Budget Diving

[CBulla]

I don't drive an old tank, but I do drive a vehicle that fits a family of 5, 2 of whom are in car seats and one in a booster seat. For some reason manufacturers of vehicles don't take in to account the width of childrens safety appliances thus my choices are exceptionally limited, especially if we want to say.. take the dog somewhere or the diaper bag.. we won't even go so far as to ask for dive gear. We took 10 of our usual travel suspects with us to the dealer and what we ended up getting was a Kia Sedona.. the worst option on milage, but the only vehicle that fit the the seats and recreational gear for the family for day trips. I would be thrilled beyond belief if a vehicle was created for an active family that banked in respectable milage as well.

 

[driftwood]

Say WHAT?
I want some of that!
Hell, I'll drive from Alabama to Austin for that!

Rick

Try vivaaerobus.com - Fly to Mexico at the lowest fares. Just got back today from a five day trip! PM me if you need more info.

 

[shotthebreeze]

Not going on vacation this year, sadly. We have German relatives coming for 3 weeks in July, which killed every shot of us going anywhere. So, I've decided to grab a couple of local divers and do day trips down to the shore for some easy diving - mostly for bugs. The day trips will be few and far between though because of the gas prices. Somebody has to do something....

 

[violakat03]

With my husband having problems getting a solid paying job (job market in Ohio is awful, especially for law enforcement - way more candidates than positions), we're incredibly stingy on everything. I recently picked up a part time job delivering pizza (they pay for half my gas, so it's not too hateful) and am forgoing at least a few quarters at a state college to take my general credits at a far less expensive community college before returning to the 'big' school to finish out my degree. We don't eat out more than once a week, and when we do we try to order the less expensive items and share entrees. We've pretty much parked his SUV because we can share my sedan most times (there are a few times our work/class schedules conflict and he drives his car to work) and I've started using a lot of 'hypermiling' techniques while driving (my car hasn't seen 3000 rpm's in the past 3 days) which has netted me several extra mpgs. I have a secondary car that's currently out of commission with a dead fuel pump, once I get it up and running (it a coupe and gets better gas mileage than my sedan) I'll actually be swapping the auto transmission out for a manual, which will boost my mileage by about 15% alone, and use it for delivery. We're trying to use my tip money to buy equipment (after we take care of fixing all problems on our cars and a couple other things we want to purchase) and my hourly wage for savings.

As far as diving, the largest and best quarries are out of the question other than maybe once or twice, as they're about 5 hours round trip. However, there are several smaller sites that if we carpool to, are only an hour away and can be done as a very cheap weekend trip. There won't be any tropical travel for us this summer, but we're hoping to take a cruise over the winter months (when they're cheaper!) that will provide travel, lodging, and food and carry us to several good Caribbean locations for diving. The shore excursion dive trips include air fills and rental equipment and are looking to be reasonably priced. The only worry is figuring out how to get to the dock cheaply! If we grab one out of New York, we can get round trip plane tickets at a reasonable rate, or even drive because it's much closer than Florida.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Try vivaaerobus.com - Fly to Mexico at the lowest fares. Just got back today from a five day trip! PM me if you need more info.

Hmmm... tried it, just pulled some likely dates out of the hat, and it spit back
USD 864.29!
I must be missing something
Rick

 

[El Orans]

There's usually only a very, very limited supply of low fare seats. Blink and they're gone.

 

[shotthebreeze]

With my husband having problems getting a solid paying job (job market in Ohio is awful, especially for law enforcement - way more candidates than positions), we're incredibly stingy on everything. I recently picked up a part time job delivering pizza (they pay for half my gas, so it's not too hateful) and am forgoing at least a few quarters at a state college to take my general credits at a far less expensive community college before returning to the 'big' school to finish out my degree. We don't eat out more than once a week, and when we do we try to order the less expensive items and share entrees. We've pretty much parked his SUV because we can share my sedan most times (there are a few times our work/class schedules conflict and he drives his car to work) and I've started using a lot of 'hypermiling' techniques while driving (my car hasn't seen 3000 rpm's in the past 3 days) which has netted me several extra mpgs. I have a secondary car that's currently out of commission with a dead fuel pump, once I get it up and running (it a coupe and gets better gas mileage than my sedan) I'll actually be swapping the auto transmission out for a manual, which will boost my mileage by about 15% alone, and use it for delivery. We're trying to use my tip money to buy equipment (after we take care of fixing all problems on our cars and a couple other things we want to purchase) and my hourly wage for savings.

As far as diving, the largest and best quarries are out of the question other than maybe once or twice, as they're about 5 hours round trip. However, there are several smaller sites that if we carpool to, are only an hour away and can be done as a very cheap weekend trip. There won't be any tropical travel for us this summer, but we're hoping to take a cruise over the winter months (when they're cheaper!) that will provide travel, lodging, and food and carry us to several good Caribbean locations for diving. The shore excursion dive trips include air fills and rental equipment and are looking to be reasonably priced. The only worry is figuring out how to get to the dock cheaply! If we grab one out of New York, we can get round trip plane tickets at a reasonable rate, or even drive because it's much closer than Florida.

Have you looked at Southwest Airlines? I think you can fly out of Columbus or Cleveland and the prices are relatively cheap.

 

[caymaniac]

As long as you have a congress that will refuse to give permits to build refineries and refuse to give permits to drill oil the price of gasoline will continue to rise. Until you find a person that will represent you ( if you WANT the price to go down) that wants to help the common man in the US the fuel price will rise, rise, rise.
There is plenty of oil for the next 200 yrs., at known reserves. Exxon is only allowed to pump 20% of the oil they turn into gasoline each day from their own wells, the other 80% has to be purchased on the market of which OPEC sets the price. The gov't could do something by taking oil off the futures exchange, oil should not be above $60.00 per barrel.

 

[driftwood]

Hmmm... tried it, just pulled some likely dates out of the hat, and it spit back
USD 864.29!
I must be missing something
Rick

We bought our tickets back in January for a May trip and did get the $20rt. By the time that we paid the usual junk fees and the Mexican tourism taxes, our total cost was around $250rt for both of us. The additional fees and taxes apply to all flights into/out of Cancun and are not hidden fees charged by Viva Aerobus.

Just pulled up an 8 day stay in September and the rt cost was in the $120 range. Add in the fees/taxes and you are looking at $220 rt. I have also seen some pretty high prices from VA on specific dates. Just have to plan in advance and be flexible in your travel dates. Still a lot cheaper than a regular carrier. So, I guess you did miss something.