Most people diligently plan their summer vacations, taking weeks or even months out of their schedules to prepare to leave home. Sometimes, planning isn’t something you have time to do. It happened to us last summer, and a couple of days ago my family found ourselves with a week without obligations. While we had planned to take a summer vacation, we gave up on it at the end of the school year when things were hectic and it didn’t look like we would have the time this summer. Then my husband’s work pushed back one of his deadlines by 6 months. Perhaps we had not planned to take a vacation, but with only a few years left with the whole family at home, we are going to take advantage of the sudden opportunity.
What You Will Spend
Start by setting a price limit for your last minute vacation. Since you aren’t saving up for this vacation (obviously), you need to work it into what you already have. In our case, we had actually put money aside for the trip and had not touched it after deciding we couldn’t take a vacation. It isn’t as much as we would usually have required for a vacation, but for an unplanned, five-day weekend, it is more than enough time. This does mean going into PIMYU and looking at your finances to see what you can work into your current budget.
Choosing a Destination
If you have time to plan, of course you are going to pick somewhere you really want to go and work around that. Instead of saving up for the cost of tickets, you can now choose your destination based on what airlines are offering at cheap rates. If you don’t want to fly, you can pick a direction with roads that have the cheapest gas prices in your area.
Where to Room
There are so many ways to save on lodging that I can’t cover it all here. During the summer, it is going to be difficult to book something at the last minute, so you should consider your lodgings at the same time as your travel costs. If you can get the same airfare for two different locations, base your decision on where you will go on how much you will pay per night.
Food
The next biggest cost is going to be food. If you can get a place with a kitchen, you can purchase food from a local grocery store and save a considerable amount of money. If you have to dine out, make sure to take advantage of continental breakfasts and doggie bags to make your money go further.
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