Have you done any time?
Time-share that is. You know, it starts out as a good idea and ends up like a prison sentence. You have that week in Timbuktu (or wherever) that you bought on an impulse and now it hangs over your head like a dark cloud reminding you of how much you hate Timbuktu (or wherever).
You start to wonder why the heck you even went to that stupid time share seminar. They told you no pressure and then – PRESSURE! And it seemed like such a good idea at the time. You could go on vacation every year for Nothing! So when that time comes around – you have to go and do your time. Well – you could swap your time share with another time share – after all RCI has over 8000 different properties. Problem is that the good ones at the good times are going to be used by the owners and the crappy ones are ….well, they are crappy.
Now there are a lot of very clever financial people out there who do the math much better than I could showing how having a time share is “A fancy term for flushing money down the toilet” Read the whole article very well put together by Hull Financing. I just know that there is too much world out there to see for me to pin myself down to one destination every year. I also don’t want to spend hours researching how I can get some value from the time share investment. There are a lot of comments out there on Tripadvisor about the difficulties encountered with time share – especially when large resort hotels get taken over by other resort hotels. Also it seems that the program has changed a lot since the days of my time share in South Africa 20 years ago. You can now buy points instead of weeks. I did try to read through the numerous articles on the differences between the two but eventually it got too much. Wow you would have to be a lawyer to work your way through that.
That’s probably why there are numerous companies offering to buy your time share. You hear them on the radio, they advertise online and no doubt now that I have googled them I will have them popping up in my feed the whole time. *sigh*
The Travel Lady's Blog 
I agree with your philosophy – too many places to see and all at less cost than the time share. We went to a presentation in Mazatlan in 1987 and the biggest turnoff to me was the annual maintenance fee. Then we also determined that we would have to pay for the flights. Total annual cost was dramatically more than packages put together by our tour operator. And the advantage of buying a tour is that generally the flight is non-stop versus having to change in LA or Houston for Mexico. For the last 10 years, we have gone to Huatulco most years to an all-inclusive but the exact date has varied depending on other personal commitments.
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Thanks for your comment Hugh. You are right – doing a package gives you usually non stop flights, airport transfers and the assistance of a local rep. Also go when you want to go – not when the Time Share Board tells you 🙂
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