Monday, December 26th 2022, 5:00 pm
A lot of families have packed up to spend the holidays on vacation.
Many families are hoping to travel in 2023, and experts said people may be able to save a little money by planning their trip early.
For the last 10 years, Mindy Mahaney and her family have loved to celebrate the holidays with a trip.
“Every other trip we go somewhere warm and somewhere cold,” Mahaney said.
This year, they’re going to Hawaii for a little fun in the sun, and Mindy said she can’t wait for everyone to be together in one place.
“It combines being with your family but also keeping it fun, exciting, going to different places, so the younger generations are excited about it and for my mom it especially exciting for her because she gets to be with all seven of her grandchildren,” Mahaney said.
Mindy said because they are traveling with a large group, they always plan in advance with the help of travel agent Diane Henderson.
Diane said she gets a lot of last-minute requests for trips during the holiday.
“They’re always wanting to go somewhere warm because it’s so cold here in December and they want to spend some family time together. It’s a great gift because they’re giving memories and experiences,” Henderson said.
With Covid restrictions changing and people traveling more, Diane is seeing a lot of people booking bucket list trips like Egypt, Antarctica, Morocco and Japan.
“We get a lot of requests for the Caribbean, we get requests from Mexico and Hawaii,” Henderson said.
Diane said a good way for families to save money on trips is to book a cruise.
Mindy said they were able to cut costs by planning their trip about a year in advance.
This year’s trip is extra special because it’s their first trip without her dad who recently passed away.
“It’s really a blessing that we have and this year especially for all of us to get to be together is going to be a big deal,” Mahaney said.
If people are traveling internationally, make sure your passport isn’t expired.