The Deal Mommy

Our Fireworks this year! Image via Brian Boru festival

Edited to add: I’m pulling a response from a comment to the top by way of explanation for the tone of this post, which I realized without context may come off as, well, bitchy. I’m writing it in response to the following conversation, which I’ve had at least 10 times every Spring for the last four years:

Mom at Bus Stop, Starbucks, etc.: “Going anywhere this summer?”
Me: “Why yes, we’re headed to (Panama, Guatemela, Tenerife, Ireland). I can’t wait!”
Mom: (deep sigh) “I wish I could do something like that, but I can’t afford it. We’ll probably just go to the beach again.”
Me: “You know, it’s actually cheaper to go overseas than Ocean City in summer if you plan it right.”
Mom: “I can just never get my husband’s vacation time nailed down.”

50 times of the same conversation and I just had to document my answer!

Regular readers know a major pet peeve is the Mid-Atlantic summer beach week. Why? Because it’s overpriced, unoriginal, and often booked at the last-minute (at full retail) out of desperation because someone in the family just wouldn’t get off his (90% of the time it’s a he) lazy @ss and commit to a plan. Sound familiar?

If you have one of these paramecium sitting on your sofa, here’s what I want you to do.  Print out this post RIGHT now and make him read it.  Because I’m going to prove to you that with a minimum of planning and an open mind about points and credit NOW you’ll be able to go to Ireland 4th of July 2014 for less than that beach condo will cost you this year. He’ll be able to golf and drink Guinness to his heart’s content while you and the kids get the heck out of dodge!

Some ground rules for this exercise: I’m actually taking the family for TWO weeks, but am only counting the costs for 4th of July week, car, and airfare since most people only go to the beach for a week. If you split the costs between both weeks, it’s not even close: Ireland is WAY cheaper.   However, as our friend at the Washington Post Travel section taught us, it’s important to compare apples to apples;)

As our benchmark, I went to Century 21 in Ocean City, MD and found the following middle of the road 2 bedroom beach condo, solidly in the middle of the price range. The price? $1600!

To that $1600 we have to add 10.5% tax, making it $1,768, and $40 parking, so you’ve spent $1,808 before you’ve even cracked a crab leg.

Image via screenshot

Now let’s see how that trip to Ireland looks:

People are always asking “how do you do it”? in regards to traveling so much for so little. Rule #1 is PLAN EARLY! So my first point of order for you is to find a way to get British Airways Avios points. This can be via a number of credit card signup bonuses: I suggest the BA Visa ($95 fee) as the most direct method. American Express (rewards gold $0 fee first year)  is also great as they offer frequent bonuses: currently they are offering a 35% transfer bonus (till 6/6/13). Million Mile Secrets has a good summary of how to use Avios (British Airways) to travel to Ireland from Boston for just 25k miles round trip. Between the sign-up bonus offered for the BA credit card, in addition to the transfer bonus on AMEX I mentioned, I racked up more than enough BA miles in time.

Knowing most airlines release seats 11 months out, I decided to call BA in August 2012 to see if they had flights available next July yet on the BOS-DUB flight, lo and behold, they were booking out to the end of July 2013, so I was able to book four tickets for a grand total of 100,000 Avios and $408 tax! I paid each $120 round trip for the DCA-BOS tickets so in total I spent just $882 to get to 4 people Dublin in summer.

Once I get to Dublin, I’ll need a rental car. Fortunately, via AutoSlash I found an economy car for the week for just $51 and thanks to my Citi Thank You card (no annual fee) I don’t need any extra insurance. Big hat tip to Rapid Travel Chai for this tip.

Now for the hotel: this was actually the easy part! Thanks to my fave Endless Vacation Rentals, we’re staying at the highly rated on Tripadvisor East Clare Golf Village in a 2 bedroom cottage:

Cottage at East Clare Golf Village. Image via Diamond Resorts

The resort is out in the countryside, but within daytrip distance of most of Western Ireland’s attractions. There’s a golf course on site and a free shuttle to town for some trad music at the pub if you don’t want to drive home.

The cost? $609 a week.

So let’s total up: is 4th of July week in Ireland actually cheaper than 4th of July week in Ocean City?

Air: $882
Fees: $95
Car: $51
Hotel: $609
Total: $1637

Ocean City: $1,808, or $171 MORE than Ireland!

(Here’s where you remind that lump on your couch that $171 buys a whole lot of golf and Guinness!)