Our Christmas vacation is one to remember for a lifetime. Since Christmas is the busiest time of the year, we decided to go on vacation to unwind and relax. Christmas can be overwhelming with the different pressures that it brings. With the massive Christmas shopping, prepping and preparing, One maybe left feeling overwhelmed for sure.

Instead of subjecting ourselves to the pressures of the holiday season, we’ve decided to take a Christmas vacation just before the chaos begun.

Therefore, I’d began my research on destinations and deals. Immediately, I went to check my travel rewards using my credit cards. I tried to see if I had enough rewards to book my stay. Unfortunately, I didn’t. Therefore, I went to my next best resource, RCI.

RCI is a timeshare exchange program with over 6,300 resorts and hotels in over 110 countries

As a timeshare owner, we have a membership with RCI. RCI is such a great travel resource to have because they have a great program called “last-minute vacation. Last minute vacations gives timeshare owners like ourselves the flexibility to book travel 45 days or less. Being that we are a family of spontaneous Homeschool travelers, this is typically how we book all of our travel.

Since the holiday season was quickly approaching while on vacation for Thanksgiving, I booked us a last minute vacation. For entire week vacation in a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo in Daytona Beach, Florida, we paid less than $240. This was insane!

For an entire 7 day vacation for my family, we were able to book our very first Christmas vacation for less than $35 a day.

The resort that we’ve booked was at The Wyndham Ocean Walk Resort, right on Atlantic Blvd. We’ve never stayed at this resort before however, the pictures and travel reviews were amazing. Therefore, I felt confident in this booking. Our reservation was for December 16, to December 23rd, 2018.

We were excited as we anticipated this Christmas vacation.

Literally, one week in between our most recent two week Orlando Holiday vacation trip, we were headed out again. This time we needed to pack our beach chairs, kites and of course our sand buckets. There, we were on our way! Daytona Beach, was about 91 miles away from our home in Jacksonville; which equates to an hour and half drive. This was definitely a Convenient trip being that it was not far away from home.

All packed up and ready to hit the road. We made sure that we cleaned up our home before leaving, because I don’t know about you but it is a pet peeve of mine. I find it is such a great feeling to come back from a long vacation to a clean home. There were times, that we went on vacation and was in such a rush to pack that we left our house in a total wreck. Therefore, upon returning home not only did we have to unpack but we’ve also had to clean. To avoid all of that unnecessary frustration, we’ve cleaned up and did all laundry.

upon arriving to the resort, we were greeted by the security guard and Bellman who instructed us where to go. We parked our car up front while we went inside to check in. Being that most timeshare resorts begin their check ends on the weekends typically Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It was pretty busy when we checked in.

We were greeted by a friendly front desk associate. She introduced herself and proceeded with the check in process. She explained that the resort was broken down into two towers, north and south. We had reservations booked into the south tower. All checked in we were hand it wristbands that was used as our key cards. The front desk associate gave us a map of the resort.

The resort had four pools, two indoor, and two outdoor. The resort also had three hot tubs located outside. There was an activity center for all children’s arts and crafts and activities. A fitness center was on site that was open from 7 AM to midnight. There was also a business center and kids lounge. There we were instructed to get our parking passes from the concierge.

There at the concierge desk we was able to get our parking passes, and was asked if we would like to go on a preview of the resort. Our reward or “gift” for going on the preview for 90 minutes of the resort, was $100 Amex card. Since we are not new to the Timeshare marketing tactic, we know when they say “preview our resort” they mean that they are trying to sell you a timeshare. A little reluctant this time mainly because I want to go on vacation just to relax, receiving $100 for 90 minutes was appealing to us. Therefore, we’ve booked a tour later in the week.

The concierge also gave us coupons to local restaurants and attractions around town. The resort had one restaurant/cafe, a remote bar and poolside bar and grill. As we headed back to our car to unpack the bellman assisted us with our bags.

As we checked into our room, First thing on our minds was our options for dinner. We were hungry for sure and needed to decide on dinner. We were located 1.5 miles from the nearest grocery store. We typically always go grocery shopping once we check into our resort. A family or a size, could definitely rack up on the cost of food for a week’s vacation. Therefore, to avoid all unnecessary cost on food expense we go grocery shopping and yes, I cook on vacation. We went shopping and bought food options, for the next couple of days.

The resort was filled with Christmas activities, so we prepared our days ahead using the activities calendar. We were able to Spend our mornings at the pool and afternoons at the beach. Our children played and laughed. We created new memories and enjoyed our family life together.

Our Christmas vacation, was truly something to remember for a lifetime.

We created memories filled with laughter and joy. We realized that we can spend our money on numerous amounts of items from the retail stores. However, we realize that the greatest gift in life is not the ones giving to you underneath Christmas tree. We absolutely live by traveling and creating new memories with our family. This is our lifestyle now. I encourage you that you can have the same and more.

Read our recent post on how to manifest your vacation lifestyle. Be encouraged to know that you too can create new memories and travel the world with your family. It does not take a lot of money to get started. However, it does take a commitment and determination to have the discipline in self -control.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to comment below. I love to read your comments and will respond promptly. Until next time be blessed!