2010

So I chatted with Amber today about a potential trip to disneyworld when Mia turns 6.
Thus far based on a 7 day stay I have determined that airfare and accommodations per person comes to about $800 each.

There are several different attractions in the area worth a visit. Roughly each costs about $70/day, BUT most have special cost saving tickets so we won't have to pay full price.

So far $800 air/hotel
$490 park passes
total so far = $1290 per person
Not yet included: cost of food, transportation to parks, souvenirs, extra things we might decide to do on site.

Note: these prices are based on the low season.

Tofino

There has been some chat about surfing lessons so I did a little research. I found two interesting surf schools surf sister and pacific surf school. There is a hostel on a botanical garden where you can pay for $25/night, there is also a inn that is about $75 a night. There is a busline from Duncan to Tofino, it takes 6 hours to get there, and it leaves at 8am.

What are we thinking in terms of dates?

Jingled Bells

i was thinking it might be fun to go to Vancouver for a week around X-mas year, anyone else interested?

I'm almost positive the Zoo will be closed, but there are all kinds of other cool stuff that happens in the city around that time of year.

Bella Bella

This is the airline that flies into Bella Bella. It is a bit pricey. A round trip from Vic is about $600, from Vancouver it is closer to $550.

I checked out the BC ferries site, and it costs about $100 ($74 in the off season) per adult each way (for Mia travel is free until she reaches 5). The ferry would leave from Port Hardy, which would mean a bit of a drive. If we took a bus it would be nine and a half hours of traveling and $145 (Mia $40) round trip. Probably be way cheaper if we have our own car. If we took the train as far as Comox Valley it would cost $77 (mia $35) for a round trip, plus the cost of the bus would be $69 (Mia again free). So the total cost of a combined trip is $146 (mia $35).

Hawaii by VW

I found this great site courtesy of CNN of all things. We could tour the big Island in Hawaii with a VW Van.

Something to consider

If we buy the bookstore there are certain things I can write off. For instance, say I was to take a trip to Calgary on a book buying expedition, I could pay for the large comfy SUV through the business. Any passengers would be expected to kick in some gas money but the vehicle would be taken care of.

Just something to consider...

Stampede

When I was doing cost comparisons for the stampede, I realized that flying to C-town, renting a vehicle, and staying at a camp ground 15 minutes from town was actually quite a bit cheaper than staying in a hotel. It is probably a similar scenario though, I imagine we would have to reserve a spot a few months in advance. Another thing to take into consideration is that we could rent a vehicle from Vancouver and drive to Calgary visiting Banff on the way.

Cowboy hats?

Was thinking that the Calgary Stampede might be fun. I've hear lots of good things about it but you have to book hotel and such way in advance so I don't know about that part. Mia is showing interest in horses so who knows.

El Cheapo

A bargain basement suggestion. It has occured to me that many of my friends (Lindsie excluded) have not spent a lot of time in Vancouver. Heather has a large garage that she has converted into a large bedroom like space, and I'm sure it could accommodate 3-4 guests for two weeks next summer. We could explore the wilds of Vancouver together!

O Canada

Was messing around on the internets and found this . Things to do in Canada!

Also was reading up on Alaska and there are lots of things to see there as well. Hard choice!

Yummm my words sure do taste nice

Sooo, I took a look at some of the touring Alaska stuff. One of the ships trips that I priced out was the Mercury and for between $780-$950 each we cold spend a week on an AMAZING ship, and see stunning scenery. You really have to check out the link, see the virtual tour and tell me what you think. I can not get over how luxurious this ship is. There are night clubs, there is a casino, a huge kids fun room, restaurants, theaters, cafes, bars, pools, spas, and it goes on, and on.

Cruisen for a bruisen

Something else for us to consider: a cruise!

Woo, a boat! Think about it Amber, a large floating hotel!

I am adding some links on the side but I thought I might also highlight one or two in this post.

First Time Cruisers
Cruising FAQ

SO here is the deal, from what I can tell most of the cruises that leave Vancouver in the summer time go to Alaska. I have nothing against Alaska, I just don't want to go there on a cruise. So to get to any of the really interesting places (read: warm) we would need to fly to another port.

So for how something like that would price out:
a 7 day cruise leaving from Miami:
Sat, Aug 16 Miami, Florida
Sun, Aug 17 At Sea
Mon, Aug 18 San Juan, Puerto Rico
Tue, Aug 19 Philipsburg, St. Maarten
Wed, Aug 20 At Sea
Thu, Aug 21 Labadee, Hispaniola, Haiti
Fri, Aug 22 At Sea
Sat, Aug 23 Miami, Florida 7:00 am

Would cost four of us $750 each (thats a full price for Mia as well). Which sounds super but it would cost us $904 each for airfare to Miami!


As opposed to this deal which is
Sun, Aug 17 Los Angeles, California
Mon, Aug 18 At Sea -- --
Tue, Aug 19 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Wed, Aug 20 Mazatlan, Mexico
Thu, Aug 21 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Fri, Aug 22 At Sea -- --
Sat, Aug 23 At Sea -- --
Sun, Aug 24 Los Angeles, California
The flight is included in the price and it would come to $1225 for each person, divided four ways. This includes flights, cruise, and food.

My Humble suggestion

Lets plan a trip to somewhere in Canada, with the proviso that we watch for last minute vacations, and if something amazing comes along we do that trip.

My reasoning is this: A lot of the last minute trips are exactly that, they can leave two days after they go on sale, that would give us very little time to do things like arrange passports, get letters notarized, etc,etc. However, having said that I am certain we would have a lot of fun hanging out on the beaches in the sun somewhere, so I don't want to trash the idea totally.

You know Am, someone is making this trip planning process very difficult, can't you have him shot?

VIA Rail Canada

This is ridiculously romanticized, but it still gives an impression of what this kind of travel would be like.

Montreal Minute

Very touristy but still informative

Choo Choo

Another option is a trip across Canada via train, and then a cheap flight home from Toronto. A canrail pass is about $750 for students and children, and that would get us 12 days of traveling out of 30, and then a flight back from Toronto is $250-$300. We could camp and sleep on the train.

Rental Cars

Did you know that picking up a rental car at an airport versus in town can raise the price as high as an additional $300?

Yikes!

Other thoughts

If we wanted to go somewhere else in Eastern Canada, instead of spending bazillions on a hotel, we could camp and rent a car...which would still be considerably less than staying in a posh hotel.

I for one would love to visit Quebec!

Budget

Sooo if we are going to do a random trip, or really any trip I think it is probably a good idea to discuss what we can afford.

I think my budget is about $1500-2000.

Mexico in your Senses, Institutional Video of Mexico.

Las Vegas

This is us driving in to Vegas

Random Acts of Travel

So if we decided to just wait and see these would be some of the things to think about:

a lot of the wait and see adventures are international (ie Las Vegas, Mexico, Jamaica, Hawaii, London, Disneyland. If we were to do one of those Amber would need a notarized letter from Mark. And we would all need passports.

The upside of these adventures is of course they are cheap!
Some examples include:
London flight & hotel $950 for 8 nights
Dominican republic flight & hotel $867 for 8 nights
Los Cabos, Mexico $797 for flight & hotel 7 nights
Cancun, Mexico $688 for flight and hotel 7 nights
Orlando, Florida flight and hotel for 5 nights $600

On a roll

My other suggestion is that we could save up a certain amount of money and then wait and see what kinds of last minute vacation packages are available for the summer...that way our destination is a surprise!

Ladies how about Vegas?

We could go for a week it would be a hoot! We could go and see the star trek spot for Susan, we could see a show for me, and strippers for Amber!

Road Trip vs Air Fare

So airfare to this years Calgary Stampede is roughly $350-$400 each. If we were renting a middle of the line car that seats 5 is about $530-$650. To rent a mid-size suv (seats 5) for 14 days is about $900. To rent a larger vehicle (seats 8-12) is about $950-$1049. So whether or not the vehicle is cheaper really depends on how many people are coming, and what kind of ride we want. The cost of gas is also a major factor.

However, if we had our own vehicle we could do some stampede, some Drumheller (with the dino bones), some west Edmonton mall, and maybe stop at Banff on the way home. We could do it as a mostly camping trip, and crash on Jessica's floor in Calgary if she will let us.

Welcome to the planning stages of our next great adventure

So this is a place for discussing where we want to go next!