Foreign welcome to Second Act Travels.

I'm your host, Elizabeth, and this is the podcast providing travel information and

inspiration for those in their second act of life.

Thanks for joining us.

So let's get into it.

Today we're going to talk about both the pros

and the cons of traveling in the off season.

And I'll always be very upfront with you that

there are goods and bads to everything.

I think it's only fair if we're going to talk about the reasons you should travel in the off

season that we also discuss why you might want to reconsider that.

Let's talk first about what is the off season.

If you're listening from North America,

there's a tendency to think that off season is anytime in the North American winter, early

spring, late fall.

That's true.

However, if you're planning on traveling somewhere else, consider the Southern

hemisphere.

You've got to flip everything around.

For example, Australia,

the peak is December to February because that's their summer.

So off season would be March to November.

Well, let's talk about the pros of off season

travel and there are quite a few, some of which you probably know, some of which might

be new to you.

I mean, obviously the first is that prices for traveling and lodging are generally lower and

you can find some pretty good deals by looking at times of year when other people are not

traveling.

They can have killer deals.

One site I like to use is thriftytraveler.com

There is a free version and there's a subscription version and that has saved me its

subscription price already because I found a great deal that was sent to my email and I

took advantage of it.

So might want to check out thriftytraveler.com Attraction fees generally don't change price.

They're pretty much consistent all year long.

Also, you might save money now during the off

season because it looks like the trend for large cities is to start charging tourists for

the day.

So if you come in and you want to do a day trip to, say, Venice, there are certain times

or certain days of the year where you will have to pay a fee.

I think that's going to happen more and more.

Along with an extra fee for tourists, I think

you'll start seeing caps on attendance.

So for example, in the Acropolis in Athens,

there are now daily caps of how many visitors they will take.

That's also true of the Cinque Terre in Italy.

Again, I see this becoming more and more

frequent.

So off season,

generally you can travel a bit more hassle free to popular areas.

And of course, there's always the crowd factor.

You know, I'm not a big crowd person.

Some people really love to be in a crowd.

I'm not one of those people.

And for me, it's nice to have a little bit

more breathing room, a little bit more elbow room.

I love the fact that you can walk into a restaurant anytime and generally find a place

to eat that you like.

What's really cool is also having an attraction all to yourself.

Last March, I went to the Loire Valley and I visited some of the chateau.

One of the most famous chateau that I saw was Villendry, which at the time in March had only

about 20 people in the entire place.

So I got to take my time in all the rooms.

I got to walk around the gardens.

Now, they weren't in bloom.

That's the downside of that.

But to be in a place where you could pretty much wander as you wanted to and spend as much

time as you wanted to is really pretty incredible.

So that's a great, great benefit.

Obviously, there are more comfortable

temperatures.

If you're not a heat person, and I definitely

am not.

I don't enjoy hot, humid weather, and I like

my temperatures in the 40s and 50s.

Even that doesn't bother me at all.

So more comfortable temperatures, it allows

you to do more walking, I think, and be more comfortable.

And the other thing I think that we should mention is tourist rage.

I don't know if you've been watching or listening to the news, but because of the

incredible crowds during the high season, many locals are really beginning to almost revolt

against it.

And if you remember this year in Barcelona, there were demonstrations against tourists,

with them marching, saying, tourists go home.

Some people were also shooting water pistols

at tourists as they were eating their dinner.

That is, again, I think, a very good reason to consider just separating yourself out from the

crowd and going during the shoulder season.

There's also one more pro to traveling in the off season that I do want to discuss.

When you are traveling during the high season and due to the amount of crowds and the demand

for things, you are often now having to make reservations online and select a time in

advance to visit.

That's not generally true of the off season, and you're free to go whenever and wherever

you want and not have to worry about getting a reservation or changing your plans at the last

minute,

it's a great relief to know that there's some slack in your schedule to change your plans if

you choose.

And that is more of an available option during

the off season than during high season.

Okay, well, let's talk about the cons of off season travel.

Sometimes I think this should be subtitled how not to Be like the Griswolds Arriving at Wally

World in National Lampoon's Vacation.

But I'll get to that in a moment.

So, first of all, oftentimes people are

concerned about weather.

Oh, if you travel in the off season, the

weather might be bad.

But you know what, that could happen any time of year.

If you're traveling during the high season or during the summer season, there could be

terrible heat waves, there could be thunderstorms, all kinds of weather delays.

And so the same goes for the off season too.

I. I almost think that it's not really a thing

anymore, but that's just my opinion.

But getting back to our Griswolds example, in National Lampoon's Vacation, as you recall,

they drove all the way across country and they got to Wally World and it was closed.

So there's a lesson there.

Off season can be the time when attractions

might be closed for renovations.

Now that doesn't happen often, but it does

happen.

So if there is something that you just cannot

leave without seeing, just do a quick check on Google and make sure that it's going to be

open.

It will say on its website when something is going to be closed for an extended period of

time.

So just do a check if there's something that

you absolutely can't miss seeing.

The other thing to keep in mind is public transportation.

If you're in a major city, this isn't a factor.

Public transportation is non stop, but if you're traveling outside of the larger cities

to maybe smaller rural areas,

public transportation may have a reduced schedule.

So just be aware of that.

That doesn't mean that you can't travel.

So instead of five trains a day, maybe there would only be three trains a day.

So you see my point.

Just give it a quick check.

And also last thing is that if you want to do

something dependent upon the seasons, keep that in mind with the cherry blossoms in

Japan.

They don't stay in bloom all year, so there's only a specific time you can see them.

Same with safaris in Africa.

You are on a time deck during the migration

season.

So don't be like the Griswolds.

Just do a little bit of research.

Okay, great.

So that's it for this podcast about the pros and cons of off season travel.

Join me in a couple weeks when I'll be talking about making mistakes in travel and Believe

me, it happens.

And it's not going to ruin your trip.

Remember, if there's a topic that you'd like to hear me discuss, please do reach out at

overseas and over50mail.com and remember, you can follow me on Instagram overseasandover50

and also Pinterest.

My blog is overseasandover50@blogspot.com and I look forward to our next podcast.

So thanks so much for checking.

Second act travels out and I'll see you back

here soon.