When we look back and reflect on my family's recently completed trip out to the Arizona desert, all four of us loved the trip. We hiked a lot, ate a lot, walked up and down the strip in Vegas, visited with my wife's father (and his wife, and his wife's adult son, and his wife's adult son's "girlfriend").
As they say, the family time that we spent together (except for one notable fight over who would sleep in the pull-out and who would have a queen sized bed to himself or herself) was priceless.
The dollar amount was approximately $3,700 and was spent from Christmas eve morning though the evening of the 29th. The title references "less than" six days because we basically spent two entire days in transit, those being the 24th and the 29th. Although spent in transit, they were both nonetheless very expensive days which included super expensive meals at both Midway Airport in Chicago and McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, a late night burger dinner when all four of us were stressed out that ran over a hundred bucks, and a $93 cab ride back to my mother's house.
I confess to being a non- budgeter at heart, but did my best to keep receipts and approximate our spending. To make it a nice even $3,700, I approximated $158 in additional cash spent besides the expenditures that I new about. The trip actually came out to be a little less expensive than I had anticipated, which was four grand. I also forgot to add $60 in cash that I gave to our daughter for some spending cash. Our son brought $100 of his own money for spending.
The largest expenditure was four round-trip flights from Chicago Midway airport to Vegas. Despite the fairly high amount (in my estimation), it was the most affordable two flights unless we wanted to fly the red eye, which we did not. I would rather spend an extra hundred bucks, right or wrong, to fly out at 2 PM instead of 2 AM.
The second largest expenditure was the four nights of lodging at the new Holiday Inn Express in Lake Havasu City at $684. We rented a "suite," but were expecting something a little less basic, to borrow a word from my daughter.
The room had two queen sized beds and a fold-out couch that our daughter slept on for the four nights. The "suites" are on the highway side of the building, so we were treated to revving truck and motorcycle engines as well as other less noisy vehicles for four nights. Truthfully, I missed my own bed since the first sleepless night at the Flamingo.
Our room at the Flamingo was very nice and ran "only" $86, twelve of which I expect to be refunded because we parked in the Cromwell's parking facility rather than the Flamingo's, which we were charged for. I endured over twenty minutes of phone menu hell for the privilege of waiving that small fee, but refuse to enrich Vegas by twelve more than I have to.
The rental of our mid-sized SUV from Budget ran over five hundred bucks. It was a Toyota RAV4. It got us where we needed to go, but our Subaru is a much nicer car and drives far better. No comparison, really, but it's good to know.
An almost interesting note: I had saved my Walgreens points for most of 2018, anticipating a big spending spree at the Lake Havasu City store. I had $57 worth of the points and intended to use them all up at once. I basically ordered my wife and kids to load up on snacks, sunglasses, tee-shirts, lotion and the like.
Upon check out, the cashier told me that the total was $87. Perfect! I thought. I cash out fifty-seven bucks and the total will only be thirty for a nice little stash of goods. She then informed me that, as of early November, Walgreens instituted a policy that customers could only cash out five dollars' worth of points at a time.
Not letting it ruin my great mood, I said fine and paid eighty-two bucks. Had I know that, we might have at least broken up our big trip into two smaller ones. Oh well! I have stopped by Walgreens nearly every day since then, making ten to twenty dollar purchases and taking five bucks off at a time.
The two most expensive meals, by far, were treated by my father-in-law. On Christmas Day, he took the four of us and his wife's son who is in his late forties, like my wife and I are, and his slightly younger live-in long-term girlfriend out to a fancy dinner at the Turtle Grille in addition to himself and his wife.
Because he had a ever-so-slightly hard time making out the receipt, I helped him with it. It was $270 or so and he added a $50 tip, making it a $320 dinner. But the view of Lake Havasu was the best ever and the food was damned good too. What else can you expect for a dinner for eight at a fancy restaurant on Christmas day?
The next day, he and his wife took the four of us out to my second-favorite eatery in Lake Havasu City, the Barley Brothers Restaurant & Brewery where the six of us, again, ate like kings and queens. Additionally, I enjoyed my first of two specialty brews celebrating Lake Havasu City's fiftieth anniversary this year.
My family's top favorite eatery in Lake Havasu City is where I estimate having spent eighty bucks in cash for two lunches. There are many fancier places in town, but our favorite is Chico's Tacos. We had visited my father-in-law and his wife for spring break of 2016, and my wife found the place by searching for the top-rated taco joint in town per TripAdvisor.
I will advise you here, as well. If you ever visit Lake Havasu City and have any appreciation at all for Tex-Mex, you will not find a better place than this. You may be able to find fancier dining, but you will be wishing you were at Chico's while you are there.
I'm almost sorry to relate this trip to money. My family is thoroughly middle class although I continue to aspire to make it into the Twenty Percent.
While we were there, I was not fretting about the money. The biggest money-related mistake that I made was at the very end of the trip, when I grabbed a cab that charged a fifty freakin' percent surcharge for leaving the City limits and driving us to my mother's house in Evanston from Midway Airport. I have taken this cab ride before and know that it should be around sixty-five bucks or so, but I got jammed for an extra thirty bucks. We were so tired and stressed at that point that I told the driver to give me my seven dollars of change after handing him a Benjamin. First time that I did not tip well on the trip because the fu**er told me that there would not be an extra charge for leaving the City.
I did not hail an Uber because all of them at that time only indicated seating for two.
As I read about the struggles of middle class families in this month's issue of Fortune magazine, which I read today, it makes me feel a small twinge of guilt for having spent nearly four grand "extra" in less than a week.
But consider this.
My wife's father is now seventy-seven years old. He is not in the greatest health ever and, truth be told, I am somewhat surprised that he has made it this far. If he had not moved to Arizona about six years ago to help with his COPD, I do not think that he would still be around today.
I do not know how many more times he and his wife will be able to travel back to the Midwest, as they typically do once per year, or when the next time will be that the four of us will be able to make it out there together.
Acknowledging his age and declining health, he did hand some important papers over to me that I will be assisting him with. A post for another time.
We may be nearly four grand lighter than we were a dozen days ago, but we'll always have Havasu.
As they say, the family time that we spent together (except for one notable fight over who would sleep in the pull-out and who would have a queen sized bed to himself or herself) was priceless.
The dollar amount was approximately $3,700 and was spent from Christmas eve morning though the evening of the 29th. The title references "less than" six days because we basically spent two entire days in transit, those being the 24th and the 29th. Although spent in transit, they were both nonetheless very expensive days which included super expensive meals at both Midway Airport in Chicago and McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, a late night burger dinner when all four of us were stressed out that ran over a hundred bucks, and a $93 cab ride back to my mother's house.
I confess to being a non- budgeter at heart, but did my best to keep receipts and approximate our spending. To make it a nice even $3,700, I approximated $158 in additional cash spent besides the expenditures that I new about. The trip actually came out to be a little less expensive than I had anticipated, which was four grand. I also forgot to add $60 in cash that I gave to our daughter for some spending cash. Our son brought $100 of his own money for spending.
The second largest expenditure was the four nights of lodging at the new Holiday Inn Express in Lake Havasu City at $684. We rented a "suite," but were expecting something a little less basic, to borrow a word from my daughter.
Our room at the Flamingo was very nice and ran "only" $86, twelve of which I expect to be refunded because we parked in the Cromwell's parking facility rather than the Flamingo's, which we were charged for. I endured over twenty minutes of phone menu hell for the privilege of waiving that small fee, but refuse to enrich Vegas by twelve more than I have to.
The rental of our mid-sized SUV from Budget ran over five hundred bucks. It was a Toyota RAV4. It got us where we needed to go, but our Subaru is a much nicer car and drives far better. No comparison, really, but it's good to know.
 |
| A few receipts from our trip. |
Upon check out, the cashier told me that the total was $87. Perfect! I thought. I cash out fifty-seven bucks and the total will only be thirty for a nice little stash of goods. She then informed me that, as of early November, Walgreens instituted a policy that customers could only cash out five dollars' worth of points at a time.
Not letting it ruin my great mood, I said fine and paid eighty-two bucks. Had I know that, we might have at least broken up our big trip into two smaller ones. Oh well! I have stopped by Walgreens nearly every day since then, making ten to twenty dollar purchases and taking five bucks off at a time.
The two most expensive meals, by far, were treated by my father-in-law. On Christmas Day, he took the four of us and his wife's son who is in his late forties, like my wife and I are, and his slightly younger live-in long-term girlfriend out to a fancy dinner at the Turtle Grille in addition to himself and his wife.
Because he had a ever-so-slightly hard time making out the receipt, I helped him with it. It was $270 or so and he added a $50 tip, making it a $320 dinner. But the view of Lake Havasu was the best ever and the food was damned good too. What else can you expect for a dinner for eight at a fancy restaurant on Christmas day?
The next day, he and his wife took the four of us out to my second-favorite eatery in Lake Havasu City, the Barley Brothers Restaurant & Brewery where the six of us, again, ate like kings and queens. Additionally, I enjoyed my first of two specialty brews celebrating Lake Havasu City's fiftieth anniversary this year.
My family's top favorite eatery in Lake Havasu City is where I estimate having spent eighty bucks in cash for two lunches. There are many fancier places in town, but our favorite is Chico's Tacos. We had visited my father-in-law and his wife for spring break of 2016, and my wife found the place by searching for the top-rated taco joint in town per TripAdvisor.
I will advise you here, as well. If you ever visit Lake Havasu City and have any appreciation at all for Tex-Mex, you will not find a better place than this. You may be able to find fancier dining, but you will be wishing you were at Chico's while you are there.
 |
| My first of two lunches at Chico's. |
While we were there, I was not fretting about the money. The biggest money-related mistake that I made was at the very end of the trip, when I grabbed a cab that charged a fifty freakin' percent surcharge for leaving the City limits and driving us to my mother's house in Evanston from Midway Airport. I have taken this cab ride before and know that it should be around sixty-five bucks or so, but I got jammed for an extra thirty bucks. We were so tired and stressed at that point that I told the driver to give me my seven dollars of change after handing him a Benjamin. First time that I did not tip well on the trip because the fu**er told me that there would not be an extra charge for leaving the City.
I did not hail an Uber because all of them at that time only indicated seating for two.
As I read about the struggles of middle class families in this month's issue of Fortune magazine, which I read today, it makes me feel a small twinge of guilt for having spent nearly four grand "extra" in less than a week.
But consider this.
My wife's father is now seventy-seven years old. He is not in the greatest health ever and, truth be told, I am somewhat surprised that he has made it this far. If he had not moved to Arizona about six years ago to help with his COPD, I do not think that he would still be around today.
I do not know how many more times he and his wife will be able to travel back to the Midwest, as they typically do once per year, or when the next time will be that the four of us will be able to make it out there together.
Acknowledging his age and declining health, he did hand some important papers over to me that I will be assisting him with. A post for another time.
We may be nearly four grand lighter than we were a dozen days ago, but we'll always have Havasu.
Comments
Post a Comment