Hey Reader,

Two weeks ago I told you a little bit about my training for Peaks to Portland, a 2.4 mile ocean swim from Peaks Island to East End Beach, Portland, Maine that benefits the YMCA of Southern Maine. Well, I did it! And it was HARD!

It got my friends and I excited to relax a little, and for me, thinking about planning a vacation where I can just do absolutely nothing. I know it's far from now, but my husband and I reallyyyy want to go away somewhere warm in winter 2027.

But I've always had a hard time planning trips for the following year when I've still got so much of the current year ahead of me.

However, there are tons of benefits to planning travel for 6, 8, even 10+ months ahead of time, like:

• More availability and therefore more choices of where to stay
• Often lower pricing for accommodations
• Points and miles availability for flights and hotels
• Gives you a long runway of excitement

I can't even count the number of times I've been "just browsing" at campsites or vacation rentals, loved a place, left the tab open, then went to book it months later only to see it's no longer available.

So let this be your reminder that even though it feels so far out, booking that trip for next year now is actually the smart choice.

And if you need a little help navigating the planning process, here's a blog post on leveraging Google's free trip planning tools to make trip planning a whole lot easier.

Or better yet, send an email to yours truly and I can plan your trip for you 😉

Talk soon,

Michelle

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