Being rock hounds we have always wanted to visit Tucson in February when the gem and mineral show is going on. It seems the entire city of Tucson transforms into mineral and fine gem shops. Motels, hotels, gas stations, campgrounds and parking lots all become a platform to sell rocks.
Low and behold there is a golf resort in Tucson that is part of the time shares we can avail ourselves of. Besides we now have an accumulation of points leftover from the previous year. It's off to Tucson for a week in February, prime season but what the heck we have a stock pile of points.
The weather in Tucson is interesting in early February, eighty degrees during the day and thirty degrees at night. One almost must go from short sleeve shirt to long johns in the same day. Our rental car had AC and a good heater so we were not inconvenienced.
This has been a rather verbose dialogue to address that original question of “Are Time Shares worth it?” Yes and No, Yes we have enjoyed our luxury vacations for a few years now and always talk about where we are going to go on our next adventure. Not all our adventures are with the time share company we find we like to cruise and have done walking tours of Italy and river cruises of much of Europe. I am not sure if the time share vacations have pushed us on the path of travel, but I suspect we would not have willingly embraced such an extensive nomadic lifestyle otherwise, nor would we be so free if we were still working full time. Every situation is different, for Dana and I the timeshare was an expense we were willing to live with and have taken advantage of what was offered.
Others don't always feel that way with the large cash outlay up front and the annual fees that are mandatory to keeping your timeshare active. Those not retired have to plan more carefully when they can vacation; having children pose another set of difficulties in vacationing. Many of these planning issues can push the vacation into a prime season making it cost more in points and harder to book reservations. I have read many complaints from those who succumbed to the sales pitch that makes a used car salesman look like an amateur. At the time I wasn't very happy either. Could you take a nice vacation every year for the amount you spent on that vacation package? Sure, but would you?
Since I enjoy vacations perhaps it is time to talk about other forms of vacationing Dana and I have experienced. Stay tuned while I give this some thought.