Only Rich People Take Vacations

So, it's been a while since you've take a vacation or you've never traveled very far from home before and you have NO IDEA where to start? Listen, we have been there. 

I went on my first vacation the last week of summer before sixth grade. We borrowed our neighbors small pickup truck, put a carpet in the back, put the cap on and along with my parents and two sisters, drove to Niagara Falls and through the New England States, very quickly, might I add.  Two of us would drive hours on end laying down to fit in the bed of the truck (This was in the eighties when driving in the back of a pickup truck was perfectly acceptable) while the lucky one for the day would get to ride between my parents in the front.  We had no reservations. We stopped at any $30 or so a night motel that had vacancy. Sometimes we would all sleep in the King Size Bed, my mother would end up in the bathtub sleeping on those nights, but other nights we would share two queens.  Listen, it wasn't glamorous, but riding Maid of the Mist under the Falls and touring Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower made it all worth the fighting and bickering for space in our cramped quarters. 









We didn't take another vacation until seven years later when my sister graduated from bootcamp.  That's because only rich people could take vacations, or so I thought.  

Maybe it was difficult to take the trip of your dreams ten or fifteen years ago without bundles of cash, but today with all of the internet planning tools and deals, you can travel for the cost of a couple of outfits at the mall. It would be more like 10 or more outfits for myself because I'm a cheap skate and a consignment shopper at my very core, but for normal people, a couple of outfits from the mall.

The first thing you need to do is decide where you want to go. Or don't, that's even better. If you are willing to go anywhere if the deal is right, you have a better chance of finding something exciting and within your budget. 

Then you need to start scouring the internet. There are so many travel blogs, sites and apps devoted to travel deals and you need to find as many as you can and sign up for notifications. Liking the facebook pages of each is extremely helpful as they often post a new travel deal everyday.

For me, the next step is to figure out when the deals I find fit into my schedule and financial planning. Hey, I dont have a huge lump sum at one time to pay for a vacation, so I piecemeal it together so by the time the trip comes along, it's paid off and I'm free to enjoy the sites.  If you find a great flight price, book that first, if its a great hotel or rental price, book that. The rest will fall into place. Just make sure you give yourself enough time to raise the funds and find the next part you need.

Here are some of the travel sites you should check out-

http://thepointsguy.com/
http://www.travelandleisure.com/
https://besttraveldeals.net/

And don't forget cruiselines- 
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/
https://www.ncl.com/
https://www.carnival.com/

And my favorite inexpensive airlines-
https://www.norwegian.com
https://wowair.us/
http://www.jetblue.com/

AND don't forget Google Flights, one of the best new travel tools available!
https://www.google.com/flights/