Saving Money on Vacation

Vacations are great.

With that being said, vacations, in order to be at a lower stress level, require a bit of work. They can be made more financially affordable when planning is part of the process. Let me explain...

...My wife and I just returned from a 5-day cruise to Mexico. I have a co-worker at my day job that told me that it would be a good idea to pack your favorite snacks and sodas in your carry on luggage because they were not free! That is a great idea. We packed about 20 cans of soda into our luggage. Buying the case from our local Wal-mart for $5.41 for 24 cans now makes a lot more sense that the $81.42 that those same drinks would have cost on the ship. Not only did the sodas cost $2.95 each, a 15% gratuity was added as well.

Keep in mind that this was an all-inclusive cruise for which you had to pay nothing more for all the food that you could eat. Warning: the only free drink would be self-serve water, some juices at the buffet, and coffee. Everything else had a price.

That goes for pictures as well. Every time you would get off the boat, have dinner, get on the boat, etc. there would be somebody snapping your picture. It is a good thing that I do not like having my picture taken because I could have easily been out of another $200+ just for some "candid" photos. No thanks. Besides, the best pictures are those inside your head.

I hope that everybody has a Happy New Year!