Are you frugal on vacation?

[sparkysgirl]

or do you consider it the one time where you live like you normally wouldn't?

[tinapbeana]

um, vacation? what is this 'vacation' of which you speak?

heheheh! DH and i have never taken a full fledged vacation together. we do, however, take about 4 weekend getaways a year to places like asheville, atlanta, franklin, chattanooga, or myrtle beach. all within a 4 hour drive (LOVE where i live!).

these are typically 1 night in a hotel, sometimes 2 if we can drive up friday night. we take the opportunity to eat at local restaurants and have found some definite winners this way. we also play they 'what if we moved here' game, where we drive around and find pretty parks and neat houses. asheville especially has a lot of free entertainment b/c they have a a lot of street musicians.

sometimes our weekends are scheduled around a concert we want to go to (this year it was edwin mccain and bela fleck & the flecktones), or around something we are already commited to attending (like the family holiday gathering in chattanooga or the grand mason's lodge in myrtle). and on rare occasion, it's just a situation where we look at each other and decide 'let's get outta town!'.

i pull $300 in cash out of the atm, and that's what we have. if we come back with some leftover that's cool, if not it's ok. i've got the money budgeted for 'vacations'. or mini-vacations, i suppose.

now, when i was in argentina for work, i guess you could say i lived like i normally wouldn't. i took a cab to work and back every day, but it was only $1.50 each way. i ate steak and chateau briand in puff pastry and llama, drank wine and attended an international charity buffet, ordered room service every other day. with that said, i had a $30 a day food allowance for the trip and never once managed to eat all of it. i tried *grin*, but couldn't do it. as you might imagine, i would like to go back to argentina someday.

maybe an actual vacation!

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by tinapbeana

um, vacation? what is this 'vacation' of which you speak?

Heh, indeed! I keep hearing people talk about it... it must be nice. I would like do something like that someday though.

[MonkeyMama]

Yes and no.

We tend to be very frugal on hotels and flights (or more often just driving!). & we don't really do souvenirs (just pricey clutter if you ask me).

BUT since we don't eat out much it is a big splurge to dine out and if we are somewhere we will tend to see the sights and be a little less budget-minded as we splurge a little. We just went to Hawaii in the summer which was free flight and room, and had a condo we stocked with groceries. BUT we still splurged on eating out a bit more than usual and spent 100s on a luau and a sailboat ride, etc. WE definitely splurged, but that's about how we travel, get the CHEAP room and board and splurge a little on other stuff when we get there.

We do Vegas/DisneyLand a lot. Those are really frugal trips - particularly Vegas. (Disneyland because we can drive and stay at Motel 6 - LOL). Pay $50 for a flight and stay at the Hilton for $30/night if you time it right. We actually hotel hop because every night we can usually find a deal but we'll have to switch hotels is all - fine with us. I always laugh when people are jealous of a pricey weekend in Vegas -= puh-leez. It is the cheapest trip I have pulled of many times. Whole weekend may be $200 - most of it airfare. We've driven there too...

We went to DisneyWorld but we took a red eye flight and stayed with dh's grandparents - you get the point.

Living here we can go to So Cal, Monterey, Tahoe, Reno, etc. for a day trip or overnight trip and a nice drive so we tend to do stuff like that overall vs. big fancy vacations. Family has a cabin in the mountains so we can pull some of these off in a day and stay a night somewhere for free. Monterey we often make a day trip of and stay with the fam who lives further south. Avoid a hotel night if we can.

[disneysteve]

We vacation regularly, usually 2-3 weeks/year plus short trips also. And yes, we are frugal while traveling (even though vacations are non-frugal to begin with).

Things we do that are frugal:

We drive instead of fly whenever practical (including to Florida each year from NJ).

We rent private homes and condos instead of hotels in some locations. This is cheaper and gets us full kitchen facilities so...

We eat breakfast in our room every day and prepare some other meals as well. For example, in Vermont this summer, we cooked dinner in our rented house 3 of 7 nites.

Driving also allows us to pack things we couldn't if we flew, preventing us from having to buy them at our destination at tourist area prices. Things like beverages, snacks, breakfast food, etc.

We use digital photography, so no film or processing costs. We hardly ever print photos anymore. We view them on the computer and post them online for friends and family to see.

We carry snacks with us during the day which limits buying stuff.

When we do stay in hotels, we stick with the Marriott chain, maximizing our reward points. We also use a Marriott Visa card as our main credit card, further increasing points earned. About every other year, we have enough points for a free trip. Last year, we got 5 free days in San Francisco. Two years earlier, it was 5 nites in Boston. We're due for a "free" trip in 2007 but haven't picked a destination yet.

We take full advantage of the internet in researching and booking travel. There are so many great resources online to really cut travel spending.

[pearlieq]

Yes and no.

DH and I are frequent travelers. Usually 2 leisure trips and 2-3 "enhanced" business trips per year.

I research and make choices so I don't pay more than I have to for things like flights, hotels, and cruises and I make an effort to stick to brands that will offer me loyalty rewards. We try to expand DH's business trips whenever possible. I know a lot of tricks to keep costs down and all things being equal I will make an effort to choose the least expensive option.

Still, I prefer convenience and luxury when I travel. Vacationing to me is a pure luxury. I can do plenty of scrimping and going out of my way to save a few bucks at home for free. If I'm going to spend the money to travel, I'm going to do it in the most pleasant way possible (direct flights, good hotel, nice dinners out, great entertainment) or I'm going to stay home and save until I can.

Vacationing on the cheap never made sense to me personally, but I know many people who enjoy it and find it fulfilling. To each his own...

[crazyBMB]

We haven't taken a vacation (usually no more than 4 days) in years but, when we did we would splurge on some itens and keep tight on others. We always would take advantadge of Continental Breakfasts and such. We always eat breakfast at least once at a nice place.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Yes and no, we look around for good deals and expand business trips. We will eat cheaply for breakfast, look for hotels that include breakfast, eat lunch off a cart or cheap shop, because we prefer it. However do are we frugal? No way, we pay for nice dinners, and going to see any sights.

Vacationing is not cheap, it's an experience you may never repeat again. We do drive and pack our lunches for skiing, and do other cheap stuff for weekends. But vacationing to me is going for over a week and being unable to take food. Yes you can buy food there if you have a place to store it, is frugal and good. But a weekend trips is a mini-vacation and I'm more likely to be frugal.

DH's best man has travelled all over the world before 30. He's been safaring in Africa, mt kilamanjaro, turkey, backpacking pakistan, afghanistan, india, all over Europe, Singapore, Thailand, etc his answer is you can be frugal getting around...but vacationing to anywhere will still cost a pretty penny.

The only way to be frugal is not go!

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by crazyBMB

We always would take advantadge of Continental Breakfasts and such.

Absolutely. We always try to stay at a hotel that offers a free breakfast. It works out well because it is usually the cheaper chains that do this, so you get a double savings.

[PRICEPLUS]

Yes. We rent a place where we can cook our own food most nights. We do eat out two or three times though. We always look for quality at the lowest price. Who doesn't? We usually go for a week and it is quite nice.

The shore is nice and I stay in the shade and read books. The DW and rest of family is down on the beach. We walk the boards at night. I try to keep spendign on garbage to a minimum. It usually turns out okay!

[Ima saver]

We do splurge a little on vacations. Our dinners out usually are pretty costly. However, we always drive and we take our cooler with snacks in it. We take our dog with us, so lunches are fast food so the dog won't over heat!

[lrjohnson]

As others, yes and no. I try for very cheap flights. I go for lower priced lodging-but I don't do generic motels overseas...I have had incredible B&B's for $17 a night in Belgium, including breakfast, and we loved out room (it was four people in a two room suite including a bathroom). I like renting apartments to actually have a kitchen when I can, and I can do hostels sometimes, though I prefer unshared bathrooms. So I like cheap, but interesting.

I don't try to eat cheap on purpose....but I don't eat out all three meals by any means - grocery shopping in other countries is a blast. My best Bosnian meal was at this hole in the wall burek shop-maybe eighty cents for a snack/light lunch hunk of pastry with incredible meat stuffing. I like smaller more local places. But then I will treat myself-St. Johns in London cost me $70 and that's with no alcohol (but incredible duck and the best sorbet ever.)

I don't really souvenir shop-I'm not a shopper at anytime. I always buy a pair of undies in a country I visit-it started with the crazy Chinese annd Gypsy run market in Budapest. The Bosnian undies were 75 cents. I did buy a lot of christmas gifts; the $2.25 gorgeous copper hand colored earrings went over really well at work today!

I aim for cheaper places so I can spend without worrying about it. Oaxaca was incredible, same with Krakow, Budapest....I think I'll do China soon.

Once i'm on vacation, I tend to live pretty modestly as usual but I don't deny myself anything-I don't want any regrets about something I missed eating, doing, or seeing due to cost. We rented a car to see the Plitvice Lkaes...worth every penny.

[sarah]

I agree with lrjohnson about wanting no regrets. I was in Barcelona a few years ago and wanted to try roast piglet at a very well recommended restaurant and decided that I couldn't afford it. I've regretted it every since. I learned my lesson. If I am going to travel then I try and make a list of things that I absolutely want to do and then do them.
I will hostel, book with consolidators and be very cheap on the mechanics of travel but not on the experiences. On the other hand the worst vacation I ever had was a three week package trip to Russia with a very expensive tour company. Never Never again. That experience turned me into an independent traveler which is generally cheaper anyway.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by lrjohnson

Once i'm on vacation, I tend to live pretty modestly as usual but I don't deny myself anything-I don't want any regrets about something I missed eating, doing, or seeing due to cost.

Agreed. After all, the whole point of vacation, in my mind, is to see new places and have new life experiences. Otherwise, I could just stay home and save a lot of money.

[PrincessPerky]

I'll ditto the yes and no.

we take mostly family visiting 'vacations', those are generally VERY frugal, but we also now that we are out of debt, are planning on yearly vacations, last year was DC, while we wern't wasting cash left and right, we also brought bottled water..no mess filtering on the way out of the hotel, a splurge we felt worth it.

2007 we are not sure where to go, we are planning on a train (kids request) but not sure where to/from, ect.

[getforfree]

This september we had a week long vacation. First since we got married. We went to SanDiego. We went in September when hotel rates are already cheaper and the ocean is still warm. We stayed in Super8 hotel with free breakfast and microwave and a fridge in the room. Even the hotel was cheap, it was not bad, everything worked and was clean. And it had cable too, some luxury I normally can't afford. We would eat out for lunch only and have breakfast and dinner inside. The 99c store was almost next door, so we bought some groceries there. We went to the beach every day, took a few 2-3 hour cruises, went to the museums, walked in the downtown. The whole vacation including gas (500 miles one way) cost us about $500. That's even less than my dh got paid for his vacation.

[Harrison]

I love travel, so I will not frugal on vacation. For me, if I don't have enough money to spend on vacation, then I will stay at home and think the way to improve my money, haha

[kealina]

i'll ditto all the yes and nos... we are frugal with our plan fare and our accomodations but will splurge on food and experiences... of course, it helps that our only real vacation so far was to a country where our dollars really stretched... i'm not sure we would splurge so much under other circumstances... then it would probably be prioritized splurging... spending on what will make us happy and hopefully avoid regrets...

[Aleta]

I think that there are a lot of areas that you can be frugal so as to be able to spend on wanted things.

I live in South Florida. We also have a timeshare which we have always enjoyed. All of our sons and family live in Fla. Orlando has great resorts and we try at least every two years to get together. I map out the area and all of the surrounding grocery stores and points of interest. I do alot of preparation work before going there. I have a Food-Saver and prepare and freeze whole meals. It's a real time saver to have some food that is prepared so that all you have to do is to thaw and heat it up. We pack a cooler and take a lot of our food. Weeks before the vacation, I'm buying what is on sale that I know that we will need and I take it with me. Before arriving at the resort, we stop at a grocery store to pick up such things like OJ, eggs, lettuce, or whatever. Most times, our sons and family only have the 2 or 3 days with us. We try to pick a week that is a 3 day vacation so that they can maximize their time. By, buying and preparing food ahead, it gives us more time as a family. We always don't do Disney World stuff. As a family, there are a lot of great things to do as a family. You can save alot by planning ahead and buying in advance.

[DayByDay]

Our only vacations for the last 21 years have consisted of driving to stay with relatives or friends and, while visiting there, doing a little bit of sightseeing, dining out (but mostly being fed at their homes), and light shopping.

Recently we acquired a travel trailer in exchange for a small job DH did for a friend. We are looking forward to using it so we can vacation in other places without paying for hotels and a lot of dining out.