Starting Our 4th Year - Continuing Fulltime timesharing

[ronandjoan]

Joan,

It was great meeting you and Ron last winter in PV. We have told your story to many of our friends. You are becoming a legend. :whoopie: We hope to see you back in PV next winter.

Thanks everyone for the nice words, we have loved meeting TUGGERs and have learned so much from everyonel.

Yes, we'll be in PV next Feb for a month, our 2 fixed weeks at Villa del Palmar plus 2 more.

 

[jlwquilter]

Relaxing at home (which happens to be a timeshare) can be a very good thing!

It's something my DH and I have to learn as we are 'vacation warriors". Maybe by retirement we'll have been so many places that repeats and relaxing will naturally happen.

Right now my mantra is "I'll sleep when I am dead. I have no time now!".

 

[jennstall]

I love that you two are doing this. It is a big inspiration to me. I'm curious about how many rentals you average every year as opposed to bonus weeks, etc. Do you do most of your rentals through RCI Last Call?

I currently usually do about 8 weeks of rentals through Last Call per year so I can spend most of winter in Florida, but I would love to increase the amount of time I spend traveling and also decrease the amount of money I spend per week

 

[ronandjoan]

I love that you two are doing this. It is a big inspiration to me. I'm curious about how many rentals you average every year as opposed to bonus weeks, etc. Do you do most of your rentals through RCI Last Call?

Thanks for the kind words.

We have never done an RCI Last Call!

One reason is that we have always planned ahead more than that.
Another reason is, that they are never where we want to go then, very limited inventory! Although FL is a favored place, we already were there.

Another reason is that the price has gone up so high on Extra Vacations - our first couple of timeshare stays were Extra Vacations when they were $249 each. We have rented just one other since then, Silverleaf Fox River for $400+ - which was still cheaper than the MF plus the exchange fee.

we did do an II Getaway one time, $400 to Oceanique, which we loved, in order to attend a wedding. So much cheaper than the hotel they all were staying at!

But, those prices are higher too, where and when we are able to go.

Most of our actual rentals would be through www.vrbo.com.

 

[jennstall]

Joan,

Thanks for the tip on VRBO. I would never have thought of them. Last Call is great for Orlando, but probably not so great for anywhere else

 

[ronandjoan]

$$$

Several of you have asked about the costs we have incurred doing this. I see that my posting about the bonus weeks we have used was deleted and so I was referring to things that you could not see. I am posting those on our BLOG if you would like to read one way we save $$. The posting title is Telemark Bonuses.

 

[lprstn]

We have seriously considered TS 6 months out of the year when we retire. Spend 3 months in Hawaii, although after reading your post on rental car cost I understand that that may be too pricey. The other 3 months would be in Florida or Myrtle Beach.

I read from your blog that you don't actually plan the entire year in advance. That would be a great concern for me personally, but it does save more money.

Have you all considered adding cruising into the equation? Some cruise ships offer great cheap deals if you can travel last minute. AND it includes food and entertainment. We hoped to TS 6 months and cruise 1 month. The rest of the year spend near family and grand kids.

 

[frenchieinme]

One man's trash is another's treasure...

How many timeshares?
6. Own where you want to go. This is the best advice that TUGGERs give and finally I understood how important that is. The timeshare salesmen try to stress exchanging, but if you own where you like to go, there are no exchange fees, no playing games. We own 3 weeks at Telemark, all floating, and 6 weeks at the Townhouses at St Augustine Beach and Tennis Club, 3 fixed and 3 floating, and 2 fixed weeks at Villa del Palmar in PV, all places we LOVE to go to (and all bought on eBay or less.). We usually add bonus weeks to extend those stays, thus capitalizing on the transportation costs and essentially lowering the MF costs.

This to my wife and I is the key to timesharing success. We own fixed weeks and we go there because we love it there especially when the family anf friends come to visit. Now Ron & Joan enjoy their way of doing the timesharing experience. I say kuddos to them. That on the other hand may not be someone else's cup of tea as they say. As long as a timesharer owns in a location one enjoys, that is the key of a positive experience in my estimation.

When we winter in FL, we stay 6 weeks at one location (Cape Coral) and 5 or 6 weeks at our 2nd location (Orlando). That works for us. We use these 2 locations as bases to explore from. E.G., from Cape Coral my wife (being a vintage shopper) likes to go south of Ft. Myers to a shopping mecca called Coconut Point which is one of a plutora of shopping malls in that area. Every winter we explore and find more. We break our days into pool days (on those nice sunny warm days) or exploring shopping days (when the day is overcast and not lending itself to an outside heated pool).

frenchieinme

 

[Cathyb]

Have to ask

July 23 Moving Day
We are moving to another unit today, leaving the lake unit (Telemark Pointe Red Apple Club) to the villas on the hill above Telemark Lodge. The lodge reopened with year and is in the process of remodeling, and we are very happy about it as it was closed last year. Therefore this year, we have a swimming pool available, the indoor one and the large outdoor one is filled, heated and ready to go, but no lifeguards available. It is scheduled to open August 1st, so, hopefully, we can enjoy it a few days, as we will leave here Aug. 6th.
We’ve had two weeks in this unit and then 2 weeks in the next one, both 2 BDs with one day overlap which we like very much in order to move more easily. When we first decided to timeshare full time, A TUGGER commented that he would not like to lose a day of his vacation every week (in our case, a day of our life?) to pack up and move on. I mentioned before that simply moving from one timeshare to another is not too bad: pick up the stuff, put food in ice chest and go, especially if it is only a one day’s drive between stops (even though that means packing up the van carefully, yes!) and we look forward to the next stopping place. And it does keep us more neat and organized (?)
Of course, it is hardest when we are getting on an airplane because it can be tricky planning where we will be next and packing accordingly. For example, from here we go to Seattle, so we’ll have to pack for that trip. When we return to this vehicle in September (which will be parked in Bloomington, IL) we’ll be visiting our son there, then driving to Xenia, OH and maybe Knoxville, then back to IL again to catch the plane back to Seattle on Aug 31st, and we will not come back again until October 5th, when we will return to Telemark for 2 weeks in October, and then begin our drive south for the winter.
So the next timeshare we will be unpacking the whole van will be back here October 10th. Hmmmm…we need to make sure that nothing we need for the shorter stays in 4 different places and several differnet times....is buried in a plastic tub! But my DH just reminded me that we will be unloading the van in Springfield IL, where we have a storage unit, so we can drive with a lighter load to Ohio, except I am going to take a lot of my teaching files to a teacher friend there who is starting to teach science who has never done so before, So the van may be loaded after all to Ohio, but then, not on to Knoxville.
Oh, Oh, it just turned dark, cold, windy… a thunderstorm just started. But we can load the van in a GARAGE here! Telemark Pointe units have large garages!

Joan: I haven't read all the blog so maybe my question has been covered; but how do you handle the bills finding where you are -- like the timeshare fee bills and tax bills for those??? I know for us, some companies are not set up to have the bills go to our bank's checking account. (Hope we get to see you 8/2012 in Seattle and we can talk timeshare trading between us.)

 

[vacationhopeful]

.. Spend 3 months in Hawaii, although after reading your post on rental car cost I understand that that may be too pricey...

I have Winter Weeks in the Ft Lauderdale/Pompano area. There is good public bus service there that I seldom RENT a car while vacation. It is city enough to have good and reasonable cab coverage, lots of dining nearby, reachable malls, easy airport accesses, and a true downtown area. If I was staying there for 2 or 3 months, I would be more likely to drive a car down; 2-3 weeks without a car in a timeshare, is very do-able.

 

[ronandjoan]

I read from your blog that you don't actually plan the entire year in advance. That would be a great concern for me personally, but it does save more money.

Until now, we have booked at least 2 years out. Now,we have collected so many bonus weeks, that we want to use them to save $$.

That said, howver, we have just booked some May, June, and July weeks next year and are about to book Aug. So somehow, we'll find places in between for the bonus weeks.

 

[ronandjoan]

how do you handle the bills finding where you are -- like the timeshare fee bills and tax bills for those??? I know for us, some companies are not set up to have the bills go to our bank's checking account.

At the beginning of the BLOG, the 2008 postings, i tried to cover the many logistical problems we had in setting up this lifestyle.

As for bills, ALL bills, the regular ones, like you, are all set up auto pay either from the credit card or from the bank. We do almost everything on line and watch the bank accounts on line very very often. I take care of my mother's accounts and so continually monitor that there are enough funds to pay for her home care! [Like yesterday, the bank's check did NOT get to the care-giver.....had a long session on the phone with the bank, to no avail, so had to drive to a neighboring town today to send an Express Envelope.]

Those bills which come irregularly, like the annual M/F and taxes? we have four ways to get the amounts :
1. We have a UPS box in a UPS Store in Ohio and they can forward all mail sent there to us, wherever we are, upon request. I can either call or email them. They are super nice to work with! Some companies have that address as the mailing address. There is a fee for forwarding stuff - that is, it is bundled and you pay the postage to forward so we select which comapnies have that address: that mail that we will want to have wherever we are.
2. Our son's address in Seattle is used for all magazines, packages (mail order) and certain other bills, like the Seattle bank, cell phone, and actually Wyndham and RCI and a few others use that address. That mail is not forwarded to us - that family just doesn't do much snail mailing in their lifestyle so we don;t want to bother them with that. Because of the UPS fee, we have magazines and other heavier non-urgent items sent there. We are there very regularly to see my mother, hopefully a trip every 4-6 weeks, (sometimes it is longer), so we pick up the mail then.
3. Internet. We are very aware when the M/F's are due for the properties so we watch for the bills and in one case in particular, UVC, we get on the internet to pay every year.
4. By telephone, especially if we want to deposit a week into an exchange company, we call and pay with a credit card. I just deposited a Sept 2012 week.
I am sure you all do the same things. It's just that we have to keep extra careful account - and with spreadsheets, of course. The hardest one for us to keep track of is the 6 weeks at Townhouses at St Aug Beach and Tennis Club, since 3 are floating and 3 are fixed and they have different contract numbers which we have to figure out,and if we have paid in advance because of a deposit, etc. We've almost figured out how to keep them straight!

You do bring up a potential urgent problem that could occur,though,and that is if the IRS decides to audit us, sends it to Seattle and then we aren't there for a month! and maybe miss the appt deadline. Oops!

So far, that has not happened, but in planning for every possible eventuality?

 

[ronandjoan]

the key to timesharing success. We own fixed weeks and we go there because we love it there especially when the family anf friends come to visit. Now Ron & Joan enjoy their way of doing the timesharing experience. I say kuddos to them. That on the other hand may not be someone else's cup of tea as they say. As long as a timesharer owns in a location one enjoys, that is the key of a positive experience in my estimation.

I listed the fixed weeks we own and the rest of the year is spent with exchanging, so it's probably about 1/2 and 1/2.

 

[ronandjoan]

We have seriously considered TS 6 months out of the year when we retire.
Have you all considered adding cruising into the equation? Some cruise ships offer great cheap deals if you can travel last minute. AND it includes food and entertainment. We hoped to TS 6 months and cruise 1 month. The rest of the year spend near family and grand kids.

Great plans for your retirement! What could be better!

We have not cruised yet. I get motion sickness so am leary, I know that Triptone and Bonine will help, but haven't tried it yet. People differ on which cabin placements would be the best...
The cost was a factor for us, too, since we have not done any last minute stuff yet.
We also try to be within a plane ride to a parent (3 elderly parents)- and we fly Delta....

 

[frenchieinme]

I listed the fixed weeks we own and the rest of the year is spent with exchanging, so it's probably about 1/2 and 1/2.

What I meant is it is not the amount of weeks you necessarily which makes timesharing a positive experience BUT where you own them. If you own primarily where you like to go and vacation, THEN timesharing appears to be more of a positive experience.

frenchieinme

 

[pranas]

Joan, thanks for posting your experiences. I really enjoy reading them.

 

[lprstn]

Joan, I have some friends that do the cruising. They get discounts by calling on Wed and asking what ships leave that Sat. Since we live in a cruise port and now go to FL every year (where we extend our trip with cruising) friends we've met there say you can get a week cruise for 2 for as little as $299 per person. We haven't tried it out yet, but our friend cruises monthly with these deals. Oh, and both my younger kids suffer from motion sickness, but I give them the meds before we get on the boat. Then consistently after that and they are fine.

 

[ronandjoan]

Thanks so much for this information about cruising. Sounds like a good idea to try when we are doing last minute stays!

 

[taffy19]

Thanks so much for this information about cruising. Sounds like a good idea to try when we are doing last minute stays!

Especially from FL, Seattle or Los Angeles. That was a good tip.

I was reading your blog last night and found it very interesting and the movie clip of the loon. Just beautiful to experience that in real life.

Will we meet next Februry again and Bruce and his wife and Karen? Our dates are the same time or very close to it. There is a thread about it here.

 

[Cathyb]

Where are you now

July 23 Moving Day
We are moving to another unit today, leaving the lake unit (Telemark Pointe Red Apple Club) to the villas on the hill above Telemark Lodge. The lodge reopened with year and is in the process of remodeling, and we are very happy about it as it was closed last year. Therefore this year, we have a swimming pool available, the indoor one and the large outdoor one is filled, heated and ready to go, but no lifeguards available. It is scheduled to open August 1st, so, hopefully, we can enjoy it a few days, as we will leave here Aug. 6th.
We’ve had two weeks in this unit and then 2 weeks in the next one, both 2 BDs with one day overlap which we like very much in order to move more easily. When we first decided to timeshare full time, A TUGGER commented that he would not like to lose a day of his vacation every week (in our case, a day of our life?) to pack up and move on. I mentioned before that simply moving from one timeshare to another is not too bad: pick up the stuff, put food in ice chest and go, especially if it is only a one day’s drive between stops (even though that means packing up the van carefully, yes!) and we look forward to the next stopping place. And it does keep us more neat and organized (?)
Of course, it is hardest when we are getting on an airplane because it can be tricky planning where we will be next and packing accordingly. For example, from here we go to Seattle, so we’ll have to pack for that trip. When we return to this vehicle in September (which will be parked in Bloomington, IL) we’ll be visiting our son there, then driving to Xenia, OH and maybe Knoxville, then back to IL again to catch the plane back to Seattle on Aug 31st, and we will not come back again until October 5th, when we will return to Telemark for 2 weeks in October, and then begin our drive south for the winter.
So the next timeshare we will be unpacking the whole van will be back here October 10th. Hmmmm…we need to make sure that nothing we need for the shorter stays in 4 different places and several differnet times....is buried in a plastic tub! But my DH just reminded me that we will be unloading the van in Springfield IL, where we have a storage unit, so we can drive with a lighter load to Ohio, except I am going to take a lot of my teaching files to a teacher friend there who is starting to teach science who has never done so before, So the van may be loaded after all to Ohio, but then, not on to Knoxville.
Oh, Oh, it just turned dark, cold, windy… a thunderstorm just started. But we can load the van in a GARAGE here! Telemark Pointe units have large garages!

Happy Wanderers -- where are you now? We just returned from Coronado, CA (free week there). Piers Morgan was doing his night's show right across the street at the Hotel del Coronado. Pretty cool. We also tried to find the house that had that 'murder' or was it suicide -- the police are trying to decide. Hope to see you in Seattle!

 

[ronandjoan]

Happy Wanderers -- where are you now? Hope to see you in Seattle!

We are right now in Seattle (at the Renton condo), just had a wonderful salmon dinner prepared b our DIL in Issaquah and saw the vidoes of Natalie playing at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, OR last weekend. We go tomorrow to Whidbey Island, see my BLOG for a fabulous photo of the deception Pass bridge, that is seldom seen.

 

[Cathyb]

Great picture!

We are right now in Seattle (at the Renton condo), just had a wonderful salmon dinner prepared b our DIL in Issaquah and saw the vidoes of Natalie playing at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, OR last weekend. We go tomorrow to Whidbey Island, see my BLOG for a fabulous photo of the deception Pass bridge, that is seldom seen.

Good picture to submit to some photo contest! Do you ever have trouble sleeping in so many different beds and bed-types? Ever wake up and forget where the bathroom is in the middle of the night

 

[Free2Roam]

Ever wake up and forget where the bathroom is in the middle of the night

Great question!!!

 

[Judy]

As for bills, ALL bills, the regular ones, like you, are all set up auto pay either from the credit card or from the bank.

Hi Joan, Your posts are fascinating
Paying bills has been a worry for me as I'm planning a long cruise where internet access is slow and expensive.

I like your idea of setting bills up to be paid automatically through your bank account. Do you consider credit card bills among those "regular" ones? My bank's system will only pay the "amount due" automatically, not the "balance in full". I like to pay the "balance in full" . Maybe I need a new bank If I'm not being too nosy, may I ask which bank's online bill-pay you use?

 

[ronandjoan]

Do you ever have trouble sleeping in so many different beds and bed-types? Ever wake up and forget where the bathroom is in the middle of the night

We have been very surprised to have few problems with beds and bedding in the many timeshares we have stayed in. Actually the ONLY time we have had real problems with back pain in the morning, was in the last month when we stayed at 2 non-timeshare palaces.
I do carry a set of sheets with us, I like thick cotton sheets, especially to use at St Augustine, since the sheets there are thin (and we are there 5 weeks), and only occasionally at other times, have I gotten them out to use. Usually bedding is quite nice and in many places, VERY nice (e.g. in Wyndhams!)
(Yes, just like I carry extra flatware to augment the small number of forks and spoons!)
And, thankfully!!!!! we have been able to know where the bathroom is everywhere we go! And I actually know where I am! In the 80’s, when I was traveling often to give presentations at educational conferences, and flying from time zone to time zone, I would wake up and not know! A funny feeling. But so, far, we have been able to keep track. It may be because we plan ahead and are more aware of where we are going, and also, that we usually are staying more than a night or two here and there.
I did become confused last year when we were at Telemark, where we go every year, but were in another unit, a mirror image of the one we usually stay in, and I found myself going to the wrong side of the condo to go into the 2nd bedroom!