USVI-On-Line

We are already booked for our January '09 trip to STJ (thank goodness) but are reconsidering a trip to Italy in September. No deposits put down yet, so that's good, but we're concerned about the cost. Maybe we'll just go back to STJ again!!

We have to look forward to something, and that will be St John. We will save every way we can. If we have to eat peanut butter sandwiches and beer we will. We have our villa, not our airline tickets. We are going again in June.

We also have already booked our villa for May 2009 and have frequent flyer miles we were able to use.
In a way I am glad we booked early as we probably would not have gone considering the economic circumstances today. We usually head out to the Hamptons for a long weekend in October as well as a week in Florida in January to visit my sister. That's not happening now so we have St John to look forward to and that helps.

Hasn't stopped our plans for STJ but the exchange rate for the Euro has kept us from going to Europe of recent...even before the market problems.

We just booked a trip to Akumal, Mexico next February. We love St. John of course, but we like to see other places (haven't been to Akumal before) and it will cost about half as much as our St. John trip last January did.

Also, we have a 3 1/2 hour direct flight from Denver to Cancun, and getting to St. John (and back) is a daylong ordeal from here.

I want to go to Italy, but it will have to wait until the dollar improves.

I liked the line about eating PB&J if you have to just to be on STJ. I always say "Top Ramen tastes better in paradise," so even if that's all I can afford to eat, I'll be OK.

We are holding off. I am still planning to go in 2009, probably October this time, but I haven't booked anything yet. We have some ff miles, but we plan on taking the kids and don't have that many. Also, the 2 of us would be happy to go really cheap, just to go... and the boys would be fine. I'm not so sure about the teenage princess though.
We consider our vacations a priority and would normally never consider not going. We have plenty of time before retirement, but it is so scary looking at our investment $$ drop everyday. I am just a little afraid to pull the trigger on it right now.

We were hoping to go to STJ in June 09 with some friends (share a villa and save some $$) but they pooped out on us. All in all, that's probably a good thing, actually, as they just don't seem to "get it" when it comes to Caribbean vacations. (Wife of the couple said, "What would we DO there for a while week?") Sheesh!

With our stocks taking a beating (and we didn't even have that much to start with) and being closer to retirement age, we have had to cut back on vacation plans, unfortunately -- with living in the Northeast and having an oil furnace, this winter is going to be a real challenge!

I'm going to keep my eyes and ears open and hope for a miracle, but it looks like vacation, if any, will be stateside. Perhaps NC Outer Banks but even that might be a stretch.

Or maybe I'll just buy a beer and cry in it!!!!

The WSJ says this morning "Stock futures surge 400 points".

Sounds good to me. But a lot of the damage has been done. We have a lot of of friends already pushing off retirement 12-18 months. One positive side effect is the falling demand for oil and lower oil prices. That should help with airlines' costs.

Cheers, RickG

"... pushing off retirement 12-18 months...."
If ONLY that long!!!!!!

RickG wrote:The WSJ says this morning "Stock futures surge 400 points".

Sounds good to me. But a lot of the damage has been done. We have a lot of of friends already pushing off retirement 12-18 months. One positive side effect is the falling demand for oil and lower oil prices. That should help with airlines' costs.

Cheers, RickG

Rick, your friends must only be mid forties at best. Tell them to contact me if they want to know about what it's like to be in the 'red zone'. And I'm not talking about football.

12 to 18 months would be a snap.

Hello!

I haven't had tropical vacation 2008 yet -- it's coming next month. But, no, we're not holding off on 2009, either!

Cat

We probably would...however, we booked our charter for June and decided to invite some very good friends from out of the country along to join us as our treat. I am not an indian giver. I'd rather starve! We're making it work. It will be a blast. On a good note though, their loaded so if we go down hard, they will insist on putting us up in their mansion LOL!

The kids want Disney for X-mas 09 so we will see what happens with that. At least it's cheaper...

Besides all that though. I NEED my beach fix. Woke up to a foot of snow in my front yard yesterday. Just a few days ago it was 72 degrees! Saturday it will be 72 again! Fall in Utah...we get about 4 days.

We will most likely scale back on travel in 2009. 2008 has been a very expensive year for us as we have done our best to stimulate the housing/construction market (big house addition still on going, and of course we need new furniture now...) and as of last month we are now contributing to the orthodontia market as well with our oldest in braces.

We have plans for a week in Estes Park, but even flights to Colorado are looking pricey, at least when you multiply by 4.

I was hoping for a 2009 post-Christmas/New Year's trip to STJ but that's unlikely now.

Just wanted to bump this up to see if folks' plans have changed since then. We are going in April to STT during the kids'spring break.

No plans yet for summer break so we'll see.