How much do you spend on vacation?

[jgenie]

It depends on whether DH is traveling with us or not. If he’s coming along, we’re well over $10,000. We generally do international travel with him and he’s a seasoned business traveler so wants luxurious accommodations wherever we are. If I’m traveling with just the kids we can travel for a lot less. The kids and I can travel the whole summer for considerably less than what we spend on one trip with DH.

[candaceb]

I agree with HA - I would not do Discovery Cover for ethical reasons.
However, if you have a rental car and you're willing to explore a bit there are some off-the-beaten track attractions like Gatorland and Weeki-watchee springs (sp?).

[AngB]

I agree with HA - I would not do Discovery Cover for ethical reasons.

I have seen Blackfish and knew SeaWorld is bad, etc. but what's the deal with Discovery Cove?

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have seen Blackfish and knew SeaWorld is bad, etc. but what's the deal with Discovery Cove?

Owned by Seaworld. Also, using dolphins for entertainment (swim with dolphins, hold onto a fin while swimming with them) is an issue.


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[WatchingThemGrow]

If you do Discovery Cove, include a day at Aquatica. We went a few times this year and loved it. In the winter, the water is heated and they have great water slides! There are 2 lazy rivers. It’s really a nice water park!

Also, the 2 water parks at Disney are fun (not heated) and you can go to BOTH parks with a one day ticket. There’s no shuttle between them anymore, so you’ll need a car.

I never total the amount, but try really hard to get deals. I guess for off-mountain lodging, flights with airline credits and BOGo ski rentals, and lift tickets, we will be spending $5-6k for a week of skiing at spring break.


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[ahisma]

It totally depends. We have 2 adults, 2 kids. We spent about $5K for a month long trip last summer (Nova Scotia and Maine). We're spending the same for a 10 day trip to Kauai this August. I'm spending about $700 for four days in Miami.

We watch for airfare deals, use airbnbs, camp, use credit card points, etc.

[mom2binsd]

For the last two years I have taken my two children to St. Pete Beach. It's the 3 of us. I drive the 17 hrs, we stay at an old school motel with a kitchenette for 100 a night for 5 nights. (it's a 90 second walk to the sand). Total for the week was about 1000 for gas, motel, food, a few souvenirs. We eat breakfast and lunch in the room, go out for dinner. We don't do amusement parks. A friend lives there and we hang with her borrow her kayaks, hang out if they are camping etc. We hang at the beach, the motel has a great pool, it backs onto a canal so DS csn fish whenever he wants. The other motel guests are so friendly, all are Canadian like me and we've gotten to know them, have hapoy hour etc. The motel would surely not meet most peoples requirements, but it's safe , clean, quiet, so I don't mind the 80s decor, tiny bathroom etc.

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[ahisma]

For the last two years I have taken my two children to St. Pete Beach. It's the 3 of us. I drive the 17 hrs, we stay at an old school motel with a kitchenette for 100 a night for 5 nights. (it's a 90 second walk to the sand). Total for the week was about 1000 for gas, motel, food, a few souvenirs. We eat breakfast and lunch in the room, go out for dinner. We don't do amusement parks. A friend lives there and we hang with her borrow her kayaks, hang out if they are camping etc. We hang at the beach, the motel has a great pool, it backs onto a canal so DS csn fish whenever he wants. The other motel guests are so friendly, all are Canadian like me and we've gotten to know them, have hapoy hour etc. The motel would surely not meet most peoples requirements, but it's safe , clean, quiet, so I don't mind the 80s decor, tiny bathroom etc.

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I'd love to know what motel this is - it sounds like exactly the type of place we love. We stayed in quite a few places like that in Canada last summer

[jgenie]

I'd love to know what motel this is - it sounds like exactly the type of place we love. We stayed in quite a few places like that in Canada last summer

Would you mind sharing your lodging in Maine and Nova Scotia?

[KpbS]

I'm planning a separate trip right now for this summer, which is what I was booking hotels for. DH's company is paying for his room during the conference. We would be using points for airfare.

We've done Disney twice, the kids have no interest in universal, and I'm not a big fan of venturing out on my own in big cities I have no knowledge of. DH will be in meetings all day for 3 days. The kids thought the kids' program that is available at the Marriott sounded fun, which is 2 hours a day. They have a lazy river that my kids could spend hours in as well. Maybe this isn't as good of an idea as it sounded. It's over spring break so we'd at least get out of the cold winter.

I think it sounds like a very fun trip!