When someone you love gets married in another state, you don’t think twice about saying yes. The part that stops you is adding up the flights, the hotels, the rental car and the dinners, and wondering what you’ll have to give up to make it work. On our family trip to Texas for my son’s wedding, we saved on the hotels and the car so we could say yes to everything else.
Making memories is the point of travel. Being able to do it the best possible way on hotels and travel is what lets us enjoy all the other moments.
What Our Family Trip to Texas Really Cost
Our trip started at the Nashville airport, where the escalators up to our gate were out. We grabbed our 25-pound bags and walked up 25 steps. All of my ladder workouts were paying off, because I made it with just a little bit of shortness of breath, nothing like before.
At the gate, I mixed a packet of Make Wellness Energized into a $7.46 bottle of water, because the airport knows exactly what it can charge you for water. Many travelers find that staying on top of hydration makes the flight and the rest of the day easier, and you can see what I lean on in my 5 Day Lean Plan.
For the first two days of the trip, I took all of my supplements and Make Wellness products just like I do at home. On Sunday, the morning got away from us. Between checking out of the rental, cleaning up, repacking the car and getting over to the ranch, I never took any of them, not my supplements, not my Fit and not my Energized. I had a headache all day long and just didn’t feel like my normal good self. At first I thought I hadn’t eaten enough, until I realized what was missing. Travel already makes it harder to drink enough water and sleep as well as I do at home, and those products are what carry me through. That Sunday, I could seriously tell the difference in how I felt.
When we arrived in Texas, our rental car was already paid for. I used my Visa card points to book it, so a $500 rental for the week cost us zero dollars.
The first two nights of our family trip to Texas were at the Residence Inn by Marriott Dallas DFW Airport West in Bedford, booked through my Travel Advantage membership. The hotel rooms I book through it have never once disappointed me. They are always large and roomy, and this one was a studio with a full kitchen and lots of moving around space. It wasn’t just a bed and a bath. Breakfast was included, and two nights cost $285. While we were there, the public booking sites were showing about $141 to $153 a night before taxes, so this stay came out about even, and I would totally stay there again.
Not every stay will be a big savings, and this one came out about even. I’m sharing it anyway so you can see the real numbers before you book your own trip.
Is a travel membership worth it for a short trip?
It depends on where you stay. On our four-day family trip to Texas, one hotel came out about even with public rates, while the other saved us $110 to $184 on a single night before taxes. The bigger gap showed up at the upscale hotel, so that’s where I would check first when you’re comparing prices for a short trip.
Our Son’s Wedding Day in Fort Worth
On October 16, our son married his beautiful bride at the Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth. It is a gorgeous place. Judge Ralph Swearingin, a Justice of the Peace, married them and gave them a lovely personal message. I don’t know if he speaks to every couple that way, but it was a perfect ceremony, and the pictures we took around the courthouse afterward are going to turn out amazing.
Afterward we went over to the Fort Worth Stockyards and walked the streets, in and out of beautiful Western stores. I held a pair of $4,000 boots, a $1,200 leather bag and a $300 belt, and of course there was the $500 hat. I did like the amethyst boots for $650 too, practically a bargain. When they say things are bigger in Texas, they must mean the price tag. I even saw a scarf I really liked, but it was $98, so I left it in case someone else needed one.
That night we stayed at the Omni Dallas Hotel, and this is where the membership made the biggest difference. We paid $231 for a deluxe room with two queen beds. For that same night, the public booking sites were showing $341 to $415 before taxes, so we saved $110 to $184 on one night.
At 8 o’clock we had dinner reservations at Stillwell’s, a Michelin-recommended steakhouse, and it was my first Michelin experience. We smiled when we spotted the Michelin plaque on the wall. The service was top notch, with two waiters taking care of our table, and when I say the food was good, the flavors were just perfect. Dinner was $156 a plate for the six of us, and it was a very high class experience. This is the reason we travel, and saving on the hotels leaves more for nights like this one.
Where should your money go on a family trip?
Put it into the moments you’ll remember. We saved on the rental car and the Omni during our family trip to Texas, and that went toward a Michelin-recommended dinner for six on our son’s wedding day. Nobody will remember what we paid for the hotel, but all of us will remember that dinner.
Two Days on the Family Ranch Outside Sulphur Springs
The next morning we had a lovely breakfast at the Omni, a $25-a-plate buffet, and drove two hours to Sulphur Springs. On the way, we passed my first horse hotel, a hotel with your room right above the stalls so you can see your horse under you from your room. Now that is cool, only in Texas.
When we got to the bride’s family ranch, her mom had the most beautiful Western-style table set up, with crystal, bourbon glasses, candles, a lovely cake for the bride and groom, and silver pieces that were old family heirlooms. At the end of the evening, she gave those silver pieces to the bride to carry home for the next generation, which was very, very special.
It was a beautiful evening, in the middle 60s. We raised a toast, and each of the parents took a moment, very tearfully, to tell the bride and groom how much we appreciate them and how proud we are of them. My husband got emotional before he could even speak, but he did, and then the groom got tearful and said, “Thank y’all so much for always being there.” Everybody was in tears.
After the cake, the pictures, the tears and the laughter, we got into the side-by-sides and drove out to the pond. The father of the bride brought cattle pellets to bring the cows up where they’d be in the pictures, and along came Andy the mini donkey, who followed us around like a dog. The bride and groom read their vows to each other, and then we took more family photos. It was just a perfect sunset, the perfect weather and the perfect people, with only us parents, the photographer and the videographer standing there.
Later that evening, we sat out on the porch with WhistlePig bourbon, cigars, champagne, lots of laughter and more stories, listening to the coyotes talk beneath the moonlight until midnight. None of us wanted it to end. The bride’s mom had all the fixings for breakfast casseroles, so at midnight we were all chopping and laughing as a group effort, with a little more bourbon, and set two dishes in the refrigerator for the morning. We stayed in a rental 15 minutes from the ranch, where everybody could be under the same roof.
I got up at 5 o’clock to put the casseroles in the oven so they were ready when everybody got up. After we ate, cleaned up and packed our suitcases, we went back over to the ranch and rode the side-by-sides out to check the fences and the cows. Then we brought the cattle up to the front pens to worm them, put fly spray on them and put bands on some of the little bulls. It was right up the groom’s alley, because he loves working cows, and the father of the bride, being a rancher, was the perfect person for him to learn from.
The bride’s mom cooked a lovely dinner on the grill before we had to rush off to Love Field, two hours away, for our 9:40 flight. We didn’t land in Nashville until 11:15, and after dropping the newlyweds off, we got home at 2 o’clock in the morning. Our cats were so, so glad to see us after four nights outside, now that it’s getting cool.
What I’d Suggest Before Your Own Family Trip to Texas
Check your credit card points before you book anything. Ten minutes in your card’s app tonight will show you whether your points cover a rental car, a hotel night or part of a flight, the way ours covered a $500 rental.
Compare every hotel on its own. Our night at the Omni saved $110 to $184, while the Residence Inn came out about even, so look up the public price for each stay instead of assuming they’ll all save the same.
Count breakfast in the price. The Residence Inn included it, while the buffet at the Omni was $25 a plate, and that adds up quickly when you’re feeding a family.
Book early when the date can’t move. We booked our hotels about six weeks to two months ahead. This time I also added trip protection to one booking for $43.80, because we have an elderly parent.
Read the most recent reviews before you book a vacation rental, and pay close attention to what people say about the beds and how clean it is. After your stay, always leave a review of your own, especially for an Airbnb, so the next traveler truly knows what they’re getting and the host knows what to improve.
Pack a bag you can carry up a flight of stairs, because escalators go out, and ours did.
Plan for the drive times in Texas. Dallas to Sulphur Springs and Sulphur Springs back to Love Field were each about two hours, so leave yourself extra room before a flight.
If the trip you keep planning still hasn’t been booked, start with how I travel more for less.
The Business Kept Running While We Were Gone
The day before we left, the second edition of my book, The Nurse’s Voice, went live on Amazon. While we were gone, I sold 12 books and had 10 new leads come into my business. I’m living my life, doing what I need to do, and the business is still running and still bringing in leads while we enjoy a weekend like this one.
The night after we got home, I sat on my back porch in Kentucky, thinking about how the evening before I was having dinner on a ranch in Texas. If there’s a wedding, a reunion or a trip you keep putting off because of what it might cost, the membership I used is how we save on the hotels so we can enjoy everything else.
Be unpolished, Angela.
Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate or referral links, including the Make Wellness and Travel Advantage links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only share what I use myself.