We’re catching up on posting about life here on Urban Departures, so let me tell you about our impromptu-ish vacation in December.

At the beginning of November, both Daniel and I had a week’s worth of time-in-lieu, paid-time-off from work accrued from overtime or travel on weekends. According to both our companies’ policies, we cannot carry time-in-lieu to the next calendar year and was left with the question of “what to do with a week off?”

Three possibilities came into mind:

1. Get the time-in-lieu paid out at the end of the year. This would give us some extra money for Christmas or our home renos or even beef up our savings, but (and it’s a big but), cash payments are taxable and we weren’t willing to give the government more money.
2. Take the time off for a stay-cation. Yes, staycations are lovely, but they’re aren’t for me. When I’m at home and see its messes, especially with a being-renovated-on kitchen, I want to do chores or run errands- not exactly relaxing. Also, we had already taken two mini stay-cations this year, tacking on a couple days to a few long weekends, and intended on taking a week off to stay at home during the Christmas holidays.
3. Take the time off and go on a vacation.

To be completely honest, my mind was set on option three; I was already daydreaming of sunny days of doing absolutely nothing. My challenge was to set my husband’s mind. I painted a beautiful mental picture for Daniel: wake-up to sunshine, eat breakfast- not prepared by either of us- in sunshine, play with the kid on a sandy beach, take a nap, eat a huge dinner- not prepare by either of us, watch a show or movie, go to bed early.

“How much is it going to cost us?” Daniel asked. He wanted a formal proposal with a detailed cost breakdown.

Determined to go on a family vacation before the end of the year, I did just that.

His Vacation Criteria

We had about $2000 remaining in our travel fund for 2014. Daniel firmly indicated that a family vacation was to cost no more than what remained in the fund.

Her Vacation Criteria

Somewhere warm! Somewhere with beaches! Somewhere where I don’t have to cook a single meal!

The Limitations

Travel had to occur in December since we were both swamped at work in November.

The Search

With a $2000 budget, I was limited to staying in North America; the temperature condition of “no lower than twenty degree celsius” limited us to south of Los Angeles. I considered California, but flights started at $600/person; now that the kiddo is over two years ago and is required to pay full air fare, that was not feasible. Next I started looking for cruises and all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean; both options started as low as $800/person for food, accommodations, and flights, totalling to a minimum of $2400 for a week long vacation for three people. $2400- though over budget- was something I could work with- using some tricks and trades of travel hacking.

After excessive (and frankly, obsessive) searching, I found a Royal Caribbean cruise deal that seemed quite enticing.

The Proposal

Scope Details:

• 8-day family vacation
• 7 day cruise to western Caribbean, departing from Tampa, Florida
• 1 night stay in Tampa, prior to the cruise

Costs Breakdown:

[table]Item, Unit Price, Cost, Comment
7 day cruise, $410/person (taxes included), $1230, Last minute deal with 50% off second occupant in room
Capital One credit card points redemption for (almost) two-person cruise fare, , -$800, Points collected from credit card purchases for the better half of this year
Cruise tip, $12/night/person, $252,
Flights from Toronto to Tampa, $260/person, $780,
Aeroplan redemption for one flight, , -$165,
Return flights from Tampa to Toronto, $166/person, $500,
One night hotel at the Holiday Inn in Tampa, $150/night, $150, Arriving in Tampa on day of cruise departure would have cost $300 more in airfare
Holiday Inn loyalty points redemption, , -$150,
Taxi ride from airport to hotel, , $0, Hotel offered shuttle bus services,
Taxi rides to and from port of departure, $25/trip, $50,
Cruise self-guided excursions, , $150,
Total, , $1997,[/table]

Last Word

Daniel bought the proposal. I booked our tickets. And during the first week of December, we took an 8-day vacation doing nothing in glorious hot weather!