Texas_Phantom

I'm trying to plan out a 5 day 4 night beach trip for my little girl and myself for this summer... Obviously, July will be peak season... And with peak season comes peak rental prices, peak gas prices and peak fishing and grocery prices.

I started researching the Texas coast, and then compared it to the Clearwater/St. Petes part of Florida, and for 2 people, they are almost a dead heat...

I'm looking for opinions and/or leads for a cheap rental on the Texas coast (Anything OTHER than gross galveston).

Looking for:

Corpus Christi
Port Aransas
South Padre Island

Can be a:

Hotel
Motel
Apartment (prefered bc of kitchenette)
Condo (prefered bc of kitchenette)

Needs to be oceanfront...

Here is my best cost guestimate for SPI based on the places i have researched:

$510.00 - Condo
$185.00 - Gas (1160 miles rt and SWA wold cost $400)
$162.00 - 8 hour fishing trip
$80.00 - Groceries/food
==============
~917.58 for two...

By comparison, Tampa would be about 1050.00 and Cozumel mexico would be 1220.00...


Maybe some of you have found a hidden gem thats water front.

is it just me or is even a domestic beach trip within our own state way too expensive these days???

Listening and thanks for any constructive feedback....

TxP

S2k_MoZo

your status on your communicator says that you are in a meeting....you are not supposed to be on s2ki right now..haha
do some work for a change homie

S2k_MoZo

My personal experience with vacations:

For living you know how much it will cost and you make reservations early so you know how much your budget is.

Gas - It all depends, I never estimate gas as I like to take routes which are nice and beautiful and stop at places take pics, and you can go around the places where you staying at, so gas I won't say $185, I would say $200 ~ $350?

$162 for fishing trip? Are you going somewhere else for fishing? what is this expense for? fishing rods or stuff to catch them? lol

$80 Groceries? I would say more then that...specially when you have a kid, you want some extra snacks and some ready meals so the child/children have something to do and eat while you are enjoying your drive

But thats just me, I don't know what everyone else thinks

viets2k

Since the cost isn't that much of the different...out of all that i would prefer Cozumel, Mexi, but it's more for adults rather than children. Tampa is probably more suitable for you and your baby girl since it's right there in the middle of Clear water (beautiful beach & beautiful white sand where you & your baby girl can built y'all a nice sand castle)....and then y'all can hit over to disney world which your baby girl will definitely luvvvving it. As for a place to stay you can either choose a hotel...motel or mobie home park in Orlando or Clear-water since the drive is only 1 1/2hours apart.

My sister owned once of the time-square vacation package and so last time i went to Orlando and Key-west i got to stay at the 4 stars hotel for only $350/week.

As for groceries....$80 is about right for you and your baby-girl since y'all will be too busy having fun.

Texas_Phantom

There is nothing woth stopping for between here and SPI that we haven't seen already 350x. And stopping more than 1x for gas/food on the way down is not an option on a 8+ hour car trip.

This inclues everything except cleaning your catch. 8 hours on the boat, tackle, and rods. one year they even let me drive the boat back to the dock.

I'm going for 5 days 4 nights, not a month... I'll need 4 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 3 dinners. 4 breakfasts = $10, 4 lunches = $14 and 3 dinners with one eaten at restaurant = $40. $64.00 total, then add cokes and beer = $16 or $20...

TxP

02brs2k

I love the Clearwater area, I've stayed in Clearwater Beach a couple of times and have had a great time both times. The prices as you've found are very reasonable for everything, and the beaches and water are very nice. There's a lot of stuff to do both in the city/surrounding cities and just a short drive away is Orlando and also Daytona (which is ridiculously busy at that time of year).

Wildncrazy

Stop at Panama City Florida area instead. It's about a 12 hour trip but you'll need to stay out of the center of the beach area as it is too crowded and expensive.

Any of the outlying areas are still inexpensive and still has the white sand beaches

S2k_MoZo

4 breakfasts for $10? What do you eat in breakfast, lunch and dinner dude?
Don't tell me you will take that deer meat with you and you are saying $10 just for the bread..lol

mxt_77

+1 for Cozumel. I stayed at "El Cozumeleno" last time I was there and it seemed pretty kid friendly. Plus, you can get the All-Inclusive package and eat & drink all you want, plus they had shows & stuff in the evening plus crafts for the kids during the day. There are fishing excursions, but she might enjoy just going out on the beach & snorkeling more than fishing.

Texas_Phantom

Thanks guys