Archive for the ‘Vacation’ category

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Does Sampling A Vacation Make Financial Sense?

February 8th, 2012

Have you ever paid big buck for a vacation, only to get to the location and realize that it was terribly overrated and overpriced?  The vacation would end up being a horribly expensive experience because you packed up the entire family and flew them to the location, only to be disappointed and much poorer?

Sampling Vacation

If so, then perhaps a Sampling Vacation would work better for you?  In a sampling vacation you (and maybe a buddy) would go on a vacation (for a few days) to a destination optimizing the fly time and hotel accommodations so that it’s as cheap as possible, especially compared to carting the entire family to the area.  Once there, you can move faster than if you had the entire family with you, and then relatively quickly determine if it’s what you expect or not.  You could even determine what sights you would want the family to see based on your accelerated sampling of the vacation activities and strong points.

 

Ala Wai Canal

 

Where did the name Sampling Vacation come from?

A sampling vacation is what a guy from work uses to determine the vacation planning for his family.  You see, five years ago, his wife bought him two weeks of time over in Paris to study under a chef, as a surprise birthday gift.  He went over and enjoy both the class and countryside so much that he took his family (wife and two kids) after they saved up for a few years.  Today, he travels during the cheapest times to a vacation location, to sample the environment for a few days, then determine if both he and his wife want to take the family there or not.  If not, they have a standby locations that they go to and still enjoy, like Hilton Head Island or Disney World.

 

Palm Trees After Sunset

The only sampling vacations that I have been on, are the ones for blogging conferences and work related trips.  There are a few places out west that I would like to take the family on vacation when my kids are older.

Sunset Surfing

 

So the real question is, “Are such sampling vacations worth it or a waste of money?”  I know that when I’m on a business trip, it’s definitely worth it since I’m not paying for it on my dime… but the guy I work with, I’m not so sure it is.

For me, I think if I were able to sample a vacation for around $400 or $500, it might be worth it, otherwise I’m sticking to work related paid trips to sample areas for vacations.

Dreaming about vacation already,

MR

 

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The Cost of Thanksgiving

November 23rd, 2011

We all know that the obvious cost are for the food, but I’m finding that a lot of people travel far during Thanksgiving, and those people are the ones that incur the real costs.

jet landing

flying

I’m fortunate in that the expense for gas as I drive on two separate days to both my of our parents isn’t really that bad.  I estimate that the cost runs close to $25.  For my sister it runs at least double that number.  She lives 2 hours from my parents and a good distance from her in-laws…

I don’t have the stats., but it would be interesting to see how much the cost of traveling is overtaking the cost of the food and preparation.  Just in my little example, it’s obvious that the expense of traveling can cost as much as the food itself.  Then again, perhaps Thanksgiving has always been about traveling far to meet family?  I’ve always lived close to my family, so while I still enjoy Thanksgiving, it’s really not a rare event since my sister and I meet our parents often.

I have to admit, it is fun watching football on TV, and having “The Christmas Story” play in the background as we all eat.  These are what I call soft traditions in our family.  They are soft because some years we do them, while other we don’t.

Here’s wish everybody in the US a Happy Thanksgiving!

MR

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How to Recover From an Active Fun-Filled Vacation

August 13th, 2011

One of my great weakness is getting back into the groove after taking a week or so off for an active fun-filled vacation.

Gulf of Mexico Sunset

Captiva Sunset

 

Over the years, I’ve learned a few tricks to help reduce the uncomfortable letdown after starting back to work after such a vacation.

1.) Instead of starting my first day back to work on a Monday, I take Monday, Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday off before I start back to work.  I do this for a few reasons, but mainly because it reduces the first week back to only a few days.  While those few days that I do work are very long days, the following week afterwords is a cakewalk.

Another great advantage of starting back to work after Tuesday or Wednesday is that a lot of the problems from the beginning of the week are ironed out.  Where I work at, Monday is always the problem child of the weekdays!  So why come back to a horrible day when instead I could start back on hump day (Wednesday) or later.  This way half of the stress of the typical work week is eliminated and I come back to a more pleasant work environment.

2.)  After vacation, things around the house done, like:  the lawn needs mowed, pets cages need cleaned up, mail needs picked up, and other tasks that need the rust broken loose!  Monday and a good part of Tuesday is usually a wonderful, relaxed way to get those needed tasks done.  In case of bad weather (especially with respect to the lawn), lately I’ve been taking Wednesday off too.

3.)  Taking a few relaxing vacation days after an active vacation, is the optimal solution for me.  I take a few days off as purely relaxing days, and believe me, it’s wonderful!  It’s like a vacation within a vacation!  I really enjoyed sitting out on my deck, drinking a beverage and reading the latest book that I borrowed from the library.  It’s very enjoyable and relaxing, my own personal nirvana!

I know that everybody is different, so my technique may not work for everybody, but why not give it a try once?  Who knows, you may enjoy recovering from a active fun-filled vacation the same way!

Enjoy Summer,

MR

 

 

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My 2011 Summer Vacation Review

August 5th, 2011

Summer Vacation Review Part 1

First we stayed in Hilton Grand Vacation Suites at SeaWorld, and while it was an older hotel, it was still pretty nice.  What was really great though was that across the street was the SeaWorld parking lot!  Talk about close to the action!

SeaWorld wasn’t exciting for me, but I grew up with it…  But my kids loved it, and my daughter said it was the best vacation ever for her (she loved dolphins and orcas).

Next we went to Discovery Cove with was just a little further down the street from our hotel too!  We loved being so close to the action and even at a good price too since the hotel was only about $130 a night!

Discovery Cove was a good resort and fun.  They put some time into making it look cool, and the kids loved it.  It’s the dolphin ride that they will both remember though.  I’m glad I have it on film!

Summer Vacation Review Part 2

The Captiva Island (a sister island to Sanibel Island) part of our vacation we very interesting and went at a much slower pace, and by slower…  I mean really slow!

The island was beautiful and the sunset was awesome, but restaurants close on Sunday!?!  Yep, that’s right, the restaurants are closed on Sunday!  We had to drive to Sanibel Island to find an open restaurant.  During the weekdays, the restaurants and bars close after 11:00pm!  This is a far cry from Myrtle Beach!

My son didn’t get stung by any jellyfish this year, but he didn’t go very deep into the ocean either though.

The highlight of the vacation for me was just hanging out with friends and family, chilling by the pool and watching the sunset go down!

My vacation is coming to a conclusion, soon I’ll be back to my normal middle class lifestyle.

But it was a great time all around!

MR

 

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Reflections While Watching A Captiva Island Sunset

August 2nd, 2011
Gulf of Mexico Sunset

Captiva Sunset

 

I’m on vacation with family and friends on Captiva Island in Florida, watching a Gulf of Mexico sunset, and it’s incredible!

As a younger version of myself, I’ve vacationed at Clearwater Beach in Florida, and even though it’s beautiful there too, now on Captiva Island, I’m watching the Gulf of Mexico sunset with a greater level of awareness and appreciation of the beauty of the event.  For a second, my mind drifts and I wonder if sailors and pirates of an ancient time also watched such sunsets with the same level of wonderment as my family and friends are currently doing.

The beach is tiered so that it look almost like two massively long sand bar steps to the ocean.  I sit on the layer that is only one step above the ocean by a few feet.  The beach texture is course because of all the flakes from partial seashells lying around everywhere.  It’s not the white pretty sands of Clearwater, but still pretty nice all the same.

I would like to say that it’s just my family and friends watching the sunset, but the beach has a fairly decent crowd all watching the same magical sunset.  In many ways it reminds me of the New Year’s ball falling at midnight to start the new year.  Surprisingly, the sun submerges below the horizon line in the far off distance quite quickly, much quicker than I anticipated.  The sunset spectators at the beach clap and cheer as if they were applauding after the Fourth of July grand finale fireworks display.

The most notable features of the sunset is the way the golden colors from the sunset rays dance on the tops of tiny waves in a line directly from me to the sun doing down.  I looks to the left and notice the dark tiny wave tops and think how cool the bright rays might looks as a contrast.  It’s quite striking!  The overall lighting is on the edge of twilight and I can now imagine how sailors could see manatees off in the distance and think that their silhouettes (especially young manatees) look like the outlining shapes of mermaids.

It’s funny how our minds drift while on vacation and we appreciate the simple events in life.  I guess this is what they mean by the saying “Stop to smell the roses”…

Having fun,

MR

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