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Is this crazy?
Jeff and I are going to Cancun in July, using a timeshare week my mom gave us. We're underwhelmed by the trip, and it's turned out to have quite a few hidden costs that we weren't aware of. I know that sounds horrible and ungrateful, but I don't think my mom realized when she gifted us the week. Anyway, we were looking at flights and it's going to cost us at least $1000.
We started playing around with different airports and realized that a week on either side of our trip (apparently we picked a very expensive travel week, who knew?) will be significantly cheaper. And if we do one-way tickets with two different airports (Cancun and Cozumel) it's almost half the price. Now we're toying with the idea of booking a week at an AI in Cozumel. It will definitely add to the cost of the trip, but once you subtract the difference in airfare it's around $2k.
Is this a crazy idea? We're thinking that it will make the vacation much better and more worthwhile, and because we're not that excited about the Cancun trip we've been fantasizing about another vacation so this would kill two birds with one stone (and save airfare by not having an additional trip in the future). It's also much easier to take two weeks off from work at once, rather than plan for another week at another point.
The rational side of me says that we probably wouldn't take another vacation, so it's a waste of money. But then I tell myself that there's only a few years in our lives when we can take trips like this, and we still have a lot of money in savings. Plus it makes me feel better about taking the trip in July, because even though I know it's awful, I've been thinking it's an utter waste of time and money as it stands now. If my mom hadn't made me feel so guilty about using her week, I never would have booked it - and she was also misleading about some things regarding the resort.
Thoughts?
Re: Is this crazy?
Laura, I would totally do it! I agree that this is the time in your life to do this kind of travel, if you can get the time off work. Also, I'd go with your idea to stay the whole week in Cancun rather than cutting it short. If you're in a condo, you really will be able to eat very cheaply by just going to a store and getting most of your meals that way.
ETA: I also understand about how these timeshares can be more $ and effort than they're worth. My ILs just bought in to a timeshare and had a referral for one couple for 4 nights in St. Thomas for $199. They really wanted us to go, but the airfare for any time that's not hurricane season was crazy (coming from CA), and there were only a few (date) options after hurricane season and before it expired (a year after they purchased in January). We finally just firmly said thanks but no thanks. Also, that is not at all my preferred method of travel. We'd be stuck at this huge resort with no town worth seeing near it. Ugh.
The resort itself is fine, we spent FOREVER looking for places with good reviews. However, we thought we were getting one type of room, when we're not. There's no kitchen, not even a mini-fridge or a microwave, so although we had been planning on eating at least breakfast and lunch in our room, we can't. We still might pick up breakfast bars or something, but our options are much more limited. Looking at pictures, the room we're getting isn't even as nice as most hotel rooms.
We'll still be on the beach and that's great and everything, but the money we'll be spending on food, airfare, and even to trade this week just doesn't seem worth it and it bums me out because we would have booked a much different vacation with that money, but we felt obligated to use the timeshare week. I tried to get out of it, but my mom was SO insistent.
Edit: I think it's too late to exchange for something else - this is already an exchange from my mom's condo (which is in FL).
Hmm, so it's not ideal, but I think it'd still work. In Croatia, we did things like pick up yogurt or fruit at grocery stores, because I have to eat breakfast and H never does. Is the resort close enough to town to make this a possibility?
Also, I've always eaten things like tacos off the street in Mexico, and never gotten sick. Honestly, I've had amazing street food. And it's cheap!
There's a store where we can go shopping, but there's not much I would get that I can store outside of a fridge (besides cereal bars). Honestly, the only other time we've stayed at a hotel without a fridge was for a few days at Cape May last year, and it was a pain staying hydrated because a warm bottle of water on a hot beach just isn't all that tempting or refreshing, but it's way cheaper to buy water in bulk (or refill from the tap) rather than buying individual bottles from vendors at ridiculous price.
Sigh. I know I sound like a brat. We will make it work, but if she offers us another week I'm going to turn it down flat-out, as nicely as possible. I thought she'd get the hint before but no such luck.
I like your idea better.
Run away for the two weeks and hit up as many spots as you can.
TTC since 2010
Me: 36, slightly elevated FSH. Everything else (hysterescopy, HSG, b/w) normal.
DH:30, with super sperm? >200mil post wash
BFP #1 - May 2011 - m/c @ 8weeks
IUI #1 - July 26 2012 - Femara = BFN
Suprise BFP Jan 15 2013. Hope this one sticks!