Our couple’s vacation – Part 2

Good morning Dinks.  Last week I told you about my recent trip to Niagara Falls with my boyfriend Nick and I asked Dinks – how you plan your time during your couple’s vacations?  Nick and I stayed in Niagara Falls for a week and we had a really great time, but that’s not to say that everything went exactly as planned.

The road trip music situation

Do you and your spouse have the same taste in music? Nick and I have very similar tastes in music but his music collection extends far beyond the playlist in my iPod.  Niagara Falls is a 6.5 hour drive from Montreal and because Nick drove we listened to his iPod.  Although some of his songs are also on my iPod the selection would have been very different if my play list was plugged in.  How do you and your spouse decide who chooses the music on your vacation or in your home?

How do you decide where to spend your couple’s vacation?

Niagara Falls is full of fun things to do and Nick and I haven’t been in almost five years so when I suggested the trip he was immediately on board.  I like travelling and I really love planning so I volunteered to take care of our travel arrangements.  I searched Priceline.com and Hotwire.com for the best car rental and hotel deals and was excited to find some great prices considering we travelled on the 4^th of July weekend.

However all that glitters isn’t gold.  When we arrived at our hotel in Niagara Falls we were shocked to find out that it also had a motel counterpart and my great online deal was booked in a motel.  Needless to say that wasn’t happening so we immediately upgraded to a better room.  But my life just isn’t that easy and the only rooms they had available (remember 4^th of July weekend) were junior suites, so $150 later we checked in to our hotel room. I am thankful that the hotel did have a spare room because I if they didn’t we would have had to find a new hotel and that drama could have ruined our entire vacation and it would have been all my fault.

And then there’s the money

I tried to plan our activities as much as possible before we left on vacation so that we could purchase package deals and save some money on activities and excursions.  When I say as much as possible I actually mean as much as Nick would let me.  He is not much of a planner so talking to him about anything in advance is like pulling teeth out of your mouth.  Not planning makes me hyperventilate and it also makes me really nervous.  On top of saving money planning in advance also makes sure that we get to see and do everything on our list – that is if you have a list.

For the one week vacation including everything from our spending money, travel accommodations and food we spent a total of $1500.  I know this seems like  a lot of money for a one week vacation but we only bought items that we needed (and at outlet prices) we stayed at a hotel right in the middle of all the action, we ate a few great meals (mostly we ate on a budget) and we had a really fun time.  Nick and I don’t often travel together so this trip was definitely overdue.  Of course we could have saved money on food and shopping and we probably could have gone to a way better destination than Niagara Falls for the same money – but this is where we wanted to go.  I absolutely feel that the trip was worth the cost.

Where did you go on your last couple’s vacation?

Photo by kenzoka

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.