kymom99
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 24, 2008
I'll share some ways we saved and some budget busters from our vacation. Many of these points apply to any vacation and hopefully they can help others. We left home with $300 in cash and came home with some, but I used my credit card for almost everything. There were 3 of us, me, husband, and our 18 year old son.
Most of our trips go fairly smoothly. This one did not. In fact, when we heard the song Holiday Road from National Lampoon's Vacation, it seemed quite fitting.
Day 1:
We had an early flight (landing at 9:35) and my son bought a fancy coffee. My husband bought some airport candy and pork rinds ($14.16). I bought a bottle of diet coke. I hate spending money in airports but it was vacation so I didn't fuss. We also had a box of beef sticks and a variety of granola bars with us from home. And a banana. Husband and son got upgraded to comfort +. They also got precheck for security. I got neither. But on the upside, I ended up in a row with just one other passenger and an empty middle seat between us. So no complaints there. I'll also add they were on a separate reservation because I booked their tickets using miles and paid for my ticket. We also got free bags because I have a Delta Skymiles American express card.
We flew into Vegas and rented a car. We tipped the shuttle driver $5. I had planned to eat at El Pollo Loco. I signed up online and had a free entrée coming. My husband has food allergies and this place had plenty he could eat. And it's not expensive. After an early flight I knew we would be hungry and had a long drive ahead of us. However, Garmin let us down. She apparently knows nothing of El Pollo Loco, even though she had been recently updated. I was mildly stressed by the whole flying, finding the rental car place, juggling everything and I forgot I had noted the address of the best location on my itinerary. So we ended up at In N Out instead. Not a budget buster, so all was well. We spent about $21 for 3 of us. We drove immediately to Kingman, AZ and went to the little museum they have there. It was ok, not expensive, and a good way to stretch our legs for an hour. We were right on schedule.
As planned we went to Walmart in Kingman to stock up for the next few days of the trip. Picked up a Styrofoam cooler, ice, drinks, and some food. I spent a little over $66 and that included a couple toiletry items I needed. We were not going to have a microwave at GC, just a small fridge, so here are some things we bought:
milk, cereal, peanut butter, bagels, cream cheese, bananas, grapes, water, diet coke, mountain dew, pouches of budig beef and turkey, a tub of salami, cheese cubes, sliced cheese, buns, mustard, tortilla chips, hair gel, and hair spray. Also a pack of 4 plastic bowls and some plastic cutlery. I think that's it. This simple list served us pretty well although there were a few items I had suggested that my husband vetoed. More on that later.
We continued on to Seligman, which was listed as a must see on Route 66. Supposed to be the town that was the inspiration for Cars. We stopped briefly and got a snack at Delgadilla's Snow Cap. We had one shake, an order of chips and salsa, a taco, and one fountain drink. It was about $15. We walked around a little. It was okay.
We continued on to Williams and got some gas in the van. Then we headed into the grand canyon, south rim. Note that it takes an hour from Williams to the national park. It's quite a haul. We arrived in time to stop by the rim for our first view, at around 7 pm. It was breath taking.
We didn't eat another meal. It was pretty late for us, since we came from the eastern time zone. We hit the hay fairly early. It was a long day for us. We stayed at yavapai lodge inside the national park. I believe I paid about $200 per night and we stayed 3 nights. It costs a little bit more for rooms with AC, which we opted for. There are some rooms that don't have AC for something like $160 maybe. Yavapai lodge was a great location. I bought an annual pass for admission into the park. They currently cost $80.
Most of our trips go fairly smoothly. This one did not. In fact, when we heard the song Holiday Road from National Lampoon's Vacation, it seemed quite fitting.
Day 1:
We had an early flight (landing at 9:35) and my son bought a fancy coffee. My husband bought some airport candy and pork rinds ($14.16). I bought a bottle of diet coke. I hate spending money in airports but it was vacation so I didn't fuss. We also had a box of beef sticks and a variety of granola bars with us from home. And a banana. Husband and son got upgraded to comfort +. They also got precheck for security. I got neither. But on the upside, I ended up in a row with just one other passenger and an empty middle seat between us. So no complaints there. I'll also add they were on a separate reservation because I booked their tickets using miles and paid for my ticket. We also got free bags because I have a Delta Skymiles American express card.
We flew into Vegas and rented a car. We tipped the shuttle driver $5. I had planned to eat at El Pollo Loco. I signed up online and had a free entrée coming. My husband has food allergies and this place had plenty he could eat. And it's not expensive. After an early flight I knew we would be hungry and had a long drive ahead of us. However, Garmin let us down. She apparently knows nothing of El Pollo Loco, even though she had been recently updated. I was mildly stressed by the whole flying, finding the rental car place, juggling everything and I forgot I had noted the address of the best location on my itinerary. So we ended up at In N Out instead. Not a budget buster, so all was well. We spent about $21 for 3 of us. We drove immediately to Kingman, AZ and went to the little museum they have there. It was ok, not expensive, and a good way to stretch our legs for an hour. We were right on schedule.
As planned we went to Walmart in Kingman to stock up for the next few days of the trip. Picked up a Styrofoam cooler, ice, drinks, and some food. I spent a little over $66 and that included a couple toiletry items I needed. We were not going to have a microwave at GC, just a small fridge, so here are some things we bought:
milk, cereal, peanut butter, bagels, cream cheese, bananas, grapes, water, diet coke, mountain dew, pouches of budig beef and turkey, a tub of salami, cheese cubes, sliced cheese, buns, mustard, tortilla chips, hair gel, and hair spray. Also a pack of 4 plastic bowls and some plastic cutlery. I think that's it. This simple list served us pretty well although there were a few items I had suggested that my husband vetoed. More on that later.
We continued on to Seligman, which was listed as a must see on Route 66. Supposed to be the town that was the inspiration for Cars. We stopped briefly and got a snack at Delgadilla's Snow Cap. We had one shake, an order of chips and salsa, a taco, and one fountain drink. It was about $15. We walked around a little. It was okay.
We continued on to Williams and got some gas in the van. Then we headed into the grand canyon, south rim. Note that it takes an hour from Williams to the national park. It's quite a haul. We arrived in time to stop by the rim for our first view, at around 7 pm. It was breath taking.
We didn't eat another meal. It was pretty late for us, since we came from the eastern time zone. We hit the hay fairly early. It was a long day for us. We stayed at yavapai lodge inside the national park. I believe I paid about $200 per night and we stayed 3 nights. It costs a little bit more for rooms with AC, which we opted for. There are some rooms that don't have AC for something like $160 maybe. Yavapai lodge was a great location. I bought an annual pass for admission into the park. They currently cost $80.
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They also suggested I might have altitude sickness.
