December budget vacation mom and 3 teens
 

Hi there, i may be asking a very difficult question to answer but I am trying to plan a vacation between Dec. 26 and Jan 2 for 4-6 days with my three kids ages 14, 16 and 18, and i have to do it on a very limited budget. We live near San Francisco, California and don't travel very often.

We did take a 6 day trip this past summer, a drive up to Oregon. We drove up central Oregon thru Bend, then to Portland, and back down through the beautiful coast of Oregon. We had a fantastic time and it's given me the momentum to try to plan a Christmas trip. Our favorite parts were floating down the river on inflatable tubes in Bend, touring Portland on Segways and enjoying the best burgers we've ever had and the best donuts VooDoo donuts, visiting the West Coast Animal Safari (my teens favorite) where where we were able to pet a Bengal tiger cub and bear cubs along with many other animals, dune buggy rides on the sands in Florence and ending the trip by seeing a play in Ashland Oregon Shakespeare festival.

For this trip, we can drive or fly but flights in December are outrageous as are hotels in popular areas. The kids aren't thrilled with Florida Disneyworld as I was thinking about this but we've been to Disneyland in California at Christmas time before and the crowds were just awful. We've also been up through Napa and east to Lake Tahoe many times. A cruise is too expensive including the flight, Cancun, Caribean is too expensive for the same reason. We're not extremely sports oriented and we don't ski although we like the snow as well as the beach. My girls like things most teen girls like (and everyone else hates) but they get bored easily. My son likes history and technology. Museums and things like that would hold the girls interest for a day at most.

I can budget about 3k- 3.5k for the whole trip but that's pretty much all I can afford. I only get time off during the summer and Christmas so I cannot travel at any other time.

I'm stumped. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

My daughter lives (frugally) in LA and when I visit, we manage to do a lot of free or low-cost activities. We've done the "M*A*S*H hike" in Malibu State Park, gone to the Getty Villa, toured the Queen Mary (with a Groupon), hiked up to the Hollywood sign, visited the Griffith Observatory, explored the old LA Zoo (creepy and fun), ridden bikes at Venice Beach, walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame, eaten our way through Beverly Hills on a chocolate-tasting tour (again with a Groupon)and saw a hilarious performance of Second City's LA troupe for only $10 each.

With a bit of research and signing up for Groupon and Living Social, I imagine you could have a fun time in LA on your budget.

You could also volunteer one afternoon to put flowers on a Rose Parade float, and then spend the night on Colorado Blvd bringing in the New Year, and watching the parade live.

I'd maybe think about San Diego. LOTS to do free or moderately inexpensively, and you could drive down so save on the airfares.

I normally would not suggest Las Vegas for a family with kids, but you could use that as an inexpensive place to fly into, rent a car and visit the National and State Parks in the area.

We've done a trip staying in Vegas and taking day trips to Death Valley, Valley of Fire, Red Rock Canyon and also done loops including Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce.

If you fly out on Christmas Day and back before New Year's eve, you will probably get the best deals. Do a search, sometimes you can get a great package deal with flight rooms and car, that is enough less expensive than doing things separately and leave LV for a night or two to spend time in a park.

You tagged Colorado but unfortunately anything in the mountains is going to be close to peak demand and pricing. You probably would be OK if you stuck to Denver and the surrounding area. There is a lot to do in the immediate area from museums to zoo lights at both the gardens and the zoo. There are fireworks along the 16th Mall at 9 and midnight on New Year's eve.

The time period just tends to be expensive given the amount of travel.

Unfortunately with that budget, I'd think flying 4 persons anywhere over the holidays is out.
If you're interested in Los Angeles, the Wilshire Motel is in a decent neighborhood just a hop from Santa Monica/beaches, and has 2bedroom "cottages" at decent prices ($175 per night?). UCLA isn't in session that week so cuts down on traffic a bit, it's actually a good time to visit LA though the weather might not co-operate this year. L.A. has a great zoo and near it is Griffith Observatory. The girls would enjoy the Grammy Museum (taylor swift!) and your son the Science Center and the Natural History Museum. Every enjoys a visit to the Getty Center and it's free except for parking. Add a day of bike-riding along the beach and a day for shopping and you're good. Enjoy the drive south with stops in Monterey &Jules Pffeifer then stop in Pismo Beach for the night.Maybe Santa Barbara for a night on the way home. Just need a backup plan in case the weather is bad, which you'd be able to figure out about a week beforehand.


Las Vegas is usually expensive when the holidays fall on the weekend, so that's probably out.

If you do consider Los Angeles, I would make cancellable reservations now. Depending on who is playing in the Rose Bowl, hotels do book up.

Or how about a train trip? Emeryville down to Santa Barbara for a night, then down to San Diego for a few nights, maybe stopping Los Angeles or San Luis Obispo for a couple of nights on the way back.
Roundtrip tickets for 4 persons run about $300 total.

Ooh - a train to San Diego would be fun if you can get a family fare! If it was my trip, I'd go all the way to SD first and then take time on the return journey (SB and/or SLO for a night each)

Look at travelzoo. Sometimes they have some great specials. They look for the best from different companies. Their new things are posted every Wednesday. Good deals, especially airfares, sell out fast.

Yes, do come visit us in San Diego !