Summer has arrived and many of us have vacation on the brain. In fact, many WAYSFers are saving for a summer retreat. Some are saving for a family getaway and others for a romantic honeymoon. One WAYSFer found out how important saving for a vacation really is when a local discount airline went bankrupt. Thankfully, this WAYSFer is a good planner. Their saving strategy is helping them get through a potential vacation-canceling situation.

 Coupon Cutter wrote on 5/1/2008:

Ok, some bumps have come up with our trip to the Bahamas. First of all, Skybus went bankrupt. This is a major dent in our plans. Now we will need to spend more on travel. I guess this is ok, but it will cut into our splurge money. But I think it is still feasible, even if I can’t add anything to the amount I am already putting back. We will just have to be more careful on the money we spend on activities and such while we are gone.

The second bump is that we have basically one week that we will be able to take the trip in November. We originally had some options, but now the timing is going to be limited. So we just have to pray that it will work out! We can’t officially schedule the trip until August because of limitations from the booking company, so we are hoping we can get the week we have available.

A bit of good news is that I have actually managed to keep the money that I put into our new WAYSF account untouched! This is a major breakthrough for me, as I usually put money in savings, just to take it right back out. So I have one month down, six to go. Hopefully at the end of that six months, I will be basking in the sun on a cruise ship!

Gas prices are at record highs and airfare costs are rising every day. That doesn’t mean you have to cancel your travel plans. Saving for your vacation is a key part of vacation planning. The next step is to stretch those dollars as far as possible when you book your trip. Cheapflights.com allows you to compare ticket prices on all of the major travel websites at once. If your travel dates are flexible you can usually find a better ticket price. The travel editor from eHow.com suggests flying on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday for the cheapest airfare.

To comment on Coupon Cutter’s original post, click here.

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