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Trip Transportation

August 1st, 2015 at 08:37 pm

Transportation on our trip was more than planned. It seems I thought I had reserved a rental car using Southwest Rapid Reward points. However, when I went to double check all of our reservations I couldn't find the rental car, only an email stating I had redeemed a reward. It seems the reward I redeemed is a voucher for Dollar Rent a Car that was mailed to me (well mailed to my old address). I still have yet to receive it.

So less than 24 hours before we needed a rental car I was on the hunt, using every rental car company and coupon codes I could come up with to find the least expensive option for us. We really wanted to pick up our car at the airport rather than a shuttle (this does increase the cost). We also wanted a reliable company (some companies have terrible reviews). We went through USAA and got a mid size car for $191 prepaid with Budget. It was definitely more than I wanted to pay. Later my husband asked about other options to get to the resort since we barely needed the car. Shuttle service or Luxury Town car round trip for four people would have been at least $144. It turns out we did leave the hotel resort area one night for dinner and stopped to get something at Walgreen's. We also used the car to get to our hotel for our third night's stay closer to the airport. This stay was at a Fairfield Inn and we used reward points. Staying at the resort would have cost us over $300 for a third night. Oh, and we also ate at a restaurant on our last night and we drove there.

So the rental car wasn't a bad deal considering how we used it to save us a little money. It just cost me much more because I originally thought I was getting a rental car for free! Well, I am getting a 'free' rental car but not for this trip.

We paid $20 per night to park on site at our resort hotel. That fee was expected since I was planning on a rental car. We would have saved that fee had we not rented a car.

And finally, we parked at the airport for $12 a day. Our parking tab was $42. Again, we could reduced that amount in half if we had parked off site. We ran into backed up traffic on our way to the airport and decided it was better to just pay the higher cost of parking than be late for our flight.

So it is what it is! I think in the end it worked out fine for why we rented a car and what the alternatives would have been. At least the airline tickets didn't cost us anything out of pocket! Smile

3 Responses to “Trip Transportation”

  1. snafu Says:
    1438472579

    did you enjoy the trip? What was the most fun? What was best value for $$$ spent? I f you were t do it again, what would yu change?

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    1438473112

    snafu, yes we did enjoy the trip! The most fun was seeing how excited our girls were to be there and just enjoying each others company. Best value was probably the tickets for admission to the parks. That is where we spent most of our time and the main reason we were there. We did like the onsite hotel that gave us extra park benefits, specifically shorter lines on some rides. If I were to do it again, I'm not sure I would change much except for planning ahead a little more and getting a less expensive rental car! Smile

  3. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1438483747

    That's too bad about the rental car fiasco, but it sounds like you had a great time anyway. Big Grin

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