Vacation close to home
Vacationing closer to home helps you to save a lot of money in your travel expenses. Let's look at the reasons why:
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- Transportation. Whether you are flying, driving, taking a train, or taking a bus, if you go some place that is closer, rather than farther, you pay less. Why do you think it is cheaper to fly within the United States, then it is to fly to Europe, Asia, etc.? So, if you were to buy a plane ticket, it would cost you less if you stayed within a few hours plane ride radius. If you were to drive, you would spend less on fuel, wear and tear on your car, and the other expenses that come with taking long car rides. Any bus or train ticket will cost less if it is a shorter ride. Why? Less fuel is being used is the main reason.
So, when planning your next vacation, know that you can save 20% or more on your transportation costs by staying within a 500 mile radius of your home. Let's take a quick example: If you were to fly out of SLC International Airport on March 5 and go to Denver, Colorado, you could find a ticket for as little as $100 roundtrip (granted this is a special price offered online through Southwest), if you were to fly to upstate New York on the same day, it would cost you closer to $400. This is a savings of $300, just on the cost of travel to and from your vacation destination.
- Activity discounts. When you vacation close to home you can often take advantage of resident discounts. For example, a resident of Southern California that visits Disneyland, pays a much lower entrance fee than one that is not from Southern California. In addition to resident discounts, you can often save money on equipment. If you live in the area, you can bring your own equipment easily, and thus not have to rent or buy equipment where you travel to. For example, if you love to rock climb and boulder, and were to travel a great distance to climb, you would either have to pay the extra baggage fees to take your crash pad and gear, or rent gear at your destination. If you live close by, you can drive there and take your own gear in your car.
- Time. Time is a premium, and the further away from home you go, the longer it takes to get there. Most people have to take time off to travel. If it takes you a whole day to get to your destination, that is one day of work you are either taking vacation time for, or not getting paid for. If you vacation closer to home, you can vacation for the same amount of time, and take fewer days off work. This means you earn more, and still get the same amount of vacation in.
Depending on where you live, and where you go, the savings can be substantial, but no matter where you live, the closer to home you choose to vacation, typically the less expensive it ends up being for you.
