Ever since I was a child I had one big wish when it came to travelling – Florida! When I had children of my own I promised myself that one day I would save up long and hard and be able to take my children to Florida to have the holiday of a lifetime, for them and for me. We are still saving hard for our trip, it’s definitely not going to come cheap, but in the meantime I’ve been making plans so that when the time comes the leg work is done!

Before you travel

The USA has a visa waiver programme, which lets British tourists visit for up to 90 days without a visa. You must get an authorisation from ESTA – the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation – before you travel, otherwise you’ll be refused entry. You can register through the ESTA website – applications currently cost $14. The US also has specific passport requirements, so it’s a good idea to check that your passport will be accepted.

Choose your destination

Often referred to as the “vacation villa capital of the world” and, with so many villas in Florida to suit all families, all requirements, and all locations, the biggest decision for us is choosing where to stay! With our main focus being on the theme parks, it makes sense for us to try and stay within close proximity to the parks and so our focus has been in the Disney area which has given us some really amazing choices! We also wanted to make sure we had lots of amenities nearby and searched for grocery stores Orlando so we could be sure we had chosen the right location.

When will you travel?

The most popular time of the year for visitors is the summer, when the temperatures are their highest. Bear in mind, though, this is also the rainy season. From June to September, downpours and thunderstorms are common in the afternoons and early evenings. They tend to be heavy and last for just a few minutes, before stopping as suddenly as they started. I think for us October is looking to be the most appealing although this would have to at least overlap with the children’s school holidays.

How will you get there?

Deciding on the best route, at the best price, is an important one for us as a family of six. Obviously we would travel by aeroplane which I have already worked out would be far cheaper to fly non-direct but renting a car on arrival seems to be a great option and would give us the freedom to travel within Florida relatively easily and at a low cost.

Plan your itinerary!

It’s safe to say that Disney would be a huge part of our trip and having researched a lot, it’s far better for us to purchase Disney tickets in advance of our trip to make the biggest saving. With there being six of us I know that the ticket cost will be a huge part of our budget and so booking these in advance will all least help us to work how much we need to save and allow us to focus on just our spending money by the time the trip comes around.

And so now it’s just a case of making some decisions, starting to get things booked and hopefully, in the next year or two, finally getting our trip of a lifetime!

** This is a collaborative post **