FEEL4 PATH

FOCUS

I am focusing on finding a last minute holiday for 5 nights, to start within the next few weeks.

ENERGIZE

I feel energized to want to go on holiday because I want to rejuvenate my mind and body. I want to spend quality time with my daughter. I want to experience new sights and gain the energizing factors that travel gives me. I am motivated to be able to switch off from work and just enjoy waking up without an agenda for the week. I feel excited to meet new people and learn new things. (Please note these are fairly generic ones but also personal to me, your energizing factors will be unique to you, perhaps you have just been ill and need to recover, when writing your own path you would list what makes you want to take action to go on holiday).

ENGAGE & LEARN

I am engaging with these actions to search for and book a great last minute holiday:

1. I am engaging with doing a google search for a specific term that applies to my holiday needs (and alternating the wording to see if new search results show): "Last minute deals for holidays in the UK [Swap UK with your preferred country / area]"

1a. I immediately learnt that the search results were not specific enough because I wanted to rent a holiday home not go to a hotel or camping [again, your needs will differ, just adjust your search accordingly].

2. I am engaging with searching more specifically for: "Last minute deals for holiday detached homes for pets with enclosed garden in the UK"

2a. I learnt in this case being more specific really helped me narrow down my choices and the search results were much more focused on the holidays I wanted. Note sometimes though you can be too specific and cut out finding other websites that may benefit your hunt for a holiday.

3. I am engaging with clicking on all of the website links that highlighted the types of last minute pet freindly holidays I wanted and searching through them.

- From the search results I mainly looked at snaptrip.com and welcomecottages.com and ruralretreats.co.uk and caninecottages.co.uk and airbnb and cottages.com and a few others ...

3a. I learnt it is good to use the website filters to really narrow down specific homes with the features you want. I learnt that you have to be very careful not to get carried away with photos as your mind can trick you into seeing features one property may not have, for example if the last property you saw had a hot tub then your mind can sometimes assume the next property also has it. Be careful not book without pausing and reflecting on all of the holiday rental details.

I learnt to also make sure you check the rules; some homes said they were pet friendly but then in the rules state they must be kept confined in one room.

I learnt taking a day's break from searching meant you returned with a much more experienced eye in knowing what you want and which homes were genuinely good ones to rent.

I learnt being flexible on your dates helps to cut the price down and offers different home rentals which are only available last minute on those dates.

I have learnt that if you just want a short break and you want maximum impact, it is good to reduce a 7 night holiday down to 5 or less nights - would you rather stay 7 nights in an "okay" place or 4 nights in a 5 star place!?

Final overview: I eventually found a property that filled my needs, but interestingly it was actually slightly different to what I thought I wanted initially. I learnt that although airbnb was the most flexible for me in terms of narrowing down properties to rent [and knowing properties you can just turn up to with self-check-in), it would depend on your own situation and needs, the reality is you have to search and search to eventually find the perfect deal. Don't give in, give yourself a few days to search again and again. By searching constantly you also learn to redefine your needs and you end up with a holiday more suited to what you had planned. Also try and be flexible on your dates as this can help reduce the price a lot!

Addition: I forgot to add a great lesson learnt - if your head is hurting from too much searching sometimes it is good to close all browser windows. Take a good few hours break and start your search all over again. You will find you are automatically becoming tuned into what types of searching and website filtering you prefer and more and more getting the results you want to see.

PS. If you want to treat yourself ;) take a look at the holiday homes here: uniquehomestays.com