Balancing 'Yes' and 'No' the Key to an Epic Vacation

We’ve all been there when it comes to the vacation money drain.

You went and planned the vacation of your dreams, only to have it quickly turn into a nightmare. The budget—that carefully planned, razor-thin budget—fell apart by Day 2.

Now, each hotel stay is predicated by worry (How much did they say they’d put on hold?). Five-star Yelp-reviewed restaurants are becoming golden arches and value meals.

Sorry, kids, that awesome adventure we told you we’d do on the way back is now suddenly very much "out of the way."

How much more so for those who don’t even take the step of planning for vacation expenses! The money seems to drain away far faster than it was saved up. It’s uncanny.

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What happened? How could this have happened?

Most of the time, the answer is simple: Your budget was fine for what it planned out, but it didn’t plan for human nature. It didn’t plan for all the numerous times you shrugged your shoulders (proverbially or actually physically) and said yes to something you hadn’t planned on and didn’t really need.

On vacation, the mind switches over. We think differently about things. A month ago, we said $10 per person per meal was a perfectly fine predictor of behavior, but we weren’t on vacation then! On vacation, we feel bad saying no both to ourselves and to others—especially our kids or loved ones.

Take that $10 per person per meal for a family of four. Dad decides he’s on vacation and worked really hard planning this whole thing so he really deserves that $14 steak. Mom is stressed from a full day of having the entire family packed in one car and she hardly ever orders a drink when the family goes out. So, she trades in her water with lemon for a frozen margarita. The kids never get dessert at home, but this is vacation! Let’s make this meal special!

None of those thoughts are bad, and they’re certainly not rare.

The problem is not the desire to live a little. The problem is the constant bleed when every single decision is made with that frame of mind—not just for the first dinner but during every meal, gift shop visit or gas station stop.

Things get away from us quickly, and the bank account dwindles or the credit card bill rises. Then, our desire to live a little adds stress like so much compound interest turning our much needed time off into far more trouble than its worth.

How can we stop it?

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Much of this discussion could be turned toward “cost” vs. “value”—a worthy discussion to be sure.

Travel Agents are true pros at dissecting the cost of a trip against the value one receives. Saving money because of an online coupon on a cruise package or tour might sound great until one realizes all the hidden costs they could’ve avoided. These thoughts should definitely factor into your planning.

However, that’s not really the road I want to go down today. Rather, be encouraged to enjoy the vacation you so very much deserve by learning that “no” doesn’t have to be fun-killer we’re hard-wired to believe it to be. Instead, a well-placed “no” can open up infinite opportunities for “yes” later.

My family and I are staying put in Florida for the first summer in a while. Because of that, we’ve got some trips to the local theme parks planned and just got back from Universal Studios in Orlando. Thanks to my low-carb dieting and a desire to not take out a second mortgage upon our return, my wife and I pre-planned a lot of our meals: The family basically lived on healthy bars, fruit and learned to love our water bottles over the course of a couple of fantastic days at the parks.

Would I have enjoyed soda or various adult beverages? Absolutely! Would my children have much preferred French Fries? 100 percent! Was my wife sick of carting around raisins and water? Almost assuredly, but P90X doesn’t have anything on 10 miles around a theme park in Florida heat with a full pack!

You know what else we said no to? Stuff! Every single ride at every single theme park exits into a gift shop these days. More power to the theme parks, but if parents don't know how to walk their kids straight through them, they should just apply for a credit increase now. 

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The last day of our vacation, however, I had zero problem saying yes to a bunch of Harry Potter-related souvenirs in “Diagon Alley.” We said yes over and over and over—t-shirts, Butterbeer, chocolate frogs, interactive magic wands and more—all because we’d been able to say no on the days before. Moreover, we got home and didn’t immediately have to put emergency spending restrictions into place to pay down a massive mound of debt.

Looking back, my vacation actually, gasp, felt like a vacation!

What are the hidden costs that find their way into your vacations? Learn to balance out the bulk of them to focus on the meaningful, the rare and the truly extraordinary. You—and your wallet—will thank me later.

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