Help - Dream trip out West Ruined
 

I had my heart set on a dream trip for me starting Vegas for about 14 days traveling Arizona, Colorado, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef. Doing all tourist things. When I did a summary of costs, the amount came to about $7,000!! That includes air from the east coast, car rental, compact, hotels budgeted at no more than $70 per night. I am crushed that it seems my trip is no longer in reach. We like to gamble so we figured $200 a day together, then eating, gas and so on. Can ideas, tips to make this a reality? Thanks.

How many people? Could you decrease the gambling budget? Airfares are up, but there are still sales. Are you flexible in dates?

Sure -- cut out the gambling! $300 per day on top of airfare and hotel is an extravagant vacation, indeed.

Of course there are ways to do it....just depends how badly you want to go and to where you want to go. Skip Vegas - it's awful anyway. You could camp at all of the other wonderful sights you want to see. That will put you really closer to nature. It just depends on what you want to do. Otherwise, save longer to do it just as you want to do it.

While not exactly my cup of tea, I recall that my Aunt went a few years ago on a similar trip using Tauck Tours (or similar type of tour company.) Knowing her spending levels, I couldn't imagine it'd be an expensive tour.

My advic: "Win Big" the 1st day so that you can put away your own money for the rest of your gambling :-)

What the heck is this person asking? If $2800 is being allocated to gambling, then, yes, there IS a way to make the trip cheaper! Duh...

check your car rental options - it may be cheaper to rent one car for a week, drop it and pick up another car at the same location for the rest of the trip -this can make a difference - try vaious options.
Also try different airports - differnt routings - eg, start in PHX, end in Vegas or even Salt Lake City?
You have to work lots of options....

Actually, $7000 doesn't sound too far off for a trip of that length, doing all the "tourist things." (Our 6-day, 4-person trip to SF last year set me back about $5,000.) The only suggestions I would have are to eat as cheaply as possible (get a good travel guide and look for the one-$-sign restaurants; some are quite good), and stick to the nickel slots. Also, you can save quite a bit on airfare by picking flights that are NOT non-stop. When planning your budget, don't forget to include souvenirs and camera necessities. You'll want to take lots of pictures on a dream trip like that. I'm sure if your heart is set on this trip, you will make it work. Where there's a will, there's a way!

Donna

Nanny, i hope you can go! Just a few thoughts... Have you considered taking a road trip? While we road trippers may be a dying breed, i wouldn't have it any other way to see the west. Its amazing how much you miss when you're flying above it! We've encountered many things not planned for as we've explored the smaller towns. Its just great having your own van for many reasons, convenience and cost savings, even despite rising gas prices.

Driving from the east coast on I 70, its possible to be in burlington, colorado by the third night. Yes, its three days of solid driving but you wake up on the 4th day OUT WEST. (and there are things you can see on potty/gas breaks) Yes, that will take 6 days round trip, close to half your trip, but you WILL be OUT WEST and not at home!

You won't be able to see as much but again, you WILL be OUT WEST, and not home. It all depends on what you want, and IMO, 8 days out west is better than NO days out west!

Despite high gas prices, there are many ways you can save, especially if you drive. First, forget vegas, or limit yourself to one night max. We've taken eight out west road trips, all between 20 - 28 days each, and we've never spent quite that much. (Disney World for a week, YES!) And our trips west usually included 2-3 days in DisneyLAND.

We never camp but as another poster said, that too would save you big bucks. We stay in moderate - budget chains (hampton, holiday inn express, best western, comfort) unless we're in a nat'l park, and we splurge there. And thats after joining all their frequent stay programs which offer better rates and free nights after very few stays.

And you can save HUGE on food. The above chains all have free con't bfst that are good and filling, even with two growing teens. Many have free full, hot bfsts. When you drive you can travel with a cooler of deli stuff for road side / nat'l park picnics, in addition to stocking it with bottles of water and soda (and refill at walmarts) so you don't have to pay $2 a can in the motels. Snacks are also brought from home and replenished at walmart. Dinners are also as economical as possible - we try to remember we're out west its to see and explore and not indulge, since we have tons of excellent restaurants at home. That allows us to have more nights on the road and also buy the 'must haves' at gift shoppes. :)

I could ramble on and on ad nauseum about ways to save and how its totally worth it. But bottom line, you may not have the exact vacation you'd hoped for but you WILL BE on an out west vacation and NOT at home.

Good luck, i really hope you can go.

There are ways to save on a trip like that. Two years ago hubby and I left SW FL and drove the Southern route, up CA on I-5 and into OR & WA, then from WA across I-90/95 to SD and down through IL and back home.

We were gone 6 weeks, spent 3 weeks in timeshares, but along the way stayed in Choice, or Sleep Inns or Comfort Inns for about $40 or $50 per night. All served some sort of breakfast, which saved us a stop and extra $$. We hit some National Parks and other places to see. Saw some friends (but stayed in motels) and found local places to eat, which were better than some of the chains.

Go to Vegas, but be really tight with the gambling money. Go watch people and free or very cheap shows. There are lots of things to do around Vegas that do not cost $$$. But if it were me...I'd skip Vegas (it will be there a long time) and see the NP that you want to see first.

What kinda car are you renting, a hummer?

How is the trip ruined? You just need to do it a little more inexpensively - do you really need to give all that money to the casinos? Or to save a little longer before you go! Or maybe do 12 days vs 14! You have a ton of options if you look at the problem with an open mind!

Have just taken another look at this post and done a "fake budget" for this trip and come up with a number significantly less than $7000. So a couple of questions -

How much for air fare? Have you looked at alternate start/end desinations? Different dates? Using flights with a stop or change of planes? (You can NY RT toParis or London for $500 or so - I hope you're not paying more than that!)

Do you have a good deal on the car rental? Are you using all you membership/coupon options and shopped all the alternates?

How much have you figured for meals? Are you assuming casuale breakfasts and lunches with maybe some picnics? Are you assuming some casuale dinners with only a couple of splurges - or an expensive dinner every night?

I'm esaily coming up with number more than $1000 less than your estimate - or do you have a different target in mind?

Have you considered making it a round trip? Coming from Conn., we found both car rentals and airfare to/from Las Vegas to be very affordable.

My three -person, three-week vaction in July has a "real" budget of $7,000. The number is based on things that have been already paid for or reserved. This includes airfare to Denver for three (from Puerto Rico - yes in the Caribbean) which has already been purchased for less than $900 all together (yeah!!-took a lot of net surfing). I have allocated $1500 for entrance tickets and organized activities. The hotels averaged $100 per night (from $190 to $55), but that is staying in the NP lodges and La Quinta class hotels in between. I have one night in Vegas and gambling will not be budgeted (will go sse 'O'...love the cirque!). Meal budget is $150 per day, naturally at this point this is an estimate.

So the options are in my opinion...cut the gambling and have a nice relaxing nature vacation (could add a week with the savings)or shorten the trip. I guess I'm just not a gambling person!

I am bothered by the post where Nanny is told to "skip Vegas-it's awful". Just because one person out of hundreds of thousands does not like a particular place why would they try to ruin it for someone else?

Anyways, you can certainly cut costs by using Priceline for hotel stays in Arizona and Colorado. Vegas can be tricky but doable, espescially if you do not spend the weekend in a hotel on the strip. Go to biddingfortravel.com for details on prior winning bids. Also, one way airfare and car rental can be quite expensive, be sure to price Southwest airlines and America West for the best one way rates. Also, sounds hokey but Bingo is a nice way to spend the day gambling vs. pouring money into slot machines, with bingo you can win thousands and there is always a guaranteed winner. I believe Harrah's has the best reputation on the strip for Bingo. Hope this helps.

I agree with Ellen Griswold on this one. I would bet that a LARGE chunk of the budget is rental cars, fees for rental cars, etc. And that probably doesn't count all the stupid fees they put in when you actually pick up the car. It's the last travel related industry that can still really gouge you. 14 days is a good amount of time to drive your own vehicle (assuming you have one -- Manhattanites may not), then you save on the airfare and rental car fees that you don't use. You will use more gas, yes, but I can't image

whoops! what I wanted to finish saying was I can't imagine the gas you buy would come close to the airfare and rental car costs. Then you can still gamble (maybe not $200 per day). Will you see a lot of corn on the way? Yes. But you'll see a lot of this beautiful country as well. Just mull it over.

I missed the ruined part. How is the trip ruined?

From my understanding, you set the budget?

Either don't gamble or cut the trip shorter.

Perhaps a better heading would be "Help Me Afford My Dream Trip Out West."

Many posters could list a lot of dream trips that have been "ruined" in this way! E.g., there's that $100,000 round the world trip.

I don't intend to be mean, nanny, but maybe you need to make this into 2 trips taken in 2 different years. One to Vegas for gambling, etc, and the other a car trip to see the southwest that doesn't include a $200 a day "surcharge" to the casinos.

It's hard, isn't it nanny?, to have to cut back on a long-dreamed-of trip due to budget constraints? Unfortunately, the sad truth is that most of us have to scale back each and every trip for the same reason.

Now that you have a "starting point" you can begin to cut the things that matter the least to you.

Some suggestions:

Try the Orleans or similar hotels in LV. Our stays at the Orleans usually go somewhere around $29-39 per night midweek, maybe up to your budget of $70 over the weekend, but probably not. (Our Thanksgiving week trip is only averaging $55 per night at the Orleans, for 9 nights including the four-day T-giving weekend.)

Yes, we use a rental car in LV, but we shop for a good deal. You could also use taxis or the shuttles and save on renting for that time.

There's a good chance that you won't need a "fresh" $200 every day, even if you want to gamble each day that you're in LV. You do "win" in between throwing all of your money at the casinos (they call breaking even a "win" in LV). Then you can "reinvest" your winnings back into the casino. We rarely go more than $200 into our own money during our trips to LV - just keep putting the "winnings" back into the machine or on the table.

Food can be very expensive on any trip and I think you've gotten some great suggestions for picnics, inexpensive alternatives, etc.

Pick a casino you like (or more than one) and join their "slot club." Every time you throw money in their machines, you earn points toward food or other items (and that's how we get the best rates at the Orleans). You get points even when it's "their" money you're putting into the machine - winning doesn't "count against you." We have accumulated enough points in one visit to take the whole family (10 of us, including 2 young boys and 8 adults) to one of the casino restaurants for a full meal. It's amazing how fast those quarters add up!

Come back and ask all of us for additional ideas once you settle in on what things are "musts" and what things you can leave for another trip.

Good luck!

Gayle

My trip to Monte Carlo is already ruined and I haven't even planned it :).

Seriously, I think the suggestion for two trips, one excluding gambling, and one including gambling, is a good idea. Or maybe cut the gambling way, way down.