Lengthy vacation requires planning

Most take long weekends, but prefer a longer stay.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A two-week vacation?
Ha!
"For quite some time, the average leisure trip has been at four nights," said Cathy Keefe, spokeswoman for the Travel Industry of America, which surveys the travel habits of 300,000 households a year. "This shift toward shorter vacations has been happening for the last 20 to 30 years."
"We see fewer and fewer of the longer trips," agreed Amy Bohutinsky, consumer travel expert at Hotwire.com. "We've definitely seen more of the four and five-day weekends. People tend to take several of those a year, and most of that just reflects work schedules and how much time people can get off."
But there's a gap between the vacations people take and the vacations they want. Eighty-six percent of 4,000 families surveyed in a Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & amp; Russell poll earlier this year said vacations of five nights or more are ideal, and more than half said seven nights or more would be ideal.
Plan now
So how do you realize your vacation dreams?
UMake a New Year's resolution and start planning.
"The first thing you do is you put it on your calendar," said Carol White, author of "Live Your Road Trip Dream" (RLI Press, $17.95, www.roadtripdream.com). "It becomes as sacred as anything else you are forced to do in your life. It's an appointment with yourself. If someone asks you to do something that week, say, 'I'm already booked. Can we do it some other time?"'
USign up for time off as soon as vacation schedules are posted at work -- which happens in January in some workplaces.
"Setting the date makes it a reality," added White, whose book chronicles how she and her husband Phil lived their dream of traveling the country for a year -- for about what it would have cost to stay home.
UReinforce your plan with research about places to go and stay.
"Think about making reservations," said White. "Bring your family into the planning."
Trade favors
USolve potential problems on the home front.
Can a neighbor or friend collect mail, water plants, feed the cats, maybe even look in on your elderly mother? Can you offer to do those chores for someone else while they're away so they can return the favor when you're gone? If you have a dog, ask your veterinarian and other pet-owners to recommend a kennel. For pet-friendly accommodations on the road, visit www.petfriendlyhotelsandtravel.com.
UAt work, arrange your responsibilities so that clients, colleagues and your boss can function in your absence.
"Make contingency plans," said Phyllis Weiss Haserot, who consults on business development and organizational effectiveness as president of Practice Counsel Development in Manhattan (www.pdcounsel.com). "What if something goes wrong? Who's going to take care of it? Find someone to cover for you and make an arrangement that you're going to cover for them when they go away. Plan with your whole team so nobody feels they get an unexpected burden."
If you have clients -- either external customers or workplace colleagues who depend on you -- "prepare them so they expect you to be away. Try to anticipate," Haserot said.
Staying connected
UIf you must check your e-mail and voicemail while you're away, "be disciplined about it," said Haserot.
"Set a regular time to check in -- but not six times a day, and hopefully not even every day."
And if you leave a number where you can be reached in case of emergency, "define what you mean by urgent" beforehand to avoid being called about trivial matters, Haserot said.
If you're taking a domestic trip and you don't have a laptop or high-speed Internet access at your destination, try checking e-mail at the local public library. It might be easier and cheaper than Internet cafes or using a dial-up connection in your room.
ULeave a detailed message on your office voicemail and an auto-reply e-mail explaining that you will be unavailable until after you return. Provide contact information for whoever is filling in while you're gone.
"It's all about managing expectations," Haserot said. "You don't want to disappoint people."
Look for bargains
UIf money is your biggest impediment to taking longer trips, look for bargains in the off-season for your desired destination.
Just after Labor Day is a great time for discounts in beach areas, and September weather can be gorgeous -- just watch out for hurricanes.
Buy cancellation insurance for plane or cruise tickets if you're worried about potential last-minute changes.
If you're the cosmopolitan type, bundle up and head for New York or Chicago in January and February. That's when you'll find hotel discounts and other packages, along with fewer crowds at museums, restaurants and theaters.
Discounts for longer stays are a trend at hotels and other attractions. Disney World recently restructured its pricing so that $1,500 covers admission and lodging for a family of four for a week.
Disney president Al Weiss said the change was directly related to research on vacation aspirations for the average family.
"Their No. 1 wish," he said, "is that they would take a longer vacation."
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