First off, I love to stay at home - I am a homebody for the most part. Very happy to just putter around the house.
I also love to travel and "get away". See new things.
Recently DH and I have been talking about a family trip. We have not gone anywhere as a family for longer than a weekend in four years come December.
Some quick searching and we almost booked a trip to Cabo. Seven nights at an all inclusive resort through Costco travel was $908 for the four of us. With airfare (only three hour flight from SFO!) the package was close to $2500 total. Still a deal.
This same package if booked during Christmas break would be $6000!
We didn't book it because:
One, we would all need passports. $500+ to get four of those.
Two, we don't have vacation funds to cover a $3k trip. Not even close.
Another time maybe?
We are still researching options. It will be a road trip. In the same vein as Monkey Mama - Vegas is tempting for cheap hotel rooms and free things to see.
We will go in December. After Thanksgiving vacation has ended and before Christmas vacation starts.
We have always chosen to travel this way. Mostly to avoid crowds. The added benefit is saving money during off-peak dates.
Have you been looking at taking a frugal vacation?
I am Sick...with the Travel Bug!
October 28th, 2013 at 12:13 am
October 28th, 2013 at 01:32 am 1382923936
Actually, I just booked our beach weekend. Saturday and Sunday night after Thanksgiving - Pismo Beach - Citi paid for the hotel ($250) and we will just wing the food and gas out of our regular monthly spending. {Last year we absolutely had the entire hotel to ourselves, and the weather was gorgeous. It's a beautiful beachfront property we have been going to for decades - very inexpensive for the area. Since Citi paid for it, we got the premium view/private balcony}.
I am also looking more into this wedding we are going to in Montana next summer and I think it will be extremely inexpensive. Will probably just drive, *might* be able to get a free hotel stay, and so we will hit Yellowstone while we are there. I thought driving might be a bit much, but Montana is closer than I realized (one day of driving, each way). So I am super excited how cheap that trip is ending up. & it will be great to see Yellowstone and drive through states we haven't been to. We won't be taking the kids, so that is adding to the cheapness of that one. Less mouths to feed.
October 28th, 2013 at 02:41 am 1382928098
October 28th, 2013 at 03:56 am 1382932609
We took the girls on a road trip in July of 2010 through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming....Jackson is fabulous as is Teton National Forrest and Yellowstone. We have done other road trips such as Seattle, SF, and Vegas. I am not sure we would make the drive to Vegas again...we spent the night in Reno and the drive from Portland to there is quite nice, however, Reno to Vegas is about 8 hours of nothing but desert....very LONG!
We always tried to balance road trips with flying trips to even out the costs. Some years were bigger vacations, others small.
Whatever you do...I hope you and your family have FUN!
October 28th, 2013 at 04:54 am 1382936057
October 28th, 2013 at 08:55 pm 1382993701