I just returned from a much-needed vacation. Since it been many years since we had a real one, I underestimated some of the expense of it all.
First of all we saved a lot on the beach house by getting a great deal, and we bought a lot of our food locally and took it with us in a cooler since grocery stores at beach areas are much more expensive. We also brought our own lotions and purchased beverages from Costco to entertain us and keep hydrated, again much less than at the beach. We cooked several of our own meals, and ate sandwiches from our cooler during the drive. I think we were pretty frugal.
Eating out, souvenirs, goggles, sun hats, and various other items just added up. We had a budget, but we went over a little, although next year, we won’t have to buy some things we did this year.
When you add the gas, beach house, food and various other items, a simple vacation isn’t really cheap I wonder if an all-inclusive resort would be cheaper. It would be nice to have everything provided- definitely would simplify things. Next time around, we may look into going to one of these resorts, and compare to how much we spent this year. We kept all of our receipts so we know exactly how much we spent. There are some budget minded all-inclusive resorts outlined on this article at FoxNews/Travel.
