Do you vacation? - Page 2

[polyhymnia]

Originally Posted by Knittin' in the Shade

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.

I'm impressed at your budget for a family of 6! Our budget for the two of us is more than that I agree with you fully though, we definitely save and make sacrifices in other areas so we can afford to vacation.

I hope you have a WONDERFUL time in London, it's a great city! Be sure to get Oyster cards if you will be using the tube/buses, it is totally worth the deposit (which you won't get back as non-residents - they mail the refund back, but won't mail it out of the country, so lame!).

[Aries1985]

Right now we vacation once a year and plan very well in advance for it. We go to Michigan where my family has a house so lodging is free (but plane tickets are at least 500 a person) or we go to Illinois where DH has family and we can stay for free.

In the future, as we have more children, we're planning on buying a camper to tow behind our car. There's no way we'll be able to afford flying/food/hotels and we definitely want to travel. The camper seems like our best bet because we can stay for cheap at campgrounds/state parks and have the ability to make and store food.

[katheek77]

We're going to the NC coast this summer - at least the child and I are; we don't know if DH will be able to get off of work. My friend, her DH, and their son MAY be coming with us, we don't know yet...

$266 for a 2-bedroom or $280 for a 3-bedroom on Onslow Beach for the week (which we get depends on whether my friend comes or not). It has a fully equipped kitchen, and I can shop at the commissary for provisions (so, at cost prices). I actually used to live at Lejeune, and spent time on the beach, so, I can say it's a very nice beach...or it was 5 years ago, at least.

We went to DC last summer for about a grand for the week (over half was the hotel - we splurged, and it included free daily full Irish breakfast : so we generally skipped lunch and ate an earlyish dinner to save money), and to Amish Country the year before that (I was 6.5 mos preggo at the time).

We visit relatives for major holidays/DD's birthday, but the furthest one is only about 380miles away, and gas is our only cost, as we shack up with them.

I'm in the planning stages of DD's first international trip for next spring - I'm looking at Italy (I've been to England and Spain before, so, I want something new). Honestly, I'll probably wait for a good deal to pop up on travelzoo or something, and snatch a deal up then. I've used them before, as have a couple of my friends, and we haven't run into any snafus yet.

[SAHDS]

We love to vacation!

I grew up extremely poor and never had the opportunity to go anywhere on vacation. I always felt as though I was missing out on family time and seeing different places. Our poverty status was so limiting, as was my single mother's full, full-time schedule.

So, it is important for DH and I to take vacations as much as possible. I love the freedom of saying I want to go somewhere and having the chance to actually do it. It's refreshing and it makes the child in me smile

Last summer, we did Southern California. We went to the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix premiere in Hollywood, did Disneyland for 3 days, ate at Medieval Times, went to the San Diego Zoo, Sea World and spent a day at Huntington Beach just splashing in the water.

This summer, we're supposed to be going to Maui for 10 days, but because of the recent house sale/purchase, it may be toned down to a much shorter trip to the Oregon Coast. We'll see.

Next year is an 8-day Disney Cruise in the Caribbean.

We always end up spending a ton of money, even though I always do a lot of research and save quite a bit overall. DH takes a fully paid 3-4 weeks of a year, so it's fine for us.

We also like to take 2-3 day camping trips throughout the summer. That's always a ton of fun!

Our 10 year anniversary is coming up and I'd like to go to Italy, but I don't know if I'm comfortable being halfway across the world while DD and DS are home with family. It's SO far. I see some have travelled abroad, any thoughts? How did you handle it?

As for saving money, there have been so many posts with great advice, I don't have much to offer...

[madskye]

Yes, we do.

We go to the OBX every summer, with family. We rent a pretty big house for about $2000 for the week (total)and split the cost. Google rentals in Corolla, NC--right on the beach, cul de sac beach houses so the kids can go ride bikes or play on the street side of the house. Last summer, it cost about %500 for the week, plus we bought a bunch of food and beer and wine to share. I love the Outer Banks! We actually live at the beach in NJ, but to rent something here is crazy expensive, and this way we get the whole extended family together and it is soooo cheap. It's an eight hour drive though.

We're also going to Rincon, Puerto Rico with friends in a few weeks--also renting a house, also under $2000 for the three of us to go for a week, with sharing the rental costs with friends and their kids. Airfare was more expensive than the house rental. That is like a real, big vacation for us, not with our family! We're really excited about it.

I'm not sure about the Louisiana geography, but another cheap beach vacation is Myrble Beach, SC. I would also recommend renting something there over a hotel--check out VRBO.com for condos to rent.

[krisnic]

We absolutely vacation. Traveling is a priority to me, and I've pretty much seen everything in my state that I wanted to. In August we're going to San Francisco. In April of 09 we are going to Beijing and then in December of 10 we're going to London (to get married!).

[MamaMonica]

Our main vacation is always to see family since we live 2000+ miles away. It's cheapest if we drive and camp (or choose cheaper hotels. The cheapest hotel we got was across from a feedlot in South Dakota).

We also do family tent camping trips locally.

[mnnice]

We definitely vacation and since DH and I have been together we've done cheap vacations, spendy vacations, nature vactions, big city vacations, lots of camping, and a little backpacking.

It funny how family of orgin stuff comes into play with vacations. I like a previous poster wished as a child that we had more family vacations other than going 20 miles to the state fair. It always been a priority for us.

DH's parents had even less money to work with and always went on vacations, albiet very cheap ones. DH's brother and spouse never go on vacation (SIL took a week off work once and painted her house, eek I'd much rather go to work). DH's sister does take vacations, but a lot of her vacations are with friends and her DH and kids stay home

[Caneel]

vrbo.com is a good place to find deals, especially if you go off season.

An example - We rented a 3 br, 2bath condo on the beach in North Reddington Beach, FL (gulf coast) for $182 per night, including all taxes. (We took the in-laws) There was a pool and a full kitchen. Smaller units were much less expensive and I suspect places off the beach were under $100 per night. Hotels in the area were over $100 for a basic hotel room.

We don't have any hobbies that we spend money on, we vacation. It helps that both of the adults really like to do it.

[mightymoo]

We rent houses with my family (parents, brothers & wives). It's not super cheap, because we always rent a house ON the lake or ON hte beach, but I think it provides a great vacation for a reasonable price. Let's see - we rented a house on a lake in new hampshire last year, the entire rental cost $3200, split 4 ways, so our portion was $800, pretty reasonable for a family of 4 for a week on the lake with a hot tub.

A couple years ago we rented a place on the beach on cape cod for 10 days, that was more expensive, more like $1300 for us.

We generally rent 4 bedroom houses, with each couple taking a bedroom, we are the only ones with kids and the kids just sleep in our room so this works well for us. I find the houses through vrbo.com or cyberrentals.com and have been very happy so far, but I am also very distriminating, I don't assume anything, I want to see a picture of the beach, exactly how close the house is to it, etc. so I know I'm not renting something 4 blocks away just 'steps to the beach', etc.

[Knittin' in the Shade]

Originally Posted by Caneel

vrbo.com is a good place to find deals, especially if you go off season.

An example - We rented a 3 br, 2bath condo on the beach in North Reddington Beach, FL (gulf coast) for $182 per night, including all taxes. (We took the in-laws) There was a pool and a full kitchen. Smaller units were much less expensive and I suspect places off the beach were under $100 per night. Hotels in the area were over $100 for a basic hotel room.

We don't have any hobbies that we spend money on, we vacation. It helps that both of the adults really like to do it.

yES, vrbo.COM is great! That's where we found the home we rented in New Port Richey this year. A huge 3 BR house less than a mile from a private beach, on a canal with a dock and boat, hot tub and tons of amenities for $1100 for the week.