So my wife and I are having our five year anniversary soon and we've been talking the last couple of years about taking a trip up the CA coast to Hearst Castle and Pismo Beach for a 3 day vacation. We're also expecting our first child this fall so it will be one of our last chances to get away from it all.

We'd like to make it as romantic as possible, and my wife would really like a couples massage (prenatal). In an ideal world we'd stay at a beach resort and get a spa package with the resort).

So I threw together a quickie budget and would like some feedback.

I'd like to spend no more than $1,700. We have $2,400 saved for "Vacation and Travel" (saving $160 a month) and $400 marked for entertainment ($100 a month where the balance rolls over).

Anyway,

Dinners: $200 (At least one nice fancy dinner)
Lunches: $120
Breakfasts: $20 (Not one for breakfast myself, but my wife needs to eat regularly)
Snacks: $10
Gas: $125 (Approximated from an online tool)
Parking: $25 (Did not actually look into parking)
Shopping: $150 (We're not ones for shopping, but I'll leave this door open)
Massages: $200 (rough estimate)
Tours: $100 (2 45 minute tours at Hearst castle for 2)
Tips: $20 (..or $40 in Misc if you look at it that way)
Misc: $20
Hotel: $600 (3 nights at $200 a night)
------
$1,590
+Tax ~$111
------
$1,701 sheesh!

So at $200 a night the ritzy places right on the beach are out. I tried working it out with staying at an economy inn on the day we travel and 2 nights at a resort, but that's not going to work either).

So I'm probably going to have us stay at an up-scale hotel and just drive over to the spa. I I was able to get a quote on hotwire for an un-named 3-star hotel for $135 a night and could most certainly do better than that with priceline name your own price option.

Other options include looking a little off the beaten path for a place to stay within driving distance to Hearst castle.

If you have $2,400 saved up for vacation and travel, and this is likely to be your last chance for "vacation and travel" for the next few years, why not spend it all instead of limiting yourself to $1,700?

Whenver possible, I feel that once-in-a-lifetime celebrations like this shouldn't be a time for watching your pennies and sticking to a budget. I would just price out the hotel you want to stay in, give yourself a total food allowance for the three days (not a daily food allowance but a total cap over three days so you feel like you have the freedom to splurge on a fancy meal or two), and enjoy yourselves. Budgets aren't romantic. You can still be fiscally responsible without costing out and monitoring every line item.

Did someone say beaches? Have you considered going on a cruise instead of staying at a hotel? My Dad and I did to Europe back when I was single with NCL - Norwegian Cruise Line. We travelled at night to a new destination each day so no really need for transportation. We ate on the ship so there was no real need for budgeting food. The only added expense we had was tourism outings.

We figured what we spent on the cruise we would've spent on food alone (not to mention the cost and hassle of staying in hotels, renting vehicles, etc.). We ate at a different "restaurant" each day (The ship had 11). Plus it was like staying at a 5 star hotel.

I agree with brad. You've been married five years? Go all out and spend the full $2,400.00 (or save up for more?) and take a cruise to the Caribbean. We've been married a few years now and have a newborn. We won't be doing anything like that in the near future. From your budget besides the cruise you would have tips, tours, massages, miscellaneous, and shopping left.

Since my Dad and I went a few years back he's taken my Mom on several cruises. This year they're going on one to the Mediterranean.

Just my 2 cents. Thoughts?

I agree with the others. Spend the money and make it a memorable vacation. Once the kid arrives, your lives are going to change dramatically, and carefree trips like this will be history (one major reason why we chose not to have kids).

Enjoy the trip. Create a reasonable budget and then be willing to go over it. Spending money to make memories that will last a lifetime is well worth the investment.

Of course, that doesn't mean you can't spend wisely. If you are going to be out all day exploring and come home dead tired you don't need the fanciest hotel, just something comfortable and clean. I'm sure you understand what I am getting at.

My wife and I just had a our five year anniversary and we are taking a trip in the fall to celebrate.

I totally agree with that. My girlfriend and I view hotels as a place to sleep, and we sleep just as well in a bed that cost us $80/night as one that costs $200. So our general approach when traveling is to stay in a cheap motel (not so cheap that it's uncomfortable or in a dangerous neighborhood) and spend our money on the things that will actually enrich our experience while we're awake.

When you hit Pismo be sure to say hi to Bugs and have all the clams you can eat!

I like the idea of cruises, it seems a pretty affordable way to have alot of fun with a set amount of money. My husband was against cruises, but talked to some of his friends, and a couple people he knew raved about it. So now he is more open to it.

Ask your wife what she would prefer to spend money on. When I am going to visit my family, I was planning to get a hotel room for a couple nights both to treat my sister and give my family a privacy break, but I got feedback from my sister and rest of family that I'm not imposing and they would rather have me spend my money on activities while visiting than lodging so that's what I'm going to do.

We're reluctant to bring this account down to zero. With semi-regular trips to see family and friends (holidays etc.), we wouldn't want to have to say no to everything.



Trust me, it's much better for us to have one. Both of use are savers so it helps loosen up the purse strings so we can enjoy ourselves.



Yes! Living near a port it is very affordable for us to take a trip down to mexico for a couple of nights:
http://www.carnival.com/cms/fun/destination/Mexico/itineraries.aspx?subRegionCode=MB&sort=3
or up the CA coast: (grrr 1 url limit)

We took a cruise for our honeymoon and another 2 years ago. This is certainly a great option, but we've said to ourselves that we want to explore more of the states. It's hard to say when that might be feasible but our next trip after this we'd like to take a trip to New England (maybe a cruise).



Yup, vacations for a while are going to mean going to see Grandma and Grandpa. We'd like to be able to take our kids on trips to see some of the great things the US has to offer, but that's TBD.



Sure do, of course if we could do it comfortably it would be nice to do the resort. Maybe I'll look into a bed and breakfast or something.



She said she'd be OK getting a less expensive hotel and splurge more at the spa.

You could make this more of an adventure. Just plan on a final destination and maybe book a few days at a resort or whatever but you will get killed on the fees/taxes. You could just start driving. Stop by welcome centers and get coupons for hotels on your way. You can also drive through the nights and avoid traffic which saves fuel costs.

You could also look at ebay or craigslist and find someone renting out a timeshare unit.

You could also go to airbnb.com, vrbo.com.

Go all out. Believe me, once that kid comes that will suck up all your time and you won't be able to travel for at least a few years.

We did something similar in town (staycation) during my wife's second trimester. Probably should've taken a whole week off but wanted to save vacation time for when the baby came.

My advice: Go on lot's of dates, sleep a lot, catch up on your favorite shows/books... Life is going to drastically change. But your little one will be worth it.

I didn't think our lives changed too much with our spawn. We still went out to eat, we still go out to visit people, we still went camping etc. It takes a few more minutes to get out the door and we didn't do anything wild and crazy while hiking/camping with the baby, but we still get out and do the things we love. And we still go on our annual "big" trip together. G'ma and G'pa get to spend time with the little stinker, and we get some time to ourselves (which is healthy, IMHO). So, don't think your life is about to collapse before your eyes.

I vote to go out and have a good time. Stay where you want, eat what you want, do what you want. Also, make sure you have bathroom breaks scheduled every 30 mins on the trip us there!

My 2 year old daughter has been to Hawaii, Australia, and China. London too if you count fetus travel. Every trip my wife and I tell each other "This is our last trip for a while; once [x milestone happens] we probably won't be able to do it any more." X has been baby is born, she is eating solid food, she starts walking, she learns the word no, she starts asserting her independence, etc. So far things have gone reasonably well, and after about six months we keep deciding to take another trip. Now we are planning for a second but I am guessing that won't stop us either.

On behalf of all the poor souls stuck sitting behind you on all those flights, let me say, "Thanks for making me listen to a screaming infant for 12 hours when I had hoped to be sleeping instead."

I strongly believe people with children under 5 years old should not take them on long flights. It's boring for the kid and annoying to the other passengers, who are already enduring a long, stressful flight.

Oh, don't be so critical. I'm sure Stannius has the decency to only travel by private jet!

ROFL. Thanks I could use a good laugh today.