My fiance’ and I are trying to save for a wedding and a house, but we would still like to go on a vacation this summer.. any ideas? We live in PA. We would like to take a week. Driving would probably be cheaper than flying. I don’t know if sharing a villa with people we don’t know would be ok, anyone done that before? We could afford a hotel if its like under $60 (we only want to spend around $500 total including food etc). We don’t really have anyone out of state that we would want to go stay with either. Should we just camp out in the back yard? Haha. All ideas are appreciated.
Laugh-n-fart – Nice…
There have to be a thousand places in PA you haven’t gotten around to visiting. Tell all your friends you’ll be out of town but just become tourists in your own area. Use the extra money to dine out a bit, but really spend time with the museums and other sites that you enjoy. A nice picnic, a walk along a river, one nite in a real comfortable hotel. Your time together is what is important.
If you are one of the lucky few fortunate enough to own your own beach front home, then you know what a luxury it is to look out your front door and see the sun setting over the ocean horizon. You also know the experience of tropical storms, hurricanes, floods and other difficulties associated with owning a beach house. For the rest of the population, beach front vacation homes provide just enough beach at just the right time of year, and allow you to go home afterwards with fond memories but none of the responsibilities of ownership.
No matter what your destination is, you can usually find a vacation home to rent. Orlando, Palm Springs, Maui, and Los Angeles are popular and common places to see beach houses. However, you may also consider Virginia, Oregon, Washington, Maine, Rhode Island and many other places along the East and West coast. If there is water bumping up against it, there’s probably a beach, and where there is a beach there are houses to rent and have a fabulous vacation.
Use Companies that Specialize in Beach Front Properties
Many companies specialize in advertising, renting and managing specifically beachfront properties for sale and rental. By using one of these agencies or websites, you can cut your own work in half, as all of the properties listed with them already have most of the qualities you are looking for in a vacation home. All you have to do is specify a location and let them know what your approximate budget, time span and travel party size will be. If you are not specific to any one location, you may be able to find special deals on places that are less popular than others.
Know Exactly Where and When You are Going on Vacation
Depending on your needs, the rental rates for beach front and ocean view vacation homes will vary greatly. A 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo unit with a view of the ocean in Myrtle Beach SC will rent for $400 in December, while during the peak season, June and July, the very same unit rent for up to $1000. Maybe Hawaii is more your style. The ocean front condos on any one of the islands of Hawaii can range from $175 per night for a small unit, to thousands of dollars per night for a large, luxurious beach house. It may be hard to develop a budget without knowing exactly where and when you are going.
If all you really want is a nice vacation home on a beach somewhere, and you’re not terribly picky about the location, there are some good bargains to be found. Galveston, Corpus Christi and Padre Island on the Gulf of Mexico make great vacation spots for last minute travel and inexpensive beach front vacation home rentals. Other coastal cities in Louisiana and Mississippi offer affordable and picturesque beach houses available for weekly rental.
Riverfront or Lakeside Vacation Homes
Some beach front vacation homes are nowhere near an ocean at all, but can still be enjoyable. Many beachfront rentals are on the shores of a lake or even a river, such as Norris Lake in Tennessee or the Colorado River in Arizona. A little out-of-the-box thinking can save you some money in the long run. Whether it’s a traditional beach front vacation home in one of the more popular destinations or a riverfront condo in Mississippi, a little research will go a long way. If you’re really looking to save money and still have fun, be flexible with your dates and destination. Otherwise, you could spend too much time worrying about all of the money you are spending when you should be enjoying your vacation.
