It's odd how we can procrastinate over the things we're most excited about - like our travels. Often, people make the mistake of deliberating too long over when they'll take their vacation time. What happens is they end up losing out on the choice weeks to travel and possibly hurting their pocketbook too. If you've got three weeks of vacation at your job, book off two of them as early as possible and save the third for last-minute getaway weekends or emergencies. With the two you book, know early in the year where you'd like to go. If you want to go to Chicago, head there with that week of vacay you booked in April and start looking now for hotels and flights. If you book a week off in October for your birthday and you aren't sure if you'd like to celebrate it in Shanghai or Maui, take a few weeks to research your options, but do so with the peace of mind of knowing you'll be blowing out the candles in style in 2012.