SuperRob
DVC Members Since 2011
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2010
- Messages
- 1,211
I used to be the kind of person who didn't like hearing about all the fun places my friends and acquaintances were going. I was terrible about budgeting my money, sure, but I couldn't understand how people could afford to travel even once a year, much less more often. It always seemed like SO much money. I figured they were loaded, going broke doing it, or getting free trips somehow.
I've lived on the west coast most of my life, and yet, we never vacationed as a family anywhere other than Oregon. Once, we went to Vancouver (for Expo '86). That's it. Everything else was too expensive. We never went to Walt Disney World, much less Disneyland, despite the promises that we'd go some day. I think that carried over as an adult, and turned me into a deal finder. I wasn't willing to sacrifice quality for the things I wanted, but I could sure as heck find a good deal when I decided what I wanted. But I was still someone who didn't travel much, because of the idea that it was just too expensive.
Now that I have a DVC membership, I'm starting to figure it out. When you're not paying for part of your trip, suddenly, the parts you do have to pay for are more affordable. Maybe a $5000 vacation isn't feasible, but if you could make a $3000 vacation work, it's now a possibility.
Now I start to wonder how those other vacations I used to be envious of might have actually worked? Did they stay with a friend, saving on the hotel? Did they have frequent flier miles, so didn't have to pay for airfare? What part did they manage to eliminate from the budget to make the rest of the trip work? I think I used to look at the overall cost of their trip, as I imagined it would cost, and say that there was no way to do it. What I was really imagining was the value of the trip, not the cost. I had no idea if they really paid that much.
I think that's where we're making out like bandits with DVC. We're paying up front, yes, but relatively little. But when you can take a vacation later and not pay thousands for the accommodations, you really can afford to go more often. Sometimes, it means finding another place to save a bit of money, food, not going to the parks every day, but there's always a way to make it work. I just wish I'd gotten into DVC 12 years ago when I first had the opportunity, or five years ago when I had another chance. I feel like I missed out on a lot.
That all said, I've never been to Hawaii. Even being this close, hotels, food, airfare, it was all too expensive. Even with our DVC points, it was still a massive expense. But when the airfare became cheaper, we had options that we wouldn't have considered. So we booked the trip, bought the airfare, and now we'll have a wonderful time. But when we tell our friends, I start seeing some of that telltale jealousy, the old "we're happy for you" with an undercurrent of "you're wasting all your money" or "I could do that if I piled up the debt, too." (I admit, I feed into it when I tell them that we're not paying for the room, which has about a $425 rack rate.) I just told my sister that I'm going to make good on our father's old promise of taking us to Disneyland, by taking her next summer. When I told her she just needed to pay for the park tickets and her food, and we'd cover the room, she was so excited! When I told her the room would have cost about $1400, but we weren't paying for it, she was dumbfounded. I'm hoping to show her how to make it work, and maybe she'll end up a DVC Member.
I've seen others here who get that same reaction from friends, and more likely, family. I've decided that I'm going to do my best to try to educate early, rather than letting resentment and jealousy seethe. Anyone can do this. The investment, if you do it like we did, with a small number of points, isn't very much. And while it may only get you a few days here and there, you'll start to see opportunities that you didn't think you had. You just need to think about Cost vs. Value, other ways to save, and ways to sacrifice.
And hey, the referrals can't hurt.
I've lived on the west coast most of my life, and yet, we never vacationed as a family anywhere other than Oregon. Once, we went to Vancouver (for Expo '86). That's it. Everything else was too expensive. We never went to Walt Disney World, much less Disneyland, despite the promises that we'd go some day. I think that carried over as an adult, and turned me into a deal finder. I wasn't willing to sacrifice quality for the things I wanted, but I could sure as heck find a good deal when I decided what I wanted. But I was still someone who didn't travel much, because of the idea that it was just too expensive.
Now that I have a DVC membership, I'm starting to figure it out. When you're not paying for part of your trip, suddenly, the parts you do have to pay for are more affordable. Maybe a $5000 vacation isn't feasible, but if you could make a $3000 vacation work, it's now a possibility.
Now I start to wonder how those other vacations I used to be envious of might have actually worked? Did they stay with a friend, saving on the hotel? Did they have frequent flier miles, so didn't have to pay for airfare? What part did they manage to eliminate from the budget to make the rest of the trip work? I think I used to look at the overall cost of their trip, as I imagined it would cost, and say that there was no way to do it. What I was really imagining was the value of the trip, not the cost. I had no idea if they really paid that much.
I think that's where we're making out like bandits with DVC. We're paying up front, yes, but relatively little. But when you can take a vacation later and not pay thousands for the accommodations, you really can afford to go more often. Sometimes, it means finding another place to save a bit of money, food, not going to the parks every day, but there's always a way to make it work. I just wish I'd gotten into DVC 12 years ago when I first had the opportunity, or five years ago when I had another chance. I feel like I missed out on a lot.
That all said, I've never been to Hawaii. Even being this close, hotels, food, airfare, it was all too expensive. Even with our DVC points, it was still a massive expense. But when the airfare became cheaper, we had options that we wouldn't have considered. So we booked the trip, bought the airfare, and now we'll have a wonderful time. But when we tell our friends, I start seeing some of that telltale jealousy, the old "we're happy for you" with an undercurrent of "you're wasting all your money" or "I could do that if I piled up the debt, too." (I admit, I feed into it when I tell them that we're not paying for the room, which has about a $425 rack rate.) I just told my sister that I'm going to make good on our father's old promise of taking us to Disneyland, by taking her next summer. When I told her she just needed to pay for the park tickets and her food, and we'd cover the room, she was so excited! When I told her the room would have cost about $1400, but we weren't paying for it, she was dumbfounded. I'm hoping to show her how to make it work, and maybe she'll end up a DVC Member.
I've seen others here who get that same reaction from friends, and more likely, family. I've decided that I'm going to do my best to try to educate early, rather than letting resentment and jealousy seethe. Anyone can do this. The investment, if you do it like we did, with a small number of points, isn't very much. And while it may only get you a few days here and there, you'll start to see opportunities that you didn't think you had. You just need to think about Cost vs. Value, other ways to save, and ways to sacrifice.
And hey, the referrals can't hurt.
We are financially smart and work hard. I think I hang out on the DVC boards so much because I can relate to other Disers better than my own friends/family sometimes.
Orlando has been the only forecast I have been watching past Saturday!
). 
