Mini Vacation on a Budget

We haven't had a "real" vacation in over 2 years, I have over 100 hours vacation saved up and my husband has over 200!

So we took Monday off and decided to do a small mini vacation.  We used our points from Priority Rewards (which I highly recommend and will post more later) and got a very nice hotel Omni Hotel in San Diego in the GasLamp District.  I was able to get a room that runs for $159 for $60.  Not only did we get a deal they upgraded us.  It was a very nice room with a view of the city, in walking distance to the restaurants and bars and FREE WiFi. The hotel itself has a very nice bar area and they are Green Certified and allow pets. Parking was high, $32, valet only, but when I checked other hotels they charged for parking and WiFi and we would have had to take a cab, so it all evened out.

It was a little rainy but mostly it was "brisk".  We went to a really cool wine bar Syrah (like Alice in Wonderland for Grownups more post to follow) checked out the shops and then had dinner at a really nice Thai restaurant  Rama.   I did check restaurants.com but they didn't have any cool places listed for  San Diego.

Sunday we went to the Wild Animal Park...I brought my entertainment book and we saved $8.00...I still think the cost is a little steep...$37 without a coupon...but we enjoyed the day, it was bright and sunny and the animals were out and about.

We spent Monday sleeping in, lounging around, eatting our leftovers, and just relaxing.

Mini Vacation on a Mini budget

The stress is really getting bad, as you know I lost 10% of my salary almost 2 years ago and bonuses have been non-existant (here that wallstreet? if the company doesn't do good the execs get no bonus!!)

So we haven't had a decent vacation in over a year, so we are doing a Mini Vacation to Temecula - Wine Tasting Area.

This way we could do a short drive (1hr) and only spend 1 night at a hotel but do everything at a leisurly pace, no rushing!!

First thing - we went to priceline and got a hotel for $80 a night, usual price $109, AAA rate $98 - since I have an AAA card I will say my saving are $18. Plus this hotel has a Free Breakfast included - savings between $5-$7 dollars and FREE WiFi another $12 savings. So in total we saved about $35 with the hotel.

I went on line and printed out a lot of (2 for the price of 1) wine tastings and % off lunches. We went to 3 wine tastings and we save $10, $10, & $12 for a total of $32.00.

We saved at least $67 on our mini vacation - but getting away from it all (work, kids, housework, animals) and having some private time together, PRICELESS!