A Tale of Two “Potential” Vacations

Last week, Susan and I took the kids on a family vacation to Amelia Island, FL for spring break. The kids work hard in school so it’s nice to be able to take them some place fun when they get time off. While a trip like this can be emotionally and physically welcoming, without a little preparation, it can be financially draining. Here is how we made this trip a memorable experience without breaking the bank.

Choosing a destination and method of travel

When we began planning for this vacation, we originally thought of taking the kids on a cruise or to one of the Caribbean islands, but as we began researching these options, we quickly realized that the cost of flying six people anywhere was more than we could afford so we knew our options would be limited to places we could reach by car. We were looking for someplace warm and sandy, and since we already live in the southeast, we could find such a place within a day’s drive.

Depending on your budget and the patience of your passengers, determine how far you can go. For example, if you can afford $100 for gas, that translates to about 25 gallons (give or take), and if your car gets 18 mpg, your total trip would need to stay within 450 miles. That’s about 200 miles each way plus another 50 miles of “getting around” once you’re there. Pull out a map and draw a circle around your home representing the approximate limit to where you can travel given your constraints. Websites like travelmath.com can help you estimate the distance, time, and cost of traveling by vehicle.

Depending on where you go, you may have to travel through different states, and one thing we quickly learned was how much gas prices can fluctuate between them. If you plan your trip right, you might be able to save money just be filling up in the right places. Gasbuddy.com offers a trip planner that maps out the best gas prices along your route and makes suggestions for places to fill up along the way.

Flying six people roundtrip    =        $1,800

Driving 1,000 miles roundtrip    =    –    $180

Savings    =        $1,620

Accommodations and food

Once we found a place to go, the next thing was finding a place to stay. One thing you learn when planning a trip for six is that most hotels only allow up to four or five people in a room, which means you either book two rooms a night or a suite. In addition, since you are in a hotel room, you’ll have to plan on eating out for most meals, which only adds to the cost. For this reason, we chose to rent a condominium for the week. Not only did it fit the six of us comfortably, but because it came with a kitchen, we were able to save money by preparing our own meals. For the week, we probably spent $200 in groceries. That included eggs and cereal for breakfast, lunch meat and bread for sandwiches on the beach for lunch, and all kinds of options (hotdogs, hamburgers, tacos, short ribs, spaghetti, etc.) for dinner. Even if the hotel comes with a free breakfast, the average family of six will pay $20 plus for lunch and at least double that for dinner. Regardless of your meal preferences, mint.com has ideas on how to save money on food while traveling.

Two rooms or a suite for a week (plus eating out)    =        $1,470

Renting a condo with a kitchen and buying food    =   –  $1,200

Savings    =            $270

Activities and shopping

Depending on where you go, there may be a number of things to do once you get there. For example, Amelia Island offers fishing, golfing, hiking, biking, camping, and miles of beautiful beaches. While I truly believe our family could have spent every hour of every day on the beach, dad needed an occasional break.

There were plenty of places to ride bikes and therefore plenty of surf shops that would rent them, but while renting a bike for the day was not that expensive ($14 a day), unless you rented them for the week ($65 a week), you would lose the ability to go on a spontaneous ride—one of which led to the discovery of the Egans Creek Greenway and an encounter with an eight-foot alligator. Also, most places only rented bikes in adult sizes, so as part of our cargo we included a bike rack with room for four kids’ bikes (the condo came with two adult bikes, another reason for renting a condo).

Our kids love to fish, and for $350 we could charter a boat for the day, or for a fraction of the cost we could fish off of the Fort Clinch fishing pier. I chose to charter a boat because I don’t have any experience fishing saltwater off the Florida coast, and I wanted to share the experience with my whole family. Also, it fit within our vacation budget. That said, it doesn’t cost anything, other than a $6 park entrance fee, to fish off the pier. Fishing from the pier may not be the same as fishing on the open ocean, but at least no one would get seasick.

No family vacation would be complete without shopping for souvenirs. Like any good beach town, there were beach shops that had everything from t-shirts (3 for $8.50 each) to hermit crabs (free with the purchase of a hermit crab enclosure). However, there were a number of national retailers further inland that offered similar items for less. While they may not carry the ashtray or shot glass that says “Amelia Island” on it, you probably won’t walk out the door with a new hermit crab enclosure.

Renting bikes, chartering a boat, and shopping at the beach shop    =            $840

Hauling bikes, fishing from the pier, and shopping at a large retailer    =         –  $85

Savings    =            $755

In total, a trip like this could have cost upwards of $4,000 on the high end or as little as $1,500 on the low end. It all depends on where you live, where you want to go, and what you want to do.

High estimated cost (flight, hotel, eating out, rent bikes, charter boat, beach shop)  =        $4,110

Low estimated cost (driving, condo, cooking, bring bikes, fish pier, large retailer)    =    – $1,465

Potential savings    =        $2,645

There were other costs associated with this trip, including the sixteen hours of driving, the time needed to clean the mess the kids made inside the car, and the wash the car needed on the outside.

In the end, the true test of a successful vacation is not how much or how little you spend, but rather in the memories it creates, so don’t forget the camera.

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