3 Month Timeshare Vacation

[dreamin]

6 months ago I started to plan our annual winter escape from the frigid northern climate we call home. Newly retired, we had more freedom than usual. We decided on Texas and Florida. I set up an OGS with RCI but had NO matches. I reserved one Extra Vacation, one rental (Thank you Tugger!), and numerous RCI exchanges online. Here's what I was able to coordinate so far:

Worldmark New Braunfels, TX
Wyndham La Cascada, San Antonio, TX
Vacation Time Condos at VICC, Brownsville, TX
Wyndham Avenue Plaza, New Orleans, LA
Wyndham Sea Gardens, Pompano, FL
HGVClub at South Beach, FL
Legacy Vacation Club, Indian Shores, FL
Sea Club V, Siesta Key, FL

It took us 3 days to drive to Texas and we are at New Braunfels now. I just submitted a review to TUG. There will be some hotel stays as we travel from one location to another. I have a week in February and a week in March where we are currently homeless in Florida. I'm hoping to get a Last Call or Instant Exchange for these two weeks, but I'm finding that RCI is being very stingy with these this year. We will also be going to the Dominican Republic in mid-March to attend my nephew's wedding. It's being held at a Royal Holiday Club resort so I'm in the process of trying to reserve this as a rental. When we return to Florida we'll slowly make our way North as we have to be home by April 3rd when our medical insurance runs out.

It's taken a lot of hours on the computer to manually find these resorts, as well as planning an extended absence from our home (snow clearing, mail delivery, someone to check on our house, etc.). I don't think we'll ever become full-timers like Ron & Joan or Mike & Edie, but I was so happy to leave behind those -30 temperatures!

 

[alexadeparis]

Good for you! Please do come back and let us know how its going and of course keep submitting the resort reviews! Hope to be like you someday!

 

[Passepartout]

Was it worth doing again? Answer after you get home, and before the booking process for next year starts. And if it was only below freezing 50% of the winter nights and very seldom below 0(f), would you put forth the effort?

The above weather pattern describes ours at home, so we just head to warmer climes for 2-3 weeks about every 6 weeks of the winter. No doubt about it, if it was -30 all winter, in the dark, we'd be outta here too.

Jim

 

[dreamin]

Trip report

We've been home a few days now trying to get acclimatized. We still have 4 feet of snow in our front and back yards but it is starting to melt. Coldest and snowiest winter in a century! We picked a good winter to head south and don't have any regrets.

We were unable to go to the wedding in the Dominican but I managed to reserve 3 last minute weeks in Orlando - The Fountains, Cypress Gardens, and Orange Lake. I have submitted TUG reviews for all of the resorts we stayed at. The Gulf Coast resorts were our favourites, as well as The Fountains in Orlando. We drove 8,220 miles and enjoyed our new Highlander Hybrid, which got fantastic mileage.

Although we don't normally attend timeshare presentations, we did agree to 6 of them because we had so much free time. We would only attend for cash and "earned" a total of $520, which helped our budget. The Fountains presentation was the best and Orange Lake was the worst, as the salesperson was rude and condescending.

We had a wonderful adventure and saw so many beautiful areas, as well as learning a lot of southern history. We weren't impressed by most of Texas, although we really enjoyed San Antonio. When we travelled to New Orleans we encountered the Polar Vortex weather that shut down the state so we didn't get to see as much as we had hoped. Our weeks in Florida were the best, except for the Wyndham Sea Gardens where we had a cockroach infestation and our worst unit.

We made good use of the kitchen facilities and prepared most of our own meals. We were physically active every day, either walking or biking, which was one of the best benefits of going south. Staying in timeshares made this an affordable winter escape.

I can no longer tolerate our inhospitable winters. So next year we are thinking of exploring the West Coast. Time to start planning!

 

[herillc]

Thanks for an update!
I am also planning 2-3 months of winter escape in near future.
Your post encouraged me a lot.

 

[gnipgnop]

I am also encouraged by your post. The winter here in Pennsylvania is agonizing this year. We were in Hilton Head for one week middle of Feb. and Myrtle Beach for the next week. But that was not far enough South. There wasn't any snow but it was still unusually cool. Next year we plan to go to Florida. If this doesn't work I'm heading to the Caribbean. It is April and it is still cold and rainy. YUCK!!!

 

[vacationhopeful]

..... Next year we plan to go to Florida. If this doesn't work I'm heading to the Caribbean. It is April and it is still cold and rainy. YUCK!!!

YUCK. yes.

Please realize Florida has 2 temperate ZONES -- you need to be below Orlando by 60 miles before the warmer zone STARTS to improve the weather.

Now, Canadians generally find Orlando to be very nice as do persons from ND, MN, SD and NE.

Just my personal experience from many years of being in Central Florida and NOW, South Florida instead of NJ in the winter.