EPIC SPLURGE Trip - Planning in the Waiting

Retirement...

I remember when I first started with the provincial government. I was 23. Each year I would get my pension statement and I would literally want to throw up when seeing how long I had to work until LOL

Fast forward, Sept. 6 is my 20-year anniversary with the same Crown corporation.

My December 2, 2028 non-penalized retirement date ain't so far away now! At the ripe ol'age of just-shy 52, I won't be retiring LOL

Sorry, I just totally just hijacked this thread!
Well, at least you know if you work past 52 it's because you want to! Or you could retire with your full pension and do something totally different, if you didn't like your job.

I started with the provincial gov't at 21. Wish I had thought about by backs or transfers when I went to my next job. Quit there for a few years to stay home with the kids part time, then back in the provincial government for a bit, now with the feds. So I'll have a few small pensions, but none of them that I'll be able to access early without penalty, unfortunately.
 
We had our cruise cancelled in March (very first cancellation cruise). We had 2 connecting interior rooms. Rebooked for Dec at Christmas but this time splurged for 2 connecting balcony rooms. It'll cost us $1800 more than our original bookings just for the rooms. Won't even use the balconies much as we are travelling our of New Jersey so it'll be cold at the beginning and end. But wanted to do something nicer (plus with covid, wanted to go for a balcony). Also note that we never book Christmas time because of cost.
PS - Since then we lifted and sifted hat Dec Christmas cruise to next Christmas.
 
Has anyone dreamed of US$400 per person for a Disney dinner?

This C$1000 couple dinner at Disney is the ultimate epic luxury.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/dining/grand-floridian-resort-and-spa/victoria-and-alberts/
https://www.victoria-alberts.com/pdf/Chefs-Degustation-Nov-19.pdf

I like to dream about a big lottery win and shopping for a home in Golden Oak! Once settled in there, this Victoria & Alberts experience might find its way onto my list. :-)
 
Love this thread!!!

Nov 28, 2020 was supposed to be the start of my splurge trip, celebrating my retirement. But, it is easy to see that won’t be happening. My DD and I had “splurged” on a townhouse rental in our favourite resort community, even thought it old be just 2 of us (when we began planning). We were happily compiling lists of TS restaurants we always wanted to try, the FEA dessert Party, a Holiday tour, etc. Then, the best thing happened and be DSIL and 2 DGSs were added to the trip! We went back to our planning, looking to add a couple more active options for them.

Now, we are trying to buoy our spirits with exactly this kind of planning. While I would like to stay in a Disney resort, the cost is, for us, pretty daunting. We have stayed an occasional night, during previous trips but frankly enjoy our VRBO spots. The money we save lets us have our splurges, plus we enjoy having a truly homey space, where we can hang out together. We are looking at upgrading our rental accommodations, which might mean a larger or more luxuriously furnished home.

It is Kind of hard to truly plan at the moment, because things are just not the same in WDW. No water parks (a HUGE thing for DGSs) or fireworks (eeek!) no solid knowledge of prices, no extra events, etc. But, we certainly dream of what we want to do, based on the “old normal”.

The boys would love to do surfing lessons again in TL. That was amazing. It’s a big splurge, because we need a Disney resort reservation In order to book the lesson. We would book a room for one night, and decide who will spend the night there.
 


When we vacation we typically are pretty budget conscious, we never go into any kind of debt and we are pretty frugal with how we spend. But since we were planning to go back in 2021 and that is looking like a complete no-go, it just means more time to SAVE 💰 and more time to plan a truly EPIC SPLURGE TRIP for when things calm down! Our next trip we will definitely be staying on property (usually we book cheap but horrible VRBO's), eating out every single meal (usually we cook and pack lunches), and next time we will do a 2 week trip instead of 7 days... the sky's the limit and my list is growing daily :love:

Anyone else planning an epic splurge trip as a reward for waiting? Tell me all about it! :)

Not planning anything like that, but I wanted to add - we rent a wonderful 4 bed/3bath villa with private pool/hot tub for $90 per night when we go. Well, I also pay for pool heating (since we go in November), so that's an extra $10/day - making it a "whopping" $100US per night for a wonderful villa. It is on VRBO (although, after the 1st trip, I just contact the owner personally and rent it since I avoid the VRBO fees). It is only about 10 minutes to the parks. Where are you staying that is awful?
 
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Planning a splurge 34 day cruise from LA to Buenos Aires to see Antarctica! Already had to move it from this December to next December but upgraded on a mini-suite so really hoping it sails! After that I will have one more continent to visit and would love to combine a trip to Australia with a stop in either Tokyo or Hong Kong (maybe both?!) to visit the Disney parks. That trip would require serious planning so maybe I should start the research now. Since it may be awhile before that kind of trip is possible might have to "settle" for planning a visit to France, including Disneyland Paris
 
Planning a splurge 34 day cruise from LA to Buenos Aires to see Antarctica! Already had to move it from this December to next December but upgraded on a mini-suite so really hoping it sails! After that I will have one more continent to visit and would love to combine a trip to Australia with a stop in either Tokyo or Hong Kong (maybe both?!) to visit the Disney parks. That trip would require serious planning so maybe I should start the research now. Since it may be awhile before that kind of trip is possible might have to "settle" for planning a visit to France, including Disneyland Paris

Maria Semple’s “Where’d you Go, Bernadette?” is a pretty funny novel, and the main character is planning a similar cruise to Antarctica. If you’re looking for something fun to do while you pass the time before you get to see it yourself :)
 


Maria Semple’s “Where’d you Go, Bernadette?” is a pretty funny novel, and the main character is planning a similar cruise to Antarctica. If you’re looking for something fun to do while you pass the time before you get to see it yourself :)

Yes, read it! Tried to find the movie version but haven't had any luck yet (I don't stream lol)
 
Well I had my March trip (mod resort and dining plan) refunded onto gift cards and have an AP voucher sitting in wait. We were already doing two weeks... but I'm considering upgrading resorts depending on what the discounts will be in 2021. I still find it hard to justify deluxe without an excellent deal lol.

Also going to do Antarctica or Japan in 2021 since I have a bunch of vacation days to carryover and we're apparently going to get a COVID bonus at the end of the year.
 
We're planning "The Year of Disney" for 2022-2023. Our big vision is to use the airline vouchers, Air Miles dream miles, Disney giftcards, Bonvoy points, vacation leave, dollar value of expired Disney tickets, etc that we can accumulate in the meantime to make the following happen:
Wow. So that's like, your new job? I'm being stubbornly optimistic and planning a moderate splurge for end of 2021 using my banked DVC points plus the 2021 points. It hasn't really taken shape in my head yet, but the idea is there. I wish us both luck!
 
Planning a splurge 34 day cruise from LA to Buenos Aires to see Antarctica! Already had to move it from this December to next December but upgraded on a mini-suite so really hoping it sails! After that I will have one more continent to visit and would love to combine a trip to Australia with a stop in either Tokyo or Hong Kong (maybe both?!) to visit the Disney parks. That trip would require serious planning so maybe I should start the research now. Since it may be awhile before that kind of trip is possible might have to "settle" for planning a visit to France, including Disneyland Paris
That's quite a splurge!

For me, a splurge would definitely include Australia in some way, shape or form. Would love to visit HK again, but that's increasingly unlikely.

Next year, however, is probably not going to happen. I think we might be travelling for a couple of weddings, so at best we'll be doing vacation in the UK or at a Caribbean resort. As for the US... I think I need to reassess in a couple of months before I decide whether or not to go in 2021.
 
We've booked an NCL cruise for March break 2022, and we will still be doing our 2 week Disney/Universal trip. Just not sure if that will be 2021 or 2022 just yet. I may book us at a better resort, although I was pretty happy with CBR, I've been eyeing Beach Club - I just need to figure out how to make sure we get 3 sleeping surfaces to make that work! I'm back to racking up airmiles and PC points, so the hotel upgrade may not cost us much :)
 
Wow. So that's like, your new job? I'm being stubbornly optimistic and planning a moderate splurge for end of 2021 using my banked DVC points plus the 2021 points. It hasn't really taken shape in my head yet, but the idea is there. I wish us both luck!
I must confess I got into this hobby as a distraction to help manage post-partum anxiety. It's been a wonderful and productive way to focus on something other than the impending doom scenarios that my brain was concocting. ;)

We have quite a strong head start with all of our cancelled trips from 2020. Lol.

I've got a full system now in place. The fun part is helping my friends earn miles for their Disney trips too!

Wishing you luck on your planning!
 
Earlier this year my husband announced, out of the blue, that he wanted to retire early at 57. In 4 years. Umm.. what?! That takes planning in advance. Not short notice. I spent almost a month pouring over our budget and finances. Then covid hit. I can't see that happening. We are going to need to talk about that.

In the meantime, since Sept I have been cashing out both our air miles into a separate account for a vacation. There is $1,770 in it right now. Starting January I will add the PC Optimum cash backs into that account as well. He's always wanted to visit Ireland, as well as take an Alaska cruise. I figure the year he turns 57 we should do one of these. Two weeks in the U.K. or the cruise plus time in BC and drive home to Ontario. A really good vacation to make up for still working. I'll be continuing my part-time job when schools open up as long as I'm physically able to. Maybe 20 years if all.goes well.
How can anyone retire at 57? Before covid I would have replied heck ya me too! It's not just budget I just think I'd go stir crazy. I honestly do not know how I will handle retirement. I just know at 51 I am not ready to retire and finally after 5 months I finally go back to work next week.
 
We're planning "The Year of Disney" for 2022-2023. Our big vision is to use the airline vouchers, Air Miles dream miles, Disney giftcards, Bonvoy points, vacation leave, dollar value of expired Disney tickets, etc that we can accumulate in the meantime to make the following happen:

- 4 platinum annual passes (two adults, two kids)
- trips in May, July (for 2+ weeks), end of August, Cdn Thanksgiving
- stay over Christmas and New Years
- March Break and Easter 2023
- any Starbucks gift cards we can accumulate for breakfasts and lunches

Now that's a lot of trips and our grand vision will likely get scaled back based on how well we do with points and miles over the next two years or so... Our main goal us to make as many trips as possible in a 365 day period, for as close to $0 cash outlay as possible!

I've looked at how we can do this during school breaks and historic PD days to minimize lost days at school. Looks like it's possible by missing 10 days.

It's really fun mapping it out and strategizing, and imagining all the possibilities and researching potential places to stay... I'm just being zen knowing that lots of things will change in the meantime re Disney, air travel, hotels, etc.

Would love any feedback anyone has to share!
2020 was supposed to be our year of Disney. We will likely try for 2022 to be the next year of Disney. It’s my fiftieth birthday year and dd will be having a gap year. The plan is to purchase APs again and take many trips using the abundance of DVC points we will have stored up. Want to get a Grand Villa for my fiftieth and we will have a bunch of friends fly down for some of that trip. Sure hope it flies.

We do hope to get to Disney some time in 2021, likely in November. We have 289 points that expire at the end of November 2021. That will likely be a resort only trip, save for one day at HS, for which we have one day complimentary tickets to use up.
 
2020 was supposed to be our year of Disney. We will likely try for 2022 to be the next year of Disney. It’s my fiftieth birthday year and dd will be having a gap year. The plan is to purchase APs again and take many trips using the abundance of DVC points we will have stored up. Want to get a Grand Villa for my fiftieth and we will have a bunch of friends fly down for some of that trip. Sure hope it flies.

We do hope to get to Disney some time in 2021, likely in November. We have 289 points that expire at the end of November 2021. That will likely be a resort only trip, save for one day at HS, for which we have one day complimentary tickets to use up.
Have you done a Year of Disney before? Any thoughts or insights from your planning from this year?
 
Have you done a Year of Disney before? Any thoughts or insights from your planning from this year?
Yes, we have. Whenever we get an AP, which is every other year, we do a year of Disney. We don’t collect miles, but we have a Visa with excellent cash back incentives, so our flights are heavily subsidised. We bought dvc points at the bottom of the market when the Canadian dollar was at par ($60 per point), so we are well past our break even point with dvc. We have 860 points, so ample to spend about forty nights a year in one bedrooms.

So when it’s a year of Disney we make heavy use of our gold passes and borrow dvc points to increase our nights on site. Disney is usually our only travel these years. On our off years, we travel other places or do dvc resort only stays.

So that may not be much help since we don’t collect points. I do use pc points to buy gift cards for Disney. This usually covers our Disney dining. We do eat in the villa for breakfast and one meal a day.
 
OH yeah! It'll be almost 2 years by the time we get back, so we intend to get the Disney Dining Plan (as long as its returned) and eating at all our favouite sit downs. We're hardcore bagels and cream cheese and quick service people most of the time :p
 
How can anyone retire at 57? Before covid I would have replied heck ya me too! It's not just budget I just think I'd go stir crazy. I honestly do not know how I will handle retirement. I just know at 51 I am not ready to retire and finally after 5 months I finally go back to work next week.

I could happily never work again. Boredom does not exist for me. I always have lots to do, between projects for the home, running/fitness, playing guitar, singing, cooking, etc. I would work on my music more, for sure.
 

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