Is it possible to take a vacation if your poor? LOL

[heartse]

I haven't tried it, but I think there is a website where you can swap houses with someone for free or something like that. Don't know exactly how things go down, but it might be something to look at...

VacationHouseSwap.net - Vacation House Swap

Other than that... what about camping? There are lots of great very inexpensive places to camp. Around DC there are several great campgrounds that would get you a place to stay, and during the day you can go into the city and check out the free museums and such. There's also a TON of other cultural/museum things to do around DC without going into the city. There's also camp sites near the beach if you are more of a beach person.

Just a couple thoughts...

[natashayw]

Smart Circle has vacation packages for like $200 for a family of 4 for lodging in Cancun for 4 nights/5 days. They also have discounted hotel coupons, and every once in a while have Disney deals for super cheap. I know if you get the vacation packages through Sam's Club, you don't have to sit through a time share presentation, but if you buy online you might have to. I haven't used the vacation packages, but get the baseball packages which are GREAT! For $40 I get 4 ticket that usually retail at $36 each and 6 buy one get one free tickets. They have more packages when you call their hotline, than what is listed online. You need a special website to access their baseball deals. PM me if you would like it. I was cautious when I bought my first baseball package (because when you google them you get smart circle scam), but they are so easy to use and there was no hassle getting the tickets. HTH

[leqet]

Leqet , Just curious...........Where are you going on your road trip? Is there a plan or do you wing it? We do short 2 and 3 nighters and stay in one particular area but have not ever stayed moving on the road.

We have relatives in Boston and CT. We're planning on stopping in New York City for a couple days on the way (It's about half way). We'll stay in a hotel near NY for a couple days, then go on to Boston for a couple days, then stop in CT on the way back for a few days. Then drive home (Hampton Roads, VA). We do have planned dates on when we are going to be where, but our trip is somewhat flexible. It's still a few months away so I don't have all the details planned of what we will see, etc.

[jwahlton]

I too so need a vacation. We have to do a family reunion in Michigan this summer, so I'm saving for that. But our best family vacation was renting a cabin in NC for around $700 the week of Thanksgiving (2 bedrooms) which is a great deal. We drove from Florida, I brought food and bought some there. I even cooked Thanksgiving dinner at the cabin. That was the best vacation EVER

[faeryedark]

We can't afford a "real" vacation either but will be able to go to Hersheypark. Due to the deals from Giant and Pepsi (buy 15 20oz bottles and get a free tkt.) and usually Giant and Kraft do a deal in June (a free tkt. when you buy $40 worth of Kraft)
So, we should be able to make a couple of trips to H.P. this summer. I'm also looking into group day trips by bus to the Inner Harbour and D.C. Sometimes you can get in w/ a church group or something, if you look in the paper.

[mscreneet]

We do timeshare vacations. It takes about 2 hours of your time but you get to vacation in awsome places for cheap. For example we went to FL ...stayed in a greast resort ..2 bedrooms / 2 bath for 3 nights and got 2 adult walt disney tickets and 2 dinner theatre tickets for $75. We ended up only having to purchase the 2 extra kid tickets. So we did Disney on a serious budget!!

[mayanfire]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but i love priceline.com for hotels. I've heard some horror stories, but i've used them a couple of times and have nothing bad to say. my sis and i went to new york city a few months ago and it cost us $660 for 2 roundtrip airline tickets and a 4 night hotel stay at a REALLY nice hotel. If we would have got the hotel room through the hotel, just the 4 nights would have cost us WAY more than $660. If you can be flexible with your dates, you can save even more. i just try different dates to see what's cheaper. :)

if you're creative, you can definately have a nice memorable vacation. just look at it as a learning experience if things don't go exactly as planned. (my friends and i went to the beach a few years ago...the hotel was less than stellar, but we had fun so it doesn't really matter.).

good luck.

[jolly321]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but i love priceline.com for hotels. I've heard some horror stories, but i've used them a couple of times and have nothing bad to say. my sis and i went to new york city a few months ago and it cost us $660 for 2 roundtrip airline tickets and a 4 night hotel stay at a REALLY nice hotel. If we would have got the hotel room through the hotel, just the 4 nights would have cost us WAY more than $660. If you can be flexible with your dates, you can save even more. i just try different dates to see what's cheaper. :) .

I agree. I used them once 2 months ago for one night. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the hotel for the $45.00 I paid. It was a 4 star crown plaza hotel. My concern is the amount is based on two people and there was no way to change this. I booked the room anyway, then called the hotel to request a cot and explained I have 5 people in my party. They had no problem with this and the cot was no up charge. So my experience with them has great!

[MCLEODSC]

For us a 3 or 4 day cruise out of Fla. is the cheapest vacation. I earn gift cards on MYpoints that I use for eating out one time on the way there and one time on the way back. Port Carnavarel (sp?) is about 6 hours from us. We watch for Carnival Sales. We carry our own water and drinks aboard. We do walking excursions in our destination area (free maps on the internet). If we can get another family to go then we split the gas both ways.
We were interested in the Great Wolf Lodge-the price for 3-4 days scared us off.

[reezz]

It is absolutely possible.........

A few ideas.....

First of all, set up a household budget and save every extra penny you come across.
Sell any and everything (you dont use) thats not nailed down.
Trade off your extra cpns, rebates, Q's , etc
Sign up for surveys, freebies, etc.
Return soda, juice, beer and water deposits.

HTH!