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A weekend getaway to Savannah, GA

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savannah A weekend getaway to Savannah, GA

A friend and I are heading to Savannah, GA in a few days for some fun, relaxation, and good ol’ girl bonding time. I first expressed an interest in visiting Savannah and Charleston two years ago, and now the Savannah trip is finally happening! I am really excited about the chance to explore this gorgeous Southern port city planned by James Edward Oglethrope. Apparently, the beauty of Savannah saved it from burning during the Civil War – even in wartime, it seems, there can be an instinct for preserving a jewel of a city. We only have 2 days in Savannah, so we will stick to the Historic District in downtown.

Here is our itinerary:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

  • 10am – Brunch at B. Matthew’s (included in Hotel Rate); check out of Spanish Moss Inn
  • 12pm – Depart Savannah

If you have lived in / visited Savannah and have recommendations on must-see’s and must-eats, please share in the comments! We can be flexible on restaurants.

 

Things that jolt you into action

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My grandfather passed away last week. Even though I am sad he is gone, I am glad that he had a very full 89 years and a relatively peaceful, painless death.

His death has really jolted me into understanding the mortality of my parents, who are turning 60 this year. SIXTY! I’ve always had this image of my parents as 50-something folks, and it’s sobering to think that they are, well, old, and getting older. There will come a day when I will have to say goodbye to them, just as they have said goodbye to my grandparents.

It’s that realization that made me sadder than even my grandfather’s death. It’s also that realization that made me decide to not put things off to “tomorrow,” and instead, take steps to do things today.

One of my goals is to go on more family trips with my parents and CB and I. When I was young, my parents and I would go on small vacations (a day or two over the weekends). By the time I entered high school, however, family vacations stopped because we all just got so busy. I’m going to change that! So this Memorial Day weekend, I am planning a trip for the four of us. It’s going to cost some money – flights for 4 are not cheap on a long holiday weekend – but the way I look at it, these next 10 years are going to be prime family travel years for my parents and I, and the time to start is NOW.

What are things that have jolted you into action on your life or finances?

We are not going to Paris

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Our Paris planning euphoria last barely a month. CB and I were all set to go to Paris in May, but… after talking it through some more, we have decided to shelf that plan. Thank you to all the dear readers who have commented and emailed me with suggestions and encouragement. I feel like the “girl who cried Paris” one too many times – and I almost feel as if I am letting you all down by not going.

dc vs paris vacation We are not going to Paris

In the end, though, the prudence (or risk aversion) won over the wanderlust in me. I still want to go on a little vacation together, so instead, we are going to take a few days and head to Washington D.C.

Why we aren’t going to Paris:

  1. Paris is expensive. Flights alone would cost $1,250 a person. So we’d be out $2,500 before we even set foot on French soil. Adding up the costs of a week’s worth of accommodation, food, entertainment, etc, the whole trip will cost at least $5,000.
  2. Paris is not our DREAM vacation. It would be lovely to visit the City of Light, but we want to go to Galapagos more. So we are going to continue to focus on that number one travel priority and divert the money we would have spent on Paris to our Galapagos fund.
  3. We want to relax. As beautiful and enriching a trip to Paris would be, I foresee it as a little bit of a stressful excursion. I know I will feel the pressure to SEE ALL THE SIGHTS! and neither of us know the language. If we delay this trip to later, we’ll be in a better financial position and can at least learn a smattering of French before we go.

Our trip to Washington, D.C. fulfills a lot of what we wanted to get out of our vacation – we’ll still get to indulge in a rich museum culture (most of which is free, thank you Smithsonian and Taxpayers of America!), stay in a nice apartment and enjoy meals at new restaurants. On the plus side, the D.C. trip will only cost us ~$1,500, and the rest of the money we can direct towards our other financial goals.

Would you have gone to Paris instead?  

 

 

We Are Going to Paris

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Oui oui, Paris!

paris by Moyan Brenn We Are Going to Paris

Photo by Moyan Brenn

A year ago, I wrote about our dilemma of going on vacation before I head to graduate school. After a lot of finger-wrangling and blog-advice-listening, I decided to forgo that vacation because I just wasn’t comfortable with spending so much money ($11,000 cruise to Galapagos) before I will be spending so much MORE money ($50,000+/year for my MBA).

Just a few days ago, I decided that I want to go on an international trip this year. May is the best time for CB and I to do so, scheduling-wise. It’s not THE most responsible thing to do, especially as the trip will likely cost $5,000 and the money could certainly be spent on tuition. Still, I just feel like I want to be irresponsible for a little bit. Or that I have been responsible for long enough to be a little irresponsible.

So we are going to Paris.

The plan is to spend 6 days in the city, where we will not only take in the sights  (Louvre, Versailles, Eiffel Tower, etc.) but also save time for just meandering through cobblestone streets and sipping coffee during a bout of people-watching.

Please share your recommendations of what to do / where to eat in Paris. Also, any thoughts on the 11th Arrondissement? We may rent an apartment there.

Question From a Reader: When to Pitch In For Long Distance Dating?

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I got this question on my post about the cost of long distance relationships, and thought that you guys can chime in and share some suggestions with this reader:

I’m just starting to see someone from NC and I’m in FL. We’ve spoken on the phone for months and he purchased tickets for me to come up at the end of August. It was just as fantastic in person as on the phone. At this point, we feel quite connected and have been having 2-3 hours conversation each night since early Aug. Since he paid for everything, tickets, entertainment, dinners out, food, gas, etc. while I was in NC last month, should I reciprocate now. He is softly mentioning my getting the next round of tickets and since we’re so ‘young’ in this relationship, I’m wondering “when is the time I should pay?”

My take is that if she can afford it and she wants to continue the relationship, she should pay for the next trip. At the very least, pay for a portion of the next trip. If she can’t afford to pay to visit until 3 months later and the guy wants her to visit say, in 2 months, then he should offer to make up the shortfall. Now if she is on a very tight budget and really cannot afford to travel, then she should have an honest conversation with the guy about why she is unable to visit or unable to pay for the visits.

Here’s my principle for thinking about money in relationships, long distance or otherwise: treat people with respect, make sure no one is feeling taken advantage of, and don’t jeopardize your financial security.

Thoughts?

Honeymoon Spending Summary

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I crunched the numbers, and thanks to credit card sign-on bonuses and miles, we did a 9-day Argentina honeymoon for under $3,000.

  • Flights (international & domestic): $1,200
  • All spending in Argentina: $1,560.33
  • This is broken down into:
    (a) hotels: $220. We stayed at a small hotel in a not-so-good part of town for 4 days, which in hindsight was not the smartest decision. The rest of the time we stayed – for free! – at 4-star and 5-star hotels that normally cost $250-$700/night using credit card points.
    (b) food & activities: 1,540.33. We went horseback riding, took a private tango class, and ate empanadas almost every single day. Our most expensive meal was supposed to be $135 for the two of us, but a gentleman at the dinner found out that we were on our honeymoon and INSISTED on paying our bill. I couldn’t believe the goodwill of people, but that made me feel so touched. This cost also includes travel medical insurance.

Total spending: $2,960.33 or $328.93 per day

romance Honeymoon Spending Summary

The romance is alive!

Ways To Save on a Hotel

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This is a guest post by Michelle at Making Sense of Cents. She writes about personal finance related topics such as budgets, student loans, and making money, but also talk a lot about traveling, beauty and food – and especially of her favorite topic – travel!

Ways To Save on a HotelI’ve found that the best way to save money is to find the best rate you can find on where you’re staying. I don’t like to go to cheap with the place that I choose, because I don’t want to ruin the trip by staying in a place that I hate.

When I went to San Juan last year, I scrimped on the hotel room (but it was still expensive, the room was around $200 a night). That was the cheapest I could find for a hotel that was actually on the beach during peak season.The hotel ended up being great, but the rooms were HORRIBLE.

The hotel was great. It was on the beach, only had around 30 to 40 rooms and it was VERY pretty. But once you opened up the hotel room door, it looked nothing like the pictures online.

There was stuff on the wall (food, some throw up and hair).  The bed was dirty as well. It was made but it was very obvious that the sheets were not washed because there was hair in the bed (and a lot of it).

However, we have chosen cheap before and it has worked out great. I think reading reviews is key as well. In the above case, there were hardly any reviews. But for our Miami trip last year, we used Airbnb because we had just heard about it and heard such great reviews.

For our Miami trip in the summer of last year (the white 2 story condo in the picture), we used Airbnb and got the room for around $125 a night for the room. Not the cheapest place we have ever stayed at, but it was across the street from the beach, in Miami Beach, had a canal in the backyard with a boat and kayak for us to use, and a jacuzzi (way too hot in Miami when we went, so we never hopped in).

It was a great deal, and our host was very nice. We talked to him for a bit and he owns multiple properties in the Miami Beach area, but he had managers at each property. He was very easy to get a hold of as well. I believe the personal touches and customer service were great to have.

I’ve looked at other places on Airbnb and I usually fall in love with all of the places. They are always such great deals in nice areas. You can either get a room within a house, a condo, a guest house, or share a room with others.

We also went to Kauai this year, and we used Priceline to bid on our hotel. This was the first time I had ever done this, so I was very nervous. But after looking at many Priceline forums and tips, I got the Sheraton Kauai Resort for $140 a night, whereas it usually started at around $250 a night. I was very happy with this hotel as well!

There are so many ways to save on a hotel:

  1. Sites such as Expedia and Priceline can be great. They usually have great deals, and you can usually call the hotel directly to haggle for an even lower price.
  2. Bid for your hotel on Priceline. We saved a lot on our Kauai trip by bidding for it. We weren’t too specific on what we wanted, just that we wanted to be on the beach, so this made it easy to bid for.
  3. Couchsurfing. I’ve signed up for this site, but I have never used it. It sounds very interesting though. You offer up a room or a couch in your house and hopefully you can crash at someone else’s place for free as well. And these people will hopefully tell you or show you where you should visit while on vacation.
  4. Airbnb. Our Miami trip went very smoothly due to us using this site. You can read other’s reviews (they have to pay in order to leave a review, so they are more likely to be true). [Note: I've used AirBnB twice, and were very happy both times - Well Heeled Blog]

What do you usually do to save on your hotel costs?

Is Travel The New Way to “Keep Up With The Jonses”?

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Here’s something that went through my mind as I click through my friends’ Facebooks and look at the glorious pictures of their time in Europe or Asia or Africa: Can travel become another form of consumption? Another way to “keep up with the Jonses”?

travel competition Is Travel The New Way to Keep Up With The Jonses?

Experts tell us that spending on experiences tend to make us happier than spending on stuff. What can be the best embodiment of experience than a really awesome vacation? Instead of coveting and surpassing the Jonses’ shiny new roadster or Italian handbag or big mansion with a pool, are we now trying to top number of countries visited and rank our most exhilerating experiences? Has trekking through the Australian outbacks, jetting to Paris in the Spring and hanging out in Bali in November become what the “cool kids do?”

I enjoy traveling – I love going to new places and immersing in the sense of “out of the every day” that a good trip brings. But sometimes I feel badly because I felt that I haven’t traveled enough – not enough for my own enjoyment and not enough compared to the people I know. It seems silly to let something that bring me so much joy bring me down because I feel as if I haven’t done enough – after all, some wise man has said that comparison is the thief of joy. I try not to compare, but then those damned Facebook pictures come up. My eyes devour those pictures, like a fashion blogger might covet a Celine bag or a hungry child would salivate at a cake.

It has been two years since my 5 Year Travel Plan post, and I have only made my way to one of those places, and that was for a family emergency, not a vacation. That means there are only 3 years left! Now, instead of trying to keep up with someone else, I’m trying to keep up with the me I thought I’d be. Perhaps I have met the Joneses, and they are us. icon wink Is Travel The New Way to Keep Up With The Jonses? My biological clock has kept very silent, but I certainly feel the travel clock tickin’. I couldn’t be the only one who feels this way – I have several friends who joke that they are all just driven by this sense of restlessness – to see more, do more, travel more – that is exacerbated by the copious amount of information we have on other friends or friends of friends who seem to jet off to Hong Kong at the drop of a dime or who managed to snag jobs in places such as Austria, Ghana, and Germany.

Do you ever feel the pressure to travel to foreign & interesting locales? Do you think travel has become a status symbol?

First Time as AirBnB Guest: a Review

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We spent three nights at an AirBnB house for our visit to Boston. It was our first stay via AirBnB, and so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect…

airbnb First Time as AirBnB Guest: a ReviewWhat is AirBnB

AirBnB is a leading member among the rise of “alternative accomodations” – alternative to traditional hotels and bed & breakfasts. Other members of the space include VRBO – Vacation Rentals By Owner, Homeaway, and Roomrama. AirBnB helps connect homeowners who rent out a room in their house, or their entire house or apartment with travelers who are looking for a different, and many times, cheaper, experience than a hotel would provide. It’s been around since 2008 and have generally received good reviews in the press (but for an example of how things can go VERY WRONG, see here).

To use AirBnB, you fill out a profile which can be as detailed or as vague as you’d like and then you search for vacancies in your destination with your dates. Guests review the properties after their stay, and hosts review the guests as well. Now, MOST of the reviews I’ve read on the site are overwhelmingly positive. I think this has to do with the fact that most hosts try to do a good job, but that it’s also awkward to give very negative reviews when you know you will be reviewed in return.

You pay AirBnB via credit card, and the payment is released to the hosts after you check out. This, the thought goes, provides some incentive for hosts to keep their word and provide at good service.

Our Experience

We actually took a bit of a risk, as we booked our stay with a new listing that had only one prior – but positive – review. I suppose our hosts took a risk as well, given that we were brand-new members and haven’t been reviewed before. Fortunately, it turned out very well. For our 3 nights stay in the heart of Cambridge, we paid $314 for a spacious room with a shared bath. This price includes the AirBnB booking fee. Because we were coming into Boston during graduation season, the cheapest hotel we could find would cost $441 for the same dates. Even with a $25 cancellation fee – I booked the hostel before I searched on AirBnB – we saved $100 on our lodging. And that was enough for a nice meal at Lineage in Coolidge Corner and a canoe ride in Concord!

We had our own key to the front door and could come and go as we please. The host was very ameable and we chatted a couple of times, but there was no pressure to have a long conversation. The kitchen was open for our use, but we didn’t really take advantage of that. If you like to cook during vacations, though, having kitchen access would be a huge plus.

Things to keep in mind:

  • The most important tip I have would be to do some research on exactly what kind of location the house/apartment is in. A place that is listed as “just 15 minutes from the beach” might take you an hour to drive under Los Angeles traffic conditions, and a room that is advertised as “only 5 miles from city center” might be in a bad part of town. Do your due diligence. Fortunately, I had a friend in Boston who vetted my AirBnB place, so that was really helpful.
  • You are staying in someone’s home, and that experience can be very different from staying in a hotel. Our house had far more charm and space than any hotel we can book for the same price, but it also came with its set of quirks. Very noisy wood floors, a tiny sink, a bedroom door that didn’t quite lock, etc. None of these things detracted much from our experience, but just know that you have to be much more open to adjusting to different things to have a good experience with AirBnB.
  • Hosts can also institute a cleaning fee – typically $25-$100 – and a security deposit – I’ve seen up to $500! I typically avoid properties with high cleaning fees or security deposits above $100 because that seems to me a way of artificially deflating their list price. According to AirBnB, “we’ll automatically authorize the guest’s credit card for the deposit 24 hours prior to check-in. We release it back to the guest 48 hours after the checkout date, if no damages are reported by the host.”

We didn’t have to contact AirBnB for anything during our stay, but I do appreciate the fact that the company has 24/7 support. If something goes wrong, you have somebody to reach out to.

Would I use AirBnB again?

Yes, I would. In fact… we had such a good experience with AirBnB that we booked a room through them for our wedding weekend. Our room cost $220 for 2 nights, while all the hotels in the area cost $180+ per night. The savings can be quite remarkable. There are things that I will miss about a hotel (which is why we decided to do luxury hotel all the way for our honeymoon), but I was very happy with AirBnB.

A Long Weekend in Boston: What I Spent

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I dropped off the face of the internets for the past week because… I have been enjoying a little pre-wedding vacation in Boston! If every season could be like May or September in Boston, I would move there in a heartbeat, insane rents be dammed. For now, though, CB and I are enjoying time as tourists in the gorgeous Spring weather. We had a very fun, very full three-and-a-half days, and we didn’t really keep a budget (oops). The accounting waited til we got home…

Cost of Boston Trip

  • Flights on Virgin America: $680
  • Local transportation: $112 – we both had Charlie Cards and went everything on the T. For our day trips, we took the commuter rail to Salem and Concord.
  • Snacks & water: $18 – including a $3 bag of Pop Chips on the flight.
  • Food: $251 – $60 bar tab at Lineage, $8 Boston Cream Pie at the Omni Parker House, $3/slice pizza and everything in between.
  • Entertainment & tours: $118 - we purchased 2 tickets to Museum of Science ($54), a Salem history tour ($32), canoe rental in Concord ($14), and admission to the Louisa May Alcott house ($18).
  • Hotel: $314 – Boston isn’t exactly a poster child for affordable accomodations, so we decided to try out AirBnB for the first time. A review is going up this week.

We spent a grand total of $1,487, or an average of $212.43 per person, per day.

It appears that our budget came in line with our previous Boston trips, and in fact our food costs were a $100 lower than what we had spent before, even though we love eating out on vacations.  Our secret? Have a mid-afternoon or early evening snack at the bar of some ritzy place (to take in the atmosphere!), but then get a late-night dinner at local favorite or hole-in-the-wall. This plan worked out wonderfully. On Friday, for example, we met with a couple of friends for drinks, appetizers, and dessert at the Omni Parker House in Beacon Hill ($30). After 3 hours, we ambled over to tacos at Felipe’s Taqueria in Harvard Square ($9). We could’ve NEVER eaten a dinner at Omni Parker House for $40 for the two of us, but because we had food at the bar instead of a full meal, we got to have the best of both worlds. icon wink A Long Weekend in Boston: What I Spent

 

boston trip A Long Weekend in Boston: What I Spent

Long Distance Relationship & Getting Ahead Financially

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long distance relationship Long Distance Relationship & Getting Ahead FinanciallyIn an ideal world, I doubt many people would move 3,000 miles away from their husband or wife a month after saying their wedding vows. But in the real world, that’s the situation CB and I are faced with, a move can save us some serious cash. That makes me wonder: would you enter into a long-distance relationship with your significant other because of financial reasons? Minimizing loans, attending a better school, securing a job, or winning a bigger promotion are all admirable goals, but what if they can only happen if you commit to living apart for hundreds or thousands of miles?

Long distance relationships and marriages and becoming more common, to the point that the US Department of State has coined a new term, “geographic singles.” Another term is “commuter marriage” or “weekend marriage,” representing folks who work too far apart to see each other during the week. During tough economic times, many couples are willing to live apart for a paycheck. Then there are the super LDRers who engage in transcontinental relationships and arrange for romantic weekends in Europe when one partner lives in the U.S. and another lives in Asia.

CB and I have always knew that a long-distance marriage would be in our future, for at least a few years. But we are now considering going from same-coast long distance (2 hour direct flight) to opposite-coast long distance (6 hour flight + layover = 8+ hours of travel). This is a move that could save us up to $50,000 in students loans. Is NOT having to repay $50,000 in loans (which would cost us $60,000 of net income once taxes and interest are factored in) worth putting 3,000 miles between the two of us for a year?

Long distance relationships and getting ahead financially: would you do it sometimes, always, or never?

Going on Vacation When You Are In Debt

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galapagos penguin Going on Vacation When You Are In Debt

If there is something that the personal finance blogosphere loves, it’s vacations/travel. If there is something that the personal finance blogsophere hates, it’s debt. When you combine the two, what do you get?

My dilemma. Should I go on vacation while I am in debt. Or put another way, should I use money that I have saved for vacation when it’s money I can use to minimize my debt?

Here’s the situation

Long-time readers will remember the many (seriously, many) times I have gushed about the prospect of going to the Galapagos Islands near Ecuador. CB and I started a joint savings account back in April 2010 to save for this trip. We celebrated each small milestone, high-fived each other when our $250 became $500 became $700 and so on. When the Galapagos Fund crossed over the $5,000 mark in April 2011, I was so excited I almost cried. Now, our darling baby fund is a robust $11,000. It’s ENOUGH. Enough to fund a 7-night cruise to the Galapagos plus a few days in Quito, buy an entry-level dSLR or a really great point-and-shoot, pay for our park fees and international flights. We might even have a thousand or two left over. That’s what the money is FOR.

On the other hand, it’s almost $11,000 in cold hard cash that we can use to pay for less-exciting-but-far-more-necessary things like, oh, you know, graduate school tuition. It doesn’t quite make sense to keep the money in a 0.8%-interest earning account when graduate student loans will start at 6.8% (or more). We could go on a trip in 2013, but we will be busy with school and internships and one of my good friends might be getting married and we’ll have to travel for that, and it’s probably not the best time, logistically speaking.

Paying off Debt vs. Going on Vacation

“Well, at least I’m not taking on debt to go on a vacation,” I thought. But am I really avoiding debt for this trip? Or am I falling prey to a case of mental accounting? Let’s say a year of school for CB costs $12,000 out of pocket, and he will be in school for at least 2.5 years or a total of $30,000. Consider these two scenarios:

Scenario 1: CB and I spend the $11,000 in cash on Galapagos, and we have to take on the $30,000 tuition in student loans. Total debt = $30,000
Scenario 2: CB and I use the $11,000 to pay for his tuition, therefore we need to take out $19,000 in student loans. Then, we go to Galapagos and take out consumer debt of $11,000 to cover the trip. Total debt = $30,000

vacation vs. debt Going on Vacation When You Are In Debt

Even though we “used cash we saved for a vacation” in Scenario 1 and “took on debt for a vacation” in Scenario 2, in both cases, our resulting total debt levels are the SAME. It makes no difference (disregarding interest rates for a second here) whether we spend the $11,000 on Galapagos or school. It matters that that $11,000 is no longer available for tuition if we spend it on Galapagos. Yet another example of the fungibility of money. SIGH. So if I would never ever advocate taking on debt for a vacation, and Scenario 1 would land us in the same debt situation, should we really be going to the Galapagos? Can we really afford to go to the Galapagos?

The responsible, adult, thing to do would be to take that money, defer our dreams of seeing the turtles for a few years, and use it to pay for tuition/living expenses. But I can’t deny the wave of disappointment that comes over me when I think about that option.

I want to see the turtles. I want to do this trip. I want to cross Galapagos off my bucket list.

What would you do?

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndecam/

Bathroom Attendants!? Don’t Go to the Bathroom Without A Few Dollars in Your Pocket

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I know I have to tip when I ride in a taxi, when I eat in a restaurant, and when I leave a hotel room. But… in the restroom? Apparently, tips and bathrooms are not mutually exclusive.

During one of our nights in Las Vegas, we had dinner at Tao, the trendy Asian-fusion restaurant where no matter how hip you are, you are never hip enough. When I snuck to the restroom to wash my hands, I was faced with a sink lined with perfume, breath mints, lotions, hairspray, etc. And off to the side stood the bathroom attendant, a lady pumping handwash onto your palms and offering up paper towels the moment you turn off the faucet.

In the middle of the counter, there are two glass jars with dollar bills. So imagine my discomfort when I realized that I have NO cash on me, anywhere. I was so embarassed that the second time I went to the restroom I just washed my hands and wiped them on my jeans instead of taking a paper towel. This is the first time I have seen a bathroom attendant (I had thought that they were the stuff of urban legends, conjured up to frighten cashless restaurant patrons), and I have no idea what the correct etiquette would be.

On the one hand, I don’t think I should have to fork over money just because I go to the restroom. On the other hand, it is pretty awkward when there is a human being handing you towels and a tip jar standing RIGHT there. I wish bathroom attendants weren’t necessary - actually, I wish that restaurants would pay them a minimum wage so that I don’t have to feel bad about not having a dollar to tip. The restaurant can roll up the higher cost into the price of the meal – I would be much more comfortable with that arrangement.

Have you frequented places with bathroom attendants? When & how much do you tip?

Save Money or Quit Job, End Lease, and Travel to China for 3 Weeks?

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Once I found out about business school, my plan was to work until the end of June, give myself a few weeks to relax and move, and then head back to school in July/August. Last night, however, I started thinking that maybe… for this time in my life, I can afford to be a little irresponsible.

I am considering quitting my job at the beginning of May, ending the lease on our apartment, and packing up to travel China for 3 weeks. Should I do it?

YES, because:

  • CB and I will not have 3 weeks to just go travel for the next few years. After graduate school we will be busy working, paying off student loans, being “adults.”
  • It would be nice to see and introduce CB to part of my extended family. Plus, China is part of my heritage and I’d REALLY want to go back beyond simply wanting a vacation.
  • We are willing to stay in hostels and take night trains to stay on budget, and for part of the trip we will be guests of my uncle and aunt, who will undoubtedly insist on paying for most of our expenses. The whole trip, including international airfare from LAX to Beijing, will probably cost $4,500 for 3 weeks. If we only go for 2 weeks, we can probably swing it for $4,000.
  • Ahhh! China!! THREE WEEKS! (can you sense the excitement?)

NO, because:

  • That $4,500 we’ll be spending could go to graduate school tuition… which will be sorely appreciated by our Future Indebted Selves.
  • Quitting almost two months early means that we will be cutting our 401K contributions by $3,500+. Not a small figure. We will also have to front our own insurance (COBRA or buy a temporary insurance) once we stop receiving employer-sponsored coverage.
  • It will be much more challenging to max out our Roth IRAs (we will still do it, just might have to take some money out of savings to do so).
  • We won’t be, you know, making money.

I talked to several of my friends, and they all said that I should go travel. In my heart of hearts, that’s what I want to do. From past experience, trips deferred just don’t happen. My girlfriends and I had planned on a Mexican cruise in 2009. But we kept pushing it further and further down the schedule, until no one even talk about it anymore. I do not want CB and my China trip to suffer the same fate. But the money. Ouch.

If you were in my situation, what would you do? Or would you strike for a compromise – taking a 2-week vacation in May and quitting in June as planned?

8-Day China Tour for $49 – Great Deal, But There are Caveats

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china tour 8 Day China Tour for $49 Great Deal, But There are Caveats

If you found out about a deal that would only cost $49/person for an 8-day tour of China, you would jump on it, right? After all, who WOULDN’T want to visit the Middle Country for less than the cost of a tank of gas? I talked to my parents, researched online, and checked out a few Chinese travel agencies to get more details on this seemingly too-good-to-be-true deal.

Here’s the gist on the $49 China 8-Day Tour

The Chinese government is subsiziding these deals for overseas Chinese (living in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and I think Australia, and New Zealand) and their friends/families to promote consumer spending inside China. That is how tour groups are able to offer such an unbelievable price – $49 for 8-day/7 nights of hotel stays, internal transportation, meals, and entrance fees and guided tours to popular attractions. So, the good news is that this is a legitimate tour with several benefits, not least of which is money. But remember the “there is no free lunch” axiom? That caveat applies here as well.

Here are the benefits:

  • It’s a cheap trip and a fanstastic value! All of your hotel, dining, and attraction expenses will be covered under this program. So, if you are truly frugal and disciplined, all you have to spend for 8 days in China is $49 (if you are an overseas Chinese) or $199 (if you are not) plus the cost of your airfare. You will not find a deal like this anywhere else. If you are short on funds, this is a fun and cost-effective way to visit China.
  • You will stay in really nice 4-star or 5-star hotels that go for $100+ a night, although they will likely be outside the immediate city centers. Just on hotels alone, you would have more than “made back” the cost of the trip.
  • You won’t have to worry about your itinerary and you will be led to the most popular attractions. There is very little planning you would have to do on a trip such as this.
  • You will have the opportunity to meet with overseas Chinese folks and maybe even practice some Mandarin!

But beware the caveats…

  • These tours have mandatory “shopping visits,” which makes sense as the tours’ purpose is to promote more spending in China. Every day, you must spend a couple hours a day at stores and malls that the tour guides take you to. You don’t have to buy anything, but the sales pressure can be pretty heavy. Plus, your time is not your own during those hours. If you miss these tours, you will be fined. This means you can’t take off to do your own activities.
  • The tour guide may only speak Chinese Mandarin and/or Cantonese. You will have to pay a surcharge for an English guide. This website says the surcharges are $200 per person.
  • Airfare isn’t cheap! From Los Angeles to Beijing, tickets can easily cost $800 per person for economy class. The costs are even more expensive if you are flying from the Northeast or the Midwest. There is no point in spending this money if you won’t be enjoying yourself on the tour.
  • Your restaurants and hotels will be predetermined for you. This aspect isn’t different from that of any other set tour, but is something to keep in mind. The food, according to reviews I have read, is not that great with the exception of breakfast. Several ads have described lunches and dinners as “local flavor banquet” and while I love Chinese food, the food that I find the least appetizing are banquet food.
  • Your time at the attractions will be more limited than if you are traveling independently or if you are traveling with a “normal-fee” tour group. Your guide may be good or not, but his main incentive will be to pack you inside shopping malls or stores instead of providing good commentary on the attractions.

I talked to CB and my parents about whether this trip would be worth it, and ultimately we decide it wasn’t the right trip for us. The airfare is still a major hurdle as it will be over $1,500 for the pair of us to fly back. We don’t mind tours, but sitting in buses and getting shipped to stores where we have to stay for hours per day doesn’t sound appealing at all. There is also the question of time. My PTO schedule is getting mighty tight (having to fly across the country for school visits and interviews will do that to you!), so these 8 days cost something too. Between the flights and the vacation days we’d have to take, we decided to just save up the extra money and just do a trip in China where we are free to craft our own itinerary.

The bottom line: this is a great deal if you want to see China on the cheap and stay in nice places, as long as you don’t mind the less attractive aspects of the tour. If you are interested, here are some reviews and tour descriptions (here and here if you can read Chinese). Your local Chinese travle agency would also know more about these deals. As far as I can tell, they have been going on for the past couple of years, and is extended into Spring 2012.

Would you ever go on a tour like this?

Hat tip to Happy Homeowner, where I first read about this type of tours.

10 Ways to Deal with Your Wanderlust When You’re Short on Time and/or Money

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wanderlust 10 Ways to Deal with Your Wanderlust When Youre Short on Time and/or MoneyI’ve been bitten by a serious case of wanderlust lately. Part of it is the fact that I have not flown since last October, and another part is that I just really cannot wait until our honeymoon to Buenos Aires. What to do, what to do, when you are itching to travel, but cannot (at least not yet) because of lack of resources, whether that be time or finances?

Here are 10 ways to deal with that wanderlust when you’re short on time or money.

  1. Attend a travel convention. That’s what I’m doing this weekend – the Los Angeles Time Travel Show is here, and if I can’t head to London or Barcelona at least I can listen to Rick Steves TALK about the wonders of Europe. (If you want to go, use the code “LATR” or “LATO” for $2 off the $10 admission tickets).
  2. Set up a dedicated travel fund. If one of the obstacles to a trip is money, there’s only one way to resolve that obstacle – with money! Putting dollars away in a specific fund help us prepare for a big vacation – our Galapagos Fund has grown from a twinkle in my eye in April 2010 to $10,000+ now.
  3. Subscribe to well-written travel catalogs with lots of colorful photos and detailed itineraries. OK, this might only make your wanderlust that much more powerful, but it’s a fun way to torture the traveler in you! I especially enjoy Wilderness Travel’s paper catalog (it’s free, and they don’t spam). I have one from last year that I’ve read, cover-to-cover, more times than I can count on my fingers.
  4. Read blogs of folks who have visited the destination of your desire. I am a frequent visitor of this Galapagos trip blog. I try to tell myself that my time will come. 
  5. Plan out an entire trip in your head. From airfare, to specific hotels and restaurants, to entertainment options, to local transportation. Maybe keep a few spreadsheets detailing the budget breakdown of what such a trip will cost. Go back to #2. Repeat as necessary for all the trips that you want to take. Thanks to my penchant for researching and planning trips, I now have the itineraries of Turkey, Paris, New Zealand, and a several other places floating around in my head. Hmmm.. Oops? (I can’t be the only one who does this!).
  6. Host a foreign exchange student or foreign traveler. If you can’t go to Rome, you can bring someone from Rome to your home! If you are ready for a longer-term commitment, serving as a host for a foreign exchange student would be a great way to learn more about that person’s culture. Or sites like couchsurfing will let you play host for a few days.
  7. Pretend to be a tourist in your own city. So many times we forget or overlook the tourist attractions in our own cities, attractions that real tourists pay good money to be able to visit! I’ve been guilty of this. So play tourist for a day – maybe even ask someone for directions.
  8. Go on a day trip. Leave early, come back late means that you save on the hotel costs but can see visit someplace a little bit different from the day-to-day. If you are in Los Angeles, you can make it to Santa Barbara on a day trip. If you are in San Francisco, Monterey (and the famous aquarium) is doable. If you are in D.C., the wineries of Charlottesville are 2.5 hours away. If you are in San Diego, land of perfect 72 degrees, WHAT are you complaining about?! icon wink 10 Ways to Deal with Your Wanderlust When Youre Short on Time and/or Money
  9. Open a rewards credit card to pay for your hotel or flights. Done and done. Of course, only do this if you can pay off your balance in full every month.
  10. Drink wine and pretend you are in Paris. Enough said.

Share in the comments! What effective, unusual, wacky ways do you try to deal with your wanderlust, when you just can’t get away?

Are Travel Flash Sale Sites Really Cheaper? Do Your Homework Before You Buy

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As someone who (1) loves to travel, (2) enjoys luxury, and (3) has a budget, I was so happy when travel flash sale sites started popping up a few years ago. These sites host “flash sales” on hotels, cruises, vacation packages, or even airfare. The sales last for a few days and is often final sale, and in exchange consumers are supposed to get a deal that’s much better than what is available on the travel vendor’s own website. But don’t assume that you are automatically getting the best price. In some cases, you won’t be saving money going through travel flash sale sites – you’ll actually be paying MORE by going through a flash sale site.

Case in point

Last night, I was looking up hotel options for our honeymoon to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Jetsetter, Gilt.com’s travel site, features several hotels in the city. Palermo Place caught my eye – Jetsetter offers me a price of $235/night rack rate. Sounds pretty good, right? The picture below is of Jetsetter’s checkout page – as you can see, 4 nights over a weekend in May will cost $1,132.

jetsetter hotel price3 Are Travel Flash Sale Sites Really Cheaper? Do Your Homework Before You Buy

But wait! On Tripadvisor.com, Palermo Palace is advertising a 30% off special, which would make it cheaper than Jetsetter. So I input the same dates, the same room type, and same number of nights at the hotel, and it turns out that booking directly with the hotel would only cost $796, $300+ cheaper than the Jetsetter price. $300 is no chump change, especially in Buenos Aires where it’d be enough for several very nice meals, a bunch of leather souvenirs, and more than a couple private tango lessons!

palermo place price1 Are Travel Flash Sale Sites Really Cheaper? Do Your Homework Before You Buy

So this is what I’ve learned - always, always do your homework. It is easy to assume that travel flash sale sites have the best deals. After all, that’s what they are there for. But it only takes a few minutes to do a quick search on the Tripadvisor, the hotel or cruise website, and Google. You might discover that the so-called deal isn’t that great of a deal given what other discounts or specials are out there. Or, you might confirm that it is truly too good to pass up (our proposal weekend bed & breakfast was $149 on Living Social Escapes but $280+ on the hotel’s website). In that case, click buy and enjoy the trip!

Do you use travel flash sale sites? Have you found that they are more or less expensive than other sources?

I Cannot Stop Spending At Airports

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After 10+ flights in the last few months, I have realized something. The airport is SO GOOD at getting money out of me. I suspect that the TSA security screening process scans away whatever spending discipline I had and renders me helpless against purchases. 

Magazines. Water. Coffee. Sandwiches. Organic fruit snacks. More magazines. Travel pillows. Coconut juice. Books. You name it and I’ve probably bought it. From $7 Martha Stewart Weddings to $9 pack of chocolate-covered kiwi slices to $14 paperbacks to $20 travel pillows, I’ve handed over my wallet way too many times to keep track. Part of this is that traveling can be so exhausting that I’ve kind of given myself carte blanc to use money to buy some comfort. Part of it is that I recognize all things are marked up in airports, so after a while the outrage has melted away to be replaced by exasperated resignation. Of course that tiny cup of latte costs $5. And that stale ham-and-cheese sandwich? $8.50. Wouldn’t think expect anything less. Here’s my credit card.

I think – and I am sure there is research on this – that when a person is sleep-deprived and bored he is more likely to spend money. And there is no other place that I am more likely to be sleep-deprived (leaving New York on a 6am flight when I am still on West Coast time) and bored (miss a flight and a 1 hour layover becomes 4) than in an airport. So it’s only natural that when I head into an airport my wallet becomes lighter. My body is conspiring against me to spend! That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

I’m not the only one who feels this way, right? Do you find yourself spending a little (or a lot) more in an airport?