How I Save Money On Vacations

by Stacey Carroll, Contributing Writer

I love vacations. I love them because I can get away and destress and detox from my busy work-life. However, I’m not in the habit of spending a lot of money during my vacations. I want to have fun, but I also want to get the best price possible.


Packages

I am a big fan of vacation packages. In 2008, I took a Halloween vacation to Kings Mill Resort. It was a three day vacation over Halloween weekend and included tickets to Busch Gardens for each day I was there. The weekend package was $400 dollars. I have since signed up for emails from Kings Mill Resort, and every holiday, they have an inexpensive weekend holiday package. They even price the packages according to how many people are visiting. Because I was the only one visiting, I received a $100 discount on the package price.


Driving

The question of how to get somewhere is always controversial: fly or drive. I will almost always choose to drive. It’s almost always cheaper to drive, especially on short notice. I have found that it doesn’t take that much more time to drive than fly when I add in the layovers, arriving two hours early, delays, and car rental. Plus, I can bring as much luggage as I want if I drive my car. There’s no shopping for throw-away clothes once I get to my destination. Driving instead of flying typically saves me $200.


Travel Sites

If I have to fly, I always visit one of the many travel sites. My favorite is Priceline. I have also gone with Expedia and Travelocity. Right now, I could fly round trip from Indianapolis to Houston for $250 if I book the flight on Priceline. If I go to the airline’s website, I’m going to pay $350 or more which is a savings of at least $100, and if I book a flight and hotel package, I save even more money.


Lodging

It’s always cheaper to stay with family or friends than it is to stay in a hotel, so if I’m traveling to a city where I have family and friends, I try to make plans to stay with them. It saves me between $50 and $100 dollars a night. If I can’t stay with a family member or a friend, then I book a flight and hotel package.


Food

Instead of eating out, once I get to my destination, I check into the hotel room and assess what it has to offer. If it only offers a microwave and a coffee maker, than I take that into consideration. If it has a full kitchen, then I take that into consideration. Either way, one of my first stops is a grocery store. Eating out can cost $10 or more per meal, and I can cook my own food for less than $10 dollars a day.

I regularly save between $500 and $1000 per vacation by using these tips. The saved money means I can buy more souvenirs or save the money for my next vacation.

Author Bio:

Stacey Carroll is the author of the thriller series - Avia.  She also authors the paranormal erotica series - The Blooddoll Factory. Stacey grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. she went to college at Indiana State University (ISU) and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in aerospace in the professional pilot program. She has flown Cessna 152s, Cessna 172s, the Pipe Seneca and the King Air. She also graduated with a minor in computer science that specialized in web design.

She has always been interested in reading and writing, and the first book she was ever read was the Grimms Brother's Fairy tales. From the ages of 6 to 11, she read the Nancy Drew series. By the age of 11, she had graduated to Stephen King novels. A few of her favorites include Carrie, Tommyknockers, The Dark Tower Series up to book 3 (That's where it stopped in the late 80s/ early 90s), Pet Semetary, The Shining, Night Shift, The Stand, It, Cujo, Christine, The Eyes of the Dragon and Thinner (Richard Bachman). In her teen years, she moved on to Anne Rice and got through about four of those books before they degraded. If you've ever read Anne Rice, you know book 5 isn't readable. Stacey has read a couple Harry Potter books as she was introduced to them in the early 2000s, and she's never read or watched anything Twilight or 50 Shades. Sorry. I'm a vampire purist, and nothing needs to be said about the latter. You already know.

She is currently an author and freelance writer. She received an honorable mention in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 2008 for a short story entitled The Field. In 2014, she was published in 13 Stories by Us by MacKenzie Publishing.

Other books by Stacey

• AVIA II
• AVIA Memories
  

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