Good Morning Dinks. I recently got back from my 7 day trip to Las Vegas and I have to tell you that I had a great time. I loved being in the warm sunny weather in January which is something that we don’t get here in the cold North Eastern winters. I met some wonderful personal finance bloggers and I made some great connections while networking at the New Media Expo. However the NMX was only 2 days and the other 5 days were all about relaxing and getting some “Me Time”. There is no better place to have fun than in sunny Las Vegas. I have been to Vegas a few times before: twice when I was in my teens and once with my Dad for my 21st birthday. However this was my first trip to Las Vegas by myself as an adult…and I absolutely loved it.
Do your spending habits change while you are on vacation?
Taking a vacation is in itself a major expense and spending money while you are on vacation is an additional cost. I don’t overspend carelessly while I am on vacation but I definitely do spend money. I mostly spend money while I am on vacation because there are so many great stores and products that are available in the U.S. that we do not have in Canada. My vacation spending is also partly due to the fact I like to have personal experiences while travelling.
During my trip to Las Vegas I paid $18 to visit the shark reef at Mandalay Bay and I paid $45 to see Coco and Josh Strickland in Peep Show at Planet Hollywood. I paid full price for the shark reef exhibit because 1. I love sharks and 2. We don’t have sharks in Canada. The ticket for Peep Show was actually discounted because I booked it with the entertainment service Tix 4 Tonight. I love going to see live theatre and musicals (I saw Mary Poppins while in NYC last summer) but I hate paying full price for the tickets. Broadway shows are very expensive and getting the ticket at a discounted price makes the experience so much better.
You don’t have to break the bank to have a good time!
The key to enjoying your vacation and no going broke is to try and save money wherever you can without missing the experience. When I travel I spend a lot of money on transportation to and from the airport as well as when I am trying to get around the city. Look for ways to find cheap transportation such as taking the bus and using a shuttle service instead of taking a taxi cab can help save you a lot of money. In general I don’t spend a lot of money on food when I travel alone because I usually eat while on the go or in my hotel room. I will do it sometimes, but I prefer not to sit in a restaurant and eat by myself.
Before I travel I always search the web for local attractions, shows and things to do. I believe in talking full advantage of a location, even if I am supposed to be there for business purposes. Usually when you are landing on several web pages for local attractions you are bound to come across a discount code or coupon to buy your tickets at a discounted price. If you know some people in the area where you are travelling you can also ask them where to buy your tickets. If not then you can always Google it.
When do you save vs. splurge?
Photo by tax credits
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
I definitely spend a bit more on vacation, and I don’t worry about it as much. Part of vacation for me is being able to splurge a bit vs. how my spending habits would usually be in day-to-day life.
We spend a lot of money on food and entertainment when we travel, which is infrequently. The cost of travel is so high that we like to really maximize our value!
I think your point about transportation expenses is a good one. I saved a ton of money on my trip to San Francisco last year taking the BART to and from the airport – I think it was maybe 8 bucks compared to the cost of taxi – which would be many times that amount. I also walked through town instead of taking a taxi on a nice day, caught a ride with some strangers I met on a boat trip back to my hotel, and let a hop on hop off tour bus do double duty as a taxi.
I think the biggest place you can save money on vacation is in food, though. Going out for lunch instead of dinner, or only eating an early afternoon meal and breakfast (hopefully free at the hotel) can save a bundle.
Spending on vacation is part of the fun, as long as it’s not excessively. Thanks for reading.
I definitely spend more on vacation and tend to worry about it less. The reason being we have budgeted for the extra spending and splurging. If you can’t afford to splurge every one in while you probably shouldn’t be spending money on a vacation.
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