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So we're back from vacation and back into the swing of everyday life. It wasn't as hard of a transition as I thought it would be. I'm pretty much caught up at work, and my boss is back so I'm having to work less hours, which is great. Before I get back into my normal money talk, I want to share some things I learned on vacation.
1. Set a Budget and Stick to It - This should be so simple right? It's like the number one principle of financial success. And I'm normally very good at it, except when it comes to vacation. Our initial budget goal was $1200, which was not realistic to begin with. A more realistic goal would have been $1500, which we might have stuck to had it not been for The Tiger Preserve. All told we spent around $2,000, which wasn't a disaster because we had the money to spend, but it was still not a smart money decision.
2. If you're going on a road trip buy a GPS - We bought a GPS before our trip, and it was a life saver. There's no way I would want to deal with trying to read a map or use mapquest directions on a trip such as ours. It was great just to put in the address and press Go. We paid $120 for our GPS and it worked great, they've become very affordable. Plus, it saved us from stressing and arguing with each other, an added bonus.
3. If we want to see the ocean, we'll go on a cruise - Our vacation for our first 2 years of marriage was a Caribbean cruise. We really enjoyed the cruising experience, but we thought we would try something different this year, that would save us money. We know now that it didn't save us any money, and we'd much rather been in the Caribbean than Myrtle Beach. Not to mention the perk of a cruise being all-inclusive. You didn't have to worry about finding something to do, and what it was going to cost you.
4 - 10 More things I learned - Don't go to Myrtle Beach in May and expect to enjoy the ocean. Expect the unexpected. It rained on us everyday except one. Savannah is a beautiful city, and eating there can be very expensive. The sound of the road sings my wife to sleep, luckily I had the GPS to keep me company on those 4 hour drives. Apparently it can be too windy to look for dolphins. This is what Dolphin Magic told us in Savannah. The world's largest aquarium, only seems slightly larger than all other aquariums, and when you factor in the crowd, it seemed very small.
And last but most importantly, I learned that I don't want to be frugal on vacation. I save year round for one week of fun, I don't want that fun to be limited by a small budget. When I'm on vacation, I want to do things that are memorable, even if they do cost more. Tiger Preserve was memorable, Myrtle Beach was not. Savannah was memorable, Georgia Aquarium was not.
When the vacation is over, all you have left are the memories. So why not do something you're going to remember. What does everyone else think?
1. Set a Budget and Stick to It - This should be so simple right? It's like the number one principle of financial success. And I'm normally very good at it, except when it comes to vacation. Our initial budget goal was $1200, which was not realistic to begin with. A more realistic goal would have been $1500, which we might have stuck to had it not been for The Tiger Preserve. All told we spent around $2,000, which wasn't a disaster because we had the money to spend, but it was still not a smart money decision.
2. If you're going on a road trip buy a GPS - We bought a GPS before our trip, and it was a life saver. There's no way I would want to deal with trying to read a map or use mapquest directions on a trip such as ours. It was great just to put in the address and press Go. We paid $120 for our GPS and it worked great, they've become very affordable. Plus, it saved us from stressing and arguing with each other, an added bonus.
3. If we want to see the ocean, we'll go on a cruise - Our vacation for our first 2 years of marriage was a Caribbean cruise. We really enjoyed the cruising experience, but we thought we would try something different this year, that would save us money. We know now that it didn't save us any money, and we'd much rather been in the Caribbean than Myrtle Beach. Not to mention the perk of a cruise being all-inclusive. You didn't have to worry about finding something to do, and what it was going to cost you.
4 - 10 More things I learned - Don't go to Myrtle Beach in May and expect to enjoy the ocean. Expect the unexpected. It rained on us everyday except one. Savannah is a beautiful city, and eating there can be very expensive. The sound of the road sings my wife to sleep, luckily I had the GPS to keep me company on those 4 hour drives. Apparently it can be too windy to look for dolphins. This is what Dolphin Magic told us in Savannah. The world's largest aquarium, only seems slightly larger than all other aquariums, and when you factor in the crowd, it seemed very small.
And last but most importantly, I learned that I don't want to be frugal on vacation. I save year round for one week of fun, I don't want that fun to be limited by a small budget. When I'm on vacation, I want to do things that are memorable, even if they do cost more. Tiger Preserve was memorable, Myrtle Beach was not. Savannah was memorable, Georgia Aquarium was not.
When the vacation is over, all you have left are the memories. So why not do something you're going to remember. What does everyone else think?
1 comments:
Could you recommend a GPS? I've been browsing around for one but there are just so many choices...
I'm doing on a trip to South America soon and wonder if a GPS would work anywhere on the continent.
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