Planning is half the fun!

So after every trip, I go through a period where I just bottom out. I LOVE having something to plan and planning is AT LEAST half the fun for me if not more, so there is always this kind of depressing time a couple weeks after getting back from a trip, when the vivid memories start fading, and I start shuffling through digital images of the trip to relive the excitement!

Then, when I've gone through the pictures about 139560938 times, I fall into a bit of a travel funk. Of course, the solution to this funk, is to start planning another vacation, which I have already done!

But, I don't want to jump too far ahead of myself yet. I thought I'd post one more post about the Atlantis trip, things we did to save money, things we are glad we did, things we wish we hadn't done, etc. Then we'll move on to our Turkey Day 2010 trip!

So when you book at the Atlantis, they try to give you a hard-sell on the meal plans they have there. I'm still fairly young I suppose, in my late 20's and I've learned already in life that if someone has to give you the hard sale, whatever they're selling probably isn't worth it.

So the Atlantis dining plans, they have a casual dining plan that is $75 and a gourmet plan that is over $100. We really aren't gourmet type people (especially not every night of the week) so if we had considered a plan, it would have been the casual plan.

The casual plan covers breakfast and dinner each day. The plan does not include alcohol, lunch, or gratuities. When you order a meal that is on the meal plan, your room is still charged 15% of that meal for the tip.

The meal plan would have cost us $1800. I have read that most people who buy the mealplan wind up ordering $2400 in food because the plan "includes" a huge buffet breakfast, and at dinner an appetizer, dinner, and dessert. If we had done the meal plan and ordered as many families do, we would have $1800 in the meal plan, and $360 in tips. So $2160 for 2 meals a day.

Instead though, since we are not big breakfast eaters, we took granola bars and pop tarts with us and we bought fresh fruit and coffee at the grocery store on the way to the resort, so the cost of breakfast was negligible. $1-2 a person tops.

For lunch, we ate by the pool each day, there were great little snack bars with burgers, chicken tenders, hot dogs, salads, wraps, conch fritters, nachos, etc. We always ordered whatever we wanted.

For dinner, we went mostly to casual dining establishments (places on the casual dining plan) but we did go to dinner at one gourmet choice, Mesa Grill.

At each restaurant we ordered whatever we wished. We found that portions were generally huge, and sometimes we would share an appetizer or a dessert, but not always. This choice was not based on price, it was purely because there was so much food!

So at the end of our trip, we were a little worried about seeing our room charges, to see how much damage we had done. Turns out, not much at all! The total for all of us was $1000!

So, I absolutely suggest skipping the meal plan. Unless you are really into eating a huge buffet breakfast, and have an enormous appetite, this plan just doesn't make good money sense!

This image to the left is a little craft that I made before our trip. I had heard about the seas of beach chairs at the Atlantis, and I thought perhaps my family could benefit from having something visible to mark our seats so they were easy to find when we got out of the water.

Each morning we would go and find our seats, hang our neon pom poms from each of our chairs, and then enjoy the pool and current! Every day people would stop by and comment on what a good idea they were, as the people who commented wandered through row after row of chairs looking for their own!

The pom poms were great because they were very inexpensive, (just the cost of yarn if you don't already have some) and they mushed up really small to hardly take up any room in our suitcases. They were also a breeze to make. The one above is a little akimbo as it had just stormed and it was pretty wet. here is another picture of them when they were dry. They are about 4 inches across.

Here is the video I followed to make them. I made mine bigger (wound the yarn around my entire hand) and used a LOT more yarn than the girl in the video. I also spent more time shaping them at the end. Each one only took maybe 5-10 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BRjpRfm1X8

We're back!

Sorry this update has taken me almost a week to write. There is always so much to process after a vacation!

The trip was really great! The resort wasn't nearly as crowded as I had expected, and I had heard over and over how expensive everything was there, and I was pleasantly surprised. We spent about half of what I expected on food while there.

One thing we did not account for was leftovers. We stopped at our grocery store on our way to the resort once we landed in Nassau, and bought fruit, water, beverages, and snacks. All we really needed was the fruit and the beverages. Every night we went out to eat and each night we brought home lots of leftovers! We easily could have had leftovers for snacks or for breakfast in many cases.

My parents had a fantastic time which is what matters most! They loved the resort, and the beaches were beautiful. They enjoyed both the traditional lazy river ride, and the not lazy at all Current river ride!

If anyone is planning a trip to Atlantis and has any questions, I'll be glad to answer them.

Now on to our next trip... I'd love to do something around Thanksgiving since we already have Thanksgiving day off. Maybe the Dominican? Iberostar Paraiso Lindo in the Riviera Maya? My first cruise?

Leaving Tomorrow!

Wow the last couple weeks have just flown by! Sorry I haven't been better about updating!

We leave tomorrow morning for our trip to the Atlantis with my parents! They don't particularly like flying, and my mom gets anxious in airports, so they are driving here today (about a 9 hour drive) and then we are all flying out of Charlotte tomorrow together.

One trick I'm trying out for the first time tomorrow is something our travel agent taught me when we went on our trip to Jamaica back in November. When I booked our tickets for this trip, I booked us in the first and third seats in a row that is 3 seats wide, leaving the middle seat emtpy. I also booked us toward the back of the plane. My hope is that no one will take the center seat between us, so we'll have extra room for our bags and ourselves. Here's hoping!

Something we're doing to help save a little money on this trip is to eat our breakfasts in the condo in the morning. We really do not like to cook on vacation, but we aren't big breakfast people, so I packed Nature Valley granola bars for our breakfasts (Mom packed pop tarts), and I'll buy some fruit when we get to the Bahamas. I've also packed some other snacks, like trail mix and microwave popcorn (mom packed some snack crackers and other things).

When we get to the Bahamas, we have booked a taxi that will take us to the grocery store before taking us to the resort. There are very limited grocery options on Paradise Island, so we will be stopping at a store in Nassau. While we're there we plan to pick up coffee, orange juice, bananas, water, soda, and beer. I've heard that even at the grocery store these things tend to be about 3x as expensive as they are in the states, but still cheaper than they would be at the resort. I will try to save my receipt to report back on if those cost estimates are accurate.

I have also packed a small cooler to take with us. It is an insulated beach bag, and I plan to put drinks in it in the mornings and take it with us to the pools so we have some cold beverages handy that won't cost an arm and a leg.

We plan to eat lunch and dinner out each day. Most days we will be eating by the pool for lunch, and the snack stands have value meals that are $7-10 for a hot dog, burger, or chicken, chips or fries and a drink. It's not gourmet, but it'll sustain us until dinner time.

We are splurging for dinners. We have reservations at Mesa Grill (by Bobby Flay), Bimini Road (traditional Bahamian fare), and Carmines, a family-style Italian restaurant. The other nights we'll play it by ear, and will dine at casual places.

So, we're all packed and ready to go. Today will be busy at work making sure everything is ready for my absence, and my parents will get here shortly after work is over, so until I'm back from the tropics, take care!

Where to stay at the Atlantis???

When we priced the Atlantis, I originally priced out 5 nights in one room at the Beach Tower. This would mean that my husband and I would have to share a room with my parents. I realize this isn't ideal, but we have done it before, and it wasn't as bad as most people imagine. In the image here, the beach tower is clear on the bottom left. It is the most economical of the Atlantis hotel options.

For those looking for even more savings, there is a Comfort Suites on paradise Island that offers the least expensive Atlantis accessible option. It is just off Atlantis property, and guests at the Comfort Suites have full access to the Atlantis and it's amenities.

I briefly considered this option, but the reviews on Trip Advisor were very hit or miss, and my father has some difficulty with mobility, so I felt it was best that we stay a little closer to the action.

I also priced the Royal Tower so we would be even closer to Aquaventure and other main attractions at the Atlantis. It was a few hundred dollars extra, and I was considering it.

Then, I stumbled on a site advertising Atlantis timeshare rentals. I had read about Harborside at the Atlantis and had heard some favorable things about it, but when booking through the Atlantis website, it was booked. So I began my search of timeshare owners who were interested in renting out their timeshare this year, and with a little skill and a lot of luck, and probably some blessings from Above, I found a timeshare owner of a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo at Harborside who was willing to rent out his condo for the week we wanted to go!

His asking price was more than I was able to comfortably pay, so I made a lower offer. He came back and met me somewhere in the middle. The price we settled on was equivalent to one water view room at the Royal Towers for 5 nights, but we instead got a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom condo for an entire week. It was also about the same as 5 nights in a studio harbor view room at the Reef.

Harborside cannot be seen on the map above, but it is directly above the label on the top center of the map that says The Marina at Atlantis.

We won't be as close to the action as we would have at the Royal Tower or Reef, (but there is a shuttle that runs every 10 minutes that will take us from Harborside to the other hotels at the Atlantis) and we can also walk through marina village to get to the main resort. We feel that by staying another couple hundred yards from the main attractions we are gaining 3 times the space, and 2 extra days at the resort, so it is worth it to us. Also our condo has a full kitchen, so we'll be able to keep beverages there and have breakfast in the room in the mornings, which will save $30 per person per day! (Can you believe an adult breakfast buffet is $28 plus 15% gratuity???) We plan to eat our lunches at the snack bars near the pools ($7-10 for a lunch combo) and then we have various dinner options. We will splurge on dinners. So far we have a reservation at Mesa Grill (by Bobby Flay) and Bimini Road which has traditional Bahamian food. The other nights we plan to play it by ear. We do NOT plan to cook though :)

I will write about our experiences at Harborside when we get back from our trip. I'll weigh the pros and cons to staying a little farther away for the extra days at the resort, and space. Also if there is a rainy day while we are there, I will go to the various hotels on site and ask to see their rooms, so I can provide an informed opinion on the lodging options.

Breaking the News

So the time had arrived to tell my parents about the surprise trip. It wasn't a completely out of the blue surprise to my father, because when I was in for my grandmother's funeral he had talked about mom's birthday and asked if we would be able to come in for it, because if we couldn't he was going to try to take some time off and take her on a weekend trip to the beach or Niagara Falls.

At this point, my husband and I obviously hadn't had time to talk about if we should try to do the trip or not, my grandmother had just passed away. I told my dad to see how much time he could get off and to call me in a week though.

When he called, I still didn't want to totally blow the surprise for him, so I talked like I was going to book us a trip to Myrtle Beach. That bought me a little bit more time, and he at least knew we were taking a trip, and knew most of the dates so he could put in for the vacation time.

In just a few days, we were ready to tell my parents about the trip. On a Friday evening, after work we prepared to call them. I called them on speaker phone and we wanted to talk to both of them at once, and my dad wasn't home!!! What an awkward situation. There my husband and I are on the phone with my mom, and we have nothing to say haha. I told her that we would give them a call back in a little bit when dad was home, and my husband blurted out... "and don't get excited, we're not pregnant!"

My mom, trying to lighten the awkwardness said "Oh don't worry, that never crossed my mind. I thought you were going to tell me you were taking me on an Alaskan Cruise!"

*crickets chirping*

I laughed and told her to keep dreaming. She said she'd let us know when my dad was home.

So then, for the next 2 hours, I sat there and obsessing over whether my mom had figured out what we were doing and was just trying to be funny and throw a monkey wrench into our plans, or if it was just a totally random comment, or if she really did want to go on an Alaskan cruise. I started pricing Alaskan cruises.

A bit later my parents called. First I cleared the air about the Alaska comment. I asked her if she WANTED to do that, and she laughed and said no, that she had just been watching tv when we called and they were talking about Alaskan cruises and so it was the first non baby thing that came to mind.

With that out of the way, we announced that for her 60th birthday (and also for dad's), we wanted to take them on vacation, and then I told her to check her e-mail and I sent her this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MudYil5Ryvw

My mom started crying so hard she couldn't talk. She couldn't believe it. Apparently she had been looking at the Atlantis for years, but because my dad is retiring in 3 years and they have aggressive savings goals right now, she felt she couldn't justify it.

She had the most adorable excited quiver in her voice... after all she's done for me, making my mother this happy is priceless.

We also told them about the other trip options, but from the first moment, she and my dad both wanted to do the Atlantis trip. So that's what we're doing!

The night we told them about the trip, it was supposed to be a 5 night trip. In my next post I'll talk about how it went from a 5 to 7 night trip, and how we wound up with 3 times the space in our accommodations for nearly the same price!

Atlantis Planning

My current vacation planning task is well underway. For over a year my husband and I have been talking about taking my parents on a vacation to celebrate their 60th birthdays. Then, my maternal grandmother's health started declining, and we put the idea on the back burner as I knew my mother would not leave my grandmother for a vacation in her condition.

Sadly, my grandmother passed away on Easter Sunday. It was not unexpected, but still very difficult for my family, and especially for my mother. She and my grandma were truly best friends. For the last 7 years my mom has cared for my grandmother daily. She has shown her such love and patience and kindness and loyalty. Their relationship is truly touching.

After Grandma's passing, my husband and I started talking about and praying about taking my parents on a vacation again. I kept dreaming about it, and in each dream my grandma was encouraging me to take my mom on this trip soon. I really have such a peace about the decision to go ahead with a trip. My grandmother was always ready to go anywhere on a moments notice. She loved to travel and do new things and my mom is just like her. I know my grandma would love that we are planning a trip as a family now. My mom needs something to which she can look forward. My grandmother would be thrilled that we are doing this.

So the time came to really start planning. My husband an I sat down and worked out a budget for a trip, and then I spent a few days looking at various vacation options that fit the budget. Among the choices were 5 nights in Aruba, a week in Orlando, a week in the Dominican Republic, a week in Texas, and 5 nights at the Atlantis.

Though we had NEVER talked about it, I knew deep down that the Atlantis would absolutely be my mom's first choice. She LOVES lazy rivers, she and my dad love beaches, tropical destinations, sunshine, touristy places, and lots of activities.

The problem was that the Atlantis is a very expensive destination. Not only are the rooms incredibly expensive for average accommodations, but the food is astronomically expensive also. In order to make this trip possible, we would need to share a room with my parents.

I know most young adults want to curl up and die at the thought of this, but we've done it before for long weekends with my parents, and we've all survived. We don't spend much time in our rooms, so we figured it was worth the trade-off of getting to take them somewhere we thought they would love.

So the decision was made. We would call my parents and tell them the news the following night... That we were taking them on vacation! We decided to present them with several options that were in our budget, and let them pick.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about how the big phone call went, and about some bumps and surprises along the way!

Presidential Asheville Weekend - Part 2

After a good night's sleep Friday night, we were up bright and early on Saturday to go to the Biltmore Estate. This was my second trip to the Biltmore this year, and I was worried that it may be boring the second time around, but it wasn't at all.

The Festival of Flowers is April 3-May 16th and this was our first time there during the festival. The home is massive; in fact it's the largest privately owned home in the United States and boasts 43 bathrooms!

After touring the house and walking through the gardens and green house, where they had live music playing, we had lunch at The Bistro. The meal was delicious and affordable. The pizzas are heavenly, and are big enough to share between two people.

Then we proceeded to the winery. In the past, the Bitlmore has offered a free seminar on wine for guests. You needed to only call a few days before and reserve a spot. Unfortunately, when we called to reserve a spot this time, we found out that it is now no longer a complimentary seminar. The chocolate and red wine tasting seminar is $15. That's certainly not bad, and we didn't rule it out because of the price, but we did the exact same seminar for free 2 months ago, so we saw no need to pay to do it again. Also, they offer a behind the scenes winery tour for $8.

I picked up a couple bottles of my favorite sparkling wine, Biltmore's Pas de Deux, and also a couple champagne glasses from the gift shop, along with a deck of cards... those were my only purchases on this trip.

We also visited the newly opened Antler Hill Village. I was expecting more in the way of shops and variety. It was nice to walk around for a few minutes, but I think they missed the mark on this one. I do suggest stopping in at the Biltmore Legacy exhibit at Antler Hill. In the back right corner there is an entrance into a room where a panoramic video of the home and family history plays on a continuous circuit. It was actually quite enjoyable, and we were impressed with the 3 screens surrounding you.

After a quick nap back at the hotel, we decided to go exploring more downtown, unfortunately half way to downtown the skies opened up and it started pouring down the rain, so we turned the car around and went to the mall instead. Not nearly the charm of the downtown shops, but at least we were dry.

The rest of the evening was a wash. I had planned to take everyone to dinner at Tupelo Honey Cafe, but the in-laws asked for Olive Garden instead. (Deep breath.) I was wet, tired, and I shamefully admit, a bowl of their zuppa toscana did sound pretty good, so I tucked my adventurer tail between my legs and enjoyed a meal at Olive Garden.

I think it was the bad juju from the Olive Garden decision that caught up with me about 30 minutes after the meal. I was as sick as a dog all evening. I spent much of the night on the bathroom floor.

The next morning I washed the vomit from my hair, pulled myself together, and went on a last-minute shopping trip with the in-laws. They had forgotten to get my brother in law a t-shirt, so we went back to the gift shop at the main gate of the Biltmore. The sun was finally out, so we went downtown to explore. It was Sunday morning and most of the shops were closed, but at least it gave us a chance to explore the area little bit without getting drenched. Then we said our goodbyes and headed home, where I laid around on the sofa all day, still recovering from the Olive Garden Illness of Doom.

Thanks for the great trip Asheville! We didn't see the President, but by all the security we saw all over town, we sure knew he was there. Asheville, we'll be back for our next quarterly visit in July!

A Presidential Weekend Trip to the Mountains - Part 1

For months, my husband and I have had a weekend trip planned to Asheville, NC with my in-laws. About a week or two before our trip, we hard that President Barack Obama and the First Lady were going to be there the same weekend. We weren't sure whether to be excited or put-out, so we just went with a good attitude!

Background: My husband and I go to Asheville for the weekend about 4 times a year, (we call it our quarterly trip) and we have stayed all over Asheville, usually bidding on a room on Priceline. My mother in law wasn't quite comfortable leaving it to chance, and asked me which of the hotels we have preferred. We chose the Holiday Inn Asheville Downtown.

It is an affordable option, $130 a night. You do have to drive to get just about anywhere, but it is conveniently situated between downtown, the Grove Park Inn, the Biltmore Estate, and as we unfortunately found out, the mall.

The rooms are clean and comfortable.

We arrived Friday evening and had dinner at Havana Cuban Cuisine downtown. This was our second time eating there, and we really like it. It is casual and there are outdoor seating options. They also have $25 gift certificates on restaurant.com, and they CAN be used on weekends, so that is always a great way to save some money on dinner.

After dinner we made our way to the Grove Par k Inn for some dueling piano entertainment at Elaine's Dueling Pianos. We had been warned not to go there as that is where the President was staying. We were told we were unlikely to get within miles of the place, and even if we got close, they would NEVER let us in that weekend.

I'm stubborn. We went anyway.

Apparently everyone in the area had heard the same warning we did, only they listened. The hotel was like a ghost town! We pulled up to the main gate and there were incredibly bright flood lights shining down on us. They stopped us and had a bomb sniffing dog smell around the car, and then they let us onto resort property. They didn't even ask if we had reservations.

We found parking more easily than we ever have found it before. We walked up to the side door nearest Elaine's and we had to walk through metal detectors, and have our purses hand searched. I was wanded and then frisked because of my underwire bra.

With a total of maybe 5 minutes of security delays, we were in the resort and free to roam around as we pleased. We went straight to Elaines, worried about getting a seat. (We are usually there when the doors open at 8 to get a good seat.) On this night we got there at 8:50 and we were the first people there! Going to Elaine's is one of my favorite things to do in Asheville. There is no cover charge for a great evening of entertainment. We generally wind up spending between $20-50 in tips for the musicians (optional), and about $20-$30 in drinks while we are there. The musicians are talented, and the audience always has a few good laughs!

I'll continue the Presidential Weekend in my next post! Look forward to highlights of the Biltmore Estate.

Introducing... me

Hello, welcome to my blog, Champagne Travel - Beer Budget.

For years my husband and friends have urged me to channel my travel obsession in a blog. The reasons are 2 fold. 1) because I amass quite a knowledge of my destinations that could be helpful to others, and 2) because I am certain I drive them crazy talking about my upcoming trips all the time.

So here I am. I'm 28 and married, no children, 2 cats and 1 dog. We are middle class earners who live in a medium/low cost of living town.

My travel budgets are generally quite modest, but I have discerning taste, which always makes for an interesting combination!

My favorite destinations are tropical, and in my first series of blog posts I'll be writing about our preparation for our trip to the Atlantis in the Bahamas! We are treating my parents to the trip to celebrate their 60th birthdays!