Vacation Location Selection Criteria...

...or VLSC for short.

As some of you know - but others may not since the readership of this blog is so incredibly huge - my wife and I spent last week on vacation in Las Vegas. Now this may sound like a strange choice for two people who don't care to gamble (we're both incredibly tight with money) and don't care about nightlife (we're usually asleep by 10pm, even on weekends). When making vacation plans we have a few criteria (I say that like we've done this for years, in reality it was our third vacation as a couple - including our honeymoon) for selecting a location.

1. Warm - My wife says that she spends most of her life cold, so when we look for a vacation spot it's pretty much going to be somewhere we THINK it will be warm. Because her spring break is one of 2 weeks each year we could possibly go on vacation (due to the way our work schedules matchup) and it falls in mid-March, site selection is key on the warmth factor. San Diego last year was great, but wasn't terribly warm, the temperature was the one disappointment of the trip. This year we lucked out and Vegas was having a heat wave. They set record highs everyday we were there, topping out in the high 80s and reaching 90 two different days (the earliest they'd ever hit 90). The corralary to the warm criteria is dry. Significant periods of rain are a downer, so western sites tend to be prime for us because the climate is typically dry.

2. Something to do - While I would be fairly happy doing not much of anything while on vacation, my wife tends to like to see and do things (and gets a little restless if we sit around too long). So when picking a site we look for a place that has a number of things (that aren't terribly expensive) to do. Vegas was easy on this criteria, lots to see, several activities off the strip, and if all else fails there are the nickel-slots. We usually pick out one expensive activity on each trip. In San Diego it was Sea World (about $50/person) and in Vegas it was seeing The Blue Man Group ($75/person) - I offer prices so you get an idea of what I call expensive.

3. Haven't been there before - This one will eventually go away, I suspect we'll go back to San Diego, it was too much fun and we just liked it too well not to. We're probably going to be making a return trip to South Florida in the next 2 years as part of a vacation package we bought (this one will include Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, and a short cruise to the Bahamas versus a week on the beach near Fort Lauderdale like our honeymoon was). But in general, we try to find places that we haven't seen before. While going to new places is fun, it does create some interesting moments trying to find our way around in a totally new place. Good thing I never get lost.

4. Not over-crowded - This one is relative. We've tried to avoid the typical spring break locations, just because neither of us want to deal with out of control college students (we love college students, particularly when they're sober and clothed). The above mentioned trip to Florida will violate this criteria, but we got a deal...or so we THINK!

5. Cheap flights - I've gotten to the point that I'm willing to spend a fair (keep in mind I'm a bit of a tightwad) amount on a hotel and after our rental car experience in Vegas will probably spend more to rent from a major national chain in the future, but can't stand dropping huge cash on flights (perhaps this is because it really steams me when we have to do that for flights to our events or for our staff here at CIY). I've found this is the single area that can have the most drastic impact on the total cost of the trip. For instance, I caught a fire-sale of sorts on SW.com for our Vegas trip and instead of spending $350/person, got them (non-stop mind you) for $119/person. We saved more than $450 (which is about what we spent on our hotel for the week). The other part of this is that the flights are usually the part of the trip that you have to pay in full for up front. Somehow I feel better about the whole situation when I don't have to front a huge amount. My advice, look into what you can get flights for before locking in on a destination (or be willing to be flexible on which airports you choose and/or dates) it can save you tons.

While in Vegas I took the time to write down a number of things I thought were blog-worthy. As soon as I find the pad I wrote them on I'll start posting them. My wife said it's too much for one post, so I'll probably break it into two. Hopefully I can start those later this week.