Vacation options

[Ava]

My birthday falls at the end of November.
I got vacation time approved from Nov. 23 to Dec. 3.
Once in a lifetime opportunity!

But prices are crazy due to Thanksgiving. Instead of feeling happy I'm stressed and undecided.
I cannot make up my mind.
The options below are what I'm considering. My mom will be coming along.

Option 1- Travel to Costa Rica. Dream vacation and original plan. Travel is a hassle; distance from airport, paying for parking, then having to drive in Costa Rica in order to move around. Way more money I was planning to spend. Already stressed over the perspective of driving in a foreign country and spending a crazy amount of money.

Option 2- A cruise from NYC. Total price for 11 days $1750. Includes everything except tours. Goes to the Caribbean

Option 3- Travel to country of birth and finally spend a birthday there. Cost of my ticket $820. Very long trip.

I am so undecided.
What say you? Any other options?

[sesfw]

This is me.

Option 1 .... because of the insane cost, that is a no-go.  Put on bucket list for 'some day' 

Option 2 .... I'm not interested in an ocean cruise .... mostly because of the crazy weather patterns and on board illnesses.

Option 3 .... would be my choice.  If there is still family there, no telling how much longer they would be on earth.  Don't know how old you were when you left but it would be fun to see the changes of the things you remember.

Doesn't matter where you go ...... memories last a life time and can't be taken away from you 

Enjoy, where ever you decide to go

[Happy prose]

I'm a huge fan of cruising, but you don't want to leave out of NY in Nov. too cold, and rough seas. I'm not sure where you're located, but can you leave out of Florida or Puerto Rico? One of the reasons I love cruising is it's easy travel. 

[Ryan]

Personally, I would try and push the vacation back a week and look at the same options. Anything tied to thanksgiving, Christmas, or spring break is expensive so I'd avoid it if I could.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Nov. 23 is Thanksgiving, so you are choosing to travel at one of the highest priced times.  What I would do is try to postpone things for about 10 days (so vacation Dec. 5-15).  The prices drop a LOT during this period.  Then price out Costa Rica during this period.  It is going to suck that you don't get those holidays to work with, but that is why there is a premium at that time.

I found this out when I was looking at going to Mexico.  I want to say that there was almost a 30% drop in prices during this time.  I scheduled in Feb, and chose to pay the premium for this trip, but kept those dates in mind.  The price of travel bumps up again on around Dec. 20th.

[Ava]

My birthday falls on the weekend after Thanksgiving. That's why we wanted to do it then.
Option 1 was my first choice but the cost is very high once you start adding extras such as airport parking, food, tours, etc. It's easily close to 3k. Besides that, the hassle of air travel nowadays is very discouraging. No direct flights from NYC, you have to go to Newark for that. Also  I find the idea of driving in a foreign country stressful. I priced it for the week after Thanksgiving and the price didn't go down. Maybe because I am so close to the date.

Option 2 I discussed with someone at work who did a cruise last month. She told me it was great and she had a lot of fun, but she wouldn't do it during November. The weather is not the best.

Option 3 I go to my country of birth every year. I'll go again for the holidays. It's just that never before did I have enough vacation time available and approved to be there for my birthday. The ticket price, $821, sounds like a great deal after pricing the other options.

The extra idea I had was to drive down to Charleston, SC, which I would like to visit, stay in a nice hotel for a couple of nights, and then take a 5 days cruise from there. It would be 1k for the cruise for mom and me.

[Ava]

Sept 16, 2017 10:56:17 GMT -5 Happy prose said:

I'm a huge fan of cruising, but you don't want to leave out of NY in Nov. too cold, and rough seas. I'm not sure where you're located, but can you leave out of Florida or Puerto Rico? One of the reasons I love cruising is it's easy travel. 

It won't be easy travel for me to have to go to PR or Florida for a cruise.
I'm in CT. Airfare adds a lot of time and expense to it. If I have to go to Florida for a cruise, I might as well just go to Costa Rica. Two tickets to Miami are easily close to 1k.

[simser]

What's your budget? A lot of times you can get cheaper flights on thanksgiving itself, and find a cheap vacation rental.

Also be flexible. Figure out a cheap way to get to the airport, maybe public transport or a friend, to save on airport parking. Or a cheaper parking place (fly and stay perhaps?). Driving in another country isn't terrible, I know you can do it! Maybe a homestay rather than hotel. Do you have any other options than these 3? Any other place you'd like to go?

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Sept 16, 2017 15:03:53 GMT -5 simser said:

What's your budget? A lot of times you can get cheaper flights on thanksgiving itself, and find a cheap vacation rental.

Also be flexible. Figure out a cheap way to get to the airport, maybe public transport or a friend, to save on airport parking. Or a cheaper parking place (fly and stay perhaps?). Driving in another country isn't terrible, I know you can do it! Maybe a homestay rather than hotel. Do you have any other options than these 3? Any other place you'd like to go?

This.  If you chip away at your costs, you might be surprised as to what your vacation costs.  It's sounding like this is going to be $3000 for 2 people in Costa Rica for 11 days.  Honestly, that does not sound bad.

For flights, be creative about which airport you fly out of.  Will driving 50-100 miles give you cheaper options for flights?  Better connections?  When I lived in Lexington, I had 3 airports within a 70 mile radius of where I lived.  I was also flying out to WA almost monthly.  I probably flew out of each airport equally over the years.  At any one time, there would be anywhere from a $100-400 price difference between the airports.  

Some airports have a 'stay and park' option.  You pay to stay overnight at the hotel, and can park for free during your trip.  I used this all the time for when I was gone from Lexington for more than 2 weeks when I flew out of Louisville.  In Seattle, it is cheaper for trips less than 1 week.  Have you looked at off site parking?  I could park in Cincinnati for $5/day and I had times where the shuttle followed me directly to parking to pick me up.  We also do a one way car rental from the town and drop.  A one way car rental and drop costs us $80, or about $160 RT.  A shuttle is $180 (and if your flight is delayed, you get to sit for 2 hours).  We have found a one way car rental is more cost effective for 2 people.  Car services, or even a cab can be alternative means of transport.  But in reality, these costs are less than 5% of a $3000 budget.

When we were in Hawaii, we stayed in condos.  This worked well because we could buy food for breakfast and lunch and only go out to dinner. 

For tours, be picky as to what you choose to do.  As you will have your own car, you can do your own tour with some research (we did Johannesburg this way) so only pay for events that are more difficult doing on your own.  Or don't rent a car and use public transportation to get from place to place.  Or rent a car in one place and it when you want to go someplace else (we did this in South Africa, when it turned out to be cheaper to fly from Durban to Cape Town).  You can always pick up a new one in the new location.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Flying out of NYC seems always to be extra pricey, and even more pricey during a holiday. Being flexible with the airport you leave from and on travel dates can save you a chunk of cash.

Knowing you're in CT, be sure to check airfares out of TF Green in Providence, Logan in Boston, Bradley in Hartford, Worcester, even Manchester Airport in southern New Hampshire. We find huge differences in prices between these (sometimes with no rhyme or reason). The savings on airfare might be enough to cover a hotel near the airport the night before your flight to reduce the stress.

Try a flight search engine like Kayak or AAA to compare flight costs from different airports.

Good luck!

[TheOtherMe]

I am flying on Thanksgiving Day because of the cost.

[Ava]

Yes, it looks like flying on Thanksgiving itself reduces the cost.
I have been considering Bradley for my travel. I will check the others GRG mentioned.
I found a couple of good deals in BookIt from Hartford to Cancun. I'm going to investigate further.

[Ava]

Looks like I got my hopes up for no reason.
Once you start looking in more details, the hotels with the reasonable prices are not near the beach. I don't want to wait for a bus from the middle of the city to get there.
I can't find a good deal

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Sept 17, 2017 8:43:27 GMT -5 Ava said:

Looks like I got my hopes up for no reason.
Once you start looking in more details, the hotels with the reasonable prices are not near the beach. I don't want to wait for a bus from the middle of the city to get there.
I can't find a good deal

Ava.....go into bookit and look at flying into Cancun and going to Playa del Carmen (RiveriaMaya) for your dates.  You want to scroll down and find The Reef Playacar.  10 days at an all inclusive is about $1300 pp, including flights out of .Hartford.  I think shuttle is another $70pp.  You pick the shuttle up outside the airport, and it'll make a couple stops at other hotels to drop you off.  It is about a 45-60 ride.  Shuttle to resort and back is seamless.

I've stayed here a couple times, it is right on a pretty nice stretch of beach and about a 15 min walk or a $5 cab ride into the town.  You can pick up tours from here, or you can veg by the pool or on the beach.  

It isn't fancy, but it is comfortable. 

[dee27]

Because of the hurricane damage, make sure you check with the hotels to see if they are open. I know DD and SIL received a notice of cancellation from the Caribbean island resort they booked for December. The resort had minimal damage, but other buildings on the island were totally demolished and transportation is sporadic because of damage to the roads and airport.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Sept 17, 2017 13:51:28 GMT -5 dee27 said:

Because of the hurricane damage, make sure you check with the hotels to see if they are open. I know DD and SIL received a notice of cancellation from the Caribbean island resort they booked for December. The resort had minimal damage, but other buildings on the island were totally demolished and transportation is sporadic because of damage to the roads and airport.

Yeah.....this is part of the reason why I have been dragging my feet about planning on where we go after FL in Jan.  My original thought was Turks and Caicos, but suspect they won't be back and running by then.  Belize and Costa Rica are on my radar now.

[justme]

Sept 17, 2017 14:10:22 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Sept 17, 2017 13:51:28 GMT -5 dee27 said:

Because of the hurricane damage, make sure you check with the hotels to see if they are open. I know DD and SIL received a notice of cancellation from the Caribbean island resort they booked for December. The resort had minimal damage, but other buildings on the island were totally demolished and transportation is sporadic because of damage to the roads and airport.

Yeah.....this is part of the reason why I have been dragging my feet about planning on where we go after FL in Jan.  My original thought was Turks and Caicos, but suspect they won't be back and running by then.  Belize and Costa Rica are on my radar now.

Heads up - the cruise ships are making their east itineraries west now. All those ports are going to be incredibly busy until the east is repaired or they can figure out a way to do the south in seven day cruises.

Royal and Norwegian had a large ship each week going to east and west. Now it's two 4000+ ships from ncl and three from royal plus all their smaller ships going west and hitting up cancun, Belize, Jamaica, cozumel, etc.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

The cruise I have my eye on is not in the Caribbean.  I want to do the one that you pick up in Chile and get dropped off in Brazil, going around the tip of South America.  However, that is a 16 day cruise, which with travel is almost a 3 week trip.  

[Ava]

Everything I look at seems incredibly expensive, time consuming and a hassle.

I found a trip to Costa Rica from Hartford at $1,363 for two people.
It includes hotel, airfare, and car rental.
I was about to book and then I realized the notion of driving in a foreign country terrifies me.
The cost of each day-tour, which they suggest when you are booking seem to hover above $100. Add food, gas, parking, etc.

The hours you have to travel are insane. The flight leaves Hartford at 6:40 pm, does one stop, and arrives at SJO at 2a.m. Then I would have to pick the car and drive in an unknown area. The hotel is about 90 minutes away. Go to bed near 4 am and spend the first day jet-lagged and groggy.

It all seems so expensive and unappealing to me. Maybe I'm just getting older.

[Deleted]

Can you use one resort as a base in Costa Rica and arrange transportation to and from there through the hotel?  That would eliminate the need for a rental car and for driving in a foreign country (that terrifies me, too).  From what you'd said in earlier posts, your mother isn't very active physically; she may want to relax around the resort while you do an excursion or two.  Most hotels are also HAPPY to help you book excursions.

Here's an example of resorts near San Jose.

www.tripadvisor.com/SmartDeals-g291982-Costa_Rica-Hotel-Deals.html

[Works4me]

Why not go to Florida and explore places you might want to live and work? It's not as exotic but IMHO it makes the most sense. I'm sure there are plenty of touristy things to do there and you will have plenty of time to rest, relax and read on the beach. 

[Ryan]

Sept 16, 2017 13:37:39 GMT -5 Ava said:

My birthday falls on the weekend after Thanksgiving. That's why we wanted to do it then.

I don't really understand why it's necessary to be on vacation ON your birthday, especially when you're clearly looking for cheaper ways to travel.  Delay it by 1.5-2.0 weeks and take the vacation you want.  

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Sept 18, 2017 9:32:30 GMT -5 Ryan said:

Sept 16, 2017 13:37:39 GMT -5 Ava said:

My birthday falls on the weekend after Thanksgiving. That's why we wanted to do it then.

I don't really understand why it's necessary to be on vacation ON your birthday, especially when you're clearly looking for cheaper ways to travel.  Delay it by 1.5-2.0 weeks and take the vacation you want.  

Actually, by traveling ON Thanksgiving day and returning 12/3, it is not as expensive as you'd think.  Most of this trip falls between the Thanksgiving/Christmas dead zone where prices are low.

[Phoenix84]

I don't know, I'd probably look into option 2, but leave from Florida or something.

I guess it's all priorities, personally I'm not a big fan of having my "vacation" just going to visit family. I don't mind doing that sometimes and usually do it over the holidays but I don't consider it "vacation" per se. To me, vacation is when you plan and travel and do things you want to do, and go to places you've never been. And flights to Florida are usually pretty cheap.  You're going to be taking your mom anyway so you're already going to have family with you.

And why are you so attached to traveling on your Birthday? Why not just push it back and say you got a late birthday present? Hell, I have done business trips on my birthday multiple times. I guess I'm just not that attached to the idea of I have to be off work on my birthday.

[Ava]

Update

I am not going to take a vacation as planned.
As I found out a few days ago I passed the two remaining parts of the CPA I am now turning all my attention to searching for a job ASAP.
So what I'm going to do is long weekends here and there and travel locally.