Travel plan idea blog

As a travel agent, I book villas for vacations as well. And can tell you - there are a FEW more things I like to ask my clients. Because you might find a great villa, but shopping is difficult, there aren't many things to do in the local area, you are on the rainy vs drier side, etc. So if you ARE planning on going the villa/condo route, you might want to talk to an agent --- what may look like a great deal may in fact not be at all!

The article has some good advice. We recently returned from two weeks in Hawaii, one week on the big island and one week on Oahu. The first week was in a timeshare and it is helpful to check out the RCI website or the site tug2.com. Tug2 is a timeshare users group that can be very helpful. Just remember that people are more prone to write a review if they are unhappy than if they were satisfied. The second week we rented a house on the beach that although beautiful, was probably in an area that we wouldn't normally have chosen. Also the house had many ceiling fans but no air conditioning which isn't uncommon. Houses also tend to come with more rules and conditions than condos and many require a security deposit, ours was $2000 which was returned about 3 weeks after we arrived home. Groceries were an issue the first week as prices are quite high compared to the mainland. We tended to buy groceries at the Costco in Kona which was about 30 minutes away but worked out since we were in Kona every few days.