Incidentals and Charges Galore

Traveling is expensive. Water is wet. The sky is blue. All are completely true and "duh" type statements. Funny how you forget the basics until it's about to bite you in the ass. Thankfully, my wonderful friend Gelli has had me on a budget plan for the last 15ish months, and I've learned to anticipate the costs of things, save up, and enjoy. This trip with Maureen was too good to pass up- and, like my mom said (which she also said before I went to Europe), "You may get to a point in your life where you *can't* travel. Do it now while you're young and can enjoy it!" So I jumped in.

Already, the trip is starting to add up:

Flight: The plane ticket to/from Jacksonville was $350. I'm flying out of Flint, which is close enough for a friend to drop me off/pick me up from, so I don't have to pay to park my car at the airport for 10 days. The flight is already up to $378 on Orbitz.com, so it's a good thing I got it when I did (and the price keeps going up). However, I'm flying Delta. They charge a checked luggage fee of  $25 each way, so that's another $50 I'll have to spend. I thought about going with one non-checked bag, but realistically- it's 10 days. I'm going to need a large bag for all of my stuff.

Gas money to/from Ft. Lauderdale: Road Trip America has an awesome site where you can enter your trip mileage, MPG of your car, estimated gas price, and be given an estimate of the trip's fuel cost. If we take Maureen's Ford Escape, that's about 28 MPG, the average fuel cost in Florida today is $3.38, and we're traveling 308 miles from Jacksonville to my grandparent's place in Boca Raton (the 480 miles from yesterday's map includes Maureen's trip from Tallahassee). We're looking at spending about $34 in fuel each way, which isn't as bad as I thought it would be... that's about $.11/mile. WHOA. Then, of course, you have to have road trip food. My suggestion (which I'm sure Maureen will be ok with!) is to stop at a grocery store like Publix (which I say wrong EVERY time I see it- without the "l"- because its funny) and grab some snacks. I'm sure Maureen will already have some snacks with her, but it's a 6 hour drive. Plus, after a flight like I have (6am-12pm, small layover), I'm going to need food and some Diet Coke that's not out of a vending machine. And I'm sure we'll be stopping at restaurants for lunch and dinner on the drive there, breakfast on the way to the ship, and lunch/dinner on the drive home... oh, and breakfast before my flight. There's 6 meals to pay for, too.

Excursions: It costs NOTHING to lay in a hammock over the white sandy beaches :-) But, there's a few things I would like to do on our land excursions. I went snorkeling on my last cruise, and I'd love to do it again. I have no desire to go on a historical walking tour of a Royal Caribbean owned island, nor do I want to rent an inflatable raft that my chunky self will just sink (hey, I'm honest). But I would like to snorkel again in Puerto Rico ($25- there's a guided tour in Haiti with a catamaran ride and stuff for $45, and a snorkeling 3-hour trip in St. Marteen for $60) and tour on my own. I'm not really one for tour groups or paying someone to walk around with me, but I think Maureen will want to do one or two of those, which is fine- I'll either join her or meet her somewhere else after the excursion. I like to have my travel guides and tour on my own.

Drinks and whatnot on the ship: While cruises are sometimes thought of as "all inclusive," that's not always the case. There are a LOT of included dining options but alcohol and specialty drinks/foods cost extra (like Ben and Jerry's, Starbucks, and Johnny Rockets). There's a "soda package" you can buy, but you can have all of the water, lemonade and iced tea your heart wants for free. The package is $7/day (so $42 for me), or I can pay $2.25 + tip per canned soft drink. I honestly don't know if I can go 8 days without a Diet Coke. It was HARD to do in Europe, but it was also cheaper to buy a Diet Coke than a bottle of water. But, I'm thinking there may be some way that Maureen and I can split the soda package... There's an internet cafe on the ship and apparently there's wifi, but it's not free. It costs $.65/minute, or you can buy an internet package. I don't plan on spending a LOT of time online, but it's nice to have access, especially since it's going to cost an arm and a leg to make a phone call... again, I think Maureen and I will split an internet package, since she's of the same mindset as I am (but she needs internet access for her presentation and for school-related stuff).

Hotel room in Jacksonville after trip: It didn't make a lot of sense to book a flight on the day the cruise ends, as we have no idea when we'll make it back to Jacksonville. Plus, it didn't make sense to go from Ft. Lauderdale to Tallahassee, then Tallahassee to Jacksonville (then Maureen drive home), so we're splitting a room in J-town. That should cost about $60, or $30/person.

I'm already at $322, and that's without purchasing a SINGLE thing on the boat besides a soda cup (let me tell you, mama's gonna want a drink by the pool. Or two.) Wow.

Thankfully, I've been able to cut a few corners. Maureen and I are splitting gas (I would assume...?) to/from the cruise line. We'll be splitting the hotel room in Jacksonville, too, before I fly home. My parent split the plane fare with me. We're staying with my grandparents' place the night before the cruise and leaving the car with them (instead of paying a $15/day fee at the Royal Caribbean dock). And, I have to remember, the cruise part is FREE for me. So whatever final amount I come to, it's still $800-$1000 less than it could have been.

I want to be able to relax and not worry about being broke on the trip, so I'll worry and plan now :-)