Roll Tide.

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I have discovered that as the brood has gotten older that the concept of cheap vacation has gotten more difficult especially if I want to enjoy any of it. The wife and I jumped up to Galena by ourselves a few weeks ago for a long weekend and that was mostly affordable because I didn't have to feed or pay for activities for all 5 of us. I'm starting to understand more and more why my parents always got a condo on vacation so at least some of the meals could be cheap instead of going out for breakfast lunch and dinner. I'm understanding more why they also left us st home for a week or two a year too.

Between 4K-5K

I'll plan on spending around that much annually for the foreseeable future.

This year will be 2 weeks in Europe with the lady.

Flight - $1,000
Trains/Planes - $650
AirBnB/Hotel - $1,800
Food/Activities - $1,000 - $1,500

We don't have kids and won't for foreseeable future so we have the flexibility to indulge with world travel.

This year, my daughter danced at a show & parade at Disney, so we were down there for a week, before that we were at Universal for a couple of days. Now, we are lucky b/c my mom has a house in the St. Pete/Tampa area so what we did was drive down to her house and used that has a 'home base' for the trip. Went to Universal for three days, back to my mom's for a couple days, Disney for a week, back to my mom's for a week to relax on the beach.
Now, I know that I'm fortunate to have a schedule (for the moment) that allows for this. This trip was a bit pricey compared to last year when we went to Disney for a week (that time we got a cabin at Ft. Wilderness which was nice), because we got two rooms at Disney (one where the dance group was staying, one where we could get a family suite. But last year, we were able to do a week at disney for around 5K.

This year it was more but my wife took on a part-time job to pay for the 'dance' part of the trip (the extra hotel room, costume costs, etc.) and I have picked up a couple side jobs (EIC of a journal, and a consulting job) that allowed us to splurge a bit more this year as we justified it as a potential once in a lifetime/cool experience for my daughter to dance in a Disney parade at Magic Kingdom and have a show at Epcot.

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This year, my daughter danced at a show & parade at Disney, so we were down there for a week, before that we were at Universal for a couple of days. Now, we are lucky b/c my mom has a house in the St. Pete/Tampa area so what we did was drive down to her house and used that has a 'home base' for the trip. Went to Universal for three days, back to my mom's for a couple days, Disney for a week, back to my mom's for a week to relax on the beach.
Now, I know that I'm fortunate to have a schedule (for the moment) that allows for this. This trip was a bit pricey compared to last year when we went to Disney for a week (that time we got a cabin at Ft. Wilderness which was nice), because we got two rooms at Disney (one where the dance group was staying, one where we could get a family suite. But last year, we were able to do a week at disney for around 5K.

This year it was more but my wife took on a part-time job to pay for the 'dance' part of the trip (the extra hotel room, costume costs, etc.) and I have picked up a couple side jobs (EIC of a journal, and a consulting job) that allowed us to splurge a bit more this year as we justified it as a potential once in a lifetime/cool experience for my daughter to dance in a Disney parade at Magic Kingdom and have a show at Epcot.

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PRO TIP: Go on ebay and look to see if anyone is selling vacation packages for the exact place you are looking for. I did that on a whim when booking our trip to Le Blanc (#1 rated adults only all inclusive in the Carribean) and found someone selling the exact package we wanted for 50% less than the hotel. Ended up paying $3600 for a week for a package I was going to buy for $7000 from the hotel.

And because the person I bought the package from was a member of the hotel we got all of his VIP perks while there.

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Holy shit. You aren't kidding Shakes.

Edit: LoL at all the Daytona Beach packages like $65. Such a shit hole.

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Shakes and Mrs Shakes are swingers? Exposure to HBO Real Sex at a tender-age turned me off of any sort of group sex activity for life. For whatever reason, the people on that show were the least sexually attractive folks ever caught on camera.

yea but the promise of non-pixelated nudity when you're 12 is too much to pass up

Agree with all of that, that's for sure

Galena is fantastic without kids....

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Also true. Pixelated X-rated porn via the satellite TV, HBO Real Sex and stacks of damp Penthouse and Hustlers found randomly in the woods. Jeezus, kids today have it easy.

I don't think you understand what "adults only all inclusive" really means. It only means no kids.

There are swinger resorts for adults like Hedonism, but I don't know if those are all inclusives and they are definitely not 5 star resorts like Le Blanc.

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I remember a friend and I stumbled across 3 mags sitting in the woods one day when we were like 12. It was like we struck gold.

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Did anyone else here have a VHS porn tape in junior high that had been borrowed and lent to just about every other dude in the class? I assume that was something that every junior high had, probably in the library next to the SE Hinton books.

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Makes me sick. You should have had to work for that stuff.

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You were like William H. Macy in Boogie Nights when you found out the res of the resort got the ALL inclusive package.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

My wife has an ass in her cock!

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

When I was like 12 or so a friend I were walking out west of St. Charles and done car came screaming down the road slammed on the breaks, through a box out the door and spun around and took off. It was the most glorious collection of penthouses and playboys that a boy could wish for, like a special delivery from heaven, or Hugh Hefner. Take your pick.

We rent a house every summer up north somewhere. This year we went to Door Co up by Washington Island for a week. I think it was $1400 or so for the week. In the past we have done places in Michigan around Traverse City for 2-3 weeks. I like to fish so it is a combo family vacation/fishing trip for me. Usually keep the rental costs around 2K. Door Co is more expensive than Northern Michigan so I think we'll be headed back to Northern Michigan next summer in order to do 2 weeks. I take multiple other fishing trips throughout the year- long weekends and 1 week to So IL during the spring. My wife and kids don't do any other vacations.

Concerning the costs- Every place I have rented has required half up front and then the remainder about a month from the arrival date. I write a check when it is time. I don't set aside money or anything throughout the year. I pay for all the rental costs and then my wife pays a greater share for our entertainment when there. But our kids are still small so our expenses for them on vacation are not much.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

I'm on vacation this week. Ground corn for cow feed yesterday afternoon. Baling second cutting hay this afternoon. Sprayed grapes until after the Cubs game last night. Have a dozen broken posts to replace in the vineyard if we get some rain to soften things up. Probably should do oil changes for the kids cars before they all leave for college.

I would gladly choose all of this over a trip to Disney or the Breakers, ever.

we are house renters when we go on vacation. my wife and i haven't done a resort vacation by ourselves since our honeymoon. i might be a bad husband quite frankly. family vacations are house rentals 99% of the time. when we go to disney its on the grandparents dime so thats pretty convenient.

i make sure to budget an extra 10K for when i go diamond shopping

somebody sent this to me recently. I found it hilarious.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/m-blazone ... 89310.html

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

hilarious and accurate

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Cheapskate.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Good lord. I have had at most 3 days vacation since I've had kids. Unleee you count when they're all away at camp.

Btw, how is the Ferrari market in Homer Glen? I may be looking soon

Probably a few used ones if you slide over into Lemont.

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Elections have consequences.

Pyongyang rates right now are great

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.