I’m 26 & This Is How Much I Spent On A 3-Day Family Trip To Wisconsin Dells

Welcome to Travel Diaries, a Refinery29 series where we tag along as real women embark on trips around the world and track their travel expenses down to the last cent. Here, we offer a detailed, intimate account of when, where, and how our peers spend their vacation days and disposable income: all the meals, adventures, indulgences, setbacks, and surprises.

Age: 26
Occupation: Trade Analyst
Salary: $55K
Annual Number Of Vacation Days: 15
Location: Chicago, IL
Trip Location: Wisconsin Dells, WI
Trip Length: 3 days
Travel Companion(s): My husband and my immediate family (siblings, parents, nephew)
Travel Companion's Salary: $52.5K (husband)
Travel Companion's Number of Vacation Days: 10 days (husband)

Transportation
Costs:
We drove. My brother is flying in from Denver, and then we are picking him up in Chicago to drive to Wisconsin. Other family members are driving separately from various parts of Illinois. 

Total: $55 for gas for the whole trip

Accommodations
Costs:  
Flamingo Motel = $668 per room (two people per room, three rooms total) for the entirety of our stay (two nights). My husband and I paid for the rooms initially, but had everyone send us their share of the money pretty quickly. My family and I have stayed here for as long as I can remember, since it is literally across the street from Noah’s Ark Waterpark, and free passes to the park are included for the duration of your stay. 

Total: $668

Miscellaneous pre-vacation spending:
A dog and cat sitter in-home: $150 for three days
Pedicure: $35

Total: $185

Miscellaneous post-vacation spending:
None