Tuesday, February 27, 2007
How do I finance this thing?
Roughing out the expected major costs, I decided to list the cost categories we expect to face on this venture.
- Lodging
- Gas
- Food
- Park admissions
- Souvenirs
- Shopping
- Highway tolls
- Car costs and surprises
As a family, we are firm in our commitment not to incur debt to make this trip possible. The goal is to expense the trip from current funds accrued by saving money for the next 17-18 months, and to maximize the accrual of rewards points from business and other family travel. I expect lodging to be the most significant cost - somewhere between $1500 and $2000. We are hoping to lodge in "Fairfield Inn class" hotels, rather than "Motel 6 class" or lower, even though the latter would be cheaper.
Since I am a member of Marriott Rewards, I will be attempting to accrue free nights over the next 18 months to offset our lodging costs. Since we don't have extended family spread out conveniently across the fruited plain, and not all of us thrill at the notion of car camping across America, we plan to stay in hotels. Marriott brands are prolific across the country, so we will try to stay in Fairfield Inns as much as possible. Most of those properties are "Level 1" reward categories, meaning that they are the most efficient to redeem for free nights. With my work travel I have accrued 4 of the 18 nights already, since switching from miles to hotel points rewards. I think I can accrue enough in the next year and a half to cover lodging completely. Fingers are crossed in that regard.
My next post will discuss the transportation issue - rent or drive the family car...
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