Put on your imagination caps and bear with me for a bit.
I will not tell you how to visit every continent in one year with $20; however, I will share some of our (very basic) secrets for whetting our travel appetites without going broke.
funding: There is just not room in our regular budget to include a vacation fund (plus, the temptation to tap into it during tight times would be too great), so we rely on our tax refund. I know, I know, we're just letting the government borrow our money interest-free; but hear me out. We aim to get our deductions as close as possible to the point where we owe nothing and receive no refund - but we always err on the side of receiving a refund rather than owing. So basically, our tax refund is our vacation fund every year.
mindset: I have had this discussion with multiple people, which tells me it's somewhat of a hot topic (on the subject of vacations, anyway) - to have a "regular" place you visit, or go somewhere new every time? We choose the latter. If we had unlimited funds, and chose to spend some on vacations, we'd probably enjoy one of each every year. But since we don't - and even if we did, we wouldn't spend it on vacations when there are hurting people in the world - we have to make the choice. In 50 years, we want to have visited 50 new places...how cool would that be?! Occasionally one or both sets of parents will take a beach or lake trip, to which we are invited, and in that case, we do get to experience both types! (parent-funded, by the way) Otherwise, we stick to our one-new-place, and enjoy trips to visit one of our brothers and his wife who live on a lake about an hour away :)
lodging: the free-est way to go is to stay with friends or family (we did this when visiting San Antonio). The next cheapest/safest/most reliable is probably air bnb. We tried this for the first time when we went to Philadelphia recently and were very pleased. You could always go the cheap motel route, but considering that our trip to DC included a room beside some "ladies of the night", we are a little burned out on that option for awhile.
food: this is mine and Jake's favorite part of visiting a new place - trying out the local cuisine! We try to steer clear from chain restaurants if at all possible (unless it's a chain we don't have here in the southeast US). So how do we keep costs down? On our trip to DC, we discovered a little crepe shop, where we ate breakfast every day. We ate suppers closer to our motel, and boxed up leftovers if we had them. We ended up being able to skip purchasing one whole meal because we ate leftovers. In San Antonio, we stayed with my brother and his wife, so we ate home-cooked meals about half of the time. And were introduced to Rudy's which is how I gained back all the weight I had lost in previous months. In Philly, we took poptarts and fruit so we would only have to purchase two meals per day. Of course we had to have Jim's Philly cheesesteaks as one of said meals.
transportation: to DC, we took the Amtrak because we knew we didn't want to drive around once we got there, and it was going to cost to park at our motel. We loved the Amtrak, and we love public transportation. To San Antonio we drove (!), splitting the driving between the four of us who were drivers - my parents, Jake, and I. It wasn't bad at all. My brother and sister-in-law drove us around wherever we needed to go, and there were only a couple of times one of us "foreigners" had to drive somewhere. We lived. We drove to Philly as well, but used public transportation and our own feet to get us around (except for one night when we drove to see a Phillies game). My recommendation is, if it will add no more than 50% to the travel time, look into whether it would be cheaper/more convenient to take an Amtrak. Bonus: kids think it's cooler than riding in a car. I have yet to master the cheap flights finding skill, but since I personally get motion sick and nauseated VERY easily, I prefer to stay closer to the ground :) As far as getting around while you're there...only vacation in destinations where public transportation is reliable, or where everything is within walking distance. I don't want to get lost in a new city with only myself (or my guys :/ ) as tour guide. Kids also think subways are very cool.
sightseeing: choose a destination with many free options! DC is, of course, a prime example, but San Antonio was surprisingly good for this as well. Knowing we would be taking this trip early the next spring, the guys all ended up with tickets to a Spurs game for Christmas. Other than that, we walked the river walk, saw the Alamo, and semi-toured the joint bases where my brother works. We also took a day trip to Fredericksburg which I highly recommend! Loved it there. In Philly we only went to free things (except that Phillies game), and though we missed out on what I'm sure are excellent sights, we got to see the Liberty Bell, and walked around a giant library, and in general learned the layout and different sections of the city by sometimes accidentally walking 15 blocks and also sometimes accidentally riding the wrong bus or the right bus going the wrong direction. Baby also ran up the Rocky steps, and we took pictures with the Rocky and LOVE statues.
souvenirs: don't buy 'em. Take pictures, maybe buy a few postcards, but really, souvenirs are overrated. In Philly, we did buy baby a Rocky t-shirt, a couple of sizes too big, that he will be able to enjoy for years to come. And against my usual minimalist ways I purchased a LOVE magnet. But you know what? Our memories - especially those stories about getting lost and discovering parts of the town we probably shouldn't have ventured near (yes, this did happen in all cities) - will be with us forever.
budget: I'm finishing up back where we started to encourage you. Each of our trips have come in at under $1500 for anywhere from 5-11 days. They were actually closer to $1000 each. You can do this! Live a life of adventure :)
No comments:
Post a Comment