The Best Vacations

My friends, if you had to choose your best vacation, what would it be? Personally, I'd choose a weekend on a nearby beach with my family.

For me, because we live on an island and beaches are close by, the idea of a weekend on the beach is cost effective and you can have as many people join in the fun as you'd like.

Over the years, I've had the good fortune to travel and enjoy moments abroad, and while I have enjoyed those moments immensely, I'd still prefer a stay at home trip where I can have my extended family with me.

Prior to the COVID 19 pandemic when my priorities shifted, I lived for the opportunity to travel every year. Sometimes it was just my husband I, sometimes we took the kids along.

And though we all had tons of fun on those vacations, I still missed being able to experience those moments with my extended family. Additionally, the cost factor is an important consideration. There is a very high cost to consider when planning holiday trips abroad, particularly if you do not intend to stay by friends or relatives.

The costs of hotel accommodation, for example, if you want a decent space to stay that is not a hostel and where you'd have a private room, private bath etc., is astronomical, and unless you have a slush fund somewhere, this can burn holes through your pockets faster than you can blink.

In years gone by, one way to reduce the cost for group travel would have been to invest in timeshare resorts. A timeshare is basically the concept of shared ownership for multiple resorts (vacation real estate) in different parts of the world. So basically, you pay for the right to occupy a particular resort for approximately one week each year. It's a little bit confusing, this concept, so here's a link that explains how timeshares work.

If you own a share in a timeshare resort and you don't intend to travel, you can rent out the time to friends and family who would like to travel.

The concept of timeshares have evolved over the years, however, and now there are Airbnb resorts which can help to further drive down costs. An Airbnb operates according to the concept of sharing your space with guests. So it may not necessarily be a resort, but it can actually be your home or renting out a space in your home. Here's a link that explains how that works.

Even so, while Airbnbs and timeshare resorts help to make foreign travel cheaper, it is still by far more expensive than a stay at home vacation. The cost for travel, for example, continues to be astronomical, and I don't foresee that falling anytime soon. This is, of course, only my perspective and doesn't have to be fact.

Also, unless you've got major bank, there is a huge limitation in terms of how many people can take part in a holiday like this. With all of that said though, foreign travel is perfect for a getaway if you do not want multiple people in your space and if you'd like a fresh environment. I'm not bashing it at all, I love to travel and there are many places that I'd love to visit, but I also love the joy of seeing the people I care for joining in the fun. And so, a weekend getaway is ideal for me.

In my home country, we had the opportunity to rent a relatively cheap beach house which was just about an hour's drive away, at maximum, from our loved ones. It was a private connection, but it cost us just about $200 in our country to spend a weekend here, which is the equivalent of US$30, more or less.

There was room for everyone in this house, and so we were able to invite our extended family along.

There was a private beach, and it was a stone's throw away from our house. You could literally see it in the distance over the treetops in this picture, and so we could either walk there, or get on our skateboards and bikes and ride down to the beach at any time of the day.

There was also a private pool that was accessible to us.

And the overall environment and experience was just divine. I loved the fact that we were all able to come together and bond in this space. Sadly though, I do not think this spot is in operation anymore, though I can be corrected. There have been many changes in recent years and one important change has been the limiting of access to this private property.

Nevertheless, if I were to choose my best vacation ever, it would be in this space surrounded by family (husband and children), my relatives including my mom, my siblings, my nieces and nephews, and my in-laws. But tell me, my friends, what is your idea of a perfect vacation, and if you were to choose, what vacation would you say was the best one you've ever experienced?

All the above pictures are mine.

Resources

• About Timeshares

• About Airbnb