Being a single mom, I cannot afford luxury vacations. However, that does not mean we do not go on vacations. In fact, we have a lot of mini-vacations and extended vacations as well, and within each type we have a large amount of memories built-in and that to me equals luxury at its finest.
The boys and I have driven from New Jersey to Florida, New Jersey to South Carolina (numerous times we love S. Carolina), along the way to both destinations we have stopped in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina and many other states.
To give you an idea of vacations on a budget, we went to South Carolina and spent two weeks on vacation with my brother and mother. When we left and were coming home we were going north and just entering Virginia when I decided to drive along the coast and surprise the boys. We headed north up the coast and cut through Surry, Va. doing this allowed me to bring the boys on their first “car ferry”. They were 7 and 9 at the time, and oh my God they were so thrilled. As we got closer to the end of the ride, their bright blue eyes lit up, as they realized they were seeing American Indian Tee-Pees, they were so excited! That was my second surprise for them, we were getting off in Jamestown and heading to see the village where Pocahontas lived. We drove off the ferry and went to the Village. We looked around a little while, and they were so happy. We left the village and I headed over to Williamsburg, the tour guide in Jamestown told me about the free ghost trails they have, you can walk them, and they are guided tours and last about 40 mins. He said the boys would love it, so off we went. The boys had no idea where we were, but when they saw the cobblestone roads, and old homes, and people dressed in clothes that looked like those in their history books they knew it was going to be a fun place. We parked and walked around until I found the ghost walking tour, it was just long enough, and it was fun like the tour guide had promised.
I had $50.00 to spend on food and that was it, nothing, I needed money to continue our ride home. I thought to myself, “Lord, they are going to see souvenirs and want all that Williamsburg has to offer.” However, we kept going. We walked down the road and made our way to the center of town. We saw horses and stopped, we got to pet them and take pictures with them. Then we continued down the street looking at all the old houses, and the people dressed in the old clothes. Suddenly, a man who was dressed like an Old Judge of some sort approached us and asked if the boys would like to be part of the enactment that was about to happen. Well… you didn’t have to ask “T” twice, he was jumping up and down and running full-speed ahead. The callers were yelling that the war was about to begin, and off my two young men went to war. I was taking pictures as they walked so straight … their walks were serious, but their huge smiles gave away the truth that they weren’t really going to war… lol. They were able to hold and shoot muskets, they helped shoot the cannonballs out of the cannon and in the end, they won! And, because they helped they each got wooden toy muskets that made a loud noise like a real musket when shot. No money needed, memories were made, fun was had, and the walked away with souvenirs to boot! Then as luck would have it, they had food cooking at one of the homes for everyone to try, well my kids had a full meal lol. So, with full bellies, we headed back to the car, where we said good-bye to Williamsburg, and headed back to Jersey.
To this day, my kids do not remember, that we weren’t in a fancy hotel, or heck that we didn’t stay at all… nope. They talk about the time we went on vacation in Williamsburg, and walked the ghost trails, saw the village of Pocahontas, took the boat ride across the James River, and participated in the Williamsburg reenactment. To listen to them tell the story you would think we were there for a week. The truth is we spent a total of 3 hours in this special place. Three-hours and a lifetime of memories. I call that a successful vacation.
Another time, I took them on a road trip to Rhode Island, we stopped on our way to RI in Connecticut. I had gotten tickets on Groupon for a baseball game to see the University of Connecticut Huskies. The tickets cost me a total of $35.00. Also, on Groupon I got a great deal on a 3-star hotel in Newport, RI it cost me $225.00. So, at this point, it cost me $260.00. We started our journey and arrived to see the game, we had the best time. The people were who sat near us, were very nice, and had the boys cheering and singing and enjoying the day. The Huskies won and that made it all the better. After the game, we headed to Newport, RI. We got there and checked in… the boys were excited to go swimming in the indoor pool. They swam for a while, and then we went out to dinner. We found a local spot by talking to hotel management, and had a great dinner, while the boys befriended the family next to us, who were playing pool. They invited the boys to join in on the game, and there they were playing pool, eating, listening to the live band and having a great time. We at this local joint, we had shrimp, calamari, they each had cheeseburgers, and I had a chicken Caesar salad, I had a beer, and water, and they each had two iced teas. Our bill came to $40.00. The games of pool were free since the people had invited the boys to play in on their game, and the live band was free too. The next day we went to the mansions and paid through Groupon a total of $60.00 for 5 mansions. While touring the mansions we learned from one of the tour guides there was an auto museum up the street, she gave me coupons to get in for $2.00 each the boys were beyond thrilled in this museum. It is small but is filled with very old, and futuristic cars, there was something for everyone. The boys were talking to the men who were there to educate and showed such enthusiasm they brought us to the front desk to show us on the computer pictures of all the vehicles this place owned. It was amazing. The person we were talking to, gave us a heads up on a place for lunch and off we went. We had the best brick oven pizza with sodas and it was $10.00 total for lunch. After lunch we went to the Cliff walk and I swear it is so beautiful it is like being in Ireland on the Cliffs of Moher.
The next day, we woke up, we traveled to Providence, and I set-up a ride on a Gondola, once again courtesy of Groupon. The cost for the three of us was $30.00. We were treated to a 40-minute Gondola ride, we were serenaded by Marcello, and learned of the Irish immigrants, which helped “R”, because as luck would have it, he was writing a report that weekend regarding the Irish Potato Famine. It turned out, Marcello lived in Ireland during his college years, and he gave “R” a lot of useful information. During the ride we were served, juice for the boys, wine for me, and we were all given Italian bagels to munch on, all in all it was a great day on the Providence and Woonasquatucket River.
After the Gondola ride, Marcello gave us a tip for a great burger place that was not expensive. We walked along the river and down to the town center, where we dined on cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and cokes. Lunch cost us $38.00. We then headed back to NJ.
When we got back home I added up the receipts I had for gas, food on the road, and misc. items, and our entire trip totaled $540.00. So, to sum this up, we went to a baseball game, we toured the Mansions, we saw the cliff walk, met great people, played pool, swam three days, we visited the auto museum, enjoyed a gondola ride, saw the beautiful Ocean Avenue scenery and did this all in four days. This mini-vacation cost $135.00 per day, $45.00 per person… yet, we came home feeling like we were gone for 10 days, and had so many memories, which I’ll share with you in detail at some point. But for now, I’m here to tell you, use Groupon, talk to the locals for deals, and enjoy all life has for you, If I can do it, I know you can too…
Keep sparkling!