Do you vacation?

[becoming]

If so, where? And how, without spending a TON of money?

We're wanting to do a beach vacation this year, and we're within fairly reasonable driving distance of beaches (closest is probably 7 hours away), but everything is so ridiculously expensive. It is just not feasible for us to spend over $2K on a three-night vacation. Are there ways to spend significantly less on a vacation, or are we doomed to stay in rural north Louisiana forever?

[zersha]

We don't vacation, at least not by the definition that most Americans would use.

In the summer, we might go to a nearby state park and camp. That's it. It's close enough we can drive home for a forgotten item if we need to, but is really nice with all kinds of activities for the kids. Our kids also go away to some camps in the summer, like 4-H, YMCA, or Girl Scout Camp, but they are all within 2 hrs.

We would never go into debt to take a 'real' vacation, and we wouldn't take away from more important things like savings or retirement, or student loan payments, or ...well, I guess the list could go on and on.

But that's our priorities, and everyone will have different ones.

My dh and dd are driving with my IL's in June to take dh's grandma's ashes to a river in Montana (she wanted this in her will), and we will need to spend about $400, but I wouldn't really consider that a vacation. That'll be the farthest my dd has ever gone away.

I guess we're cheap. There will be no disneyworld for us.

Have you looked around for local attractions? I have found alot of things we could do within 3 hrs of our home that wouldn't cost alot.

[attachedmamaof3]

We vacation.

We go to a state park (Mustang Island) that's on the beach and camp.

Sites 50-75 yards off the beach with electric/water are $16 a NIGHT!

So, 5 nights is only $90! (We're staying 6 days, 5 nights).

Depending on your budget, this may be enough for you! Take a cooler, go to the grocery store every couple of days for fruits/veggies/drinks, etc) couple of good books, sand toys and you're good to go!

A lot of the state parks also have free/low cost activities. One we used to go to when we lived in GA was Edisto Island,SC. They had sea turtle walks at night, kid's craft activites, a little museum thingie, a post office/restaurant/gift shop and Charleston was only 30 min away!

Now, at Mustang Island, they have dolphin tours, we're driving over to Padre for the kids to get kiteboarding lessons, we'll go to the Texas Aquarium, take a tour of the USS Lexington, and then spend the rest of the time at the beach. Corpus Christi is only about 20-30 min away and they have a free surf museum and antiques, etc.

We'll spend $500 MAX.

My advice is DEFINATELY to find state parks in your area and go that route.

[angelcollector1]

We do vacation and I "don't" camp so that let's that out. I'm new to FL so my DP and I are touring the state on vacations so that I can see the state. We live on the gulf so we went to the east coast in February for 6 days. It cost us about $700 for all expenses, eating out all our meals.. 3 a day, hotels and attractions. I used the following websites to help with the costs. www.roomsaver.com for hotels/motels. I was sure to check the yahoo trip advisor for additional info about the hotels to see what the reviews were.. I don't so bugs, etc so that was a big factor. If it had even one complaint about bugs or serious infractions, then it was out. We never paid more than $45 a night for a hotel and when we were in Orlando it was $35. Breakfast was usually included. I also subscribed to www.entertainment.com for their online service so that I could get coupons to attractions and restaurants, etc at deep discounts. You can subscribe to the site for $4.95 a month and keep it for as long as you want it. Then I printed off the coupons for the attraction at 2 for 1 as well as restaurants in the areas we were staying in. They were valid for 14 days each so they covered us for as long as we were going to be gone.
State parks are a great idea as others suggested. Good luck and if you go, enjoy!

[BetsyS]

We vacation. We plan and save for it all year. I grew up not vacationing, and I remember being jealous of kids that got to go on vacation. It's a priority for me (as an aside..my brother, same house, HATES to vacation. Only goes about once every 5 years when his wife threatens and screams enough. LOL)

We go to cheap places, sometimes in the off season. We like the gulf coast in early May and/or late September. We also like the Outer Banks, state parks, and the Smoky mountains. We've stayed at Grayton State Park in Florida, which is pretty and almost right on the beach. http://www.floridastateparks.org/gra...ch/default.cfm Not dirt cheap, but not bad at $110/night for an air conditioned cabin. You're about half way between Panama City and Destin, both more built up, in case you tire of just the beach. Gulf Shores (AL) has a state park, too, but it looks more expensive. http://www.alapark.com/parks/feature...2&featureid=32

We eat out once a day, at most. I really, really like to eat out, so I don't limit this completely, but by choosing a place that has a kitchen, it saves a lot of moola. Breakfast is always in the room/cabin/wherever. Then, we eat out lunch or supper.

A place with cheap attractions. The beach, the mountains, small towns to explore. All these are cheap or free, which doesn't add to our budget. We're not big on Disney. LOL

[Belleweather]

We absolutely vacation -- it's one of the things that we use all the money we save being frugal in all the other areas of our life on. BUT first, I have paid vacation time, which makes a big difference. And we vacation fairly frugally.

For a beach vacation, I'd try somewhere like a local Craigslist or Vacation Rentals By Owner to try to find a condo or timeshare that you could rent for a few days. It's far cheaper than the cost of a hotel, and they generally have kitchens, so you can cook breakfast and supper and eat leftovers in the hotel room. Also, you don't have to worry about the whole kid's bedtime issue -- what you do after the kidlets are asleep when you're sharing a hotel room.

If a hotel is what you need, try hotwire or another discount booking place, where there are often good deals. Camping is a great option, but can be hard with really small children.

We always bring breakfast and lunch food or buy stuff from the local grocery (especially for short trips). We pack picnics and bring snacks and waterbottles and toys to stay entertained so we don't have to buy thing, and rarely buy souveniers.

Another way that we save is going to places that are not major tourist destinations -- although it's worth checking out both, since we've found some amazing deals on places like disney and cruises where they were far cheaper than anything else we could have done when you looked at the total price. Also, picking weekends of free events to visit is a great way to reduce vacation costs if you can keep the lodging under control.

Generally on the kind of vacation you're talking about, where it's a long weekend without a lot of 'entertainment cost' we wouldn't spend much more than $500, so it can be done.

[laohaire]

I don't know how most people define vacation, but we do it yearly. We just drive somewhere a few hours away and spend 2 nights in a hotel. We pack a bag full of food staples (sandwiches, water, cheese and crackers, etc.) and while we do eat out, we minimize the costs by eating as much as possible from our stash. We try to just eat dinner out for the most part, and that doesn't need to be lavish (pizza at a local joint, for example).

For entertainment we rely on nature (walks, seeing local attractions, etc.) and the hotel's pool and such. We might spend a bit on admission fee to some exhibit but otherwise I would say we usually spend nothing except for hotel and dinner and gas.

We don't buy souveniers.

Total cost is about $225 for us. I know we could do it cheaper, but that's what we realistically spend where we usually go.

But I don't know if we're talking different things. I know some people don't call it vacation unless there's an airplane involved. I hope the suggestion for packing food helps.

[bhawkins]

We vacation, but probably not in the traditional American sense of the word. Like in June we're going to a theme park about 3 hrs away and staying the weekend. The theme park is free for all of us (because it's where DH's company picnic is) and the hotel is a only $50 a night including a hot breakfast bar. The theme park is near the Great Smoky Mtns, so we plan to do some hiking/exploring with the kids and keep it on the cheap as much as possible.

So, are we going on a week long spend fest(my interpretation of typical "vacation")? No. But we are going away from home to stay somewhere different and have a good time, so it counts in my book. As the littles get older I hope to do more extensive trips such as touring the west by car and such. We'll see....

[jaceycat24]

yearly we try to rent a cabin at a koa place(near the beach) or yogi bear place. and then every three to four years we take a big vacation to disney or cancun. my husband looks forward to it every year just to relax and do whatever we want. this year we aren't going anywhere except aquariums and zoos because we will have a small infant and i'd rather not stay at a hotel waking up every three hours.

[MaddieMay]

We do vacation and we go all over the world. Vacation/travel is a priority for us and so we have to budget every month for it, just like we do bills and investments. Then we have other areas (like cars) that are not so important to us. For us, we'd rather drive older cars and take great vacations. Every family is different. Here are some things that might help you, though:

Really, the key is to be flexible. Also, keep your eyes out for deals. I have an email account that I use primarily for travel. All the newsletters, frequent flier deals, hotel deals, you name it go to that email. You'd be amazed at the last minute things or special offers that come up. You can always Priceline a 4 or 5 star hotel on the beach and the worst that can happen is your offer is declined.

If you want to go to the beach, maybe you can go in the off season when the weather is still great, but the crowds are less. Look into a hotel or vacation rental with cooking facilities so you can eat in some nights and save money that way. When you go out to eat, eat out lunch instead of dinner. Going midweek is often cheaper, so you could stay at the beach Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights and the rest of the nights at hotels on the way to/from your destination. If you're driving somewhere in Florida, you could drive to Pensacola and stay there the first night, see the Naval Aviation Museum and watch the Blue Angels practice (both free) quick in the morning and get on the road to wherever you are staying.

Have fun planning!

[PajamaMama]

We rented a 3 bedroom house for a week last month at St. George Island. We used Resort Vacation Properties, and have used them in the past as well, and always had a wonderful time. I think that would be driving distance for you from Alabama... If you want any more info PM me. By the way the rental was less than $2,000 and it was for the whole week

[KnockedUpButtercup]

I noticed you said you're in rural north Louisiana. Have you considered Arkansas instead of the beach? We went to Hot Springs a couple of years ago. We camped at Lake Catherine State Park and swam, hiked, fished, rented "hydrobikes," kayaked (we brought our own, but you can rent them really inexpensively), rented jetskis at another lake (Lake Hamilton?), toured the Hot Springs bathhouses, rode the "Duck" (a WWII amphibious boat/truck thing...that was pretty cool), hiked up the big mountain in town, played mini-golf, played Chess and Uno at our campsite, roasted marshmallows, watched DVD's on the portable player, poked around some antique/junk shops (until my boys' patience ran out), and had a generally great time. The lakes near Hot Springs are so beautiful and clear, not murky and muddy like on the Gulf Coast.

If you don't have camping equipment or just don't want to stay in a tent, the Arkansas state parks have cabins you can rent...the fourplex ones were really reasonable, I remember. (We were tent camping, though...it was right before we bought the VW bus.) Lake Catherine State Park has recently been renovated, too...the facilities were beautiful. Staying in one of the little cabins would also allow you to bring your own food and prepare most of your meals, instead of eating out a lot.

There are several small lakes surrounding Hot Springs, and each one has a lovely state park...you should check it out! Honestly, I don't know what state parks in other parts of Arkansas are like, but the one we stayed at put Texas and Louisiana to shame. We were ruined forever! (Let me clarify...not from a "natural beauty" perspective, but from a "civilized bathroom" perspective.)

This reply has gotten way too long, but...my point is this: we spent $1000 for 4 people for 5 nights/6 days, and that included gas (to and from Houston) and plenty of activities, and had a GREAT time.

[polyhymnia]

We vacation and it is something we put a big priority on so we save pretty aggressively for this. We do a big int'l trip every other year (this will go to every year hopefully once I get 3 weeks' vacation per year), and a few long weekends every so often as well as trips within the US as well.

We are very lucky to live in an area that has plenty of beaches and mountains in driving distance and we are close to a major airport as well. We take full advantage of these facts.

So for example two months ago some friends and I rented a cabin on the Hood Canal for the weekend. It was in the off-season so we got a great rate on the rental, and it was only a 3 hour drive there and back so it was definitely manageable. The cabin had a full kitchen, so for $300 for the rental, about $40 for gas and $70 for food (we splurged a bit on that!), four of us had two nights and three days on the beach. We found the cabin on www.vrbo.com which is a great website for cabins!!

Our bigger vacations tend to be expensive in terms of airfare, but inexpensive once we get where we're going - for example last year we went to Bali, and spent $1800 on airfare for two but only $800 total on lodging, food, transport, etc for the two weeks we were there including a splurge private snorkelling excursion ($60) and an $80 meal at an exclusive resort.

In terms of cost, we are generally flexible - we pick locations based on where we can get good deals on airfare and lodging. We try to stay in self-catering places in the US to help cut down on our expenses, and we do go camping or stay with friends/family for other trips. Whenever reasonable, we rely on public transport rather than hiring a car too.

We're actually headed to the SE - Birmingham, Alabama; New Orleans and possibly Tallahassee/beaches area in Florida - in June and we're finding it relatively expensive (in our opinion!) so I do feel your pain.

[lmonter]

If by vacation you mean spending an insane amount of money on gas (1200 miles adds up!), staying with MIL on an air mattress, and futzing around Seattle, then yeah. I guess luckily since MIL and my sister live near there it's an "easy" vacation place where we have lots to do and see, but still. NYC or historic east coast things just ain't gonna happen for years. And years.

If you're thinking a cruise or booking a tiny, questionable hotel room anymore, no.

Oh, and our souvenirs for the kids? Smushed pennies. Yup, we're those people. We figure they're cute, small, and quite portable in a scrapbook/memory box kind of way. Plus you can drop them on the floor and they'll survive (unlike our genuine Murano glass).

[SusannahM]

We've been thinking about doing that in Hawaii, but we'd still have to fly there. We should have enough frequent flier miles eventually, though.

I like Mustang Island. We used to own a lot for building a house on Port Aransas, but then life changed, and building that house fell off of our plans, so we sold it. I still think about it sometimes

We don't vacation so much now just because DS sleeps horribly and won't nap anywhere but home. The few nights we've tried other places have been very hard, not like vacations at all. So, I guess we'll wait another year or two Has nothing to do with expenses.

[notwonamesalike]

We vacation.

We work hard, we play hard.

DH and I have a love of international travel, and we hope to instill that in DS as he grows up. We want him to experience other cultures, beliefs, and countries. We also want him to learn to love the outdoors and nature. So we also camp.

We plan and save all year for our vacation - looking for great deals on airfare, hotel, and the like. We love to travel the Rick Steves way - instead of the big, expensive touristy trips we do it on our own.

[~Megan~]

Not the way most people see it. We will sometimes camp off season at the coast or visit family (if my mom buys the tickets). We can't afford a typical American vacation though.

[annethcz]

We vacation. We do different things each year. We've done everything from a week at a resort to spend-nothing-but-gas camping trips.

I grew up taking road trips, driving all over the country and camping as we went along. This is my preferred method of vacationing. DH didn't grow up camping, so it doesn't seem normal to him and he's the one who prefers the resorts.

In short, the vacations that we take most are the cheaper road trip and camping vacations. We get more bang for our buck. And staying at cheap or free campgrounds allows us to spend more money on admission tickets and attractions. At the very minimum, we go camping each year in northern MN. There are free campgrounds in the wilderness areas, and we can camp and hike to our heart's delight for the cost of gas.

[wednesday]

We go on a couple vacations a year. We go to the beach every August, it's a family thing, we split a weekly rental with DH's parents and it's very reasonable (our share is about $600). There's a full kitchen so we take coolers of food and mostly eat in. The gas costs a lot and we do buy ice cream/treats and cheap beach toys, and we usually go out to eat once or twice, plus fast food along the way. If we keep it to a grand total I'm pretty happy.

The last two years running we have also taken a big city vacation in the winter/spring. Last April we spent 5 days in Atlanta and had a pretty good time, that trip was in driving distance and we had reaosnable accommodations so again, about a thousand total. This past January we went to San Francisco, which coincided with a work trip for me, so my plane fare, most of my meals, and all but two nights in the hotel were paid for by my work. But MAN flying DH and DS out, and feeding them, getting around the city, etc cost a LOT. We spent over $1500 for a 5-day trip but we had a LOT of fun.

I would rather spend our money on taking vacations than just about ANY other non-necessity.

[Knittin' in the Shade]

we vacation, at least one big vacation (1-2 weeks) per year, and then usually another one or two small (long weekend) vacations. We save throughout the year in a vacation fund, so that we pay hard cash for everything for vacation. We always rent a house wherever we go so that we can cook frugally instead of eating out often. We usually do one or two meals out for the entire vacation. This year's big vacation we went to Florida for the Phillies' spring training. Instead of staying right in clearwater, which was quite expensive, we stayed about 1/2 hour north in a less-touristy area (for a significant savings in the rental) For the smaller trips, we usually go to the seashore (Dh's uncles own a house that everyone in the family is able to use, for free) so all those trips cost us is a tank of gas and food that we bring from home.

In total, we budget $3000 for vacations, which seems like a lot but for a family of 6 going on several trips a year it's really not. This year, it's wound up being a bit more than that, because DH and I are doing our first "grown-up" trip (aka: without kids!) to London in a few weeks.

To us, vacations are important, obviously. We scrimp on other things so that we're able to do these family vacations, and we all thoroughly enjoy them.