Choose Your Travel Companions Wisely | brokeGIRLrich
A lot of times, my lifestyle requires not committing to things until the last minute and the occasional bail out when plans are already partially underway, the person who has taken the brunt of this has been my best friend Shell.
When I worked for the cruise line, we decided we were going to use my free cruise that I got each year to go to Hawaii. Then I quit.
When I went to grad school in England, we decided she would come visit over the summer before I finished up the program. I decided to go back to work early to start paying off my loans and finished my dissertation while working on a ship. No trip to England for her.
We stood in my basement, threw a dart at a map and decided we were going to go where it landed. A week later I got hired by the circus. So much for that.
This spring, we decided it would be awesome to go to Universal Studios to see the new Harry Potter extension. We found a great last minute package. My boss decide to go on vacation that week, so I couldn’t take the days off.
Needless to say, Shell has had infinite patience with my career totally screwing her travel plans. Years ago we actually did manage to take a trip to Edinburgh and Paris. We had an incredible time, but I learned a lot about traveling with her.
Traveling Paris. No hunchbacks in sight.
Shell requires first world comforts. This isn’t a bad thing by any means, but not my general way of traveling.
I literally had no idea how to budget a trip like that since all of my previous travel has been hosteling it up, stealing extra bread at the free breakfast in the hostel to make PB & J sandwiches for lunch and generally keeping my expenses as low as possible – and sacrificing a LOT of comfort to do so.
Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been best friends for more than 15 years and I love her a lot, but traveling with Shell is easily one of the biggest dangers to my wallet. I thought of that as I agreed to actually carry out our Harry Potter plan this month.
To begin with, one of the best ways to save money traveling is to start planning in advance and watching out for deals. I had been interviewing (again) and had my fingers crossed for a new job with a start date of November 3rd (no such luck). If that had occurred, we weren’t going to go. As it was, I called a spade a spade around October 20th and that was when we put our vacation planning into full swing.
For a vacation that was going to happen 2 weeks from then.
I will concede that she caved and let us fly United, so I could cash in some rewards points for the flight, but even then, due to both our work schedules, none of the free flights were available.
Total for flights from Newark to Orlando at 2 weeks notice INCLUDING one flight that left at the ungodly hour of 6 AM: $601
Average cost for a Newark to Orlando flight with a little preplanning? $200 tops
On the plus side, my United Mileage Plus card did let me apply my current points balance to the purchase, so that dropped the cost of the flight down to about $350.
Gringotts – I didn’t really appreciate this ride until the second time through.
Then we had to do the hour early admission to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – to get that, you have to stay in a Universal hotel. Was it worth it? To me? Not really.
We stayed in Cabana Bay. I got really excited to find deals online for $90-110 a night. After I went through the entire booking process, the receipt popped into my email and noted that this was the Florida resident rate. Well…. I am not a Florida resident. So that took our hotel total from $310 for the stay to closer to $670.
For 3 nights.
Then we ate every meal in the park, which, to be quite honest, I didn’t mind. Because at the end of the day, I am a super Harry Potter geek and eating lunch in The Three Broomsticks, grabbing a butter beer (or 3) in the Hogs Head and having dinner in The Leaky Cauldron was pretty darn awesome.
I noticed though that Shell had a spendthrift way that was absolutely wearing off on me. In one store, she purchased a set of cups, a picture frame and a t-shirt. The extent of my souvenir buying is usually a shot glass for my collection, but as I perused with her, suddenly I was picking up way more than I intended to as well.
Side Note: Have you guys ever seen those “authentic” Harry Potter robes for each of the houses. They cost $110. Seriously. WTF. And the sweaters that are part of the Hogwarts uniform are $85. Essentially, if you see someone wearing a legit Hogwards uniform, they have spent close to $300 on it between the robes, sweater, tie and skirt/trousers. And forget about adding in a wand too.
Great for a photo op – bad for your wallet.
Altogether, a 3 day excursions to Orlando cost me close to $1,000. Considering all the times I’ve bailed on Shell, I don’t mind it and I’m really lucky it hit me at a time when spending $1,000 was an inconvenience and not a budget breaker. Personally though, I prefer vacations that don’t feel like a financial inconvenience.
Where did the dart land?
Will @firstqfinance recently posted…I Can Work 15 Hour Days Using 10 Productivity Hacks for 5 Reasons
Wisconsin
I’m guessing that’s the real reason you didn’t go hahaha
Chela recently posted…Small Victories: 401k Increase
Great post! Even not financially speaking, it’s hard to find someone who matches your travel style. For example, I’m go go go morning to night (none of this stay in the hotel and watch a movie stuff), always eat local, never eating at chains or fast food, and I definitely stay in hostels or try to find hotel deals (no use in paying for an expensive hotel if we’re only there to sleep). Anyway, I was so relieved to find my husband is the same way (he wasn’t bluffing). We honeymooned in Peru, and to say it was an active vacation would be an understatement haha. But he kept pace and loved it and we had a wonderful time. When we told his family about the details of our trip they looked at us like we had three heads. The only honeymoon they would ever consider was sitting on a beach at a fancy resort doing nothing but sitting on the beach and getting drunk haha. Definitely the opposite for us 🙂
Chela recently posted…Small Victories: 401k Increase
That’s awesome! One of my cousins and I actually hosteled it up and dined on the local guinea pig in Peru… we’re pretty good travel companions.
I’m guessing that’s the real reason you didn’t go hahaha
Chela recently posted…Small Victories: 401k Increase
When I was younger, I was the hostel-staying, picnic lunch kind of travel girl. But things changed as I got a bit older and I had to adjust a bit when I married my husband, too. But I’m still not one who needs to eat in all the fancy restaurants nor have a hair dryer nor shampoo in my room.
Still, I find that it’s easier to budget when planning yourself. Or maybe just easier to understand. My in-laws booked a trip for the four of us to Ireland and although it was a pre-packaged deal, we are still paying off that trip. (I hate that!)
But when I put together our trip to Australia ourselves (where we actually spent way more money due to the cost of living there and how long we were gone) that trip was paid off. Maybe because I knew exactly where the money was going and had time to piece-meal it and save for it? Or maybe it’s that I know what my husband and I like and know how to find the deals on those things. (i.e. For the Ireland trip, I would never have booked a stay at a Radisson Blu in Galway that was really nice, but the “included” breakfast was $25ish and we were only there to sleep.)
Either way, it’s nice to have a travel buddy where you know what each other’s needs are and which things are worth compromising for having a travel companion.
P.S. What does butter beer taste like?!
Carrie @ Season It Already recently posted…Permagrin, Australia {Or That Time We Fed the ‘Roos}
Butter beer tastes like cream soda with a butterscotch-sh milk foam on top.
Ha! I used to be the gal who needed first world amenities, now I can definitely handle some “roughing it” as long as it’s not roughing up my money. 🙂 At least you refrained from indulging in full fledged Hogwarts attire!
Sigh. So tempting. But so totally useless. Yeah, I caved in and got a scarf and left the rest of the outfit for the next sucker.
Hahaha I can totally understand you on this trip! I took an overseas trip with a family member, and I had noooo idea what a creature-comfort person she is until we went. I got her to stay in SOME hostels, but sometimes I caved and we stayed in hotels and a few AirBnB places. Then I twisted my knee, and it was hotels from there on out. It’s amazing how an injury while traveling will screw with your plans… but hey, I’m better now, so if you want a last minute hostel buddy, I’m your person! 🙂
Melissa recently posted…Are Meal Delivery Services Worth the Cost?
Can you put a price on Harry Potter? 😉
All (sort of) jokes aside, I’ve gone on large group trips where the differences in spending styles has created a little tension/stress. I feel like that becomes much more difficult than when I’m with one person who is a different spender than myself. Now that I’m out of college, I am more wary of who I travel with.
Brittany @ Fun on a Budget Blog recently posted…Stretch your Grocery Budget by Buying in Bulk
I always focus on travel mates who are more compatible with me for other reasons, mostly if they will be a drag or negative in any way, because I have traveled with people like that and OMG! lol! I think financial would come secondary and it would be a good discussion to have with a potential travel mate to make sure you are on the same page, unless you make plans to have that vacation be a splurge.
Tonya@Budget and the Beach recently posted…A SERIOUS In Depth Interview with…um, Myself
This is hilarious! I agree with you, but for other reasons. I put a lot of effort into my trips (I generally take on the travel agent role for my group) so I can not take a bad-energy person on my vacays!!!! You have one time to add misery to my trip (for ANY reason) and you will not be invited back. I’ve cultivated a wonderful group of travel buddies. Even our growing families gel well. We don’t take kindly to bad behavior on excursions. Great post!
Toni @ Debt Free Divas recently posted…Healthy Meals in a Hurry
Your friend is so understanding. I can think of so many people who would take that extremely personal after awhile…including myself! Then again, with having kids and a life of my own, I realize that things happen and people get busy. I, too, would be hard pressed to really commit or make a final decision about going until the last minute. That’s how our life has been for a while now with other things not pertaining to travel so I’m sort of used to being in that situation with hubby. I’m glad the trip wasn’t a budget breaker, but I’m also glad that you had fun! Thanks for sharing with us at the Creative Style Linkup!
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