You know what kills my vacation budget?

[bettymae1121]

All the "other stuff" related to traveling you need to spend money on. The trip itself (flights, hotel, meals, activities, etc.) seems to be the cheapest part of the total cost sometimes!

Any place I go, I need to either pay for parking or a town car to get me to O'Hare. Town car is at least $60 plus tip one way, parking in the economy lot is something like $105 for 7 days. So $105 to $150 depending on if I want the hassle of taking the tram from/to E lot.

Once I get to where I'm going, I need transportation to the hotel. With WDW that's not an issue due to ME, but other places (like DLR) that's going to run me upwards of $100 (for town car, less if I can do something like Super Shuttle).

Then, while I don't have a pet right now, we plan to get one soon so that's kennel fees of around $150 for a week, although sometimes I can have a friend house sit for us. That's not a given though.

Then there is that week before the trip, when you start to get all the stuff you need to pack collected. Oh my bathing suit doesn't fit, need to buy a new one. Don't have enough sunscreen, need to buy more. Can't find my hat to keep the sun off my face, need to get yet another one (and then find my stash of old hats a month after I return from the trip). Need new travel sized shampoo containers (DH trashed the last ones, or can't find them...probably stashed with my missing hats...), snacks for the plane, new sandles because my old ones are just about shot....on and on it goes until I drop what seems to amount to a car payment - for a very nice car - on just trying to get us out the door!

Then we actually get to the airport...DH insists on checking bags, $50 round-trip (I refuse to check more than one). Then DH wants water once we're through security. $5. I want coffee because I've been up since 3 AM trying to get last minute stuff done, $5 at Starbucks. I realized about half way to the airport I forgot my sunglasses. $20 at the sundries shop.

DH decides he's hungry. No he doesn't want the snacks I brought, no he doesn't want to wait to buy a snack box on the flight. So $35 at Chili's Too at O'Hare's B councorse (because DH also decides a beer or two at 10 AM will make it easier to sleep on the plane...). At least the uneaten snacks I have will keep DH out of the mini bar once we get the the hotel....

When people say their trip cost them $1200... I can never figure out how. I seem to spend that much before I even land at my destination!

So what are your "hidden" travel costs?

 

[teCh0010]

Resort fee's get me. Just put it in the price of the room so I can compare easier.

The place I'm staying in Maui is $25 a day for resort fee and $30 a day for parking. There goes $320 and another $320 to board the dog and we are already out $640 on a "free" trip (not counting the hundreds of thousands of hilton and delta points we used).

I'm sure we won't spend any other money in Maui....

 

[Lisaren]

Biggest thing for our family is bathing suits, making sure we have any might need non-perscription medication, sunscreen, sunglasses, sometimes new clothes.
I consider gas, food, parking, room, tickets part of the vacation spending and try to budget accordingly. It is those things you just pick up when you need them at home that you want to make sure you take so you don't have to take time to run out and get them on vacation.

 

[Jridou]

We pay a college student $250 / week to stay in our house and walk / feed the dog. On the bright side, we also pay her an additional $50 to drive us to and from the airport which saves us about $50 in parking (and is so much faster!)

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Kennel fees! We have three dogs and are taking three week-long trips this year that we can't take the dogs on. I like for them to stay at nicer places that have lots of activities and supervision and big, clean rooms to sleep in, but we could go on an entire (very nice) vacation for as much as we spend in boarding our dogs!

 

[smcabee]

Kennel fees! We have three dogs and are taking three week-long trips this year that we can't take the dogs on. I like for them to stay at nicer places that have lots of activities and supervision and big, clean rooms to sleep in, but we could go on an entire (very nice) vacation for as much as we spend in boarding our dogs!

Hah yeah.. Dw and I joked last year that our dogs payed more to stay for a week at their "Vacation Home" then we did for our week at Disney.

 

[pocomom]

Resort fee's get me. Just put it in the price of the room so I can compare easier.

The place I'm staying in Maui is $25 a day for resort fee and $30 a day for parking. There goes $320 and another $320 to board the dog and we are already out $640 on a "free" trip (not counting the hundreds of thousands of hilton and delta points we used).

I'm sure we won't spend any other money in Maui....

I hear you on boarding the dogs! We have three and a cat so we hire a sitter- over $500 last time! Our animals are rescues so dh likes to joke "you know how many free animals I can get for that? " Still we love em so we try to just take them with us whenever practical.
Op, when we plan a trip I start by taking out a bin and I start collecting things like the kid's sunglasses, swim goggles, sunblock - see what we already have we can use and then start couponing and looking for deals and spread the cost out over those first few months, makes it less noticeable... but there are always those "oh, yeah I have to pay for parking..." moments.
On this last trip my younger dd forgot to pack PANTS. We had the couple of pair we keep in our traveling bag, and luckily we were in my RV, and I keep a pair of shorts, pants and sweats for each kid on board so we made do with that and borrowing from her sister, but still, PANTS!

 

[mercydisney]

The week before vacation is my budget buster. For some crazy reason I always have to buy all new hair products, and anything else you need in the bathroom. Then my mom's voice comes into my head, "New underwear is essential when you go on vacation". Which purse will I take? AH heck, I will jut get a new one. What if my luggage gets lost? I need to pack an overnight bag just incase. That means a whole new outfit and swimsuit.

I make myself crazy. This happens every year.

 

[teCh0010]

I hear you on boarding the dogs! We have three and a cat so we hire a sitter- over $500 last time! Our animals are rescues so dh likes to joke "you know how many free animals I can get for that? " Still we love em so we try to just take them with us whenever practical.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure my parents just had the neighbor throw some food over the fence once a day and let the dog drink out of the pool like normal.

My dog stays at a dog day care with scheduled play groups, nap time, and a snack before bed.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Mine's not too bad.

We have the boarding for the cat, the cost of parking at the airport and the food we usually just buy at the airport.

Otherwise, we normally have all the clothes/shoes/sunscreen/ect. We wear what we normally own.
For Disney I did buy a new park bag a couple of years ago and I did buy my DD a new bathing suit this month but she was going to need that for going to the pool at the park this summer anyway so I don't count that as a vacation expense.

Living in Georgia, we have plenty of comfy summer clothes and sandals.

 

[grandmomhop]

Usually it is all the new essentials, like socks and underwear, tanning lotion, sunscreen, bug spray, batteries for the flashlights, oil change on the truck and then souvenirs for the multitude of grandkids.
The biggest "$ add" we had to a vacation was the pump not being marked right in GA, and DH put gas in a diesel truck. We both saw the "diesel here" sign, the handle was green, but at that station, the diesel handle was black. The tow truck driver @ the next exit where we were stranded at, knew exactly what had happened. We weren't the first people to do that obviously... So, $600. and 5 hrs. later we were back on the road.

 

[bumbershoot]

Buy a nice big bin and put your vacation stuff into it. Hats, swimsuits unless you swim at home, travel bottles, lanyards if you use them at WDW, etc etc. That way they have a place to go, and that's the place you'll find them.


I budget for food by day, $x per day. I include the travel days into it. So if we have a layover in O'Hare and I want a caprese panini from Brioche Doree, it's budgeted for because we're on a travel day. We're lucky for our home airport because seatac has "street pricing" at any restaurant or store that has a presence elsewhere; so our Starbucks costs us no more than it would cost outside the airport. That just leaves more money for our O'Hare layover sandwiches.


This trip probably cost us more for the extras than any other trip because I've lost so many sizes and needed new EVERYTHING, DS has gotten taller and bigger and needed new everything, and DH's weight loss caused him to need two sizes down in pants and one in shirts. Everything new!


Boarding issues is one of the things on the "con" list for getting a pet. Pets are expensive, almost no matter what, and boarding makes it even more so. DH and DS nearly got me to agree to a puppy just before our trip, but the trip caused that to come to a halt. You can't get a puppy and then board it a week later, that's just not nice. And since we seem to always have a trip planned....

 

[amylevan]

Usually it is all the new essentials, like socks and underwear, tanning lotion, sunscreen, bug spray, batteries for the flashlights, oil change on the truck and then souvenirs for the multitude of grandkids.
The biggest "$ add" we had to a vacation was the pump not being marked right in GA, and DH put gas in a diesel truck. We both saw the "diesel here" sign, the handle was green, but at that station, the diesel handle was black. The tow truck driver @ the next exit where we were stranded at, knew exactly what had happened. We weren't the first people to do that obviously... So, $600. and 5 hrs. later we were back on the road.

Ouch! But I have to ask...if it was marked "diesel here", can you go after the gas station? It seems like they should be responsible for that one.

 

[bettymae1121]

Buy a nice big bin and put your vacation stuff into it. Hats, swimsuits unless you swim at home, travel bottles, lanyards if you use them at WDW, etc etc. That way they have a place to go, and that's the place you'll find them.

Oh...I do. Then the bin gets moved a few times and I can't find it when I need it. Thus 5 different hats... You wouldn't think you could lose stuff in a 1300 sqft house but trust me...it CAN be done!

 

[DawnM]

Well, OP, you don't have my husband apparently. He is a CPA and would never, ever buy food if he had snacks with him, would never pay $5 for water and would cringe when I showed up with my $5 coffee.

We do drive, so we don't have to worry about all those little incidentals (at least to Disney).

 

[book_junkie]

Mine is always shoes... and not the fancy kind either! I am NOT a shoe gal at all (I live and work in New Balance) but I always need either new supports or new shoes before I go on a Disney trip or a conference trip. I don't know if it's timing or what! It may be because I started buying my walking shoes right before a trip and now that's when they need replaced, but man, they can add up quick!

 

[Minnesota!]

Honestly - nothing!

Well, there is the breakfast we get at the airport before flying out - about $20. But that's it.

No pets, friends to drive us/pick us up.

 

[windycitymom]

All the "other stuff" related to traveling you need to spend money on. The trip itself (flights, hotel, meals, activities, etc.) seems to be the cheapest part of the total cost sometimes!

Any place I go, I need to either pay for parking or a town car to get me to O'Hare. Town car is at least $60 plus tip one way, parking in the economy lot is something like $105 for 7 days. So $105 to $150 depending on if I want the hassle of taking the tram from/to E lot.

Once I get to where I'm going, I need transportation to the hotel. With WDW that's not an issue due to ME, but other places (like DLR) that's going to run me upwards of $100 (for town car, less if I can do something like Super Shuttle).

Then, while I don't have a pet right now, we plan to get one soon so that's kennel fees of around $150 for a week, although sometimes I can have a friend house sit for us. That's not a given though.

Then there is that week before the trip, when you start to get all the stuff you need to pack collected. Oh my bathing suit doesn't fit, need to buy a new one. Don't have enough sunscreen, need to buy more. Can't find my hat to keep the sun off my face, need to get yet another one (and then find my stash of old hats a month after I return from the trip). Need new travel sized shampoo containers (DH trashed the last ones, or can't find them...probably stashed with my missing hats...), snacks for the plane, new sandles because my old ones are just about shot....on and on it goes until I drop what seems to amount to a car payment - for a very nice car - on just trying to get us out the door!

Then we actually get to the airport...DH insists on checking bags, $50 round-trip (I refuse to check more than one). Then DH wants water once we're through security. $5. I want coffee because I've been up since 3 AM trying to get last minute stuff done, $5 at Starbucks. I realized about half way to the airport I forgot my sunglasses. $20 at the sundries shop.

DH decides he's hungry. No he doesn't want the snacks I brought, no he doesn't want to wait to buy a snack box on the flight. So $35 at Chili's Too at O'Hare's B councorse (because DH also decides a beer or two at 10 AM will make it easier to sleep on the plane...). At least the uneaten snacks I have will keep DH out of the mini bar once we get the the hotel....

When people say their trip cost them $1200... I can never figure out how. I seem to spend that much before I even land at my destination!

So what are your "hidden" travel costs?

LOL, Funny but true! I'm leaving Saturday for WDW. You forgot to include the manicure/pedicure! Oh, and I just had to get a new Nikon 1 camera (because I don't want to carry my big DSLR with me). I also got new walking sandals with built in orthotics (because of a recent foot injury), and a few new summer shirts on sale. I would get a haircut but I ran out of time. I picked up a back-up pair of sunglasses too, plus a new bathing suit.

 

[mieuxmew]

Oh...I do. Then the bin gets moved a few times and I can't find it when I need it. Thus 5 different hats... You wouldn't think you could lose stuff in a 1300 sqft house but trust me...it CAN be done!

I feel your pain! Every trip seems to get worse. We stay in a 2 bed/2 bath condo and travel with 2 small kids. I start with the bin 2 months in advance - gather laundry soap, flip flops, toiletries, sharp kitchen knife, salt/pepper, bandaids, sunscreen, etc, etc, etc. We go to Orlando 1-2 times per year. I am really considering an Owners Locker this trip so I can just leave all those little things behind and they will be ready and waiting for us the next trip. Costs $75 upfront then $100 per year. Besides saving time, I am hoping it will keep the pre-trip spending on misc stuff to a minimum.

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

I find with 5 kids, there always seems to be something forgotten or "needed" that wasn't packed or we couldn't find it. No matter how organized I try to be, when you have a large home and a family of 7, things just get lost.