Another $100 on my travel card...

The rate is great on the post office card! 152.70 today. Not as great as it has been in the past but it's one of the best rates you can get today so I'm chuffed with that :D Fairfx beats it but then their customer service is awful so I'd rather pay the extra with the post office and be able to talk to someone face to face if there's a problem :D

They do beat almost everyone else though so I'm happy with their card rate (walk in rate is rubbish!) :D

Hopefully I'll be able to top up with $100 each time, it's nice and neat that way :D I have to top up £50 minimum at a time anyway which is around $75, so I may as well add the extra £15 to get $100 :D

So I now have $250 in cash for the first day or two so I don't have to faff about trying to find a cash point, which is plenty, and $400 on my travel card, totalling $650 :D

Yay!

£50 towards the holiday, £50 towards the tickets making £490 and £340 respectively left to pay off!! 84.9% of the way there! :D

More dollars

Added $100 onto my travel card today :D

What the hell!

I've been selling some of my jewellery I don't wear so I can pay this holiday off quicker and it's selling really well!

Another £50 towards the holiday! :D

Smashed through the 1k barrier!

82.2% paid off!

I've now broken through the 1k barrier which makes things seem so much closer now!

£980 left remaining in total :D £590 for the holiday £390 for the tickets :D

Woohoo!!

Only 18.7% to go!!

81.3% paid off now :D

I've been working out a few dates.

It's just over 37 weeks before we fly!

Which means I have 29 weeks to pay off the holiday and saving money.

180 days for being able to book ADR's (won't bother with the first day so it'll be the 12th) is the 15th of April.

So if I want 20 weeks to save spending money I have to pay off the holiday in just over 17 weeks :D Which averages around £60 a week, so that's possible :D Then I'll have 20 weeks to save $3000 (£1900?) which is just under £100 a week BUT every time I go out I get a tenner out of the cash point to put in my terramundi pot, so by the time I have to start saving for spending money I should have a good amount in there already! :D

Getting so close...

Another lot paid, 80.4% paid off! £690 left for the holiday, £390 for the tickets :D

It's not looking likely I'll be paid off by my birthday as it's only a little over 6 weeks away! But it shouldn't be too long after :D

I've filled in Charlie's passport forms and am hoping to get a good photo that's in line with the passport rules so we can get his passport. And Ben will be getting his own sorted soon too :D

At least then we can fill in our API's and ESTA's as well, 3 birds hit all at once :D

Lets get this paid of by my birthday!!

Another £50 towards the holiday :D

Back on the pot...

...terramundi pot!! I ended up smashing mine for Christmas and it had nearly £400 in there! It wasn't even close to being full either so I've got myself another one and I'm determined not to smash it open until I can't physically fit another coin inside!

I think I have about £30 in there already so that's a good start :D I'd rather do that now and back in when I smash it so I can put dollars on my card now that I have $250 in cash :D

£50 finally towards the tickets, I've not paid anything off them for ages!

Bringing me to 77.7% of the way there :D

Last of the dollars I think,,,

Another $30 bought from the post office making $250 in cash :D

I don't know if I'll be getting more unless the rate goes up. Buying dollars in cash is not the best rate, the only bonus is you can buy them little and often. One my card I have to buy a minimum of £50 worth for a better rate but since I still have most of my spending money to save the difference in exchange rates will make a massive different, so thinking of sticking to the $250 cash and saving the rest on my card.

I'd only need cash on me for the first day anyway, airport snacks, sat nav fee, Walmart etc. :D

So now I have $450 total in dollars, I think I'll have to make another ticker! lol

More than 3/4 of the way there!

76.8% paid off now :D

$200 on my travel card $220 in cash too :D

I've just noticed I've not paid anything towards the tickets for ages! I should pay a little off that next time :D

Little bit more spending money...

I've now got $200 in cash and $200 on the card making $400 which is a good start I suppose!

Also another £50 towards the holiday has been paid bringing it down to £840 :D

Getting back on track...

Back up to 75% paid off! 3/4 of the way there!!

Updated check list...

Hotel the night before flight; Booked;

Used avios airmiles so was free. Day's Hotel (formally Skylane hotel)

Pick up from airport/train station to the hotel

Return to airport in the morning

Flights - Booked;

Thu 11-OCT-12 London Gatwick(09:15) to Sanford(14:25) Monarch(MON349)

Check-in: 07:15 Thu Gatwick South Term

Thu 25-OCT-12 4 seats Sanford(16:25) to London Gatwick(05:45 Fri) Monarch(MON348)

Your baggage allowance is 20kgs per adult/child.

Villa - Booked;

Thu 11-OCT-12 14 nights Disney Area Villas 4D, Disney Area - Self Catering

1 x 3 Bedroom Villa. Sleeps from 2 to 6 Adults plus 2 Children. 1x Cot Space

Address: Disney Area Villas

6365 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy

Kissimmee

FL

34747

Tel. 001 407 362 1017

Car hire - Booked;

Thu 11-OCT-12 14 Days 1 x INTERMEDIATE 4DR AUTO 2BAG AC

Insurance: Fully Inclusive

Pick-up: Alamo Desk at Airport Drop-off: Alamo Desk at Airport

Park tickets - Booked;

All Disney's parks/water parks/areas

Universal Studios + Islands of Adventure

Seaworld

Discovery Cove (3 x dolphin swim, 2 x non swim)

2 x kids eat free cards

Travel card - Got, need to keep loading money

Passports -

Me, Cameron and Alyssa - Got

Ben and Charlie NEED TO GET

ESTA's - NEED TO DO

API's -

Me, Cameron, Alyssa - Done

Ben and Charlie - NEED TO DO

Travel Insurance - Got

With the AA, kids free :D

ADR's - NEED TO BOOK

I'm still sure I've forgotten something!

Passports next, then I can fill in ESTA's and API's straight away. Leaving only ADR's remaining! :D

Working it out...

Ok, doing some sums.

It's 40 weeks until the holiday and I have £1440 left to pay. That makes £36 a week!

Although I have to pay it off 8 weeks before we go which makes £45 a week! :D

That should be easily done, I'd rather be paid off by April which gives me about 15 weeks? Working out at £96 a week..

June would be about 20 weeks which is £72 a week, that sounds the best option I think?

Then I have 20 weeks to save up (hopefully) $4000 (around £2.5k?) at £125! Like I said, we probably won't be able to save that much!

$3000 would be about £1900 which would be more manageable at £95 a week?

I don't know!! You never know what'll happen, we might be able to pay it off quicker than that leaving more time to save our spending money :D

Spending money...

So far we have a whopping $200 on the travel card and $150 in cash!

We'll focus more on spending money once the holiday is paid off :D And obviously going to be asking for dollars for my birthday :D

Last time we went I only had about $2500 and we just about managed. This time we'll have more people so need more ALTHOUGH we'll have a villa so food SHOULD be cheaper. I know me though, I'll still book loads of meals because I won't be able to cut any out!

Aiming for $4000 but no idea if we'll get anywhere near that :S

Hotel booked!

I forgot one major thing from the list of to do's!

The Hotel for the night before the flight!

I use some of my avios airmiles that have just been sitting unused which saved me a fair bit of money :D

We're staying at the Day's Hotel (formally Skylane Hotel). It's nothing special but the bonus is we can get a train straight to Gatwick and the hotel will send a shuttle to bring us to the hotel :D So no extra faffing about with buses or taxi's. They then take us to the airport the next morning too :D

I opted out of breakfast purely as we'll have so much time just sitting around waiting once we check in it'll kill some time to find something to eat at the airport :D

Upgraded the car insurance...

I was getting a bit worried that I only have basic car insurance and wasn't sure what that covered me for so to save any hassle and stress when we get there I've upgraded to the Fully Inclusive insurance for £210 which isn't bad at all!

So the new balance is £950 for the holiday which is a bit of a bummer lol But it's worth it!

Ok, travel insurance now bought!

I was going to go with the Post Office but they were £135 for annual (not bad!) and £98 for single trip.

I've just gone through quidco and found AA insurance that do kids free! So it's cost £60 for a single trip + 20% cash back :D

Result!

Your Policy Details

Policy Number:	AA-I-P5897275
Scheme:	AA (AXA) Trip Travel V2 (SID1115)
Premium:	£60.42
Lead Name:	Miss Gemma Towers
Departure Date:	11 Oct 2012
Return Date:	25 Oct 2012
Destination:	Worldwide

Check list so far...

Flights - Booked;

Thu 11-OCT-12 London Gatwick(09:15) to Sanford(14:25) Monarch(MON349)

Check-in: 07:15 Thu Gatwick South Term

Thu 25-OCT-12 4 seats Sanford(16:25) to London Gatwick(05:45 Fri) Monarch(MON348)

Your baggage allowance is 20kgs per adult/child.

Villa - Booked;

Thu 11-OCT-12 14 nights Disney Area Villas 4D, Disney Area - Self Catering

1 x 3 Bedroom Villa. Sleeps from 2 to 6 Adults plus 2 Children. 1x Cot Space

Address: Disney Area Villas

6365 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy

Kissimmee

FL

34747

Tel. 001 407 362 1017

Car hire - Booked;

Thu 11-OCT-12 14 Days 1 x INTERMEDIATE 4DR AUTO 2BAG AC

Insurance: Basic

Pick-up: Alamo Desk at Airport Drop-off: Alamo Desk at Airport

Park tickets - Booked;

All Disney's parks/water parks/areas

Universal Studios + Islands of Adventure

Seaworld

Discovery Cove (3 x dolphin swim, 2 x non swim)

2 x kids eat free cards

Travel card - Got, need to keep loading money

Passports -

Me, Cameron and Alyssa - Got.

Ben and Charlie NEED TO GET

ESTA's - NEED TO DO

API's -

Me, Cameron, Alyssa - Done

Ben and Charlie - NEED TO DO

Travel Insurance - NEED TO GET

ADR's - NEED TO BOOK

I'm sure I've forgotten something!

API's and ESTA's can only be done when Ben and Charlie have their passports. ADR's can only be made 180 days in advance.

So the next thing we need to sort out are the passports, then that's 3 things off the list I can check off :D

Travel Insurance I really should get soon too!