Tips For A Tight-budget Italy Vacation

Italy is a dream tourist destination among many! However, not every dreamer gets a chance to visit this exotic place. One main reason that keeps you off from touring Italy is budget constraints. However, if you are so passionate about touring Italy, then schedule a tight budget and head off. Here are some tips on how you can spend an Italy vacation on a budget,
Right Time to Tour Italy: Consider touring Italy in the off-season as the airfares will be considerably low during this period. Tourists hardly visit Italy during the months of May, June, September, and October. So, you can find excellent bargains while shopping. Also, you can enjoy the splendor of each and every place without the hustle and bustle of huge crowds.

Save on Flight Costs: Do a simple research online on the airline websites to find cheap air travel deals. Some airline service providers offer special discounts for students, seniors, or children. So, make the most of such offers. The airfares are likely to reduce if you are flexible with the date and timing of departure. Also, check for the seasonal rates offered by many airlines.

Low-Budget Packages: Sometimes, you can find advertisements of low-budget Italy tour package deals and escorted trips. Don’t miss such chances!

Save on Accommodations: Are you planning to visit some of the top cities of Italy such as Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence, and Naples? Then, it is advisable that you stay out of the city and take a train for a day trip. If you think that staying in hotels will cost too much, then self-catering vacation rentals and agriturismo stays are the best alternative. Some hotels have seasonal rates, so check them online and reserve a room in advance if you find the rentals cheap.

Save on Food Costs: Instead of surfing through expensive restaurants, get food from the local food markets. Here, you will get a chance to mingle with the locals while having your food. Many restaurants in Italy provide a three-course trattoria meal at cheap prices during noon. So, eat stomach full and continue your trip! If you happen to run over your day’s budget, then find a pizzeria with an outdoor seating and order a pizza with the carafe of the house wine.

Save on Travel Costs: Car rentals can be expensive! So, the easiest and the cheapest mode of transport for sight-seeing in Italy is train. Public transportation is the best choice if you are travelling within the city.

These inexpensive ways of spending a vacation in Italy would be highly useful for those who go by a budget. For best Italy tour package deals, visit PerilloTours.com!

Why Ontario Resorts Are Seeing A Change In Vacation Trends

The news is not good for Ontario’s tourism industry and for Ontario’s hundreds of resorts, inns, and tourist properties. According to a new Statistics Canada report, more Canadians than ever before are choosing to travel to the United States and abroad to spend their hard earned holiday dollars. The following paragraphs will look at why the Ontario resort and tourism industry is seeing a change in vacation trends.

Released last Friday, a Statistics Canada report states that in November 2007, Canadians made a record 2.4 million overnight trips out of the country, thanks in large part to the strong Canadian dollar, and almost 73 percent of these trips were to the States. Additionally, in the month of November, the number of overnight car trips south increased approximately 50 percent from the previous year, reaching levels not seen since the early nineties. And, if that was not bad enough, at the same time, fewer Americans are heading north to vacation. In 2007, Canada saw a 13 percent drop in the number of American visitors entering Canada. However, the news is not entirely bad since the number of overseas visitors to Canada actually grew by 7.2 percent.

Over the last few years, there has been a shift in Canada’s demographics that Ontario resort owners should be aware of, if they want to attract Canadian business to their resort properties. The tradition of young families returning each and every year to spend their summer vacations at a resort is slowly dying. One reason this is occurring is that Canada’s population is aging. Another reason is the lure of lower cost all-inclusive sun and sand vacations vying for Canadian’s vacation dollars.

Due to the shifting trend of vacation travelers, some Ontario resorts and inns are looking towards Canada’s growing population of baby boomers and seniors. This segment of the population is a market that some resorts want to attract because they have both the money to spend and the time to spend it. Many Ontario resort owners are hoping to rely on retirees that are free to travel during the week, and any time of the year, to potentially fill rooms during the off-season and slower periods. While leisure travel among Canada’s boomers has increased by leaps and bounds, and the numbers are expected to grow as Canada’s population ages, many Ontario resorts have realized the potential that the seniors and baby boomer market offers and have moved away from marketing exclusively to families.

Ontario inns and resorts have much to offer tourists and vacationers besides Ontario’s natural beauty, abundant lakes, and wilderness areas. It is evident why Ontario resorts are seeing a change in vacation trends. However, in an effort to compete with U.S. and overseas vacation destinations, and to get back and retain a good portion of the vacation dollars that are now leaving the province, resorts owners will have to proactively attract vacationers by offering them the services and packages that they demand. Success may simply be a matter of knowing the market and giving it what it wants.

Top 10 Reasons To Vacation At A Nudist Resort This Summer

Sound far fetched? Not really! Nude recreation is one of the fastest growing segments of the travel industry. It is a booming niche market with over $400 million in annual revenues. In a recent Roper poll, 25% of Americans have gone skinny dipping.

Historically, Americans had to travel to Europe or the Caribbean to find upscale nudist resorts and hotels. However, in the last 10 years, nude recreation in America has taken off. Now, the finest nudist and clothing optional resorts in the world are found in the United States. The meccas for nude sunbathing are Palm Springs, California and Florida. Palm Springs by far is the most popular as they have 350 days of sunshine per year, beautiful, warm weather, and no mosquitos (a big plus when you aren’t wearing any clothes). Palm Springs http://palmsprings.com has world championship golf, casinos, shopping, theater, art galleries, museums, Joshua Tree National Park, hiking, and a host of other fun activities. Or, you just relax by the pool all day long sipping cool drinks, wonder why it took you so many years to work up the courage to consider vacationing at a clothing optional resort and get a great all over sun tan.

If you are tired of the same old boring vacations that you have been taking at chain hotels, now is the time to try something different and fun. Go ahead and call a clothing optional resort. The only thing you have to lose is your tan lines.

The top ten reasons are:

10) No funny tan lines
9) No need to take a vitamin D supplement
8) No Laundry when you return from vacation
7) Waves don’t knock off swim suit top
6) The natural look takes on a whole new meaning
5) No luggage to check at airport
4) No shoes, no shirt, no problem
3) No sand in swimsuit
2) Everyday is really casual Friday
1) Clothing optional resorts are just plain fun!

Tips For Taking A Caribbean Vacation During Hurricane Season

The official Caribbean hurricane season stretches from June 1 – November 30. It’s rare to see a large storm in either June or November and most major hurricanes occur between August and October, with the peak season usually being September.

The upside is that prices are lower for the Caribbean during this time and resorts are less crowded. So what do you do if you want to get away during hurricane season?

Buy Travel Insurance
You must buy the trip cancellation insurance before the storm is announced, otherwise it will be deemed a pre-existing condition, so always purchase insurance the same day you book your trip to be safe. Most travel insurance policies will cover a trip disrupted because of a hurricane when you are forced to arrive late or leave early for your trip, but you’ll be reimbursed only for the affected days until the airport or resort reopens. You will usually be reimbursed for the days you are forced to stay at a resort during a hurricane, but be sure to always read the fine print on your policy to make sure you know what they will actually cover.

Try to Avoid the Storms
Track hurricanes online with weather websites during the season. Some good sites include:

The National Weather Service – National Hurricane Center
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Hurricane & Storm Tracking for the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans
http://hurricane.terrapin.com

Hurricane News and Information
http://www.hurricanetrack.com

Weather.com Tropical Storm Center
http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/

Pick Your Location Well
When planning a trip to the Caribbean during hurricane season, it is good to know that hurricanes are less likely the further south you go. The islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and St. Vincent, including the islands below them, are the least hit by hurricanes. However, as Grenada discovered in 2004 with Hurricane Ivan, never say never and keep in mind that hurricanes are unpredictable.

Go on a Cruise
The good thing about cruises is that they can usually sail around the worst of a storm. And today’s ships are extraordinarily safe and with the advanced weather tracking available today, bad weather is something they can avoid. The downside is that the cruise line always reserves the right to reschedule port calls and change itineraries for weather-related reasons and therefore you may not get to visit the places you had hoped to.

Pick a Resort That Offers a Hurricane Guarantee
Recently, many of the largest resorts and resort chains, have started instituting a hurricane guarantee, offering guests their money back for days lost to bad weather. For example, in the unlikely event that hurricane force winds (as defined by the U.S. National Weather Service) directly hit the Sandals or Beaches resorts while you are a guest, interrupting the use of all the included activities, Sandals or Beaches Resorts will offer a free replacement vacation to be taken at any Sandals or Beaches Resort of your choice. Go to http://www.best-family-beach-vacations.com/caribbean-hurricane-season.html for more resorts that offer hurricane guarantees.

Make the Best of It.
If you do get caught on vacation during a hurricane, try to make the best of it. As long as there is no danger present, relax indoors and focus on other activities.

My husband and I got caught in the Mayan Riviera, Mexico during hurricane Keith in 2000. He was still my boyfriend at that time and unbeknownst to me, he planned to propose on our second evening there. We got dressed for dinner and arrived at the hotel restaurant to find it boarded up. We saw the line up in the hotel lobby, everyone was being evacuated from the hotel to one farther up the coast. We ran back to our room, packed and got on the next bus out – not the evening my husband had planned!

When we checked into our room at the new hotel a few hours later, he still had the engagement ring burning a hole in his pocket. The winds were blowing and it was raining so the romantic walk on the beach he had been hoping for was out. He couldnt put it off any longer so he dropped to one knee and proposed then and there. It was definitely a memorable evening, hurricane and all!

Luxury Resorts Not Your Ordinary Vacation Experience

Already tired of the usualness of your vacations each year? Can’t complain about it because it’s what your loved ones want to go to? Dare to take the risk. Bring somewhere special for your next vacation like some Luxury resorts that they are sure to enjoy.

Deciding on which vacation spot to enjoy the holidays and many other special occasions must not only depend on one person, neither do it depend on the majority. Unfortunately, it often depends on the latter. As the common saying goes, “majority wins”, yes this is already the standard or basis that we use to live by. On the other hand, when it comes to going out on a vacation like visiting Luxury resorts, one must make sure that everyone in the family will find the place amenable. Each one of us is unique. We may share some common interests that bind us but most of the time it’s our differences that separate us in some aspects of our daily living.

The socio-demographics of the family is also very important in decision making for vacation purposes. Each person, with different ages also have varying needs. These needs must be given attention and must be evenly attended upon. With Luxury resorts, each needs will be properly attended. With all the facilities for kids to play, for teenagers to enjoy, for parents relieve stress, and for grandparents to relax, an extraordinary vacation is ensured.

Luxury resorts may appear not so affordable for most people. Most prefer to just stay in low-cost vacation spots near their places to save money. But have you ever asked yourself how many times a year to do have such precious time to spend with your loved ones? Or have you ever thought about how you had been so thrifty that you don’t even get to have days off and don’t avail a leave from work for a vacation. The time you spend for hard work in order to earn money is inversely proportional to quality time that you should have spent with your significant others. Is money all that counts? Of course most people will not answer yes. They will tell you how big are their sacrifices to give their families and loved ones a comfortable life. They work hard for their family so the family members will understand if they don’t get to have plenty of time together. Most people will agree but for sure there are also those who wouldn’t. The latter are the ones who truly understand such a situation. They are the ones who know how wrong it is to how to manage their time. They are not narrow-minded that they would give their families a comfortable at the expense of quality times that they can spend with their loved ones.

It’s hard, yes it had always been hard for most people to earn a living. But if you are ones of those people who knew can afford to give your significant others an extraordinary vacation like in some Luxury resorts, why not do it now? You can’t bring your money to the grave, only the memories of happy and time that you’ve spent with those who are dear to your heart.

Mammoth Mountain Lodging Will Make Your Vacation Enjoyable

Compared with usual hotels that you will see in a city, Mammoth Mountain Lodging tend to be more than simply a room and an area your items. Some of the best aspects of your vacation may well occur while inside experiencing stimulating foods as well as exceptional company. Choose from resorts or condos to personalize your Mammoth experience.

Mammoth Ski and Racquet Club: Mammoths finest condominium rentals. Walk to Mammoth Mountain, Canyon Lodge or perhaps take a short drive towards the Sierras best trout fishing, mountain biking, hiking, or golf. Mammoth Ski and Racquet Club features stunning, completely equipped rental condominiums located in the forest, delivering scenic mountain views. Walk to Canyon Lodge or take a short drive to among the better cross-country skiing and snowboarding in the Sierra.

Snowcreek Resort: Do you desire to be at the most happening spot on Mammoth Mountain? Snowcreek is probably the most popular Mammoth resort hot-spots. The Snowcreek Athletic Club includes a golf course, tennis courts, a fitness center, and swimming pools. Skiing and snowboarding don’t need to be your only physical activities any time you’re on the mountain! The Double Eagle Spa is also on the premises. Enjoy facials as well as deep massages to really feel like you are on vacation. Snowcreek’s excellent customer service personnel will certainly ensure that you conveniently find anything that you’re seeking to do on your trip.

1849 Condos at Mammoths Canyon Lodge: These comfortable condominiums are nestled two hundred yards from ski lifts. The 1849 condos are a great selection for mountain lodging that balances your snow escapades with indoor activities. Mammoth Mountain provides world-class skiing and snowboarding, and the 1849 condos make the other elements of your holiday just as special. Swim in heated pools, as well as unwind in saunas. You’ll encounter the benefits of a hotel or resort, with the intimacy of your own private condo. Units can sleep as much as eight people.

Mountainback at Mammoth Lakes: From your first step into these finely decorated and roomy units, Mountainback Condo properties will instantly become your home away from home. All the features of home are delivered for you. Daily to the front door towel service, dryer and washer in every single unit, free high-speed wireless internet access, and free international as well as local long distance. The complex is located on the shuttle route for easy access to town in addition to within a 5-15 minute walk to Canyon Lodge for access to Mammoth Mountain for skiing, snowboarding and among the better mountain biking in the Eastern Sierra. These units are minutes away from first class fishing, beautiful hiking trails, and stunning golf courses.

A mountain town vacation to Mammoth lets you experience the region as if you live there throughout the year. You will never feel like an outsider anytime you find a rental which satisfies your holiday objectives. Just like urban rentals array in size and amenities, not every Mammoth Lakes Lodging give you the same experience.

Guidelines To Have A Phenomenal Vacation On The Oregon Coast

Trying to organize a family vacation that will be exciting for both the adults and the youngsters can be a very complicated task. Adults would like to unwind and relax, however the kids have short attention spans, much less patience and excessive energy. Children also want to spend their vacation doing what they want to do, and if not, they may easily pitch a fit and make the whole vacation difficult for the adults. How do you make sure that your upcoming vacation is entertaining for each and every member of the family? Continue reading to discover tips and recommendations that will help you plan your future vacation to gratify both the kids and adults.

First, select a vacation destination that welcomes children, and has plenty of things for them to do. Motels and hotels are often too cramped for a kids high-energy level, and little spaces will make them feel significantly less at ease. Additionally, children are likely to feel awkward in environments, like a hotel room, that doesn’t seem like a home, or feel normal to them. To help the kids feel more relaxed, and at-ease while on holiday, contemplate booking a vacation rental as an alternative to residing in a regular hotel. Opting to stay in a condominium or home rental will be more pleasant for the children, because the environment will seem similar to a home environment they are used to, and you will love it more too.

Second, make certain you take some time to pack sensibly for your traveling time as well as any down-time that you may have on vacation. Kids are more likely to get bored if they arent kept continuously entertained while on vacation, so you should pack several coloring books, board games, frisbees, DVDs, and other items that might just save you as soon as your kids start to become bored and cranky. Make sure you pack them, so that you can easily get to them if the kids get bored of traveling.

Third, make certain you organize plenty of kid-friendly activities on your Oregon coast vacation. Consider studying fun destinations like, museums or family fun centers prior to going, so that you can integrate those activities to your vacation. There are also plenty of economical things you can do that will be entertaining for the whole family, such as spending every day at the Oregon coast, constructing sand castles, enjoying a picnic, going fishing, camping out under the stars, or going to some light houses along the coast. A fantastic tip is to get a few affordable disposable camera’s for the youngsters to photograph their personal pictures of the family trip, which is an activity loved by most kids. Taking photos is a great way to entertain your children, because they stay focused and excited about the many locations that you choose to visit on your Oregon coast family vacation.

Fourth, ensure that you plan some time for you to just relax, and give your kids a break during your vacation. If you give your youngsters some time to relax in your vacation rental home, they are more likely to stay in a good mood all through your trip.

A Great European Vacation For The Indian Honeymoon Couples

The average travelling Indian today has a better knowledge about the world than ever before. Due to increase in purchasing power and better information and communication channels Indian aspires a better life that includes fabulous travel destinations to choose from. This is particularly true for honeymoon travel as Indian couples are increasingly looking to travel abroad for their honeymoons. Europe is an idyllic travel destination as it is completely a new experience for people travelling from India and is also a major tourist destination in the world. Paris Switzerland Honeymoon Packages are a great choice for people travelling from India for their honeymoon. A renowned tour operator based in India has well planned and affordable tours to Europe. Best Paris Switzerland Honeymoon Packages are available with this tour operator. There is a great Honeymoon special tour to Paris, Switzerland and London which is a 12 Nights and 13 Days tour to these places in Europe. This is the Honeymoon Packages for Paris Switzerland and the tourists visit many important tourist destinations in these regions.

Swiss Vacation

The journey in this Honeymoon Tour Packages for Paris Switzerland begins in Swiss city of Zurich where the tourists visit the Zurich Lake and the nearby tourist destination of Rhine Falls. The tourists then proceed to the lovely city of Lucerne from where the tourists visit the famous Alpine region of Mount Titlis. Back in Lucerne the honeymooners get a city orientation tour to the famous landmarks of the city. There is free time in Lucerne scheduled so that honeymooners can do some shopping especially for famous Swiss items and then enjoy a dinner cruise on the Lake Lucerne. The Swiss Holiday continues by visiting the top of Europe Jungfraujoch and the city of Geneva where the tourist get a city orientation tour.
French Honeymoon
The Luxury Paris Honeymoon Tour Packages continue in France where the tourist visits Chamonix for a breathtaking view of Swiss, French and Italian Alps. The Best Paris Honeymoon Tour Packages then visits the star attraction of the tour that is Paris. In Paris the tourists enjoy the famous Lido show, visit the Paris Disneyland for fun Disney rides and experience, the Palace of Versailles, the Eiffel Tower and also get a city orientation tour of the famous landmarks in Paris. They also get a chance to visit the famous Louvre Museum of Paris.
The English Honeymoon
The tourists move on to England and its famous capital city of London. In London the honeymooners enjoy a London Eye ride, visit the Tower of London Museum, Madame Tussauds Museum and get a city orientation tour. In England the tourists visit the Windsor Castle and also visit the famous University of Oxford.
A Great Honeymoon Vacation for Indian couples.

Great Deals on Kauai Vacation Packages

Planning to take your family for a vacation? There can be no other better vacation plan than availing for Kauai Vacation Packages. Kauai is a place where you will find all kinds of luxury and fun activities you desire to spend either with you family friends or beloved. Kauai is the fourth largest island of Hawaii and undoubtedly the most beautiful of all. It offers incredible opportunities of sight-seeing with a host of coastal regions, volcano valleys and a new world of mountains. Kauai is one of the highly fertile lands due to its formation through series of volcanic activities.

Kauai appears to be a five million year old land with golden and white sand beaches, green tropical forests and cascading waterfalls. Far from the crowds and high-rises the place has a calm serenity to live and escape for a memorable vacation. For this you can avail for the best of Kauai Vacation Packages to make your holiday a splendid one. Whether you decide to stay in a peaceful beachside bungalow at Kauai Sands Hotel, a luxurious beachfront suite at Aston Islander on the Beach, or a secluded beachfront hideaway at Aston Aloha Beach Hotel Kauai Formerly Resort quest or in a costal land at Kauai Coast Resort all this will wrap you and welcome you with a warm aloha.

Kauai remains as the top honeymoon destinations for its sheer beauty and quiet life. The place is famous for its vivid activities like helicopter tours, golf, tennis, rafting and river cruises. For the best deals on Kauai Vacation Packages you can make a detail research on travel deals online or you can look for travel agencies. They provide a host of cheap Kauai packages for world travelers with complete custom vacation packages to all the major Hawaiian Islands within your budget.

The only thing you need to accomplish before availing for such deal is to make a detail comparison. You can avail a variety of Kauai vacation packages that includes scuba vacation packages to rental and flight vacation packages to hotel and car packages, you can avail everything in an all inclusive package. Moreover, apart from saving money these deals are best for hassle free and convenient vacation planning.

In a nutshell we can say availing Kauai Vacation Packages can offer you countless activities from beach resorts to the heart of the country, which you and your family can explore and take along with you unforgettable memories for the lifetime.

Are You an Unhappy Timeshare Vacation Owner

You already know the horror stories of owning a timeshare vacation. Salespeople sold you with lavish promises of exotic vacations that never quite come true. They trapped you with a high pressure sales pitch for hours. You feel nickel and dimed by all the fees you have to pay to use it. You can never recoup the money you spent when you try to resell. After you’ve bought the timeshare, you can either regret the purchase doing everything you can to get rid of it or you can use it to its fullest. I’d like to open your eyes to the possibilities that you can still enjoy your purchase and hopefully make you a happy timeshare owner.

More than likely, during a vacation in your not so distance past, you were happily walking down the street or checking into your hotel, when somebody asked you, “Would you like to make $100 for 2 hours of your time?” or “How would you like free tickets to the show tonight?” You accepted the invitation and later found yourself in a room full of people who also accepted the invitation. You watched a video telling you about all the great things you can accomplish if you’ll just buy this timeshare. You then took a tour of the units, with the salesperson telling you this is the number one vacation destination in the country. Then you went back to a conference room where you spent the next few hours trying to get out of the presentation so you could get your $100 and return to your vacation. You looked at the numbers they gave you and for some reason they made financial sense to prepay all your future vacations. Then you came home and realized you’ve created a huge financial liability and start to regret the purchase. It got worse when you started researching online, finding all the horror stories people tell about their timeshare experience.

The regret really comes from the mismatch between reality and what the sales team told you. Basically, you took the sales pitch at face value. When they showed you those numbers, they presented them in the best possible light. “It’s a small maintenance fee, about $75 a month for upkeep so the resort remains a premium destination.” “The exchange fee is only $100.” “We’ll pay for the first year’s membership with the exchange company.” Realistically, it will cost me over $1000 to use my Marriott Vacation Club timeshare for one week this year. You probably realize by now that the same unit you just bought sells for half the price you paid on the resale market. You probably tried to use it, figuring you’d give it a chance and went to go trade it with one of the exchange companies. For some reason, your searches don’t bring up any of those exotic destinations they sold you on, like Hawaii. Your searches only return place like Orlando or Las Vegas. Maybe this wasn’t your experience, but I doubt you would read this article if it wasn’t close. You must remember that those salespeople are there to sell to you. They talk up all the good points and avoid the bad points.

With that kind of experience, does the number of dissatisfied timeshare owners surprise you? Some people will never get past the point of feeling they got ripped off. But what can they do, now? They could sell it on the resale market for half of what they paid for it. They could stop paying the maintenance fees and taxes, loosing the rights to even use their property. They could continue to use it and feel the regret every time they paid their maintenance fee, the exchange company membership fee and the exchange fee. Or they could educate themselves learn some of the tips and methods to become a happy and successful timeshare owner.

The first step to happy timeshare vacation ownership is to consider your purchase price a sunk cost. You will never get all of that money back. This may be a painful shift in your thinking, especially if you financed it and are still making payments. If you did finance the purchase, you may want to look at alternative financing, like taking out a home equity loan on your residence to pay off the timeshare company’s note. This will at least save you some money on interest. In any case, the next step is to concentrate on making your timeshare a worthwhile investment. I’ve come to realize that even with my timeshare I do not save money on my vacations. Rather, I take better vacations for the money I spend. What do I mean by this? For my $1000, I’m not staying in a standard hotel room in the budget hotel a few blocks from the action. Instead I’m staying at a 2 bedroom condo, in the middle of the golf course next to the JW Marriott. It even comes with a kitchen. Yes, I drank the Kool-aid. Truth is you can’t be happy unless you’ve make that kind of comparison. If you only can think about how much you spend every year, then twist it around and start thinking about how much it would cost you to take that vacation on the open market. For instance, my Marriott ownership allows me to exchange for Marriott Rewards points, which I can use at Marriott’s hotels. I used this feature to stay at the Marriott Grand Flora Hotel in the heart of Rome. At nearly $400 a night, my $1000 that year was well worth the price. I can guarantee you that I would never dream of spending $3000 on a hotel room for my vacation. Many other modern timeshare companies have similar programs. You should explore these options. They might make more sense for your style of vacationing than just looking at exchanging or staying at your home resort year after year. Personally, I let my free membership with the exchange company lapse and never looked back.

If you stick with the exchange companies, you really need to understand how they work. They use secret formulas to match a timeshare trade with like for like. This means a studio unit in Boston for December will not match to a 2 bedroom unit in Hawaii in May. This ensures that when you give your unit to the timeshare company, they will only match your trade to a unit that’s similar in size and similar in quality with the unit you gave them. During my brief time as an exchanger, I figured out 2 ways you can use this to your advantage. The first: become an obsessive planner and figure out where you want to go on your vacation about a year in advance, possibly even 2 years. Reserve the best highest demand week you possibly can, such as holidays or spring break. Then place your trade request as early as you can. Keep in mind, the weaker your position, the more flexible you need to be. If you have a low-demand week, you can’t expect to get the size or date you really want. It may happen, but don’t expect it. The second way to take advantage of the like for like rule: look for the window of time when those formulas no longer apply, usually within a month or two of the unit’s check-in date. You need to be very flexible to use this method. Think what would happen if a Hawaii timeshare owner cannot use their unit next month and deposits their 2 bedroom unit. Since the check-in date on the Hawaii 2-bedroom is so soon, the formulas don’t apply and you are eligible to make this trade, no matter what kind of unit you deposited. If you are diligently searching for this kind of trade, you can increase your probability of reserving that 2-bedroom unit.

Of course you can do other things with your unit, such as renting it out, donating the week to charity or any number of uses. Unfortunately, the timeshare companies don’t spend much time teaching owners the ins and outs of using their timeshare. You need to take control and do some research to find out the many ways to properly use your timeshare. If changing your thinking and learning how to properly use your timeshare still results in failure and you’re unhappy with your timeshare. There’s really nothing you can do to make you feel good about the purchase. On the other hand, you’re now forced to take a week away from work every year. Is that really such a bad thing? I used to take a vacation every other year. Now I alternate between an annual international trip and a domestic trip. Remember you now have the privilege of taking incredible vacations for the same price you used to spend on budget traveling.