Low cost vacations

While vacations are a lot of fun, and can help you relax, unwind, and help your family to make some great memories, if they cost too much, they are likely to do the opposite. A vacation that gets too expensive causes stress, and is not nearly as much fun. So, how can you have a low cost vacation that is still fun, memorable, and worth the money you do spend? Try the following:

• Vacation close to home. Staying closer to home means less travel time and cost, and more time and money available to enjoy the destination. The fact is that most people have not vacationed close to home because the appeal to vacation close to home is not there. However, most find that once they are on their vacation it is totally fun, relaxing, and worth it. A shorter drive, or shorter flight means less stress, especially if you have small children. And, if it is close to home, you often can get some advantages you won't have elsewhere, such as being able to take a cooler of food with you, to help reduce costs. You spend less on gas, or get a cheaper flight as well. If there is somewhere of value to visit close to your home, and you need a vacation, do not write it off as an option. Sometimes it turns out to be the best vacation you will ever have.

• Go off season. Avoiding the busiest season of your destination can save you money on your accommodations, entertainment, and sometimes even food. In addition, it can help you have a good time with out waiting in long lines, or heavy traffic. For example, going to Disney Land in July usually means long waits for all of the attractions, crowded pools at the hotels, and not nearly as much fun. However, if you go a few days after school starts back up, you usually still get the good weather, and the whole park open, but avoid some of the lines, and frustrations of a crowded park. Of course, in some instances going off season is going to mean a lame, or ruined vacation. For example, visiting Park City, Utah, to ski won't work off season, and while they offer other attractions during the summer, it is not going to be nearly as much fun during the summer as it is in the winter.

• Go with friends or family. One great way to cut the cost of a vacation, and ramp up the fun is to go with more people. Depending on the size of your family, you may be able to share transportation. This is especially true if you are driving. It is not going to cost you any more to drive seven people in a mini-van then it is to drive three, so why not take along the extras and share the cost? In addition to that, you can often save money on lodging. If you have more people, it might make sense to rent a cabin or a house, or a condo instead of getting hotel rooms. You cost per person can decrease significantly in those instances. For example, a hotel room that you get cheap, which sleeps two will cost you about $85 or more a night. For a family of 4, that is $170 a night, or $42.50 per person per night. If you were to go with another family of four, and rent a house for $1000 for the week, you would find the cost is only $125 per person for the week, or in other words $18 a night. Even if the house was $2000 for the week, it is still going to cost you less. So, this is a great way to travel, and it offers other benefits as well. For example, traveling with friends or family means having someone along to share the childcare responsibility, which means you can take turns with watching the kids so each couple can have some time alone. This is far cheaper than paying a babysitter from the hotel, or trying to find someone to watch your kids while you are away.
• Cook where you stay.One great way to vacation for less is to get a place that you can cook. For example, rent a house as mentioned above, or get a condo that has a kitchen. Having a kitchen where you stay can greatly cut the cost of your trip because it allows you to save on eating out, service charges, and more. You can basically hit the grocery store and shop like you typically would, and cook at home. you can eat breakfast and lunch in, and eat your dinners out, which means you still get the fun of eating out while on vacation, but do not pay $5 a plate for pancakes when you can make pancakes for everyone for the same price. This is also great because it gives you a place to store snacks, and leftovers from restaurants so when you get hungry at 2 am, you have food to eat. Being able to cook the majority of your meals can save you a lot. Many meals can be precooked and taken with you so you don't have to do all the work there. Which means you can still have the relaxation of a vacation, without the cost.
• Enjoy eating out, but do it frugally.Even if you have a kitchen where you stay, you will want to eat a few meals out, that is a big part of the fun when you are on a vacation. However, you can make your vacation low cost by making sure those meals are less expensive by looking for deals. You can find deals online on sites like restaurant.com, or you can get deals by looking in local coupon books, or keeping an eye out for specials such as kids eat free or early birds. Usually your hotel lobby will have some coupons that you get for staying at the hotel, such as buy one get one free entrees, or percent off discounts at certain restaurants. If you want to eat out and can't find any deals, then consider eating lunch out instead of dinner, most lunch entrees are less expensive than dinner entrees. This means you still get the pleasure of someone else preparing your meal, but at a smaller cost.
• Look for free entertainment. Entertainment is a big part of vacationing. However, it can also be a big expense on a vacation. To help reduce your cost, check with local park systems, museums and other places for free or low cost attractions. For example, most big cities will have places that are free to visit, museums, art attractions, free concerts in parks, etc. In addition to taking advantage of anything that is offered for free, you will want to look for ways to save on things you do pay for. For example, look for coupons online, or for special offers. For example, you can usually get a deal at theme parks etc, by printing out $5 off coupons off their website, or bringing in special Coke cans, etc. If you plan to do a lot, and hit up a lot of the expensive attractions, consider purchasing a "GoCard" from sites like www.GoSanDiego.com, which allows you admission into numerous places for one low price. There are deals like this in most big cities, so check with their tourist office, or do a search on the internet for deals for the types of activities you want to do. If you do some research and know what you want to do you can usually get the activity cheaper if you book it in advance.
• Sensible souvenirs. Souvenirs are a fun part of a vacation, but they can also be really expensive, if you want to buy souvenirs don't just buy some piece of junk to say you bought something. Instead, first try to get something free, like a shell, or press a flower, or get something that actually reminds you of the vacation. Or take pictures and let those be your souvenir. One fun thing you can do is buy a picture frame and frame one of your photos at home. Or, you can buy a deck of cards. These are usually inexpensive, and will get some use, and thus make a great souvenir to collect. In addition, you can get this from just about anywhere. Unlike collecting shot glasses, etc. a deck of cards will not break. It also does not take up much room in your luggage, so it is a great option.
• Be flexible about your travel. If you want to have a low cost vacation, being flexible about your travel is great. For example, it is often cheaper to fly on a weekday then a weekend, and so if you can take a week off and have it be Wednesday to Wednesday instead of Monday to Monday, you will save money. In addition, there are often last minute deals available that allow you to fly places or get lodging places for really cheap, but only if you can go within a two week time period. So, if you have flexibility you can take advantage of last minute deals, cheap flights, etc.

• Go somewhere with the great outdoors. If you want to save money on your vacation visit somewhere with a lot to offer in nature. This is usually free. For example, go to Hawaii and spend your time enjoying the beaches and rain forest. It will cost you far less to visit the beaches then it will to visit the shops and plays in New York City. If you can plan your vacations around activities you enjoy that are outside, and pick locations that accommodate that you will save a lot in entertainment. This is why camping is such an inexpensive vacation option, most of what you do is free, even if you do have to pay for a place to camp. So, choose locations that offer activities like hiking, swimming, playing in the ocean, etc.
• Consider cruising. For a luxury vacation that costs less, a cruise is often the way to go. You can sometimes find cruises that cost less than $100 a day per person, which for room, food, and activities is a killer price for an excellent, and memorable vacation. As long as you limit your on-shore activities, and do not drink a lot, or spend too much time on the internet while cruising, it is an ideal vacation and usually costs very little for what you get. Of course, you can always spend a lot cruising, but if you look for good prices, and go on shoulder seasons, it is likely that you will find a great deal, and really be able to enjoy a great vacation for a low cost.