$2,000 per week per person per vacation

[Sugarcubesea]

I love living in the Midwest, where car travel is a wonderful option. I realize driving (and car camping) isn't for everyone, but until I'm unable to do so, I will continue to enjoy it.

I live in the Midwest as well and we have saved a lot on airfare by driving down to Florida each year

 

[rickandcindy23]

opps

Our kids got the cheaper seats on the flight we paid $5,000 RT to book. Their flights were $3,000 RT X 5 seats. Yes, the twins had lie-flat seats, but did Olivia sleep?? She did not, and she had a total meltdown when we arrived in Venice that morning. She was screaming so loudly for lack of sleep that a customs officer took us out of the long line to get her out of there ASAP.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I live in the Midwest as well and we have saved a lot on airfare by driving down to Florida each year

We love the drive to Orlando from Denver. So many nice places to stay once we get to Salina, KS. We basically stay on hotel points, so not expensive.

 

[WorldT]

@rickandcindy23 I always carry a foldable stroller for the little one. Saves your back and arm.

For the rest of the posting:
I cannot afford first class. I book cheap, preferably non-stop flight if available. It helps that I live near two major airports. Frontier, spirit, and sun country usually come through on affordable tickets. I pay for check in luggage. Sometimes may even grab something on southwest or united if they prices are better. Haven't really done much outside of North America since the family grew larger for now.
Google flights is first stop for flight searching. It helps that you can run a search for multiple locations, dates and multiple airlines. Then I review other airlines that do not show up on Google flights to see if they have better prices.

Prior to timesharing, it was hotels on work discount and Airbnb. Now timeshares come first and then anything else to fill the space if no timeshare is available.
Have never done a cruise yet. Will consider it when the kids are older.
I shop around for car rental. I already have a discounted rate through work but I always look around.

I try to stretch the income we have to maximize the family vacations. So far, I think we are doing great. I just need to stop looking at the sightings forum. Lots of great places showing up. Wishing I had more vacation weeks from work ....

 

[Sugarcubesea]

We love the drive to Orlando from Denver. So many nice places to stay once we get to Salina, KS. We basically stay on hotel points, so not expensive.

Yes, between saving on the airfare and the car rental, its a huge cost save. I have Hilton Honors and save money by using my points to book a 1 night hotel on the way down and back again on the way home

 

[TUGBrian]

admit im like many in here and have never itemized expenses on a vacation, but given that quoted "average" ill have to start for my next trip just out of curiosity!

 

[Luvtoride]

If you live in the middle of the Prairies (US too, but Canada is even worse) airfare to ANYWHERE makes that $2,000/week for your holiday sound pretty realistic, even fairly appealing. When you live in a location that is remote from a major airport, driving to your destination is generally not an option either. I often sigh when folks complain about their airfares (or travel time to the airport) because I'm thinking "you have no idea how good you have it!".

But there ARE some pretty terrific trade-offs for living in God's country, so no complaints here, just an observation.

How does one travel to Gods Country for vacation and how much might it costs? Sounds pretty nice.


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[Luvtoride]

I don't do much in the way of tracking my total out-of-pocket costs for vacations. I do however, monitor our utilization of timeshares and the costs associated with them.

I've been fortunate to be able to travel frugally and not really worry much about affordability. We are far from rich, but have been savers and planners, which makes it easier to afford to vacation comfortably. (As an aside, my hubby hasn't worked a "paying job" since we got married . . . mainly by choice/design, so we have been truly dependent on my job and income.)

With my impending retirement (less than a week from now), I had someone see it necessary to "lecture me" on my "lavish" travels and being able to afford such on social security. I simply laughed at them, and shared with them all of the great travel (including some pretty nice international destinations) I/we have been able to afford when I've been between employment gigs. In fact, over the past 30 years, I've been "between gigs" (aka "unemployed") roughly 40 months (the shortest was 3 months, longest 16 months) . . . and yet, I was still able to take 15 awesome vacations (all at least 1 week, and 1 was 2 months) without going into debt or withdrawing from our retirement savings.

It's unfortunate that people read articles such as that one in Travel & Leisure and then feel they can't afford to travel. That said, I also know that many people want to be pampered and do travel extravagantly . . . and $2,000/week may fall short as a fair estimate.

Von, congratulations on your retirement. I retired almost a year ago and we’ve stepped up our travel quite a bit since then (going on a trip just about every month, other than the summer).

“Lecture you” on extravagant travel spending??! Really? That reminds me of a “friend” who “commented” to other friends around town, after seeing a picture of us traveling somewhere (it was a feature where you sent in a photo, while away holding up that travel section of the local newspaper) and said “don’t the _____’s know there is a recession going on”?!
That comment quickly got back to us!

Good for you, Von! Keep traveling!


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[Luvtoride]

We just returned from a Mediterranean cruise of 11 days on Norwegian. It was only $6,000 for both of us. We had a club balcony suite. I thought it was a great price. Our son was trying to get us to upgrade to a Haven suite, and I had the chance to bid on several different ones. The minimum bid was $700 per person for a Haven. That was ridiculous to me. I saw no reason to do that. Our son mentioned my cheapness on bidding for a Haven suite so many times during our trip. Our son and his wife are in a completely different tax bracket from us.

Have you ever cruised in a Haven Suite on NCL? For a $700 bid it would have been Worth trying.


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[Luvtoride]

Reading that article I understand why so many young families rarely travel. Most I know are lucky if they drive over to Branson, MO for a long weekend.

Doug, that’s true and one of the reasons why we take our 2 grown daughters’ families away on vacation with us at least once a year. Having Timeshares makes it easier, more comfortable and affordable. We are currently in Orlando at Marriotts Harbour Lakes with one daughter, SIL and two of our grandchildren, ages 5 and 1.

I don’t even care to try to track the costs of 5 airfares, meals, groceries , attraction admissions, car rentals etc. the Memories we make for them and for us are priceless (sorry for the cliche).


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[T-Dot-Traveller]

We just returned from a Mediterranean cruise of 11 days on Norwegian. It was only $6,000 for both of us. We had a club balcony suite. I thought it was a great price. Our son was trying to get us to upgrade to a Haven suite, and I had the chance to bid on several different ones. The minimum bid was $700 per person for a Haven. That was ridiculous to me. I saw no reason to do that. Our son mentioned my cheapness on bidding for a Haven suite so many times during our trip. Our son and his wife are in a completely different tax bracket from us.

Tell him that your TUG friends use the term frugal - but your ok with him calling you cheap.......
LOL

 

[Timeshare Von]

I live in the Midwest as well and we have saved a lot on airfare by driving down to Florida each year

We're driving to Ft. Lauderdale/Pompano Beach for 10 nights timesharing in September!

 

[Barblich]

I think the whole premise is flawed. This was a story in Travel + Leisure. We all remember that Travel + Leisure owns Wyndham, right? $2000 a week per person sounds like the beginning of a timeshare salesperson's spiel. Some costs are fixed and depend on how many are traveling such as hotel/TS week fees & car rental. Others vary depending on location and vacation style. Fly versus drive, eat in or dine out, explore on your own or do guided tours, etc. We spend what works for us. Don't try to quantify your vacation, just enjoy it.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I think the whole premise is flawed. This was a story in Travel + Leisure. We all remember that Travel + Leisure owns Wyndham, right? $2000 a week per person sounds like the beginning of a timeshare salesperson's spiel. Some costs are fixed and depend on how many are traveling such as hotel/TS week fees & car rental. Others vary depending on location and vacation style. Fly versus drive, eat in or dine out, explore on your own or do guided tours, etc. We spend what works for us. Don't try to quantify your vacation, just enjoy it.

Good point.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Tell him that your TUG friends use the term frugal - but your ok with him calling you cheap.......
LOL

I think for our Alaska cruise in two years, we may look for an inside cabin. We were hardly in our cabin, except to sleep and wake up in the morning. We were in their room quite a bit to play with the grandkids, and of course the shore excursions.

 

[dioxide45]

I think the whole premise is flawed. This was a story in Travel + Leisure. We all remember that Travel + Leisure owns Wyndham, right?

Yes and no. Travel + Leisure does own Wyndham Destinations. However, if this was in the Travel + Leisure magazine that is still owned and published by Dotdash Meredith who has a license to continue to publish under the Travel + Leisure name. They are different companies.

 

[philemer]

$4000 per week per couple? Nah, too high. We spend 3 weeks in HI each year and our total is -$8000.

-3 weeks of MF ~$3000
-3 wks or car rental ~$2000
- r/t airfare, in coach, is abt $700 each, so $1400 (or $0 since we often use miles)
-food, gas, entertainment ~$500/wk so that's ~$1500

This adds up to abt $7900 for both of us. Divided by 3 wks=$2633 a week for both or $1366/wk each.

Very rough figures of course.

3 weeks in hotels would be a LOT higher however.

 

[rickandcindy23]

@WorldT We did have a stroller. Fantastic little backpack stroller, and Olivia mostly likes it. Xavier didn't want to ride much. The tour guide for the Acropolis made us leave the stroller in their office because most of the walk up would be tough to navigate with wheels. We did use it at The Vatican and everywhere else, including Pompeii and The Colosseum. They also brought a front carrier for the little ones, and that helped, but Rick's back and hips were hurting after wearing that for a day.

 

[rickandcindy23]

We do rarely eat out while on Maui or Kauai. There are just not enough restaurants that are reasonably priced, but we go to Maui for six weeks. Rick loves to cook, probably because we save so much money with him cooking. Our friend who stays on Maui at the same time also likes to cook. We are looking forward to spending another six weeks with them next year.

BBQ grills are such a great addition to timeshares, and I so wish that Disney resorts had some nice gas BBQ grills for our trip later this month. We will take advantage of Bonnet Creek's grills while we are there a few days.

Orlando does have so many restaurant choices with healthy options that we enjoy each year. Lots of chain restaurants, and I know people here think our restaurant choices are ordinary. I still love Smokey Bones, Ford's Garage, Outback, Carrabba's and Longhorn. There are others but I cannot think of them right now.

 

[dioxide45]

BBQ grills are such a great addition to timeshares, and I so wish that Disney resorts had some nice gas BBQ grills for our trip later this month.

Which DVC will you be going to. I found some at Copper Creek in the cabins section. I doubt anyone would stop someone from using them if they were in Boulder Ridge Villas. I haven't seen them at other resorts yet, but we haven't been to all of them yet.

 

[elaine]

I think for our Alaska cruise in two years, we may look for an inside cabin. We were hardly in our cabin, except to sleep and wake up in the morning. We were in their room quite a bit to play with the grandkids, and of course the shore excursions.

We booked Obstructed OV for Alaska next summer. OB OV sometimes not much more $ than Interior. Ours was $100/PP more than Inside. Online research often finds a view from the obstruction-which can vary greatly. Balconies are usually a lot more for Alaska.

 

[jp10558]

We do rarely eat out while on Maui or Kauai. There are just not enough restaurants that are reasonably priced, but we go to Maui for six weeks. Rick loves to cook, probably because we save so much money with him cooking. Our friend who stays on Maui at the same time also likes to cook. We are looking forward to spending another six weeks with them next year.

BBQ grills are such a great addition to timeshares, and I so wish that Disney resorts had some nice gas BBQ grills for our trip later this month. We will take advantage of Bonnet Creek's grills while we are there a few days.

Orlando does have so many restaurant choices with healthy options that we enjoy each year. Lots of chain restaurants, and I know people here think our restaurant choices are ordinary. I still love Smokey Bones, Ford's Garage, Outback, Carrabba's and Longhorn. There are others but I cannot think of them right now.

I'm going to force someone on one of my trips to go to a Golden Coral again. My mom doesn't like chains, but the problem with "random sort of local" is the quality can be all over the place. When I'm delighted 10% of the time and disappointed 50% of the time and 40% is == to chains, I tend to prefer nudging my eating towards chains where I know what I like. I don't like that things are that way, but it does seem to be reality for me.

 

[artringwald]

We usually spend 3 weeks in Hawaii each year at timeshares. I use Quicken so I can create a report to total the expenses including everything. For us, it's about $3000 per person per week. A big part of the expense is first class airfare from MN to HI. We're getting too old to take long coach flights. Of course, when we're away, we're not buying groceries, eating out, or buying gas in MN. The heating bill is lower while we're gone too.

 

[bnoble]

This was a story in Travel + Leisure. We all remember that Travel + Leisure owns Wyndham, right?

Timeshare is a very narrow slice of what T+L (as a publication) is all about. It's practically negligible.

 

[Arusso]

Cruising is not cheap.

Correct, cruising is not cheap, but it could be a good value. As in many things in life, it all depends. I have taken many cruises in every decade since the 1960s and never with the same cruise line twice. I've seen how the industry has changed. Back then there were three classes: first, cabin and tourist class. I remember the travel agent telling me that the cost of a seven day cruise in a first class stateroom mini suite in 1983 would be the equivalent of $10,000 pp in today's dollars. The experience and amenities were clearly predicated on cost. Airfare back then ( i.e. prior to deregulation), was also expensive so cruising was from a port distant from one's home was not cheap. When you correct for inflation, neither was the sailing. Cruising back then was not for the masses. That of course all changed with airfares coming down significantly. More cruise lines entered the market all wanting new business. Supply was greater than demand, so fares were very competitive. Airlines did the same for a while then began to decouple services that had been standard with the purchase of a ticket (food, baggage, seat assignment, etc). The cruise lines began to do the same. Cruising today can still be done for around $100.00/day pp if one is content with minimalist lodging accepting what is included in the booking cost and limiting the "extras' to wifi and [possibly specialty dining. This is not my cup of tea, but it's possible. Unless someone is used to running up a bar tab of $75.00/day pp the drink package can be passed on as well while á la carte is the way to go. From what I've seen, specialty dining is on par with shore-side restaurants. So, this cost would be similar to vacationing at a resort and dining out every night. Many ports of call can be explored for far less than what a cruise line charges. However, extreme care must be observed to only book with reputable, insured vendors. A little research here can save you big bucks. Carelessness can leave you stranded. Knowing the language, of course, helps. So, while the cost of cruising has increased, so too has the cost of resort vacations. The laws of supply and demand coupled with inflation cannot be negated. Vacationing, regardless of method or means, is now more expensive than at any time in the past.