I'm curious...

[brasi]

I'm a single dad, and the "one" thing I absolutely selfishly do (without regret) for myself is Negril (Jamaica). I'm lucky enough to have a job where getting time off is fairly easy with advanced planning, but having LOTS of time saved up has been hard since my divorce/having full custody five years ago. Kids' doctors, sports games, etc etc eat up a lot of time.

Then there is the cost...which I think most boardie regulars know is a VERY hard number to pin down. You can get a great 9-day vacation some years for $1000, AI....it all depends on what you want...but for me, AI is mwah. I want to be free to roam and when I've gone AI, I ended hovering around the food trough. LOL I've found I can spend less, and eat better, with more variety on my own. Eating patties for lunch a few times is a HUGE savings. A hotel with free continental breakfast is what I love...saves $10 a day, or three GREAT dinners on a ten day trip. Neither of the options is suffering!

For my next trip (January) I have done things decidedly different. It's going to cost more in some ways and less in others. By flying out of an airport in the NY City area, I saved a few hundred bucks. But that adds a three hour commute on each end. I also booked my own hotel (and got a deal, but took the savings and added two days, LOL). So I am staying for my longest reach, 11 days...no doubt splurging a bit versus the past...you only live once.

In the past, I've done my booking using the 'one click' Travelocity air/hotel packages. Longest stay was 10 days.

To me, 9-10 days is the minimum now...I don't seem to relax, and enjoy everything, until Day 3...I have been for as few as 6 days but felt like it was all travel and getting settled. So...after I book my flight I get stingy with taking time off. (:

From now on, I hope to always KNOW when my next trip is, by booking a flight very soon after I come back. The planning is a huge part of the fun.

In January, I am splitting my stay 5 cliffs/6 beach. Absolutely excited! Trip 6.

Beachgirl! Soon come!

[Rumrunner]

I would love to go more than once a year but we have a house and huge garden that needs tending during the summer months. And then there are our two daughters who've decided to move to opposite sides of the Midwest. Our oldest lives in Virginia, close to Washington DC and our youngest lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. We have 3 grandchildren so we try to see them all at least once a year. This year we decided to stay home for Christmas because traveling in the past has been nothing short of a nightmare. Cancelled flights, lost luggage, stuck on the interstate in a blizzard, you name it. (If the kids want to come here they are more than welcome ) And then there is my family in Germany. The next visit there is planned for the fall of 2012.

My husband retired at the end of last May and we honestly didn't know how things would be on a fixed income. But we are doing quite well and booked 14 days at Seastar for March 2012. Last week we sat around talking about the next trip and said: what were we thinking? We are retired and don't have to come back after 14 days. So I contacted Christ to find out if we could extend our trip and he said our room was available until the end of March. So now we're staying for 18 days and I could not be happier.