What are you spending on vacation next year..

I'll be doing my first solo WDW trip next September! I rented points last month for a DVC studio at the Boardwalk Villas! I also purchased my park tickets already so the only thing I still need to book is airfare and I'll be keeping an eye out for deals on Southwest.

I'm also going with a friend to Philadelphia for a few days in March. Hotel and airfare is already booked and paid for. We'll take in the flower show and maybe visit Longwood Gardens.

Other than that, I visit my family every July 4th week. Still need to get airfare for that and unfortunately flying to see them is always more expensive since they live in a more rural area with a podunk airport that is over 4 hours away from the state's only major airport.

It's nice to have most of next year's travel already paid for though!!
 
I've got 3 planned so far.

May we are going to Las Vegas for our 15 year anniversary. Hotel is free thanks to DIL's timeshare. Flights are free thanks to SW RR points. Budgeting $1500 for food and entertainment.

July we are going on a cruise with my family. 5 days on a RCCL out of Galveston. $2,400. Planning on another $1,000 for shore excursions and extras.

October is a 5 night trip to WDW to attend the MNSSHP. DVC points for the Poly, $1700, Flights are free thanks to more points. Budgeting $1000 for food, $1200 for tickets.

So all together, around $9000. Gosh that's a lot now that I put it all together......
 
Nothing too exciting for us next year. Trying to keep costs down, go places close to home. But I'm still really excited for all these trips!!:yay:

1. February: Short weekend to Universal Hollywood- About $2000 for 3-4 nights for 5 adults. Hotel, food and tickets for 3, DD and boyfriend pay for own tickets, food
2. March: Dh and I go to Las Vegas in March for basketball tournament- already booked timeshare, $800 total for 4 nights total for food, gas and tickets. Don't gamble.
3. July: San Diego possibly in Summer- 4 nights $800 Stay 2 nights with my parents in their travel trailer, 2 nights in Temecula
4. October: Disneyland quick weekend in October $1000 3 nights, 2 day non hoppers(2 adults and our kids who are considered 2 adults + dd's boyfriend) Dd and boyfriend pay for their own tickets

We drive to Vegas and California. Try to stay in in-laws timeshare = free for us. Just need gas, food and tickets to Universal, basketball tournament and DL)
We always have $400-$600 in Disney Reward dollars
If we can't get timeshare add $700-$800 for hotel.

We used to have a big trip once a year (cruise, hawaii, NYC etc) plus a couple of smaller trips but our lives have gotten really expensive so we like to travel a few times a year and keep the trips shorter and cheaper and nearby. Got 1 in college and 1 will start next year.

This has already changed so much! Updated 2018 trips
1.February- No trip to Universal. We will tack on an extra day to our newly planned DL May trip to visit Universal. Much cheaper than doing two trips to LA area. We might go on a day trip to the Aquarium in Phoenix though in February.
2. March- Dh and I will still go the Las Vegas for basketball tournament. Just tickets, gas an food $1000
3. May- DL and Universal over Memorial Weekend with kids. Sat-Wed. Staying in timeshare, driving. $800
4. July- Still going to try and do San Diego. 4 nights, 2 nights with my parents, 2 nights just dh and I and then we'll head home. $600 for 2 nights hotel, food and gas
5. October- not sure but we have been invited to go to San Diego with some friends. Or maybe camping.
 
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2 trips - 1 planned, 1 not...planned budget for all yearly travel is $8K for 6, but $1K of that is saved for trips home to my mom, so I'm planning $7K - I do best value vacations, or as I say "best bang for my buck":)...

1st trip - Pittsburgh (grandparent visit)/Niagara Falls CA/Columbus, OH (Game Convention) - 10 days/9 nights...
Hotel - we are staying at an Embassy Suites at all 3 locations - we used points for 1/2 the cost, so we are paying $660 total, but even full cost would only be $1320, since we are doing Sun-Wed in Canada (and the difference in June cost between weekends and weekdays was monumental:))...
Gas/Parking/Tolls - $400 (this is way too high, but it's buffer)
Game Con Badges/Tickets - $250
Canada Attractions Passes (the 4 attraction ones) - $300ish (we'll see next year)
Canada Dinner Theater - $200ish (we'll see next year)
Canada Extra (Souvies, Groupons, etc) - $200
Groceries (picked up in Pburgh for Canada and Columbus for CON) - $125 (light lunches in case breakfast is too light, snacks, drinks)
Dinners for 7 nights (grandparents have 1st dinner bought, dinner theater will be 2nd dinner bought) - 1/2 fast food/1/2 casual sit down - $500 (no alcohol, since we'll have it at the hotel each night)
Ohio Extra (Souvies, Random) - $100
Total Budget OOP - $2735 - rounding to $2750

So, I'm trying to plan a week long trip elsewhere, and I've got a little over $4K...and I'm waffling on where else we should go and when we should go...there are lots of ideas floating here, but nothing I've pulled the trigger on...

Bumping this b/c I've started putting money to items:)...

I found a coupon code that was useable with BO adult GO kid free tickets for the Oh Canada Eh! dinner show, so I jumped on tickets today (before the Canadian dollar gets any stronger or the discounted seats sell out...which has already happened for a different show I was thinking about). I got 3 adult and 3 kid seats with dinner and show for $150 American (all taxes/fees included - that's my CC's pending charge for the conversion). Tip will be $30 Canadian, which should be $25 US, so I'm at $175 for the event, under my plans - no worries, I'm sure I'll find something to spend that money on elsewhere:)...
 
5 kid free nights in Bali or New Zealand at this stage, our 10th anniversary. If we can get a good deal on flights to somewhere else within a good flight time for a short trip we might change but time and cost are the main factors. Looking at $2k all up.

We had 2 big trips this year and a big one in 2019 to save for, if it weren't for our anniversary we wouldn't be going anywhere!

Ours changed a lot too :D

Now off to the US again for 9 nights while the kids stay with Grandma. Which makes the US SOOOOOOOOO much cheaper, two airfares, only need hotel rooms for 2, half the food (although will make that $$ up by eating fancier I guess), flights and accommodation is looking at $3k, including internal flights. Still need to get park hoppers, hire a car for 3 days and food but should come out at a reasonable price, have already paid for flights and LA accommodation. $5k or under total.
 
Well-we have 2 more (non Disney) trips in the works!

I found out I am going to Portland Oregon for work in April for a convention! H is going to fly out after the convention is over, and then we are staying an extra 4 days! We have never been to that area before, so I am excited to see what there is to offer! Any recs? Our hotel after the convention will be about $350 (going to cash in Hampton Inn points) and then ??? depending on what we do.

We are going to Panama in October! We have friends who are going on a gifted timeshare (free to them and us!), and asked if we would like to come along. Looking into flights now-probably going to be around $1k total round trip (We will drive to Miami and fly out there it seems).

I'm sure another cruise will be booked for this year as well.
 


We have a few trips planned.

1: February weekend trip to New Orleans for the hubs and I. Hotel covered by UR points, driving (gas $150), food and activities budget of around $500.

2: Oahu with my husband, daughter, and parents. Flights were $2k each for a lay flat seat in the long trip, so $10k for all five adults. Then $1k for our Waikiki hotel for our arrival night, $750 to rent a Suburban for the week, $3800 for an ocean villa at Turtle Bay for the week, $1k for 3 day go Oahu cards for everyone. 3 nights at aulani on my dvc points. Almost $900 for the luau at aulani, and probably about $1500 for other food if I had to guess. This is not our most budget friendly trip, but we are only paying for about $10k and my parents are paying the rest.

3: San Antonio trip- myself, hubs, and DD5, we will stay at Great Wolf on the night down, then stay with family when we get there. I am budgeting $1k for great wolf, gas, and food. We may end up spending some money on activities.

4: Indianapolis with my mom and daughter. My mom will cover most of this cost. We stay with friends. I’ll probably bring a couple hundred dollars for food and activities.

5. Daughter’s birthday trip. Annual tradition- we haven’t decided exactly where we want to go, but we have about $2k budgeted for the weekend. We usually drive, stay in a hotel for a night, and do lots of fun activities! We have done Branson, Grapevine, and DisneyWorld in the past. We are considering Pigeon Forge, KC, and STL. Open to suggestions that are driveable from Little Rock AR.
 
June- 8 nights in Dominican Republic at all inclusive for $4600 and flights 2300.

November-5 nights at Universal over Thanksgiving week staying onsite at Royal Pacific club level for $2900. Most likely will drive to FL.
 
Fun thread! I enjoyed reading everyone's plans and now have a few more times on the bucket list. We love to vacation and travel so we do as much as possible. They aren't necessarily budget friendly but travel hacking our way to free or nearly free flights and hotel stays mitigates the vacation budget a lot. Here's this year's trips:

Feb - 3 day Disney cruise - $1400 (paid with discounted Disney gift cards and/or earned 5x points and miles on the GCs)

March - weekend in DC - Willard Washington hotel - free with IHG card holder anniversary night, flights paid with Amex MR points. Out of pocket costs will be food and sightseeing.

May/June - Adventures by Disney trip to China ($15,798 opening day discounted price and paid with discounted Disney gift cards and/or earned 5x points and miles on the GCs), with a pre day in Hong Kong DL using DVC points, a post day at Shanghai DL and a post trip to Tokyo DL and Tokyo Disney Sea (planning to wipe off hotel charges with credit card points). Flights are all in first class and were all booked with miles and points and we paid under $200 in taxes and fees.

Sep - Hawaii 6 nights at Westin Maui $600 and have to attend the 90 minute timeshare presentation. Flights paid with points and miles.

Sep/Oct/Nov - will be at F&W every weekend using our DVC points with Beach Club Villas, we drive and are AP holders, so just gas and food.

Nov - 4 nights over Thanksgiving in WDW at Villas at Grand Floridian - booked 2 of the two bedroom rooms and a studio using our DVC points to bring the whole family.

Dec/Jan - Antarctica with Linblad on the National Geographic Orion for my 50th birthday. $36,000 and we are in steerage. This of course is a once in a lifetime trip and will be the most expensive trip we've ever taken. We will be paying with a British Airways credit card so we can earn a companion pass out of it at least. The flights will be booked with points and miles and everything else is included, thank goodness.
 
For 4 nights in May, its coming to $1,075! Does that sound right for 4 nights in the DC area? I was hoping/thinking for less than $200 a night. Maybe I am way off.....
I'm planning on going in Dec. Hotels right on the mall were under 100.00 per night last year. I know it will be chilly, but hoping the Christmas decorations will make up for it.
 
I'm planning on going in Dec. Hotels right on the mall were under 100.00 per night last year. I know it will be chilly, but hoping the Christmas decorations will make up for it.

Thank you for the reply. Sounds like you got a great deal. I bet it will be lovely!
 
Thank you for the reply. Sounds like you got a great deal. I bet it will be lovely!
I haven't got a great deal yet. I'm basing this on prices one month ago. I checked in September rooms were just under 200.00. I checked again in November and I was finding rooms for 89.00 a night at Hyatt Place and Hyatt Regency on the Mall. I wanted to get an idea of prices for this year. I would keep looking closer to your date, hopefully prices will drop. I do believe hotel prices are the highest in May because of the Cherry Blossoms.
 
I haven't got a great deal yet. I'm basing this on prices one month ago. I checked in September rooms were just under 200.00. I checked again in November and I was finding rooms for 89.00 a night at Hyatt Place and Hyatt Regency on the Mall. I wanted to get an idea of prices for this year. I would keep looking closer to your date, hopefully prices will drop. I do believe hotel prices are the highest in May because of the Cherry Blossoms.

That is a huge difference in price. I have not locked in a good deal yet, but I will keep looking. We are a family of 5, so a standard hotel room doesn't usually work for us. Fingers crossed we can both find good deals!
 
I just dropped a kid off at college. We don't plan any major vacations this year! We will go down and visit my son in college a couple of times, which will involve hotel bills and food bills, and we plan to make some mini-vacations out of it, visiting nearby areas. But it is only 4 hours from home.

The only major trip is going to be relatively inexpensive. I will be flying out to WA state this summer (alone) for a memorial service for my uncle and visits with cousins. I will stop in Arizona on the way for a few days to see my parents. But I will be staying with friends and family, so no hotel bills.

I anticipate only spending about $2K for trips this year.

Oldest would like to go to Disneyworld. We went to Disneyland last summer. We MAY throw in a WDW trip in the summer, but not sure.
 
Sharing because I am super excited about our trips! Thanks to our frugal-ness and the support/encouragement from family telling us to travel while we're young without any other big responsibilities, we were able to make our big second trip possible :)

March 3-10: Disney World. It's been two years and I told my husband I'm officially going through withdrawals XD Staying at Vacation Villages thanks to a family timeshare/Christmas present then doing one night at Port Orleans because I've always wanted to stay there. Will probably get a hotel on the drive down as well. We have three sit-down meals planned but will be bringing groceries/snacks for the rest of our meals. Meals will all be covered by gifted Disney gift cards, so out of pocket cost (3-day base tickets, gas, hotel night, groceries) estimate about -$1,050

April 8-17: First international trip-heading to Paris! Found amazing flight deals and an apartment to rent. All attractions (including 1-day Disneyland Paris tickets) are covered between credit card rewards points and gifted Paris attraction pass from family. After a few smaller odds and ends cost (passports, airport transport etc) total is around ~$1750 oop. The only thing left to factor in is food and souvenirs (with some wiggle room for other things we may need or come across) so im guessing that will turn into around ~$2,500 :ssst:
 
I sure want to travel this year! Hubby and I finally have a little more cushion and have a couple ideas bouncing around.

1. NYC!
DH turned 35 in December, but I work retail so we couldn't really celebrate at the time. I told him we should plan a long weekend away somewhere. I think we're looking at New York for a show and some museum hopping. We're budgeting $1300 for flights, hotel, and food/entertainment. We may be spending at least one night with some friends on Long Island, which helps.

2. AZ/LA!
DH has sisters in Phoenix and West Hollywood, and I've been dying to go out and visit them. There's lots I want to see: Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, the Walk of Fame...and it wouldn't hurt to be able to drop in on Mickey while we're out there! I would also love to go to the WWoHP at USH since we never feel like leaving the bubble to go when we're in Orlando. We haven't set a dollar amount on this trip yet because we're not sure when or how long the trip will be. But this trip will be fairly budget friendly as we really only need to purchase flights and park tickets. I sure love family!

3. WDW?
Lastly, I'm trying to figure out a way to get us back to the World this year! We had discussed not going back until the Star Wars construction was completed, but I just don't think I can wait that long! We've previously only visited in the spring, and I would LOVE to go in September this year to see Food & Wine and maybe get to experience MNSSHP. I'm not sure if it'll be in the budget, but I'm going to try to make it work! And how awesome would it be if we could visit both parks in the same year? AAAAAAAH!
 
Fun thread! I enjoyed reading everyone's plans and now have a few more times on the bucket list. We love to vacation and travel so we do as much as possible. They aren't necessarily budget friendly but travel hacking our way to free or nearly free flights and hotel stays mitigates the vacation budget a lot. Here's this year's trips:

Feb - 3 day Disney cruise - $1400 (paid with discounted Disney gift cards and/or earned 5x points and miles on the GCs)

March - weekend in DC - Willard Washington hotel - free with IHG card holder anniversary night, flights paid with Amex MR points. Out of pocket costs will be food and sightseeing.

May/June - Adventures by Disney trip to China ($15,798 opening day discounted price and paid with discounted Disney gift cards and/or earned 5x points and miles on the GCs), with a pre day in Hong Kong DL using DVC points, a post day at Shanghai DL and a post trip to Tokyo DL and Tokyo Disney Sea (planning to wipe off hotel charges with credit card points). Flights are all in first class and were all booked with miles and points and we paid under $200 in taxes and fees.

Sep - Hawaii 6 nights at Westin Maui $600 and have to attend the 90 minute timeshare presentation. Flights paid with points and miles.

Sep/Oct/Nov - will be at F&W every weekend using our DVC points with Beach Club Villas, we drive and are AP holders, so just gas and food.

Nov - 4 nights over Thanksgiving in WDW at Villas at Grand Floridian - booked 2 of the two bedroom rooms and a studio using our DVC points to bring the whole family.

Dec/Jan - Antarctica with Linblad on the National Geographic Orion for my 50th birthday. $36,000 and we are in steerage. This of course is a once in a lifetime trip and will be the most expensive trip we've ever taken. We will be paying with a British Airways credit card so we can earn a companion pass out of it at least. The flights will be booked with points and miles and everything else is included, thank goodness.

Wow! That all sounds amazing! Do you happen to have any space in your luggage for a stowaway? :rotfl2:
 
Feb- 4 nights at Universal Orlando, family of 5 around 3000
August- Outer Banks beach rental 4500 for the house
Sept/October Wife and I WDW, prob around 4000, we will most likely be buying annual passes as we are going back with the whole family in Jan/Feb of 19
 
DH and I are all over the map with what we thinking about doing... We really haven't sat down and made any hard choices yet...

We normally do one big trip and then a couple of small ones...

For the small trips, Vegas, North Carolina/Virginia/Tennessee to see the leaves in the fall, NYC to soak in the city. We are AP holders and will spend a couple of long weekends at WDW

For the Big Trip - we are completely torn on what to do - We are thinking about Paris 5 or 6 nights and Disneyland Paris for 2 or 3 nights. 8 or 9 night cruise in the Caribbean but with the storm this one is at the bottom of the list, Or Hawaii and visiting a couple of the different islands 7 to 9 nights. Or maybe a all-inclusive somewhere Turks and Caicos, or Jamaica, or wherever..
 

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