Oh my gee! I can’t see straight because my contacts are glued to my eyes from staring at my computer screen for the last three days while trying to book a family vacation. With all the stress and anxiety it has caused me, I need a vacation from all this vacation planning. My nerves are shot and if Hubs refuses to answer one more call from me trying to verify answers; I will go through the phone and tightly wrap my hands around his cute little neck.
Why is planning a vacation so hard?! I think its because I over analyze everything. I can’t just make a simple decision. I have to feel that I have made the best choice after weighing all options. It’s decision overload. So what options did I look at?
We looked at going home at Christmas. Barf, $5000 just for plane tickets is to expensive for our blood. So we looked at Disneyland. The kids have been asking since we got back this past February and I agree. Disney! But Disney at Christmas is just high as ranked up there with realizing you are out of milk…on pay day. Nuf said. So we thought about a staycation. Sigh, living in paradise has it’s up and downs… we have experienced all there is to experience here.
I can’t take another Christmas 4000 miles away from family. Having already spent two holidays away from them, it might put me on Prozac to experience another. It’s just the quiet of it all. No grandparent’s gushing over their grandkids; no brothers playing football in the snow; and no turkey on the dinning room table. Staying here is not a option.
So off I went in search of a cheap, but fun alternative; and wouldn’t you know.? There is more than just one island in Hawaii?! Oh snap, say whaaaa? There are several. So why not. Has anyone every asked you if you have visited Hawaii? I always wonder if its a trick question. Yes, I have visited a few islands that make up the entire state of Hawaii. Have you? It’s sorta a pet peeve of mine. But whatevs.
We have already been to two islands. We want to get to the Big Island, but really only desire to see the volcanoes and no desire to spend hours and hours driving. So we decided to do a staycation on Kauai. But is it really a staycation then if we leave the island? Whatever it is, it will be fun. Today I booked the house from Vacation Rentals By Owner online. Several friends have recommended and used them. I’ll write up a review after we return.
I am so excited to go. The last step is to book our flight and rental car. We were trying to piece together our trip; booking everything separate. Which was still cheaper than the tickets alone back home, but way to expensive for the budget we had in mind. Then we tried bundling them on sites like expedia.com or priceline.com; but neither had a feature to only book a car and flight. They both wanted us to include the hotel. So ITR to the rescue!
If you have never used the ITR at your base – GO! Run Fast! They not only saved us over $1000, they were also to obtain a much desired mini van for our vacation. The only thing we are missing? A Christmas tree. Maybe we can ship one?
Excellent idea. I love the staycation concept. We’re often so busy going about our lives that we forget that we are often blessed to live in some of the most wonderful locations. Well, unless you’re stuck in Fallon, NV (I kid…kind of…no really…).
When ever we get back home, we play tourist. We have so many amazing things where we are from for kids. It’s kind of ridiculous. Last time we where home for a entire month and still couldn’t do it all. And now they are older we can do even more. Staying in a hotel room or renting a home makes it so much fun and like a real vaca.
Such a great idea! I never thought to do something like this!! We’ve tried to rent houses in the past, but we always book too late. I’ll keep this in mind for Hawaii though!
That’s exactly what happened to us. I started looking this month for a hotel on island, but literally everything was booked. And then I was like “why stay, we haven done everything”. So I looked at other islands and found the same issue. Everything was booked! Then a friend told me about vbro and boom! So excited to go. And it’s so cheap! We could go probably 4 times on just what airfare alone would costs us to get home.