’re exhausted after a late night arrival. Airport hotels also usually have pretty reasonable rates compared to those closer to touristy areas. Let’s say you landed late at Chicago O’hare for a long weekend in the Windy City. Why pay a lot more for an extra night at a downtown hotel if you’re just going to go to sleep right away? Stay at a cheaper airport hotel with a free shuttle, then get a Lyft downtown the next day. If you were going to rideshare anyway from the hotel, this is a more budget-friendly option.
- Pick a strategic hotel or rental location. We talked about airport hotels above, but what about once you get to your primary destination? If you’re visiting a city, pick an accommodation that is close to the attractions you want to visit so you are not spending a lot of time commuting in between. However, hotels in prime central locations like downtown tend to be more expensive and may have high parking fees. So look around for the best value and rates! If all the options are too expensive for your budget or comfort level, expand your radius to see if cheaper hotels are available. But before you book that lower rate, be sure to factor in other costs. Are you going to have to rideshare more often because not everything is within walking distance? Will you have to rent a car? If so, will you have to pay for parking where you are headed? Once you add in all these factors, a hotel with a higher nightly rate may contribute to a lower total trip cost. We also recommend picking a hotel with free breakfast to help you save on meals.
- Travel with all carry-ons if you’re flying. Since you’re only gone for a long weekend, you really shouldn’t need more than a carry-on. This should allow you to avoid time waiting at the baggage carousel after you land. Remember, it’s all about maximizing your time! Having a hard time fitting everything into your carry-on? Use packing cubes to help compress your clothes. Need to bring multiple shoes? Wear the pair that takes up more space while flying. We recommend Tortuga Backpacks if you’re looking for a great carry-on. We love our Setout Divide backpack. It opens like a suitcase and has plenty of compartments including a mesh divider, can fit a 15” laptop, and is expandable for some extra storage space. On some long weekends, you may need to check out of your hotel earlier than when you need to head to the airport. If you can’t leave your luggage at the hotel after you check out, having a travel backpack is a lot less conspicuous than rolling a suitcase around.
- Accept the fact you can’t see everything. The reality is on a long weekend, you won’t be able to experience everything that your destination has to offer. The earlier you accept that, the easier it will be to plan your trip. Don’t be disappointed or frustrated you can’t fit everything, and focus on prioritizing what you want to see and do. Also, don’t spend time or money going to something you won’t really enjoy, just because you think you “have to”. Maybe you’re going somewhere with a famous art museum. But you’re more of a foodie than an art enthusiast. Skip the art museum and check out that taco place you’ve had your eye on. It’s your trip, do what you enjoy!
And there you go. Our 5 tips and ideas for planning a long weekend trip, which have been a big part of our travels. We’ve been able to check out a variety of great destinations this way, including Austin, Nashville and Clearwater Beach, just to name a few. What has been your favorite long weekend destination? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
Check out our Trips and Tips page for more travel inspiration.