I made my husband, yes, made him, buy one of the cheap vacation packages while we were at the State Fair this past September. You know, the package where you have to sit through a 2 hour sales presentation for a time share or a resort membership.
The package was $139. We procrastinated knowing we really couldn't even afford that. Then the salesman knocked the price to $99. Yes, we jumped on that.
Our package includes 2 night at the Palace Hotel in Branson, Missouri. (I was just looking at our reservation and it says 3 nights?) It also includes 2-2 day passes to Silver Dollar City.
Why did I insist on buying it? I want to take what I will feel like is a REAL vacation for a change.
I know tons of people take advantage of these packages. In fact, there was at least 3 other booths at the fair for other resorts selling packages so you can easily do this yearly.
We will be renting a car too though. None of our vehicles are safe on the highway for that long of a trip. That will be another $150 to $200 added on to the cost of the trip.
We will have a full breakfast provided at the hotel and will have to have our own meals otherwise. We will pack up a lot of foods--sandwich supplies, fresh fruits and veggies, our own drinks, etc. I'm sure we will splurge though and eat out as well.
All in all I think we are looking at about $400-$450 total for our vacation. That's not too bad.
Our trip is scheduled for May 5-7. I'm really looking forward to it!
In the past the closest we've come to what I would call a real vacation was the year that I saved all my change, which then paid for a 3 night cabin rental at a nearby RV park. That was lots of fun too!
Otherwise, we have packed up some things and a mattress and camped out on the living room floor of my middle daughters house for a few nights. Activities in their town with them included going bowling and going to the water park. Otherwise it was watching movies with them and playing games on the wii. Don't get me wrong, that was an awesome time too.
One year we went for one night to Dodge City. We left my daughter (don't worry, she was 16 years old) at the motel while we went with our $42 to the casino to play the penny slots. The following day we made a day of it going to Boot Hill and then to the wax museum and the Teacher's Hall of Fame museum. On the road we stopped at another museum as well.
Another time we only did things right here in our own town---a visit to the county museum, a picnic in the park, a trip to the Cosmosphere, eating at a nice restaurant, a trip to the local zoo over the week.
Those vacations are also fun and a much time needed away from home.
What kind of "cheap" vacations do you take?
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