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Are your future vacation plans different because of the travel situation?

Judy

Judy

TUG Review Crew: ELITE
TUG Member
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Location
Melbourne Beach FL; Steamboat Springs CO
As you plan for future exchanges and use of your timeshare weeks, have you changed where you'll go because of the price of gas, the increase in airfares, and the unreliability of flights?

Are you planning to stay home?
Drive to a resort close to home?
Planning to fly domestically?
Planning to fly internationally?
Are you planning 2 or more weeks at the same resort to cut travel expenses?

Are your future plans different from what you used to do before $4+ gas and unreliable air travel?

We've requested two exchanges that will require that we fly internationally, and one requiring a domestic flight. Now we drive to an airport where we can catch a direct flight, rather than using a closer airport that would require changing planes with the increased risk of canceled flights and lost luggage.
 
Still traveling...doing less.

We're still going to our trades; but we're not eating out as much and taking in less shows. We've talked about going out west (Las Vegas and Sedona); I checked air fares yesterday; round trip is $862 each, even going to an airport three hours drive for a direct flight, they want $610.

Future travel will be closer to home and resort with planned activites.

We retire in three years and were looking forward to travel; cost for travel will now make us re-think our plans.
 
Since most of our trips are via FF miles and Hotel Rewards (when not at a TS), not much has changed. Leaving next week for London and Venice.

Still have over 2 Million FF miles left to go so I will probably expire before they do.;) We have the choice of two airports so we can usually get to where we want to go pretty directly.

BTW, gas is back under $3.70 here.

Cheers
 
We just traded our full-size van for a new 4-cylinder Hyundai Elantra. We will do more driving vacations now, and start to utilize more of our FF airmiles.

Dori
 
I may be cancelling 2 of my trips next year requiring flights...:( (Acapulco - Cancun) .

Ok update...DH and I are cancelling all trips involving flights next year except for Cancun, MX

That means No Acapulco, no Las Vegas, no Morritts Tortuga, and no Wisc Dells (ok I am in tears now....) I gave them up cause DH boldly stated I couldn't have them and a Disney Cruise... of course me a Disney Fanatic, gave them up for my 4 day disney cruise...

Luckily I still have time to search for these 2009 Dates (July 4th and Christmas)

Now back to planning...oh and we are also dropping 2 weeks of vacation and only replacing searches for 2...

And NO flying for 2010....
 
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We started cutting back on air travel awhile back, not counting on our 2 weeks on Kauai this June. I'm so glad we did that when we did.
The rest of our trips this year (3), and 4 for next year will all be drive-tos. We do have a TA cruise booked for next April that includes air, and we think it's a good deal. We'll only have 4 ports, and lots of sea days, so that saves on Euros, too.
We're finding ways to cut back on expenses, like eating breakfast and lunch out more often than necessary, and I'm much more conscientious about shopping for food.
We're not much good at depriving ourselves, but some of this crunch might improve some of our habits, so we concentrate on the really important things in our life. Jeez, I hope so! LOL!
 
We're flying back to Grand Cayman in Jan. 09 for our first trip back since Ivan wiped the East End out 4? years ago. We are driving 2.5 hours to JFK from Western Mass for a direct flight on Cayman Air. Both cheaper flight and less hassle with luggage (which includes dive gear.) Parking the Subaru at a friend's house on Long Island for free and taking a $10 train to the Airport. All of our vacations for the past few years have been domestic and have cost us way more than we plan to spend on this one. Funny. Not quite sure how, especially because Grand Cayman is always SO expensive. Let's hear it for the Imperial Gallon of gasoline! Actually cheaper than here in Mass after conversion! We also enjoy our full kitchen to the max, which is standard as we deal with some severe food allergies. It's more of a comfort to cook at 'home' and eat on the balcony by the pool than it is chance a night out at a restaurant.

Is it January yet???

jb
 
Flights might be getting higher but we plan on going to Hawaii just the same--maybe 4 weeks instead of three. Our flights to Orlando are already booked for Feb.-Under $400 from Edmonton so can't complain.
 
I was going to fly to Orlando but decide to go to a destination closer to home so we can drive. Also, instead of 1 week in Cancun, we stretch it out to 2 weeks.
 
We're still going to Hawaii in 2008 & 2009. However, we'll be staying a lot longer. Additionally I'll only get a rental car for 1-2 days. & I'll get a car instead of a mini-van.
 
We will be spending a Labor Day week exchange at MFV with our two sons and their wives and grandson . Close to home for a family vacation. Something we are hoping to start annually if I can get a reasonable resale there.
My DH is retiring at the end of the year so we are already starting to plan vacations alittle differently and more cost effective. Less frequent but longer stays if we fly.
Gas costs? our whole family travels almost an hour one way to their jobs. Ouch!!!!
 
I'm much more nervous!!! We have three weeks in Hawaiian Islands and the costs to get there have gone out of sight! :eek:
 
We're like x3 skier in that FF miles, hotel points, and TS are used. This year we spent 2 weeks in Aruba in the spring at TS, will travel to NYC for 10 days next month staying 1/2 the time with my brother and his family and the other using Marriott hotel points in Times Square and then off to Beijing in the fall, again using FF miles and Marriott hotel points. So, no, we will continue with our usual travel plans, hopefully being able to take advantage of some great trades to Europe next year.

Our biggest travel costs are the cat sitter! She needs to come by daily to give our 2 cats their meds and we pay her generously!

Ingrid
 
Those of you staying at your destinations for more than one week at a time - what are your tricks for getting back to back exchanges?

Those of you using frequent flier miles - have you noticed that there are fewer award seats available now that the airlines are cutting back on flights? How do you deal with that? How about all the extra fees for booking and baggage?
 
Judy said:
Those of you using frequent flier miles - have you noticed that there are fewer award seats available now that the airlines are cutting back on flights? How do you deal with that? How about all the extra fees for booking and baggage?
Click to expand...

Not a problem so far. I just check and see where I can get a ticket and plan from there. If its in Europe, I go to where I can and if necessary, use a LCC carrier to my final destination. Tickets to Mexico are also pretty available and I can go to PV, Cancun, Mazatlan or Cabo Club Regina so whatever Business Class flight is open sets the destination.

Extra fees for booking are not painful since I can get a $2000+ Biz Class to Europe ticket for under $200 so what's the big deal?:D

Baggage is also not a worry since I am an elite member on AA and DL and also there are no charges for First or Business class.

Only real minor worry is the number of seats to the Caribbean has been reduced significantly so that might be a hassle if we trade there. Still my approach is to see where there are trades, put on hold and then see about tickets. If no connection, then back to the UK and / or Mexico.;)

Such are benefits of being a Road Warrior for 40+ years.:banana:

Cheers
 
Judy said:
Those of you staying at your destinations for more than one week at a time - what are your tricks for getting back to back exchanges?

Deposit and request early! We travel shoulder or off season, so getting back to back weeks has not been an issue.

Those of you using frequent flier miles - have you noticed that there are fewer award seats available now that the airlines are cutting back on flights? How do you deal with that? How about all the extra fees for booking and baggage?
Click to expand...

Have noticed it's more difficult getting business class FF seats, otherwise, there's been no problem with availability. DH has elite status so many of the blackout dates, etc. don't apply.
 
I have no plans to alter my vacations. Staying home is not an option since I work from home and have to get away! I can't lengthen vacations since I take two weeks at a time anyway. I like to go to Hawaii at least once a year; it's the only place I truly relax. Since I hit 1P status with UA, I've needed a trip to Hawaii every year to keep it, so I don't plan to cut that trip.
 
We live in the southeast U.S. and we'll most likely travel only within the southeast for the next 2 years or more. We've considered a trip to Hawaii but we won't be doing it. Travel (gas/air) costs are definitely a factor in this decision, though only one factor. It's a good thing we happen to like the southeast! :)
 
Judy said:
As you plan for future exchanges and use of your timeshare weeks, have you changed where you'll go because of the price of gas, the increase in airfares, and the unreliability of flights?

Are you planning to stay home?
Drive to a resort close to home?
Planning to fly domestically?
Planning to fly internationally?
Are you planning 2 or more weeks at the same resort to cut travel expenses?

Are your future plans different from what you used to do before $4+ gas and unreliable air travel?
Click to expand...

We won't stay home.

Flying is getting to be too much of a pain for my taste, though. The luggage restrictions trouble me more than anything, though I'm batting about zero on actually getting ANYWHERE on schedule, for either business or vacation travel. I can't go anywhere direct and one leg ALWAYS gets delayed.

Yesterday, they had to change a tire in Dulles. Monday they had to wait for a crew and some other something (or maybe that was last Friday). The prior Sunday, the engine was leaking, mechanics had to come and identify the problem, find parts, then make the repair. And on and on it goes.

Almost got Involuntarily Denied Boarding yesterday and got the last seat on the plane, but at least two people were IDB. This has never happened to me and I deliberately did not volunteer because I had a strong feeling they wouldn't get enough. I thought I might make a few bucks off the deal. Guess I should have just volunteered and taken the free ticket. It would have (in theory) only gotten me home about four hours later. Wasn't too sure about that on a Friday afternoon, though.

We also don't plan to travel internationally any time soon because of the weak dollar. No wonder so many foreigners come over here. A US vacation is dirt cheap for them.

Sheila
 
We live in FL and vacation pretty close to home (mostly Disney) because it's our cheapest and easiest option with young kids (and all of their stuff) in tow. As our kids get older, I hope to be able to trade into places that we'd have to fly to, though. Hopefully the cost of traveling there won't be prohibitive at that point.
 
Because of the high cost of air fares I sold all 3 of my Hawaii weeks this year, I rented my St Maarten 2009 week for barely higher than my MF's (thankful to have rented it at all), and I paid almost double what I am used to paying to go to Aruba in 2009.I am down to one vacation a year that requires air travel. If air fares stay this high I will sell Aruba after I get back, go to St Maarten in 2010, and sell that week when I return. That will leave me without any weeks owned that require air travel.

Not only is air fare affecting overseas timeshares, gas prices have affected domestic travel too. I rent several of my weeks I can't use every year to help subsidize the MF's of the weeks I do use. In the past this worked great. This year I have banked several weeks last minute because there were no renters making any offers. Several of the weeks I did rent were at much lower prices than I have rented them for in the past. A couple of the renters who rent from me every year didn't rent from me this year because they said that they couldn't afford to or that they decided to do a staycation near home this year. If the rental situation doesn't improve next year I will dump most of my weeks that I don't want to personally use every year at whatever low price I have to sell them for.

You have to change with the times, and the times aren't very good for timesharing right now.
 
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I picked driveable locations for my 2009 week that I deposited. It just came through last week so we'll being packing up the ol' MB wagon and heading to Myrtle Beach for 4th of July.

In the process of buying a location that is a 5hr drive from my home(and a fixed week to boot).

Not planning on selling my DVC points(trying to pull the trigger on airfare for Easter, can get sub $400 tickets into West Palm on NWA, which I think is a good deal).


We actually bought our weeks/points based on their locations to major airports(MCO and DEN). If push came to shove, we could do like my parents did and drive for a couple of days to get to our location.
 
I've cut back a bit - but it is more due to the lack of availabilty of good trades months or a year out. I try to plan in advance and haven't had the time to search II and RCI as much as I'd like.

I've let some companion air tickets go unused also - as I sometimes find either cheaper to pay discounted airfare than use the compainon tickets.

Once at a timeshare - we don't spend a lot. Cook in every day (kids are picky eaters). Car, grocerys, and cheap sovenor and airport parking are really the only expenes we have there.
 
ownsmany said:
I've cut back a bit - but it is more due to the lack of availabilty of good trades months or a year out. I try to plan in advance and haven't had the time to search II and RCI as much as I'd like.

I've let some companion air tickets go unused also - as I sometimes find either cheaper to pay discounted airfare than use the compainon tickets.

Once at a timeshare - we don't spend a lot. Cook in every day (kids are picky eaters). Car, grocerys, and cheap sovenor and airport parking are really the only expenes we have there.
Click to expand...
Shouldn't you be able to use discounted air fare with companion air tickets? I know I can do that with Alaska Airlines.
 
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