The Small Booking Decisions That Have the Biggest Impact on Family Holidays

I went to see Harry Styles at Wembley this summer. Here's why planning a trip around one night might be the best travel decision I've made.

Normally I pick where we're going and then work out what to do when we get there. This time I did it the other way round. I had one night in the diary — Harry Styles at Wembley — and built everything else around it.

Turns out that's a really good way to travel.

 

Start With The Night, Not The Place

Most family holidays start the same way: somewhere hot, a week booked, days to fill. But I keep noticing people do the opposite now, mums especially. They start with something they actually want to see. A gig, a match, a show they've had in their head for years. The trip comes after.

 

And it works, because the hardest part of planning anything is deciding where to go in the first place. When you've already got the ticket, that decision's made for you. Everything else is just supporting act.

 

Harry did twelve nights at Wembley this summer, which is apparently a record for the place. Around 90,000 people a night. For one of those nights it was me and the girls. No kids, no buggy, no bag full of snacks I'd end up carrying. An actual night out.

 

Why I Paid For The Good Seats

 

If a whole trip is built around one night, that night isn't where I'm going to start saving money. So we went premium — proper hospitality, good seats, the lot.

And it reminded me of the thing I always say about family holidays: the luxury isn't the flash bit, it's not having to fight for anything. We weren't stuck in the crush at the bar missing three songs. We weren't craning round someone's head. We turned up, someone looked after us, and we were actually there for the reason we'd come.

Same logic I use when booking a holiday. I don't spend more to look fancy. I spend more so nothing gets in the way of the bit we came for.

 

 

If You Want To Try It, Do It In This Order

 

The whole thing only works if you plan backwards from the event:

Get the tickets first. They're the fixed point. Don't book a single flight or hotel until those tickets are actually confirmed and sitting in your account.

Then sort where you're staying — around getting home. 90,000 people leaving at the same time is its own event. For Wembley, get the Chiltern train to Marylebone, not the Jubilee. That's exactly the sort of thing you only care about at half ten at night when everyone's shattered.

Spend on the night itself. Whatever "premium" looks like for your event, take it seriously. If the trip exists for this one night, that's where the money goes.

Build the rest around it. Make a weekend of it — a city break, a slow morning, a proper lunch. The event's the reason you're there. Everything else is a bonus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Point

You already know you'll love the thing you booked. So instead of hoping a destination delivers, you've guaranteed the good bit before you've even packed. The place just becomes the backdrop.

Concert, final, show, whatever it is — pick the moment first and build around it. And on the night, don't talk yourself out of the good seats. When the whole trip comes down to a couple of hours, those hours are worth it.

 

Thinking of planning something around an event and don't know where to start? That's genuinely one of my favourite things to help with. Come find me — I've usually already done the research.


At Let's Go Travel, we help families find holidays that work in real life — not just on a booking website. Get in touch to start planning your next trip.