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More ways to get out of town, without dipping into the college funds
You’ll score cheaper plane tickets if you blast off a day before school vacation starts and return several days before it ends.
Go to the Caribbean in summer, when it’s uncrowded and breezy and rates are deeply discounted because everyone else is migrating north.
Post your primary abode or vacation place on sites such as homeexchange.com, intervac-online.com, and digsville.com (for an annual fee of $100 or less). Then search your desired destination, chat with the owners, exchange keys, and go—for little more than the price of airfare. You’ll save thousands.
A cruise ship means food, lodging, and transportation bundled into one price—you’ll almost always pay less than you would if you booked everything piecemeal. Sign on with a major operator, such as Royal Caribbean International (royalcaribbean.com), and you’ll also save by paying in dollars rather than pricey euros.
Among our favorites: Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Little Rock. They pack in the culture, food, and history of major metros—with fewer crowds and lower price tags. Parking, anyone?
Playful decorating and niceties such as kitchenettes make these roadside crash pads just right for families. Two we love: The Roxbury (607/326-7200; theroxburymotel.com; doubles $145), in New York’s Catskills, and the Farmer’s Daughter (323/937-3930; farmersdaughterhotel.com; doubles $209), in Los Angeles.
Say goodbye to $79 lift tickets and instead explore the woods for free. Or, at Nordic centers, glide across groomed trails for about $10 a day (rental equipment adds only a few dollars). Two cross-country resorts to try: Royal Gorge (Soda Springs, Calif.; 800/500-3871; royalgorge.com; doubles $110), near Lake Tahoe, and Devil’s Thumb Ranch (Tabernash, Colo.; 800/933-4339; devilsthumbranch.com; doubles $195), down the road from Winter Park.
Set aside a long weekend for a spontaneous trip, then browse last-minute package deals (available from two weeks to three hours before departure) at sites like lastminute.com, 11thhourvacations.com, and lastminutetravel.com. Most trips are nonrefundable and include round-trip flights and hotel rooms—and sometimes even car rentals.
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