2,3,4 or 5 vacations a year, whats your secret??

[louise1928]

Although my husband and I are planning 3 trips this year, if we can squeeze in two, we will be happy, however, I noticed many of you take as many as 4 or 5 trips a year, with and without kids, whats your secret???

I know income plays a great factor, but even on with modest income, I know people who take many trips a year, if only for long weekends. Thats one of our goals this year. Our budget has been a little tight in the past few months, due to my husband returning to school part-time (tuition and books were out of pocket), but he will be completing the program in February, so we can start saving more. I do recall a few years ago, we were able to take 3 trips in one year. That was plenty for us, and money well spent. I have come up with a new idea for saving for our trips, hopefully for the three we are planning it will work.

I would love to hear your thoughts, tips, suggestions, etc.



Thanks

 

[damo]

Frequent flier miles really help. As do Entertainment and Annual pass discounts.

All of the money I earn from tutoring goes into a vacation fund. This makes me feel like I am contributing something as well as makes the family recognize that I don't just sit and play on the computer all day.

Man, have I got them fooled.

 

[AlexandNessa]

Mike and I stopped exchanging anything substantial for Christmas and Birthday presents 2 years ago and opted to spend that $ on vacations instead.

We always do our income taxes early too, and time our refunds to coincide with our bonuses which are in March. Since we never count on our tax returns or bonus $ to pay bills, we usually blow that $ on a vacation as well.

Did I mention that I also practically ignore home repairs?

 

[SpideyHulk24]

Discounts, saving, and more discounts!!!!

 

[tinaluis]

Priceline, Priceline, Priceline!!!! We usually get a room for anywhere from $18/nt. (2*) to $28/nt. (2.5*) and have not been disappointed with our accomodations yet. We also have APs for US/IOA and try to stretch our WDW PHPs out over 2-3 trips. We have friends who live in Orlando so we spend some time with them (read: have dinner over there quite often ). We usually drive down to Orlando from Chicago and spend about 2 weeks there. The average total for most of our trips including gas, an overnight stay while driving down and driving back (Priceline of course) and food, is about $700. Good luck to you in your planning and saving.

 

[BarryHom]

Travel cheap! Use Priceline, discounts, travel in the off season, etc. That way, you can stretch out your vacation budget so you can do more trips. Also, having a 4 hour drive from the parks help too.

 

[Seahag]

Going in the offseason
Using the Entertainment card & the Fan Club Card
Florida Resident discounts, AAA discounts, Annual Pass discounts..........& any other discounts I can get my hands on!!
Plus, we live close ( 3 hour drive) so we can get away for more 3 & 4 day weekends. This seems to work better than a week at a time ( for us anyway)

 

[Eeyore's Girl]

One of the things we do is purchase park hoppers with maybe 5 days (with an additional 2 pluses). We'll go to WDW for a few days and only use a portion of our days so that when we go the next time, we're a little ahead of the game where park tickets are concerned.

Since we like to go to WDW once a year, we don't require great accomodations. The only time we spend in the room is to sleep and shower.

Last year, considering we had our park tickets from the prior trip and a $40/night rate at Courtyard by Marriott, it was actually more affordable for us to go to WDW than to the beach.

AlexandNessa sounds a lot like us with stragedy in this area. This year, we have no park tickets to use and the house is falling down around us, so no WDW for me this year. But you can bet I'm working on next year's trip!

 

[MinniMama]

I frequent mousesavers each week when an amazing deal pops up we plan to go last minute. This trip we used travelocity for tickets 143 round trip and we got HIFS for 100 a night for 6 people. Plus we found the universal 5 day ticket price this year a great price! we like to stay onsite at WDW so we'll use a code and go for about 100 a night. We also use tax refund for trips. Grandma has been know to pay for trips she's an addict too. We also split park hoppers or if the codes good get lenght of stay mostly I do about anything but sell the kids to get the as often as possible!

 

[webray]

Definately the AP and resident discounts help. We also, don't exchange big gifts anymore..we prefer to set the money aside for travel...which we both enjoy, together!

We are able to travel last minute, pretty much whenever we want...so many, long weekend trips are excellent for us.

 

[pathubia]

Two jobs!!!

One for the bills, living expenses and stuff like that.

One just for the extras, my new car and trips!!

Patty

 

[ktglads]

With APs at Disney and Universal, the entertainment card and a variety of other discounts and stalking airline websites, it is easy to get savings on the trips. I use almost 100% of my tax refund for trips.

My only problem is getting more time off from work.

 

[robvia]

I also live 3.5 hours from Orlando, so I can drive up a few times a year.
Planning the trips months in advance helps. Get a calendar, your child's school calendar, and start thinking about the summer trips. Since you're in Pennsylvania, you can drive many places. You could do a Kennywood, Cedar Point, PKI trip. Then do a Hershey, Dorney trip another time, especially since Hershey has a new rocket coaster this year.
When you plan the trips months in advance and mark them on a calendar, you start saving, since you know a big trip is coming. $20 a week adds up. Take a white envelope, write Hershey on it, and start putting cash in it. The wife and I did this for our big ski trip, and it worked, she paid half.
I've already have the HRH booked for June 15/16, and now I'm about ready to book Hershey in July.

 

[louise1928]

I TOTALLY AGREE ABOUT THE TAX REFUND, I DEVOTE ABOUT 50% OF IT TO VACATIONS....THIS YEAR IT MAY BE ALL OF IT.

I also created a savings program, hopefully it will work. It actually does not look bad when I put it to paper. I am starting with our first trip this year to New York for Memorial day weekend. I am saving $27.00 per week until May. I treat it as a bill and write a check every week, and send it to the credit union.
I know there is a easier way to do it, but this way I am more committed.

 

[cujochurch]

Our credit union has a Vacation Club Account. They take the money out of our payroll check. The interest is actually 1% less then our regular savings, but this works for us. We never touch that account until we go on a trip. We don't miss the $20 a week, but we would sure spend it if it was in our wallet.