This is why we don't vacation much

[rh71]

Just got back from an 8-day trip to the left coast (SF -> Yosemite -> SJ (re-route from hurricane) -> LA/Anaheim) for 4 of us. And we spent $8k in total, even though I did deals (AAA, Groupon, etc.) and a lot of planning at every turn. I hear Bora Bora is about $6k which I balked at and that may be nicer.

The big expenses were obviously the round-trip flights for 4 ($2k), the 3 theme parks (between $300-$550 each park), Yosemite rafting at $500(!), the rental car at $903(!), and about 4 hotel nights that cost over $200 each night (parking was $30, resort fee, ridiculous taxes that add up, etc.). Eating out in total was $1300 and we never ate anything fancy except 1 sushi night with friends.

This is why in recent years (over 5), we only do local road trips across a handful of states. It's crazy to fly a family somewhere and do stuff. We got a lot of vitamin D, memories and pics, so I guess that's the bright side.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Lots of motels are $50 night or so and they don't charge extra for parking.

Theme parks are stupid.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah I could not justify that. If I had that kind of money lying around right now it would either go towards debt or towards my cabin build. That said, family trips when you still have young kids is good memories for them. I think back of when I was a kid, and still remember lot of those those trips. But now that I'm the one paying if I do go on a trip, I rather put that money towards things I can enjoy for longer.

 

[rh71]

Lots of motels are $50 night or so and they don't charge extra for parking.

Theme parks are stupid.

I had a couple $100/night in there too. Depends on the area. You want to limit the seedy motels because we've had our share of bug-ridden creepy places among our travel-sports weekends. If it were just me, I wouldn't care, but we want an actual enjoyable experience for vacation.

Theme parks are for the kids because there's only so much sightseeing they want to do in an 8-day span. We also hit Great America for $35/pp (groupon). Parking was $30, lockers were $25, and food for 4 in there came out to $70 and it didn't even fill us up. Shit adds up even when you want to save.

When was the last time you vaca'd with your family and what'd you do?

 

[lxskllr]

We got a lot of vitamin D, memories and pics, so I guess that's the bright side.

Don't forget the skin cancer!

Protip: Herring from the north Atlantic is a better source of Vitamin D than the sun.

 

[rh71]

Yeah I could not justify that. If I had that kind of money lying around right now it would either go towards debt or towards my cabin build. That said, family trips when you still have young kids is good memories for them. I think back of when I was a kid, and still remember lot of those those trips. But now that I'm the one paying if I do go on a trip, I rather put that money towards things I can enjoy for longer.

We hadn't vaca'd for real for so long that I wanted to do something with the boys before they head off to college in a few years. That said, I had maybe $4k in mind and I didn't add all the expenses up (and didn't want to). I even waited to the last minute to book certain non-refundable things in case we had an emergency and couldn't go. If I knew it would be $8k, I would've just done something else with them. I guess we just won't vaca for real again anytime soon. At least now they've seen the some of the other parts of the country worth seeing - we're always traveling to east coast spots already.

P.S. things to note about CA: 1) Teslas are friggin everywhere, you can't go 2 minutes without seeing one. Maybe the $5.30/gal gas prices did it. 2) The roads are all smooth and drivers are MUCH more chill/courteous than in NY. Also popping in and out of the HOV lane at will was a welcome experience. 3) Lots of French and British tourists.

 

[rh71]

Don't forget the skin cancer!

Protip: Herring from the north Atlantic is a better source of Vitamin D than the sun.

I'm going to refer you to the quote from Good Will Hunting about the Sistine Chapel.

 

[bbhaag]

Sounds like a fun trip. Your numbers are spot on. We did a 10 day trip to CA last summer and it was a little over 10K for all four of us.

 

[purbeast0]

Free flights is why I play the credit card game. It allows us to take many more vacations than we'd be able to if I didn't.

When we went to the Keys in June, it was cheaper to fly my family of 4 down there, rent a car, and get a hotel for a week, than it would have been to drive our own car 3 hours to the closest beach and rent a place for a week. And the beaches in MD ain't great lol.

I'm actually booking 4 flights to Belize today and it's going to be a total of $400 in taxes - about $100/person - thanks to points.

 

[BoomerD]

Lots of motels are $50 night or so and they don't charge extra for parking.

Theme parks are stupid.

I guess if you don't have any standards...$50 motels are fine...but nowadays, instead of the "nicer" amenities like breakfast, wifi, even exercise rooms and swimming pools, you get bed bugs and cockroaches in those cheap motels.

 

[quikah]

Theme parks are for the kids because there's only so much sightseeing they want to do in an 8-day span. We also hit Great America for $35/pp (groupon). Parking was $30, lockers were $25, and food for 4 in there came out to $70 and it didn't even fill us up. Shit adds up even when you want to save.

Oh man, I could have saved you a little bit, Great America is not worth it, even at that price (3 good roller coasters and you are done). Since you were going to LA anyway, Magic Mountain more than makes up for skipping it. There is a good ramen place across the street from GA near the entrance on Great America Parkway though (Hironori)...

 

[Muse]

Yeah I could not justify that. If I had that kind of money lying around right now it would either go towards debt or towards my cabin build. That said, family trips when you still have young kids is good memories for them. I think back of when I was a kid, and still remember lot of those those trips. But now that I'm the one paying if I do go on a trip, I rather put that money towards things I can enjoy for longer.

Our family did a few trips, not enough. Most were maybe a few days, maybe only a weekend in-state (southern California). Only one was truly memorable, a maybe 2 week jaunt through a handful of American national parks in the west. It did NOT include The Grand Canyon. Dad drove, we stayed at motels (except that a former co-worker of my Dad worked at a sprawling really old hotel in rural Montana, so we stayed there in Montana). Ate at OK roadside diners. I was 14. We should have done a lot of things like that, my dad had the money, but taking the time off from his career was difficult. The sights we saw were mainly from the car as I remember it. We must have gotten out of the car and seen some stuff, but we never hiked, which is too bad.

 

[Captante]

When was the last time you vaca'd with your family and what'd you do?

Whoa.....

 

[Dr. Detroit]

• Yosemite in peak tourist season - F that!
• DL, LL, Knotts, U-S & Magic Mtn in peak summer season - F That!
• And I don't think you can find a Motel 6 in this state for under $99/night.
• M3 , MY , & Prius are the 2nd, 3rd & 4th best selling cars in California. Keen observation!

Family memories will be priceless!

 

[brianmanahan]

vacations do get crazy expensive as the number of people increase

when i was 20 i'd only ever been on 2 vacations before

i started doing solo annual travel 10 years ago, but COVID has stopped me for 5 years

and now that i realize how much money it saves, i might go back to 1 vacation a decade again

 

[deadlyapp]

As a kid I can't recall ever doing any flying trips, probably for this exact reason. I actually thank my mom a lot for instead taking us camping, more local outdoor trips, etc rather than distracting us with more flashy vacations. As we got older we did a bit more, but usually kept it within a handful of driving hours and usually renting houses so we could cook rather than go out.

I suspect my growing family will try to do similar. We're planning a holiday flight to my parent's and if we didn't have points it would easily be $4k just to start.

 

[purbeast0]

Whatever vacations you all take, take as many as you can. The memories they make will make it all worth it in the end. My wife and I have been traveling since we first met and we ALWAYS get comments from people about it, especially the older people. They always tell use good job for doing that and they all wished they did it more when they were younger, etc. Obviously income makes the difference as far as what you can and can't do. But just "getting away" will make the memories especially if you have kids.

I grew up driving to a beach about 3 hours away in MD and went there annually, and sometimes we'd drive to NC to the outer banks. I still have those memories and I'm 42 now.

Now though my oldest kid has even said "it's not a vacation unless we fly" but kind of says it jokingly. One of his favorite vacations is our annual trip (almost annual) to NC where it's basically a family reunion for a week and we rent like 5 big ass houses with multiple families in them and we just hang out on the beach all week doing nothing. Nothing fancy at all and it's by far the cheapest trips we take but it's great. The kids will remember that when they are older. I remember doing those when I was a kid too.

But we also fly places with our kids and they will have those memories and so will we. As I mentioned before, I highly recommend getting into the credit card game, especially if you are married because you can basically double the bonuses. And since you can only get 5 rewards in 24 months (chase specific) you can basically double that with a spouse. It just saves so much money.

Let me ask you this - when is the last time you heard an old person say "man i wish I didn't travel so much when I was younger" or "Man I'm glad I bought all these tangible things instead of travling when I was younger." I'm guessing it's not often. But as I mentioned, I've had a lot of older folk, family included, say they wish they traveled as much as we did when they were younger and tell us to keep it up. Even when we had our first kid we kept it up and flew our first kid multiple times before he was 2. Now our 2nd kid just turned 3 and he'll go on his like 5th and 6th airplane ride before the year is up.

The memories you gather are priceless.

 

[rh71]

• Yosemite in peak tourist season - F that!
• DL, LL, Knotts, U-S & Magic Mtn in peak summer season - F That!
• And I don't think you can find a Motel 6 in this state for under $99/night.
• M3 , MY , & Prius are the 2nd, 3rd & 4th best selling cars in California. Keen observation!

Family memories will be priceless!

- I had been asking various forums about Yosemite in the summer and everyone said to stay away. In July, it was undoubtedly painful as far as the sheer number of tourists, but last week I think a lot of kids were back in school and so fewer families overall. We got to the lot at 730am and lots weren't even full until maybe 930am. We rented bikes ($30pp) which took us all through the valley and it was definitely the way to go, compared to the shuttles which did get really packed after noon.

- Disneyland was kind of a dud overall with long lines in the sun, or maybe my kids are too old for rides, but not many impressed them. Still, I look over DURING the rides and they have big smiles on their faces. We ran right into Space Mountain and Star Tours with no wait so that was a plus... like I said before - lots of planning. Universal had slightly better rides and we did the entire lower lot with all the top rides within an hour of opening which was great.

- We did Great America because we had to divert westward from Yosemite as the tropical storm was headed north from LA. So once again I asked forums (about Raging Waters) and they said Great America included a water park and I got tix for $35 so why not. We did no coasters and only the water park + Mass Effect ride (meh). It was a successful trip other than the added-on fees ($30 parking, $25 locker, $70 lunch which was ludicrous for 3 burgers and a vegetable dish).

- We did some $100 hotels like Hotel Zico which was traveler-rated an 8/10 and worth every dollar. Yosemite hotel was over $225/night (Mariposa Inn) - nothing fancy but did the job. Disneyland hotel was walking distance which avoided the $30 parking fee... that was also a great hotel but $440 for 2 nights.

- I was actually surprised at the lack of BMW/MB in CA compared to NY, which has fewer Teslas but more of those.

 

[rh71]

I guess if you don't have any standards...$50 motels are fine...but nowadays, instead of the "nicer" amenities like breakfast, wifi, even exercise rooms and swimming pools, you get bed bugs and cockroaches in those cheap motels.

Free breakfast at the hotel is big. Breakfast for 4 going out is at least $60. My search criteria is always free breakfast and at least an 8/10 guest rating and you can still find some hotels for like $100-$120.

 

[rh71]

Free flights is why I play the credit card game. It allows us to take many more vacations than we'd be able to if I didn't.

I have tried in the past and I am just not good at understanding all of it. I think there was 1 (Chase Sapphire?) I was seriously considering but it didn't seem to add up as well as you put it - not doubting you, but I just don't understand it completely. I feel like there needs to be a for-dummies YT video on this topic.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

- We did Great America because we had to divert westward from Yosemite as the tropical storm was headed north from LA. So once again I asked forums (about Raging Waters) and they said Great America included a water park and I got tix for $35 so why not. We did no coasters and only the water park + Mass Effect ride (meh). It was a successful trip other than the added-on fees ($30 parking, $25 locker, $70 lunch which was ludicrous for 3 burgers and a vegetable dish).

- I was actually surprised at the lack of BMW/MB in CA compared to NY, which has fewer Teslas but more of those.

You went to Great America and did not ride the iconic Demon ('76) or Grizzly ('86)! I would have suggested the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk & skipping G-A. Smart move on skipping Raging Waters.

All the cool kids moved on to EV's and Carvana exports the off lease BMW's to the east coast I suspect. I've yet to see a F150 Lightning on the road but see countless R1T's daily and Polestar's are starting to show up in mass as the Elon hate spreads.

Did you venture into Sequoia NP and see the Redwoods?

 

[BoomerD]

You went to Great America and did not ride the iconic Demon ('76) or Grizzly ('86)! I would have suggested the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk & skipping G-A. Smart move on skipping Raging Waters.

All the cool kids moved on to EV's and Carvana exports the off lease BMW's to the east coast I suspect. I've yet to see a F150 Lightning on the road but see countless R1T's daily and Polestar's are starting to show up in mass as the Elon hate spreads.

Did you venture into Sequoia NP and see the Redwoods?

The BIG trees in Sequoia/Kings Canyon are definitely worth the side trip...unfortunately, there's no easy way to get from Yosemite to Sequoia/Kings Canyon NPs. (as impressive as the giant sequoia trees in Yosemite are...the ones in Sequoia/Kings canyon are FCKN AWESOME!

 

[BoomerD]

Free breakfast at the hotel is big. Breakfast for 4 going out is at least $60. My search criteria is always free breakfast and at least an 8/10 guest rating and you can still find some hotels for like $100-$120.

That was kind of my point...even though MOST motel breakfasts aren't very good. And breakfast for 4 for $60? Only if you have toddlers...most places here...breakfast for 2 will run you $40 or more plus tip.

 

[I'dluv2]

Free flights is why I play the credit card game. It allows us to take many more vacations than we'd be able to if I didn't.

Years back had a close friend who we nick named "chicken boy" because he was a manager at a KFC. Nice guy, drove a nice car and the restaurant owner treated him nice. Would give us some free bird and stuff when we went in. Found out later that the owner would let him pay for all the supplies on his credit card and she would reimburse him for it every month. Which at the end of the year worked out to 6 tickets on AA anywhere in the USA.

 

[purbeast0]

I have tried in the past and I am just not good at understanding all of it. I think there was 1 (Chase Sapphire?) I was seriously considering but it didn't seem to add up as well as you put it - not doubting you, but I just don't understand it completely. I feel like there needs to be a for-dummies YT video on this topic.

It's nothing more than signing up to (mainly) Chase credit cards and getting the bonus points, then getting a new Chase card, getting the bonus points, etc.

It's always "spend $X amount in Y months to get Z bonus points" and those terms can vary just depending on the card.

The Southwest cards are what I get as often as possible because of their companion pass. Basically, if you get 125k points in one calendar year, then for the rest of that calendar year and the following year, someone can fly with you for free. And you can get 125k points in bonus points from opening 2 of their cards. So after that, you can book your own flight with points, and then get someone to fly for free with you. The only catch is you pay taxes on the flights, which can vary from $5.50 one way domestic, to $90 one way international.

So typically I will open a SW card around like January if I can, then get the bonus, then open another SW card after, and I'll have the points + companion pass for the rest of the year and the following.

The catch is you can only get these bonuses every 24 months, and can only get 5 Chase cards in 24 months as far as bonuses go. But for the SW cards, my wife and I basically take turns opening cards each year, so by the time it's my turn to open another SW card, it's nearly been 24 months.

I just booked 4 flights to Aruba this morning. I paid $360 total in taxes. I booked mine with points and my one son is my companion for the rest of this year, and then I booked my wifes with her points and our other son is her companion. Earlier this year we also went to the Keys and I paid $44 total doing the same thing. And we're going to Belize in November and it's going to be $400 in taxes. In July just my wife and I flew first class to Colombia for free with Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

The CUR points are good too because you can transfer them to some airlines and they transfer 1:1. United has great "saver" flights and sometimes "super saver" where they have really cheap flights with points. We had 150k bonus points in my wifes account and the first class round trip flights were 74k each, so we opted to use all her points for that. We transfered from Chase to United and got those flights. We've also flown to St. Thomas for like 21k points round trip per flight with one of those Super Saver deals.

All that said, you can see how much money it saves. We're now a family of 4 and flying to all those places would not be remotely possible without points. Just this year alone I mean I'm probably saving like over $10k. And I've been doing this since like 2010 when I first found out about SW points. Thankfully we live about 40 mins from 3 international airports and one is a SW hub and one is a United hub. I think the other is an American hub but we rarely fly out of there.

EDIT:

Literally yesterday I was booking our flights to Belize and ran into an issue. I booked mine and then my wifes, and I went to add my son as a companion but got an error. Then I tried adding my other on her account and it errored as well. SO I called them and it turns out we literally booked the last 2 seats on the 2nd leg, Houston to Belize, and there were no more available seats.

So I had to cancel the flights and we had to "settle" on going to Aruba instead. We wanted to take our kids to Belize since they haven't been there and they've been to Aruba, and we've been there a bunch already and Belize just once. But yeah, kind of a good "problem" to have I guess lol.

So just one thing to keep in mind if you are using companion pass. Make sure when you search, you search for your total passengers first just to make sure there are enough empty seats on the plane. I assumed there was because I saw the other 2 types of flights available when I booked it and that it meant there were more seats available. But nope.