Booking Summer Travel
May 25, 2010
I’m not big on summer or high season travel but this year’s trips have suddenly piled up as a California highway is wont to do on any given day. Not having the itineraries settled was annoying me at odd times. Completely inappropriately like, say, during meetings my brain chose not to attend. In keeping with my neuroses, I’ve started a joint expenses tracking spreadsheet to total up this year’s travel spending now that Partner in Crime and I are in the same area at the same time.
So we sat down with pencil and paper (seriously!), computers and calendars to map out the summer months.
Airfare is no joke, folks.
I’ve been juicing the value of some Southwest credits (just over $600) to pay for my travel to attend a graduation, the Comic-Con expeditions, and had a little left over for a solo trip that PiC is taking. I have no interest in traveling 3 weekends out of 5 in a month, so he’s on his own for that one. They actually stretched to pay for 7 one-way trips so that’s a big fat sigh of relief, but it most certainly did not cover the wedding in LA.
Road trip! And over the holiday weekend, that last. Pray for me!
With only $100+ in the travel fund, covering my share of the rental car, food, comics, and any other gifts from Con will be an interesting challenge. Though, let’s be honest, if I do well enough on the current savings challenge, I will share some of that bounty with … myself.
I’m also hoarding a couple other travel credits (a free round trip and some other airline credits) in case my hypothesized short vacation to see a host of relatives and friends on the East Coast this fall proves true. But that’s a whole other story. For now, I plan to be a complete homebody in the months of August and September.
What does this summer hold in store for you?
No solid summer travel plans here. May just be doing day trips and staycation.
A trip to NYC next month and that’s about it…I wanted to go to Hong Kong in July, but have to watch my vacation days. Boo!
Maybe a few trips up to the Bay Area 🙂
You’re going to the Comic Con? I’m so jealous! I haven’t been at all but this year am planning on attending the one here in NYC (I don’t think it’s as big as the one in California though).
Unfortunately, we can only travel during summer or spring break because the children are in school the other times of the year.
Good luck using those frequent flier points – black out dates are brutal!
I have a big trip to China in a couple of weeks. The rest of the summer will be spent camping on weekends and working on week days.
Have fun summer trips. Don’t let the finances ruin your vacations!
Since hubby is a teacher, we travel every summer. This June we’re taking another 5 day cruise to Progresso and Cozumel. This August we’re going to a Curling tournament in North Carolina. The cruise is costing $1550 plus tips, souvenirs, snorkeling expenses, and extras – so probably $2000-$2200 total. The Curling tournament will cost about $1100 total with airfare and the hotel.
I have a couple of short trips quasi planned – Brasil and Boston :). Nothing written in stone, yet.
Will mostly spend weekends sauntering around down town, on picnics and camping 🙂
Have fun on your adventures!
We like to get to warmer climes in the fall/winter when it’s cold, so summer is generally spent close to home. I have a weekend in Toronto planned (about 2 hr drive from my city) to go to a concert and opera with a good pal, an annual 4-day “camping adventure” with a ton of old friends at a provincial park about 4 hours away, and a cross-border shopping trip (about an hour away).
Ash permitting, we are heading to Italy. Otherwise, a ferry to Amsterdam and a train to Brussels…then maybe France or Germany. Bill just found out he will be redundant in October. He was planning on semi-retirement in 12 months anyhow, but I’m sort of freaking out just now about money. I’m sure we’ll be fine…I always go through this when there are financial changes going on.
I’m going to rent a cottage for 2 weeks so that I can take my mother out of the city and have fun just relaxing together. Right after that I’m flying to Iqaluit, Nunavut (Canada’s newest northern territory) where my daughter is doing a residency rotation and needs my help to take care of the kids. Then it’s off to Santa Fe for a week; this has become an annual trip to the opera … a great birthday present from my sweetie. That’s it for the summer. I am going to Nairobi in October to speak at an education conference and will add a few days in Zanzibar and a stop-off in Kosovo to visit the family I became close with when they were airlifted to Canada in the late 1990s. Travel is what I love so I’m trying to do as much as I can while I can. Thank goodness for airmiles.
I’m going to Italy for a few weeks to take a class there, but when I’m there I can’t really travel too much extra due to lack of funds. But I feel you on the airfare, my ticket was $1400!!! I almost fainted when I had to pay for that.
Comicon! Wish I could go…one of these years! 🙂
@Ciawy: Ahh, sounds relaxing!
@L.A.Daze: Let me know if you’re gonna be in the area! I’m watching vacation days carefully, too.
@Jersey Mom: Yes ma’am!! I may deprive myself in many ways but Comic Con has been my one splurge every year. When it was in driving distance, I didn’t spend much at all.
The Con in NY should really be worth your while, it’s got some great press/rave reviews. If I could afford a second (traveling) Con, that might be it.
@Jenna: So far, I’ve been pretty lucky but booking way far in advance makes a huge difference.
China! Have a great time!
And no worries, I fuss over my finances now so I don’t have to when I’m traveling.
@BFS: !! That sounds lovely!
@aspiringminimalist: where are you that Brazil is only a quasi-trip?
@psychsarah: You have a great variety of trips there. I think mine are primarily “life-change” trips: graduations, weddings, births.
@Shelley: I love Italy!! I hope you’ll still enjoy it despite the upcoming redundancy – I’m sorry to hear about that but glad it didn’t come at a worse time.
@SylviaB: Oh my, you are all over the place with your travels. And very good of you to spend time taking care of the kids in there as well.
@ashley: At least enjoy the wonderful food, even if you can’t get around too much!
@steven: It’s definitely a must-do, at least once!