5 Ways To Start Vacationing Every Year

Vacationing each year is something I've done since I was a baby, thanks to my parents who made it possible up until now.

This is definitely not a blog post on how to save money in order to vacation because there are tons of articles/blog posts out there with a ton of great ideas. Only you know how you can best save your own money based on your income and what is left over for you to set aside.

This is a how-to on what to look for when vacationing in popular tourist attractions/destinations. One of my favorite places, and one I get asked about frequently by those who know me, is Orlando (Disney World). However, these tips can be used to vacation to other popular destinations such as Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Bahamas, etc.

First, I'm going to ask you to remove any and all negativity that you have heard about how much money you'll spend, how extreme the weather is, or anything that anyone has vented to you about their experience. Remember that it's only that...THEIR personal experience, which can differ from person to person.

Here are a few tips on how to save during your vacation in order to be able to afford taking at least one each year.


1. Use bundle deals on applicable websites (Expedia, Priceline, Spirit, etc.).

I've used this option myself twice now and saved me so much money. The first was my trip to Cancun in 2011 with some friends. We used Expedia and paid $500 per person for the airfare and resort stay for an entire week. Most recently my family and I used Spirit to book our airfare and resort stay for my uncle's wedding in Cancun. Although it was still pretty pricey, $540/person, we still saved a lot by booking it as a bundle package. Always make sure to browse under a private browser window so that the websites won't read your IP address and hike up the prices, since we all know they are in cahoots together. 

2. If you know someone with a timeshare, ask to purchase 1 week from them or visit this website for amazing and affordable deals (sales presentation required).

Fortunately for me, my parents purchased a timeshare when I was young and have since then paid it off. This means that my sister and I are able to use their timeshare through an amazing resort exchange company called RCI to book five star resorts anywhere in the world. If you know someone who has a timeshare I'd definitely suggest treating them to a nice dinner and casually asking them to buy a week of theirs to take advantage of the beautiful resorts available for use to timeshare owners. Of course this comes at a price, but will not compare to the insane amount of money you'd pay to book a hotel that doesn't have a kitchen, washer/dryer, or multiple pools. The beauty of owning a timeshare and more information is coming soon on another blog post. 

3. If the destination isn't more than 15 hours away from you, and airfare is expensive, consider driving.

Many times we get caught up with life and some trips may be last minute decisions. This then means that with less time until your vacation, airfare becomes a heck of a lot more expensive. Although I myself am not a fan of road trips, if your vacation destination isn't too far from you, driving may be the most cost effective choice. Think about it, you'd only spend money on gas (which if you don't have a gas guzzler won't mean too many trips to the pump) and you now have a car to travel with during your vacation. That for me is the BIGGEST plus on a vacation, especially if you're going somewhere that has multiple attractions that you have no choice but to drive to. For example, my nearly annual trips to Orlando always require a car during my week stay because all of the parks are at least 20-30 minutes driving distance from each other. Although the resorts we stay at offer free transportation to the parks (another great perk about timeshare/resort stay) my family and I always like to go to dinner after at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Kissimmee, El Tenampa (highly suggest trying it). During our time in Texas we drove back and forth, a lot! This was a 12-14 hour drive, depending on how risky we wanted to be in hopes to not get pulled over, and literally only spent about $150 on gas round-trip. If you're a couple, that is almost one airfare ticket. If you're a family of four, you're saving at least $400 on airfare. Definitely something to consider. 

4. Search for online deals for activities prior to your trip to save by booking online.

Theme parks, kayaking, swimming with the dolphins, ATVs, excursion tours, para sailing, jet ski's, and so much more that so many of us can't wait to do during our vacations. If you have ever done any of the mentioned activities or something similar, you're aware that the cost seems a bit high for the activity. However, being that it's a vacation spot, they know people will pay premium dollars to experience something like this away from home. There are tons of companies that offer these services at your desired vacation spot and many have discounts for those who purchase in advance online. It can be anywhere from 10-30% off the regular price. That in itself is saving a lot considering it'll already be paid for once you arrive and it won't take away from the cash you set aside during your vacation. Always check Groupon as well, they usually have a ton of stuff available not only for activities, for getaways as well. 

5. Take advantage of those unbearable sales presentations that are always being offered.

Now I know this is the most unpleasant of the steps I've listed, but hear me out when I say IT'S WORTH IT! Is it ever the 90 minutes that they swear it will only take? No. However, if you're firm with your decision to not purchase the entire process will go by much quicker than you'd imagine. Do not let a pushy salesman deter you from raking in some cash or scoring free tickets to activities/theme parks! Think of it this way, you go through this anywhere you go nowadays. You go to your favorite retail store and they ask you if you want to sign up for their credit card. You go to the bank and they say, it looks like you qualify for our premium so on. You go to a mall and are approached by the kiosk owners to try their products. It's something we go through often and we don't even realize it. Why not take advantage of the presentation and if anything look at it as this. You schedule the presentation in the morning, always in the morning, and they give you free breakfast. After the free breakfast, and many have amazing buffets, they take you on a tour of their beautiful and luxurious resort and you get to see how timeshare owners spend their vacations in what is bigger and more beautiful than the average apartment. After the breakfast and tour they proceed with their sales pitch. If it's something you are genuinely not interested in, then by all means say no and explain why it's not for you, they thank you for your time, and send you off to retrieve your gift just for attending.  The best part about it, you have the entire rest of your day to enjoy the free gift you just received! 

During my last vacation to Orlando my fiance and I did four presentations, yes four. So for four days out of our seven days there we had free breakfast, money we didn't have to spend out of our own pocket. One of the four presentations offered us extremely discounted Universal Studios tickets, we paid $300 for TWO 7-day park-to-park passes for both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. They don't even sell 7-day tickets on the website, just for ONE 4-day park-to-park ticket you pay $400 plus tax. The other three presentations we received $100 Visa gift cards, so $300 in total. My fiance and I made $300 while on vacation! That definitely helped us celebrate this vacation in particular since he proposed to me while we were there at Islands of Adventure. 

These 5 simple steps can help you and your family ensure you take the deserved time off and away from home each year. It's very much possible and I encourage everyone to get away once a year, and if a one week vacation is too much there are always short getaways available. Make sure to check out the link to check those out. Here it is again, be sure to check out the hot vacation spots and amazing deals!

Always remember, vacations may cost you a portion of your savings, but the memories you will make you'll cherish forever and are PRICELESS! 

Monthly Spotlight: Freddy

An idea came to me when I was working for this last Spanish radio station to have a highlight feature segment each month. The segment would feature a person who has overcome numerous obstacles, but with motivation and perseverance has come out on top. This was also a thought to give credit and notoriety to someone who otherwise would never have been heard of. 

So I've decided to use this platform to go on with my idea and thank those whom I have crossed paths with in my lifetime to show them they are appreciated and their hard work is noticed. 

For my first Monthly Spotlight I want to give major props to my friend and colleague, Freddy Aguilar. 

I first met Freddy in September of 2011 when I returned to work for iHeart Media, back when it was still Clear Channel Communications. Freddy and I were both promotions assistants and both started off as interns prior to that. The funny thing to this story is that Freddy and I couldn't stand each other at first. He had a problem with my not-so-perfect Spanish speaking skills and I didn't like his ignorance to the fact that I am third generation, but was trying my best. 

It took us nearly three months and getting into a heated discussion before we became cordial, and eventually great friends. Telling everyone our story is always a pleasure for me to have that example and personal experience of how we overcame our differences in the workplace. 

Freddy is a husband to his beautiful wife, father to four gorgeous girls, coach to a softball team, manager to a new music band, promotions employee to the newest Spanish station in Chicago, and my great friend. How he manages all of this each and everyday is beyond me, but he takes pride in each responsibility he carries in his life. 

Having worked with Freddy on and off over the last five years has allowed me to get to know him better and see what an amazing person he is both at work and as a friend. I imagine I may have told him at least ten times a week that I don't know how he does it. He is such a positive person that at times it annoys me that he can be so easy going in every situation, even the hardest of predicaments. 

During the last almost two months at my most recent job I was going through the toughest of situations. The person who originally hired me and knew my potential was let go and it left me somewhat uneasy of my future with the company. It was a tough month to endure with some of the staff unconvinced that I was the right person for the job. Even having to deal with public humiliation and disrespect from a person in a management role. Each day was becoming harder to deal with coming into the office because I had no idea what to expect. Was someone going to disrespect me today, undermine me, question my abilities? I just wasn't sure and frankly getting to my breaking point quicker as each day passed. 

Unfortunately for me, Freddy's hours had been cut drastically due to that same person's personal agenda and I had less time to see him while at work. It angered me that they were being incredibly unfair and for all the wrong reasons. However, to my surprise Freddy kept his calm, continues to be patient to this day and extremely positive. Freddy would tell me, "it's okay don't take it so serious and just keep doing the good job that you're doing." Not only would he give me his own words of encouragement, but he would share prayers that have helped him, and he knows how important my faith is to me. 

All of this was necessary for me to hear each day, but unfortunately it got so bad for me personally that I left the company. Freddy, however, stayed and continues to be a positive force to be reckoned with. I have so much admiration for the person he is both professionally and personally. I just want him to know that his efforts do not go unnoticed and that I pray he continues to be successful in his desired career path. 

I'm sure many know him as El Compa Freddy from El Patron (now BIG 95.5FM), but to me he's Freddy, my humble and caring friend who I know will be my friend for a lifetime. Thank you for all that you have done, continue to do, and for the positive force you have been in every one's life that you have touched. 

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"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it." - Proverbs 3:27

Cancelled Wedding

October 1, 2016

That was the date my fiance and I had set for our wedding day which we chose last November and gave us almost one whole year to plan it out.

Venue, flowers, photographer, limo, centerpieces, videographer, favors, and so on. It was what seemed to be a never ending list of things we still needed to plan and here we were, five months until our "wedding day" and more than half of the things on the wedding checklist were still unchecked.

Those who know me well are well aware that I am not big on details or fancy parties for myself. I began to feel incredibly overwhelmed when constantly asked how the wedding planning was going. It wasn't any one's fault of course because it's a typical question to ask someone with a wedding only five months away, but I couldn't help but think, what is going on with the wedding planning?

All of the checklists, the family drama regarding "no kids" at the reception, the ridiculous prices for certain extras was just all too much for me to handle. This is no way knocking those who do have a big lavish wedding, kudos to you for having the money and patience, but it's like a part time job. 

When did weddings become bigger than the actual marriage? Since when did it become necessary to pay so much for a one day event? With each day that came and went I couldn't stop asking myself, why do we need to spend all this money? I get mad when he buys me flowers or anything that isn't something we both can't enjoy, so why this? 

Getting married is supposed to be the happiest time in your life, before having children of course, but at what cost? You have a big wedding, beautiful venue, amazing flowers, gorgeous center pieces, flawless dress, etc. then comes the day after and you realize you just spent $10,000 plus in one day. All of that money, gone forever. 

Will you have the memories, of course, but all I could personally think of was how that money can be used toward our first house. Toward traveling the world. Toward experiences with the person that this entire wedding is about. 

So here we were, now four months before the wedding, and I told my fiance how I was feeling about it all and to my relief he said he felt the same. THANK GOD, I thought to myself. We both realized that throwing a big party to what it had escalated to wasn't even what we wanted, we had added on certain things to please the families and not ourselves. It turned into, well so and so should be invited because of this, and so on. At the end of the day we realized that our marriage is about him and I, not a wedding, not a party, not for anyone else. 

Cancelling the wedding was the greatest decision we could have made for us as a couple. We still plan to get married of course, but our own way. We decided to have a weekend getaway in Vegas and get married with our bridal party there to witness and join in on the fun times to be had in Vegas. For our family, especially the parents, we plan to celebrate our Church wedding with a dinner after with our immediate family. 

Not only will this save us an insane amount of money, but the money we did have saved toward the wedding will be used toward a house in the near future, God willing. All I know is, God placed the man of my dreams in my life and the only thing that matters is that we're both happy, we're both committed to each other, and we don't need to spend all of that money to seal the deal. 

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Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," so that we confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?" - Hebrews 13: 4-6