What to do With Two Weeks Off?

The image of Australia being the land of the land of the long weekend hardly rings true these days.  Australians work more hours than just about any developed country and seem to have less and less time to enjoy away from the daily grind.   So when we do have time it might be a snap decision to use some annual leave (or be forced to after not taking  holidays for years).

So with a few weeks off where to go? if you want to head overseas the price of flights and high dollar can make the prospect of going international more attractive than staying at home. Recent figures suggest domestic tourism has taken a big dive for this reason.  Depending on the type of holiday you want there are plenty of options for jetting overseas and giving yourself a break a long way from work.

Just keep in mind that fares and accomodation in the Asia/Pacific and USA increase dramatically around school holiday times.  Check out the Australian school holiday dates page for info.

Apart from that, if you can avoid the peak months of June/July and Christmas you can get away cheaply.

For sitting on the beach doing not much there’s always cheap off season packages to Thailand, Fiji, Bali  and now with more competition on flights the Cook Islands and Samoa.  The back pages of the weekly travel sections are devoted to cheap packages to these places (just be careful as prices always go up when you find out you might be staying in the cleaning room of the hotel for the advertised price).  Malaysia also has some great options on this front; check out Air Asia for super cheap flights.

For something a little more active there are heaps of packages into South East Asia that will take you around say Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.  Tours on short trips can take out the hassle and be a good way of meeting new people.  Check out Intrepid and Gap tours for a reliable and well regarded selection of tours.

The current price war into the USA has made short trips their a more attractive proposition.  Besides living it up in California/Las Vegas you could head over to Chicago and New York or somewhere different like Portland Oregon (a great city).

There’s always New Zealand; cheap flights and a motor home for a week or two might be a way for you to unwind by heading back to 1960 (in the best way), along with great scenery and activities.

It really just depends on how you are feeling..if you budget $2000 for any trip as a minimum cost of leaving the country for a week to ten days that’s a start.  There are cheaper packages but this is more realistic amount when you consider extras like insurance and activities.

Websites like Last Minute.com has become a popular way to book packages on short notice.

Check out the: Off season Bargains page for more ideas on timing and destinations.

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