Hello all!

My husband won a sales contest at work for $850 worth of travel through a local travel agency. We are in East Tennessee and an hour's drive from Asheville, N.C. One of my first thoughts was to spend it at Grove Park Inn & Spa and/or Inn at Biltmore Estate. The travel agent suggested a short cruise to the Bahamas (which would require driving to the cruise port).

I am seeking some other suggestions of a trip we can take for $850. We don't have a lot of extra cash at this point that we could kick in on our own. I would **LOVE** to visit Blackberry Farm but it's out of our price range.

We have to take the trip by March 31 and are looking at a long weekend thing rather than a week-long vacation.

I've done Atlanta over and over and over again ... have been to Charleston and Savannah, Richmond, Nashville, and D.C. Is there something really obvious and a little fabulous that I'm overlooking?

Thanks!!

I think Asheville's a great idea and you could definately do it and stay w/in your budget. It's a cute little city and perfect for a long weekend.

I'm not a cruise kind of girl but so I have no idea of the current pricing but could 2 ppl really take a cruise for that amt. of $??

Do you have to use the $/credit within a certain time period and are there limitations??

Have fun!
OWJ

Repost this with a location specific title and you will get more suggestions than you know what to do with! Good luck!

Xrae, Given the time of year I would probably head to the coast - how about Litchfield Plantation in SC. I think Grove Park Inn(GPI) would be nice and you could splurge on at least 1 spa treatment. How about St. Simons in GA? There is also a new spa in Highlands, NC I believe - that might be nice.

Thank you for the recommendations of Litchfield Plantation and St. Simons. I hadn't thought of those and I will do some research.

Also, for anyone researching Asheville, there is a spa there called "ASIA" that is getting some national press. Sounds VERY nice but it's out of our price range for this trip.

We recently found a package trip on Travelocity (took it in December) to Key West for 5 nights including hotel and airfare from RDU (Raleigh) for $900 for two.

It was at the La Te Da hotel - which included full breakfast every day.

It's within walking distance of everything on Duval so no car or taxi needed. We had a great time and the hotel is very nice.

KW is VERY expensive, but cheap eats can be found. It's also much warmer this time of year than anywhere else you've mentioned.

Would New Orleans interest you? If you drove $850 could go a long way. Not sure if the drive is too far to make it feasible but airfare may not be too expensive.

xrae - I live in Asheville and haven't heard of Asia! Guess I need to look it up. My favorite is Sensibilities on Haywood St.

How about the Haywood Park Hotel in Asheville? It is a short drive for you, use the money leftover from hotel to splurge at one of the spas (frankly I think Grove Park is vastly overrated) and have a lovely dinner at the restaurant in the basement of the hotel.

leahinsc -- I am over the mountain in Johnson City. We are practically neighbors.

bennnie: New Orleans is a good suggestion, although I don't think we want to drive quite that far. We have been to NO before and stupidly went in August (what can I say ... we were in college and weren't very bright). It was 105°! I would love to go back sometime as an "adult."

Diana: I will check Key West packages, I hadn't thought it. It's another place we visited as college students. Hubby's parents lived in Boca Raton when we were in college so we've covered South Florida pretty well, but that's been a few years ago!

cmcfong: I have looked at the Hayward Park Hotel, that is a good idea combined w/ GPI spa services. BTW, Biltmore is currently running a half price special for NC/SC residents or Ingles card holders, so if we end up in Asheville we'll go to Biltmore again on the cheap ticket.

OneWanderingJew: You asked if we could actually do a cruise for two people for $850 ... the answer is yes, if you do a 3- or 4-day Bahamas cruise from Port Canaveral in an interior or lower-category oceanview cabin.

When hubby first won this trip I thought -- "Wow! $850! We can go someplacre really awesome!" I had no idea how expensive the luxury and near luxury properties are these days. But as a result, visits to Blackberry Farm and Little St. Simons Island are both on our wish lists for special occasions in the future.

Keep the suggestions coming! They have been tremendously helpful. I have been finding coastal SC and GA places today that are very intriguing and might be what we're looking for.

I'm betting you've been to Memphis a lot also but staying at the Peabody is a treat.

While I love the idea of Key West, your dates are peak season so that may not work. I looked on priceline and hotwire for vacation packages to Key West for myself and hubby for 3 nights and the cheapest I found was $1200 for two people including air from Charleston, SC.

Out of curiousity, I looked on Hotwire and found vacation packages for two including airfare to New Orleans for under $300 per person flying roundtrip out of Atlanta. The dates were March 3-6th.

I think if you go to New Orleans after Mardis Gras you should find something nice.

Rae, if you decide to do Asheville let me know and I will suggest some nicer restaurants. You may want to consider one of the many B&B's in town - Montford area has lots and maybe find a unique room.

Rae - I found that Asia spa on line - it's actually not far from my house. I think it might be a B&B that was recently purchased and redone. It's not the best area to walk around in but their rooms and packages sound nice. I would stick w/ one in Montford if you go that route.

The website for the ASIA spa is http://www.ashevillespa.com/

Little St. Simons Island looks so wonderful to me ... does anyone know if there is a similar resort in the Ga./SC./NC. coastal area that's not quite as expensive?

xrae-
You will have to let me know what you find as far as trips.

My husband and I are in a similar predicament. Our budget is a little bit more ($1000-$1200), and we're having a hard time finding a place within budget. We live in Raleigh, and prefer to fly from here (as opposed to Charlotte, which can sometimes be cheaper).

Debbie

for Packfan - have you looked at site59.com - that has some good last minute deals - I think you could probably do Canada for about that for a weekend.

how about greenbrier? (www.greenbrier.com). if you go before the end of february, std rooms are less than $300/night. includes breakfast and dinner. then you could get a spa treatment or two.

kari

The Greenbrier is $300 a night per person, not per room.

The Greenbrier website is a little misleading, isn't it!