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| Building sandcastles in the Bahamas |
“How do you manage to go on all these great vacations?” a
friend asked me recently.
Well, my second job as a porn star really helps with the
disposable income to travel with. And I really
only need one kidney…
Kidding, I’m kidding!
Actually, the HOW is a combination of planning and budgeting,
and you can do it too- no porno appearances or selling of organs necessary!
The first thing is to figure out what you want to do and
where you want to go – sort of a vacation/travel bucket list. I have a huge
range of things on my to-do list, a few examples:
Someday I want to visit the Grand Canyon
Someday I want to tour the wine regions of France and
Italy (without kids)
Someday I want to Snorkel/Scuba the Great Barrier Reef
Someday I want to visit Disney World (again)
Someday I want to go to Hawaii
Someday I want to explore the Galapagos Islands
Someday I want to stand at the spot of first flight at Kitty
Hawk, North Carolina
Someday I want to go on Baltic Sea Cruise
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| Sea Floor near the Great Barrier Reef |
Some of these are easier than others, of course, and some
are more of the short-term vacation goal variety – like Disney World because
the kids will probably not be as interested in going at 17 as they are now,
while others, like the Great Barrier Reef will be better to do when they are
bigger and stronger swimmers.
But ALL of them are do-able with some planning
and saving.
A while ago it hit me that my oldest son is nearly 9 years old.
Nine is a great age for going places, and it still seems so young, but in just 9 more short years, 9 will turn into 18 and Justin will be off to college! We're halfway there already, yikes!
You
may have heard the saying, the days are long, but the years are short?
So true!
So little time to make those memories together!
So my husband and I decided
that “someday” needed to get a lot more specific if we were going to be able to
actually do all of the things we wanted to with our two boys.
The only way to make the someday vacation happen is to save for it.
We’ve found that the easiest way to set aside money for vacation
is to do it automatically via a separate allocation into an earmarked account.
Vacation is manageable on even a tight budget, but it can't come at the expense of your financial well-being. Yes, this means your family needs to have a budget. I'm going to assume that you do and that you don't need me to tell you that you should have something set aside for a rainy day and long term expenses.
Just like saving for retirement and college, it is easier to do if it happens
automatically and I've noticed that we don’t miss the money if it isn’t in the regular checking
account to begin with. If we have a little extra or money back at tax time we
might stick it in the vacation fund too. A small raise? Divide it up three ways
– Retirement, College, Vacation.
Airfare can be a big expense associated with traveling,
so I look for a credit card with a good mileage program, like the AlaskaAirlines signature card. It isn’t as good as it used to be, but it still offers
discounted companion tickets and bonus miles. The Capital One Venture Card has
some good perks too.
You can use your card for your everyday purchases, like
groceries and gas, to get miles. Just be sure to pay it off every month because
(A) you don’t want to go into debt and
(B) you do want to have balance
available on your card for when you travel.
The way I look at it is I’m
spending the money at the grocery store anyway, so I might as well get miles
for it. But I don’t want to be paying for December’s groceries in July and if I
get dinged with a lot of interest charges then my groceries just got even more
expensive – I don’t want that either- my kids cost too much to feed as it
is!
Okay, debt = bad, credit cards = useful tool. Lecture over,
moving on…
Loyalty to a specific airline can be a good thing if you
want to travel a lot, so always enroll in their frequent flier program, you
kids can earn miles too, and many airlines have partnerships that provide
skymiles reciprocity between programs. So if you can’t fly Alaska Airlines,
maybe choose Delta or American since they participate in the mileage plan partnership. Best bet is to pick one airline and one “travel” credit card,
learn the ins and outs and always be on the lookout for ways to maximize your
miles. Flying for free is a great way to go!
The other key piece of traveling regularly to plan in
advance – like a year or more ahead, at least for the big trips, and there’s a
couple of reasons for this.
First, having a trip to plan helps to focus your savings
efforts, instead of just socking away some money for “a vacation” - I know that
I’m paying for visit to Disney World (Fall of 2013), an awesome trip to Europe
(Summer of 2014), and an Eastern Caribbean cruise (Winter 2015).
I’m less apt
to raid the vacation fund for, say, a new couch, if I know that I’m choosing
the couch over Disney World. Which brings me to my next point, saying “yes” to
traveling might mean saying “no” to something else, in other words, you have to
prioritize.
If funds are a bit tight for the Great Barrier Reef, maybe we’re
going to the Grand Canyon instead, but no matter what, we’re going to go
somewhere, even if it is camping close to home. But what we’re not going to do
is raid the retirement or college fund or go into debt for the experience.
Second, by booking your travel plans as far in advance as
possible you actually give yourself greater freedom and flexibility.
Usually
the earlier you make your reservations, the better the price is going to be-
this is especially true for cruises and European travel, however, if there is a
sale or deal that comes up, you may be able to get the lower price. But if
prices rise, you are insulated from any increase up until the final payment
date on your trip, anywhere between 30 and 90 days before departure.
(psst, your travel agent, can and should keep an eye on
sales and price decreases in your favor, as well as the fine print pertaining
to changes and cancellations, and it doesn’t cost you anything extra to book
your trip through a travel agent.)
We’ve swapped travel plans around plenty too, if one of
the more expensive bucket list vacations goes on sale it can be easy to change
as long as you’re not too close to your departure date.
(psst again – trip insurance
might be a good idea on a pricy vacation to protect your investment.)
Third, planning ahead allows you to put your vacation “on
layaway” after an initial deposit. This helps with the whole budgeting thing too.
For example, an ocean view stateroom on the Norwegian
Pearl sailing in January from Miami to the Eastern Caribbean, 4 people for 10
nights is $3,280.24.
At first glance this probably sounds like a lot of money but it
ends up being just $82 per person per day and that includes meals, lodging and
transportation to the British Virgin Islands, Antigua, St. Kitts, Martinique,
and the US Virgin Islands. AND if you split it out over 16 months, the cost ends
up being only $189 per month (assuming only a $250 deposit).
$189 is a lot easier to come up with than $3,000 all in a
big chunk, right? For comparison purposes, I searched for the January 2014
sailing to look for the cost difference, but it is completely booked up- not a
single stateroom available, even though it sails seven months from now. In
general, except for a few last minute deals, it is almost always cheaper to book
your cruise way far in advance and you’ll get the best selection of staterooms
too.
Resort packages and even park tickets work the same way.
Do you know that Disney traditionally raises ticket prices every June? When
would be a good time to buy tickets? Before JUNE, right? One more reason to
plan ahead. Also if you time it right you may be able to schedule your trip for
a shoulder season when crowds, and costs, are lower.
And finally, a little creativity in vacation planning can
go a long ways in controlling expenses as well as adding fun to your trip.
Public transportation, an out of the way cafe, maybe even renting a condo
instead of staying in a hotel, can all be ways to keep your costs down and lend
to a more authentic experience of your destination.
Don’t wait for someday to come along – budget it, book
it, go!
(And please, call me if you'd like help with your travel arrangements)