Shoulder Season Travel: What to Consider for a Great Trip!

Off Season- Shoulder Season Preparation for Travel

[00:00:00] Narrator: Do you dream about your next trip? You're in the right place on the time to talk travel podcast. We come to you weekly to share places to go and what to do when you get there. Let's dive into this week's adventure.

[00:00:16] Nasreen: Welcome to another episode of Time to Talk Travel Podcast. We are talking about what we are going to call shoulder season weather traveling during slightly less optimal times. There are definitely certain times of year where you may go to a destination that is supposed to be tropical or is supposed to have snow, but you're in that eh zone where It might not happen.

So you have to pack for two different scenarios and just be ready for anything. Let's go through how you have to switch up your planning and your packing and everything else about a trip during that time period. Des, I'm going to lead off with you. I already know you're going to say you went to Santorini or wherever a week before everything opened up.

I know you've had experience with this.

[00:01:01] Desiree: My favorite time to travel, to be totally honest, because you avoid most of the crowds. I'm not a big fan of being there when everybody else is there. It's more affordable. Yeah, you do a little dance. I've done it when we did our trip to Capri. We went at the end of October and everything was closing, all of the beach clubs had closed. Another two weeks and everything would have been shut down. But for me, I loved it. It was warm enough to actually go swimming in the blue grotto. If we'd done it during summer, everything wouldn't have been as warm. Same thing when we went to Santorini, we did it in April.

And if I had gone 1 week later, in that case, it would have been much warmer. And, Again, it was fine. For me, avoiding the crowds was worth it. And it did require a little creativity. I know my daughter I had a big plush scarf . She ended up wrapping it around her body as a skirt.

We got creative, because she thought she could go bare legged all day and it just ended up being a little colder than we expected. We get creative. I'm game for buying a sweatshirt for whatever country I go to. I don't need to pack it when I'm there. I'm going to want a souvenir anyway, is how I look at it.

So you can roll with it.

[00:02:12] Maureen: That's if you can find one. Two years ago in May, we went to Cabo St. Lucas in Mexico. We're going for my husband's company trip. People from all over the world, Asia, Europe, South America, all come to Mexico. I don't think any one of us brought a sweatshirt. And it was cold. It was like in the 60s. It was cold. To the point where the event organizers were trying to go to Mexican Costco and find us sweatshirts, there was nothing. We were so cold. So yeah, even if you think you're going somewhere hot pack that sweatshirt pack a pair of pants pack Oh like light jacket windbreaker kind of thing because you just never know. It was the end of hurricane season and there was just one more gust of cold air that came through for the four days we were there and it sucked, but the hot tub was good.

Spent a lot of time in the hot tub.

[00:03:08] Nasreen: The very first time I went to Disney was in ninth grade. And this was back when you planned it with the book and everything, you didn't go on the internet, look up the weather 10 days out. We went during a time when it's traditionally warm. Yeah. packed with layers. We're all layerers.. However, it was unseasonably chilly and rainy during that time period. And when you look back through the photo albums of us on that trip, we're all in a specific sweatshirt. We each bought one Disney sweatshirt and I've got that goofy sweatshirt on the entire trip and all the photos where it's a little chilly.

I might have my shorts on, but I got on my goofy sweatshirt too. Packing is definitely one of the challenges. I am a layering girl in general and being on business trips and suddenly being sent somewhere else or asked if I could work something else in or having to extend a trip,

I do tend to pack Things that can be layered, and I always have at least a sweater or two with me now. I'm a little better balanced for that, but it can definitely be a little strange when you're packing and you're like, Oh, let me throw a sweater in while I go to this tropical climate, just in case.

[00:04:15] Desiree: always do that. I'm the person who is cold in every room. If you're hot. I'm comfortable. If you're comfortable, I'm freezing. My internal thermometer is wackadoodle.

[00:04:26] Maureen: Have one for the plane to begin with.

[00:04:29] Desiree: Exactly.

[00:04:29] Nasreen: It's a Texas rule, right? When I moved to Texas, you kept a sweater or sweatshirt in your car at all times because even if it was 90 out and I don't understand this, right? It's winter time. They turn the heat up to 80 you're sweltering, because 60 is too cold or whatever.

And then it's summertime. It's 90 out. So they've got the AC at 60, which they would never set it at during the winter because that's too cold. And yeah, you have to carry something everywhere just to make sure you don't freeze to death.

[00:05:00] Maureen: Yeah, no, that's very true. And I think that's the thing when you get on the plane, it can be like stuffy and hot and so you like strip it off, but then once they get everybody on board and they crank the air, and then you're like,

[00:05:12] Nasreen: absolutely.

[00:05:13] Desiree: fact. I learned this when I was researching things for my book. Airlines intentionally keep the air, the AC cooler on a plane, because there's a condition where you are more likely to pass out if you're warm. And they don't want people passing out in their seats. So they keep it cooler intentionally.

I never knew that. And I'm the person who's always ringing the flight attendant. Is there anything you can do to make it a little warmer? And most of them have no access to it. They'll say, sure, we're on it just to shut you up. I have a Lululemon scarf. I'm famous for these. I have three different colors now that I bring on flights because you can wrap it around your neck and it's fashionable, but it also unsnaps and it is a full body blanket, it stretches and Oh, I love it.

[00:05:58] Nasreen: I know exactly which one you're talking about. Yep.

[00:06:00] Desiree: They are perfect for travel.

[00:06:02] Maureen: What's your travel outfit? I'm curious, because I know that my travel outfits are not generally what people wear, but it works for me. So what do you guys wear? Going on a like, three hour flight

[00:06:14] Desiree: I like to be comfortable. So I'm in leggings. I always wear my biggest shoes.. And definitely a long sleeve and then I'll put a jacket on because odds are I'll need the jacket once I get there or it becomes a blanket on the plane and then the scarf. But I'm pretty basic.

I'm not fashionable other than my Lululemon scarf that doubles as a blanket. I try to look cute, but it's not about that. It's about comfort when I'm on a plane. How about you Naz?

[00:06:39] Nasreen: I'm on the other end and it has to do with what I'm traveling for too. So a lot of trips are business trips for me. And they tend to be shorter or I'm bringing minimal things with me. I have a purple kind of velvety dress that's long sleeve that I wear with black tights and I've got black boots. They're not quite combat boots, but they're like black boots. Because they're my biggest shoes. Like you were saying, Des. If I'm traveling for work, that's usually my plane outfit or like black slacks and like a nice topper sweater. I always have a coat or something a little heavier with me to go on top.

If I'm traveling for myself with family, whatever, sometimes it's leggings. It's always going to be those black boots. Those are my favorite. And sometimes jeans, I'm comfortable in jeans. I don't think they're uncomfortable.

I know some people do but

[00:07:26] Desiree: depends on the jeans. What about you, what do you wear?

[00:07:28] Maureen: I am a big fan of the maxi dress. So long dress. I have one that's super flowy, it's a million colors. And then I have a couple of longer length mid thigh sweaters that I'll bring. I'm a dress girl, so I'm always wearing dresses. That covers my legs in case it's cold.

Then I'll have my wedge sandals cause those are my biggest shoes. Unless I'm going somewhere cold and then obviously sneakers or boots. But I try not to go to cold places. I moved away from Canada for a reason.

[00:07:57] Nasreen: you're like only warm. That actually pivots us right back to the weather thing, because now you're going to go somewhere warm. And if it's cold, you're not going to know what to do exactly. But one side things with weather and shoulder season lodging and rentals that you might not think of.

I had a friend who rented an RV and it was supposed to be very warm. They were going to be in Arizona . It was not very warm. It was plummeting to low temperatures at night that were not normal for them. And the RV generator they were allowed a certain amount of hours and were charged beyond that.

And the same thing , if you're booking an Airbnb or something in a tropical area and you think it's going to be warm and you need to check for these fluctuations, are you going to have access to heat as well? There are lodging considerations as well as packing considerations.

[00:08:48] Maureen: I know I've mentioned the I'm calling it Country Burning Man, this Country Cattle Fest that I'm going to in two weeks. So I shall report back, but in doing research for that, we were looking at, do we get an Airbnb or do we get an RV or do we get an RV and an Airbnb to cover all options? And I hadn't really seen that before, as far as yeah, you do get charged.

You get X amount of hours on the generator and that works for hot or cold. So for air conditioning as well. And, Naz you're from the North as well, you don't want to freeze to death by any means, but people really underestimate if it's 110 degrees, you can die of heat as well.

Like you literally can boil. Which Des definitely knows in the South. So the thing is with travel is that you also need to look at which hemisphere you're going to. I don't know if you guys have made that mistake, but when I flew to Uruguay I've told this story before, I didn't realize quite how far it was. I was super busy, got on the plane, and realized it was a nine hour flight. I was like, Oh man. And I packed for the entirely wrong season, so that maxi dress in fall was ridiculous. I have a whole collection of jeans from Uruguay and sweatshirts. I love it because, like you said, it's a souvenir, it's a memory. I've now shopped at the malls of Montevideo.

[00:10:03] Nasreen: When someone says, Oh , I love that sweater. It looks great. You can be like, Oh, I got it in Uruguay.

[00:10:08] Maureen: Oh my gosh, I have this pair of jeans that have this gold piping down the side. They are probably six years old now. But I got so many compliments on those jeans. They're like, where did you get them? And I was totally like, Oh, I got them in Uruguay.

[00:10:22] Nasreen: Just leaving out the part about how you packed for the wrong season.

[00:10:25] Maureen: I totally left my, I spent three weeks in Miami beforehand and just literally packed my Miami clothes and went to Uruguay and it was fall.

So I went from, 90 degrees to, Oh gosh maybe 60. It was cold.

[00:10:38] Desiree: I do think you also have to research the area a little to know, but again, I am a Southerner and never have lived North of Virginia. So anything below 65 is really cold to me. I remember we went skiing in Colorado, it was a press trip. My whole family got to go. We bought layers to wear but I really didn't understand. You don't wear cotton as your base layer when you go skiing. You've got to wear the thermally thing, and again, I don't even know what the terms are, but I know it got to minus six when we were on top of a mountain and boy, did I learn what cold really is.

[00:11:15] Nasreen: I think Texas ruined me for being able to tell what a temperature should feel like. I would try to explain this to people. They'd be like, Oh, it's really hot there and it'd be 105. And I'm like, yeah, but it's a nice 105. Because there is a breezy and nice where we were.

There was a breezy and nice 105 and it didn't feel like 105. It felt like low nineties ish if you weren't in the direct sun. So it wasn't a big deal. However, there was definitely 105 that felt like 125 and was heavy. And in the same way, sometimes I would swear it was about to snow in Texas and it would be 50 degrees, but it was like a bone chillingly cold 50 degrees, wet, damp, windy.

Now I'll notice myself being like, Oh, it's going to be 60. I don't know what to wear at 60 degrees anymore. Now I'm in New Hampshire. 60 degrees is warm here, but.

[00:12:08] Maureen: It happens. And you think California, but I think you've both been to San Francisco, and that's cold.I'm going there in the middle of April. My daughter's going to be sailing there, and she's we're going to California.I'm like, you're going to sail in the Pacific Ocean, doll. It is going to be cold. She's lived in Texas now for four and a half years. Her blood is thin.

[00:12:30] Nasreen: San Francisco is weird. I used to go there quarterly for work and the weirdest thing about it is they keep saying north. And if you don't live. in California. I don't, as an outsider, I would never consider San Francisco, Northern California. I'm like, that is literally the middle.

No, not really. I don't look at it.

[00:12:49] Maureen: but it's north. It's north of the warm. It's

[00:12:52] Nasreen: It is definitely north of the warm. It hailed there a couple of times when I was there. It was frigid when it shouldn't have been. San Francisco does not have California weather. You've got to go to San Diego for that.

[00:13:04] Desiree: Most Americans, they just say it's West and it's warm. They don't get that. It's a long state,

[00:13:10] Maureen: a long state.. And you know what? Humidity makes a big difference too. Next weekend I'm going to St. Pete and Florida and it could possibly be the same temperature technically as it is in Texas, but there's just something about the sun. I don't know.It's just warmer,

[00:13:27] Desiree: It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

[00:13:29] Maureen: The wind comes off the Gulf where I am in Texas. And Nas says, when it's 110 and it blows and you're like, Ooh, this is a nice 90, right? Ooh, we can go to the beach. Like I won't go to the Galveston beach unless it's at least mid eighties.Because that wind is chilly.

[00:13:47] Desiree: yeah. I grew up on the coast of Florida. We had the coastal breeze, so we never really felt the heat. Until I lived in a city and city heat where the sun is just bouncing off the pavement and the buildings.

And it's so hot. I remember being in college with no AC. We would just roll up our clothes, lay there practically naked . So sweat your way, somebody go sit in the pool.

[00:14:10] Nasreen: That's the perfect example of the shoulder season thing, right? Because I would rather, I don't like being cold and I'm cold frequently and that's why I layer, but I would rather pack inappropriately in that direction than layer and go find something else to wear than to be in full clothing and then have it just be dripping and disgusting and trying to roll things.

[00:14:32] Maureen: Anytime I go somewhere that's hot, I always pack a bikini and a nice dress in case my luggage doesn't make it, especially when I lived in Canada. I would fly to somewhere hot.

I do not want to be stuck in my jeans and long sleeve shirt or leggings in Mexico or, one of the Caribbean islands or wherever you may be that's hot.

[00:14:52] Desiree: 100%. I will not. I will not go to a beach in a pair of jeans. I try never to check a bag. I'm a carry on girl. But even when you have a carry on, sometimes they say, sorry, no more room in the overhead.

[00:15:02] Nasreen: I always have the one packing cube of outfits that I would pull if they did that and shove it in my purse.

[00:15:09] Maureen: That's a good way of doing it. I like that.

[00:15:11] Desiree: Yeah, with a pair of sandals.

[00:15:13] Maureen: One of the things about traveling that you forget when I used to travel for business there was like a chance of being upgraded, I would totally dress the part because they're not going to put some schmo up there in their

[00:15:26] Desiree: sweatpants

[00:15:26] Maureen: and

Crocs

[00:15:27] Nasreen: They will, if you're like a rapper. So if you just really play

[00:15:32] Maureen: Yeah, but those aren't

[00:15:33] Nasreen: celebrity,

[00:15:34] Maureen: whatever the cool weird shoe of the day is.

If you're a rapper, you might be wearing sweats, but they're like 3, 000 sweats. I'm just saying you know what, the days of looking dressed for first class, those were nice days.

Even my children wear the weirdest things. Just this weekend, we were in Mississippi with my 12 year old, and UGG slippers, like literally fluffy slippers, are what she wears as everyday shoes.

[00:16:01] Desiree: That's the look now. Comfort is key and you know what that's okay when you're on a long flight. I do think though you really shouldn't be wearing what you wore to bed the night before.

[00:16:10] Nasreen: If you had slippers on, you wouldn't make it to the escape, the exit on the plane. Remember Ciaran would say that.

[00:16:15] Maureen: She liked Crocs or she didn't like

[00:16:17] Desiree: not Crocs. They'll melt in the fire

[00:16:20] Nasreen: They'll melt the fire. Oh, I remember that. That was the quote.

One other area of the shoulder season, unpredictable weather, is how do you plan for activities or going to see certain sites if the weather is going to be unpredictable. Tour wise, the other thing is if you're going off season, sometimes there can be more limited spaces because they aren't running as many tours, but other times they can have more last minute availability. If you think, Oh, we might want to go hike near that glacier, but not if it's pouring rain, call ahead, say, Hey, how many tours are you running right now a day?

Do you have availability closer to the date? Or do I have to book this in advance? You can gamble a little bit with. You know what? I can wait to book this three days before when I have a pretty decent idea what the weather's going to do. And I might still have a slot because it's not as busy. You have to decide what's negotiable and what's not.

The silver lining is that if it's crappy weather, especially if it's outdoor inclined, then. There's not going to be anybody else there. You skip the crowds. Living in Houston, NASA is a big one. I have a membership literally just to take other people. There's the main NASA Johnson Space Center area, and that's cool and it's inside. The stuff you want to go to is Rocket Park and the Apollo Command Center and the Longhorns and the Alligator. You have to get on a tram outside. It's cold and I have sent many of my friends and tourists to my parents where they're the only ones on the tram. There is no lineup for the tram. But they need to bundle up Buttercup because it's Texas and so , it doesn't have any cover, you're cold. And it can be a damp cold in January, February, March,

[00:18:07] Desiree: naz, you're right. It is really critical. If you're going to a certain destination and your heart is set on doing something, make darn sure that something is open and available when you are going, or it's pointless. I had a girlfriend who got a great flight to Italy in February and she was so excited, send me your itinerary.

I want to do all the same things you did. I had to explain to her, you're going to the Amalfi coast in February. You're not going to get the experience. It's going to be beautiful, but

[00:18:35] Maureen: That's yeah, way farther south than everywhere else.

[00:18:38] Nasreen: You have to check what triggers the cancellation for some of these spots, because you may have this gorgeous rainforest excursion planned but knowing when they cancel, if it's pouring rain, if it's, this warm, this kind of weather. If there's thunderstorms on the horizon, some little cruises or ships won't go out if you're doing an excursion on a boat.

And so you need to know what the procedure is. I don't want to deal with the hassle of being like I spent money on something and now I have to chase it down or get it back. What's the process? I just want to know what triggers it.

[00:19:10] Desiree: And I take pictures of all of that because sometimes that

[00:19:14] Nasreen: They will.

[00:19:15] Desiree: still gets done and you have to go back and prove, and who keeps a copy of any of that? I screenshot every bit of it. Literally tonight, I booked a lodge in Zion because I'm finally going to take my Zion trip.

It just so happened it's my birthday week and I saw, I can get two nights at the Zion Lodge right there. I don't even have a flight booked yet. I'm booking that . I can cancel up until 48 hours before I'm supposed to arrive.

Perfect, but I did screenshot it because God knows I would never be able to find it should things change

[00:19:43] Nasreen: Now you can search on your phone so easily. I know that I take the screenshots because I can type in, Hilton, New York City, and it'll find the photo that has those words in it. It's faster and easier for me to screenshot and just look it up that way. It takes me longer to find an email.

[00:19:59] Desiree: yeah

[00:19:59] Maureen: You see a great deal, there's usually a reason why. And seasonality is a big piece of that hurricane season, yeah it's a real thing. My parents just went on a cruise through Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania . They didn't get to go to the Great Barrier Reef because a typhoon or something came through. They didn't know that was whatever season it is, and that

their ship could be turned around.

[00:20:25] Nasreen: That's a common one though that I see a lot. One of the most common complaints I see from travelers is cruise ship itineraries where they're like, Oh, we didn't realize they could change the ports or do this or do that. We booked it for this one port or these two places we wanted to go.

They can change those. They can change them. So

[00:20:44] Maureen: My mom was devastated. She really wished they had just flown to Australia and done their own thing because they didn't get to go to the Great Barrier Reef. My parents are in their seventies. They did a two week road trip from Sydney around first and love that cause they love the flexibility.

If they loved a place they could stay a day, and they do enjoy the cruises, but when you go that far and you have no flexibility and what you really want to see. That was tough.

[00:21:12] Desiree: it's important, if your heart is set on it. That was us in Capri, I was going to see the Blue Grotto. Every day we were there, conditions were too windy for boats to go in. We reserved a private boat, if I had taken one of the excursions where they put 50 people on a boat, this never would have happened, they would have gone by, said, there it is, wave goodbye, see ya, nobody's getting off to go in.

Instead, we had a private boat and I said to the captain, you can drop anchor, right? I can swim in. And he said, absolutely. If that's what you want, my daughter's what? I don't know when we'll be back. I swam in, she watched from the boat, like making sure I didn't die. And I swam back and I said, you gotta do it. She jumped in and followed me.

When I was in Iceland I needed to see those Northern lights come to hell or high water. I didn't get to do anything else because of the blizzard, but I Dammit I did see my Northern Lights. Know what you really wanna do. I feel for your mom.

[00:22:03] Maureen: Do it totally the opposite. I go in not knowing what there is to do and figure out what's possible when I get there. Whatever there is to do is what I'm going to do.

[00:22:12] Nasreen: That's okay, Mo, you're going to be when we do the episode we have planned about when you need to book things in order to actually get them. We're just going to have you go through a list of everything you couldn't see that you wanted to.

[00:22:24] Maureen: You know what?

That list I can tell you right now is the Anne Frank house. That's the only one that I didn't know. Other than that. Nah, I'm good. because you know what? If you miss something, there's always something else you didn't know about.

Show me a different beach. If I can't go to the beach that day, show me a rooftop pool or a restaurant or I don't care. In Italy, it was cold and gross. We found a lady to teach us how to make gnocchi. There's always something to do.

[00:22:52] Desiree: You have the best attitude. You do. Not everyone does, seriously.

[00:22:56] Maureen: I just am happy to be there. I'm happy to be there and grateful for seeing anything outside of my own little bubble.

[00:23:04] Desiree: I definitely have the bucket list things. Blue grotto was one of them and I did it my whole trip was made. I didn't care what else we did the rest of the time we were there,

[00:23:12] Nasreen: I'm just , I want to see things. It'll be fun. It doesn't matter which ones they are. That brings up a great point . We always talk about travel insurance.

It comes up on almost every episode. If you are traveling during that off season, that iffy season, there's a couple reasons why it's really important to do travel insurance. One is if you walk into that hurricane season or whatever else, where there's going to be diversions, you want to be able to get money back for things you might've booked that you're not going to be able to get to now.

The other reason is, If you're going during a semi off season and you book an Airbnb and that owner finds out they need to replace the AC unit, do you know when they're going to do the work? Not during the busy season where they charge more. They're going to say, I'm sorry, we're having maintenance on the house, we can't accommodate you.

Or if you get there and it's horrible, you want to make sure you have travel insurance to switch up where you're staying. There aren't going to be as many options. You don't want to have to pay that out of pocket.

[00:24:06] Desiree: Yeah.

[00:24:06] Maureen: I just had the worst Airbnb experience in Mississippi. It's not really their fault, but we'll save that for another episode. But you know what? It worked out fine. And Airbnb was amazing. I'll give them that much. Their support system was like, are you okay?

Do you have somewhere to sleep? Dirt and pubic hair in a bed. I'm out. That was it.

[00:24:26] Nasreen: My coworker found used underwear in a bed. Yeah.

[00:24:29] Desiree: This is another

[00:24:30] Nasreen: Okay. Another episode.

[00:24:32] Maureen: said, it's another episode. I said to the owner, I texted him, I'm like, Dude, I've been all over the world. I love Airbnb. I don't think this is you. Something got missed. I drove seven and a half hours from Texas today. I'm really tired.

All I need is a clean bed. My bar's really low.

[00:24:49] Nasreen: I used to always book two queen beds.

First of all, they're usually cheaper than the King beds.

They're always available. It's Just easy two beds, right?

I want to look at both and see which one looks cleaner you know what? That one looks better.

[00:24:59] Maureen: Pack your sweater, go with the flow, be happy there's no crowds, don't go in hurricane season, or

[00:25:06] Nasreen: Look up some cancellation things, book some travel insurance, have a backup plan, and make sure you're excited about the location no matter what you do.

We wrapped that one up nice.

[00:25:15] Maureen: There's always something fun to do.

[00:25:17] Nasreen: It's a different view no matter what.

[00:25:21] Maureen: It change of latitude, change

of

[00:25:23] Nasreen: attitude.

[00:25:23] Desiree: We all need to go to a Margaritaville hotel.

I've been to two Margaritavilles. I love them. The one in Fort Lauderdale, 1, 500 a night for the room I was in. It was two bedrooms.

It's beautiful. They're so well done. Very coastal, which is very me.

[00:25:37] Nasreen: Okay. Go to Margaritaville, maybe in the off season. So it's not 1, 500 a night. See I tied it in. Look at that. Look at

[00:25:44] Maureen: was going to say it's always five o'clock at Margaritaville, so it doesn't matter if you're in the off season or the real season.

[00:25:50] Nasreen: Exactly. Okay. Until next time, when we come back at you with another episode of time to talk travel, happy travels.

[00:25:58] Narrator: This has been another episode of Time to Talk Travel, brought to you by HashtagTravels. com. You can keep in touch with us between episodes by checking out our site, joining our newsletter, or connecting with us on social. We've always got the information you need in our episode notes. Until next time, happy travels, and thanks for being a part of our trip.