nina

While it's mildly interesting to hear the most people spend on vacation, I think it's a lot more interesting to hear about the LEAST people have spent on vacations. A lot more creative.

We've been very lucky to have gotten a lot of free (well, almost free), vacations. While my husband and I worked for Xerox, we went on many incentive trips. 3 times to Maui, Kaui and Hawaii, stayed in Ritz Carlton, Mauna Lani Point, Westin Kaui and Hyatt and Intercontinental Maui. Everything was paid for, right down to the helicopter tours! Also went to Monte Carlo and Naples (Ritz Carlton) Florida on Xerox. They even gave us cash to spend for meals! Those were the days.

Next job my husband worked for Gartner Group and again we got to go on incentive trips and boondoggles, We went to The Amazon Jungle, Puerto Rico, Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Phuket Thailand, (stopped in Paris on the way back, which only cost us $ 100pp for the extended layover, and another $ 1,000 in Paris) and Africa.

We also once stayed at a friends beach house right on the ocean at the Cape for a week. They absolutely refused any payment so we just sent them a case of wine and bought a nice tablecloth for the house.

What are some of your great and inexpensive trips?

axle

nina: You've had some great vacations handed to you via your jobs. But how were these creative?

z

The trick is to get paid to take the vacation.....Have more cash in your pocket when you come back then from when you left......That's the way I take my vacations.

nina

Well, the creative part was the tag-a-longs to these trips, rerouting, etc. to extend them.

We also have been on 2 really cheap but fantastic trips recently, I've been watching the last minute booking sites and nabbed a Royal Caribbean cruise to Bermuda last year for $ 574 TOTAL pp. We booked a week ahead of time.

In March we went to a 5 star all-inclusive in Punta Cana for a week for $599 TOTAL. Great vacations at very low prices, you just have to be flexible and check the sites every day.

nina

Oh, we did get paid to take the vacations. All the trips with the companies DID NOT count as vacation time. Pretty cool huh?

bb

How about a three week vacation for a family of four for about $4,500. That included hotels, food, a week long cruise to Alaska, and an RV in Alaska for a week.

nina

Excellent bb, See, I find this much more interesting!

pam

Nina, did the same thing when my husband went to London for business. It was in the fall so I only paid around $250 to fly with him from NY-London and stayed in a very upscale hotel which ofcourse his company paid for. Any food expenses we had got reimbursed. Because of the time difference, I'll wake up just to have breakfast in bed with husband, go back to sleep till noon then go to the gym, go shopping till my husband comes from work then hit the restaurants and the club at night with him. With all these activities, he was only getting 4 hours sleep at night but we were having so much fun he didn't care. Now, we have a child so I can't just pick up and go with him when his company sends him somewhere.

please stop

No wonder why Xerox is going down the toilet.

gwen

We only paid $200pp to fly from Newark to Aruba. Got it thru an auction site. Only paid $900/week to stay in a 1BR suite at Marriott which has a full kitchen and a jacuzzi. Rented from a timeshare owner. The regular hotel rate for our unit was $300/day so we were so glad from saving a lot.

we are watching

Are you declaring the value of these perks on your tax returns?

nina

True please, but he left Xerox 10 years ago (I left 13 years ago). This was in it's heyday. While they may still offer incentive trips to the sales division, as nearly all companies do, I think they've scaled back considerably.

nina

Oh yes, you are definitely taxed on these trips. They are included as income, so aren't completely free. I suppose one could decline the trip to avoid the tax. No way would we!

Sarah

$1000 for month in Turkey that is airfare (transportation inside country include. We slept on hotel roof tops (equipped with cots/blankets and use of showers) for $2 a night. There were regular hotels squeezed in there but only when I broke from travel mate and explored alone.

Wait Wait Wait I also traveled around Southern Europe on $500. for 2.5 months. Youth Hostels and cheap food. I can remember being in Vienna and having enough money for a good cheap meal or a Viennese pastry, you know which idea won out. THE PASTRY OF COURSE! Can't remember if that $500. figure includes airfare it did include eurail. I was working as a nanny at the time in London and saved for the trip then returned to U.S at the end of tour.

Next best rate on a hotel Marsamatru (sp) Egypt 3 dollars a night with a balcony!!!

sss

That 1000. figure for Turkey was the amount for the entire trip

Big Sigh

nina: it would be wonderful to have a job that would allow me to go to exotic places; I don't.
it would also be wonderful to be able to take off at a moment's notice to take advantage of great rates; I can't.
hope you are thankful for your life - sounds lovely.

Suzy

I really don't think that work-based or incentive trips should count on this theme, just personal trips that require some ingenuity!

1. Ten days in Hawaii for free. Used FF miles for tickets, stayed with relatives. Well, we took them out to dinner, so I guess the trip cost $200 for the three of us.

2. Three weeks in England and Wales for four, $2500. Mostly thanks to FF miles again, and a home exchange that provided a free town house and car.

3. Camping is always cheap. For our week in Virginia that we drove to from Boston, we spent about $500 for 4 people.

4. My husband and I were once on simultaneous business trips; he was scheduled to fly home on Friday, so asked his employer if he could fly home via the city I was staying in, so we could spend the weekend there. They said OK, if he paid the difference in the tickets. Since this vacation caused him to stay over on a Saturday, the net difference between the tickets was one dollar!

Trish

Suzy: Excellent! However, your #4 violated your own rules!

nina

Big, I am thankful. It was my husband's job that garnered nearly all of those trips though, and he worked very hard for them. He was in Sales then and I invite anyone to do that type of work, on commission. There are many who can't or won't. I see those trips as just rewards.

Suzy

I don't think I technically violated my own rule, since my husband's $1 trip was an add-on to a business trip rather than part of one. Also, we stayed with friends over the weekend, so even our room and board wasn't company-paid.