The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: norajean on April 12, 2021, 08:49:35 PM
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Summer 2021 is shaping up to be the busiest vacation season in US history. A full year of people being cooped up is already driving prices for travel and accommodation through the roof. Desirable locations are booking up fast and demand-based pricing is pushing rates sky high. State/Natl parks are already over-run.
What are your strategies for coping with the costs and crowds?
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An interesting question. My family is trying to plan a road trip for this summer, to visit with the extended family without boarding an airplane and to see some stuff along the way. We kind of hoped that everyone got their fill of natural attractions last year and would be itching to go someplace they can only get by plane this year, but we found that lodging around Yellowstone for late summer was pretty tight already. We found a campsite for a few days (these are still pretty available and cheap), and we'll see how it goes. A two-bedroom AirBnB is usually more our speed but those were looking super expensive, so we'll give camping a try.
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I plan to travel... to my favorite sushi joint and eat there, in person, without the fried stuff being soggy/weird from takeout. Same, but for the authentic Chinese place. Same but for the German place the next town over.
We might travel up to see parents, so they can see the grandkid. 2-3 hrs away by car, no need for an plane or hotel. German food there, sushi too. Good little Thai place.
I'm clearly a midwesterner. It's all about the food.
I do want the dumpster fire over by 3 years from now though. The first eclipse a few years ago was awesome. I hope we get good weather for the next one, but April is way more iffy than August.
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Staycation? Why do you feel the need to travel when others are also traveling?
We may do a housing swap with friends if we feel the need to get out of our own house.
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If I end up going anywhere this summer, it will be a very unusual-route road trip with my dad to various places I don't expect anyone else would be going (i.e. remote labyrinth hunting in the mountains). Lucky for me, I'm such a weirdo that the places I want to go tend to not really line up much with where everyone else wants to go.
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I live in a place that other people come to on holiday. My strategy is to carry on staying home, tending my garden and taking the dog for walks. And especially not to take the car out just when the hoards are trying to come the other way down a single track lane to the beach.
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We're doing some excursions over the summer, but mostly we are waiting until after Labor Day 2021 because the demand is lower and the prices reasonable.
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Cope by using SW points and companion pass earned via churn. Lots of flights for free. Backpacking trips which are relatively cheap/free and do not need advanced reservations. But I'm also lucky that my passion is cheap.
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We live in Nova Scotia, so we don't anticipate as much frenzy up here. I suspect Canada will remain closed for at least a couple more months, and that Nova Scotia will continue to require 14 days self isolation through most of the summer. We're new up here (having moved in July) so we'll do some day / weekend trips and some camping. We're going to a provincial park in June. We might do Cape Breton or the South Short. If things open up, DW might go with DD to meet her folks somewhere between us and FL (like NH). Personally, I have no interest in outcompeting folks for tourist destinations.
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State/Natl parks are already over-run.
1. Wilderness areas in National Forest and BLM lands can be just as beautiful and are much less crowded.
2. Last summer, at least, I found that backcountry areas were much less crowded than the frontcountry. On one 3-day backpack in a wilderness area in Montana and I didn’t see a single person until the third day.
Unfortunately, I got laid off last fall. While I started a new job last month I won’t have enough vacation built up by this summer to make a long trip worthwhile. 2022 for me, I guess.
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Yeah, we aren't going anywhere this summer. The main frenzy we'll be dealing with will be trying to get outdoor restaurant patio space when everyone else will be wanting the same.
We'll travel off-season. Probably a larger trip next spring (March 2022), IF the Covid mutations don't ruin things for all of us.
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I live 1300 miles from my extended family and haven't seen them since Christmas 2019. My parents are vaccinated and all the other adults in the family will be fully vaccinated in 3-4 more weeks. I do plan to take a road trip to see them this summer. For other leisure travel, I can wait.
We have a South American cruise booked for February 2022. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it happens, but we booked it knowing it may not. Travel is more than likely going to cost more for the next few years, so my DH and I will make a plan, hack where possible and be selective in the trips we take.
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We're going camping and we've already got all our reservations, so...
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I'm planning on surviving it by waiting until end of year/2022 to do any major traveling, lol. Whatever travel lust I might feel at the moment is wholly eclipsed by the full-body shudder that overtakes me at the thought of paying premium prices to elbow through the crowds thronging around the beach or the mall or whatever tourist attractions I might want to see. I much prefer the thought of waiting, paying a normal amount for plane tickets and hotels, and traveling during off season to appreciate the sights with a minimum of people.
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Honestly as someone who doesn’t have to plan around others. I did it by doing my Norther AZ/Southern Utah National Parks in early to Mid March. (Hello bonus Bryce Canyon with snow). This summer I’ll just day trip to my local national forest and maybe the National Shoreline.
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We reserved adjoining campsites at a state park so that we can vacation in August with husband’s sister and her family (including our young niece and nephew). All of the adults will be fully vaccinated, we’ll be outdoors and prepping our own food most of the time, and we’ll be able to keep to ourselves somewhat. We don’t have any other travel planned.
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I'm definitely going to be part of the problem. I typically go well out of my way to avoid the tourist crush but I'm maxed out on PTO, swollen with cash, mildly burned out after a tough year personally and at work (survived 4 rounds of layoffs and picked up more work), and haven't taken more than 3 consecutive days off or got on an airplane in over a year. Oh, and as of yesterday I have my first vaccine and an appointment for the second so with certainty on that front I can make some solid plans.
I have some domestic locations in mind but am also considering placing a bet sooner than later on an international destination too. There have to be places hurting for tourists that will open up to vaccinated travelers before too much longer and it seems like there will be a window in the coming months where an admitted privileged vaccinated American and their dollars might be warmly welcomed as the vanguard of tourism's return, with non-crazy prices to match.
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My SO and I have both banked a ton of PTO over the past year, and we need to use it. Most of our trips this summer will be short ones visiting family and friends in the area. No need for air travel. We'll also be doing a lot of day trips to go hiking and spend time down the shore. Nothing crazy. We are mostly just looking forward to seeing other human beings.
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We have a National Park trip planned for August. It was rescheduled from last year and we have to use the airline credits this year. So we booked it months ago now when prices were high but not sky high, and we will just power through the crowds. Honestly, that park is super crowded every summer so I can't imagine it will actually be that much worse this year, it is more a question of how prevalent covid is at that point. DH and I have gotten the first of the two covid shots, so will be fully vaccinated.
Other than that, planning to drive and visit family over the summer. No other big trips, no other crowded areas. Maybe the following year we will try to do some more touristy things, but I have always been anti-crowd so we'll see how it goes and avoid crowds as much as possible.
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We're booking things far in advance, when possible, which helps.
I live in WA and learned long ago that natl parks are packed in the summer months. For outdoors, I now tend to go to national forests, which are often relatively empty but it takes a little more research to know where to go.
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I booked some stuff for May - July in late March, mostly within driving distance, when I knew what the date of my last shot was going to be. Glad I did because everything is gone now. I held off on booking August, but that may turn out to be a mistake...off season in September-November will probably be easier to book, and I'm holding out hoping Canada and/or Europe reopens in the fall.
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I'm going to Hawaii for 6 weeks, Chicago for 2 weeks and Minnesota for 1 week. I'm using points on SW for all of my flights. This includes my wife and son. I'm staying at my own rental in Hawaii. I'm staying with family in Chicago and Minnesota.
I'm renting a car to drive from Chicago to Minnesota for a cabin on the lake. The car rental was $399 for 7 days. I could normally get it for $300, in a normal market, I think.
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We're planning a trip for our anniversary in November. Since it's during the school year, we're still finding decent availability...