Planing a vacation to Japan on a tight budget

Vacations are an integral part of our family lives. It not only refreshes us out of our monotonous worklife but also gives us an opportunity to spend some quality time with our family.

Vacations also help our kids get a firsthand experience of the things they have just heard of or read in books. It can help them to learn and appreciate the differences in culture and day to day life of people from different origins. On one hand it can help you get refreshed, while on the other it can be a fun learning experience for your kids. Nowhere is this more true than in Japan.

We would all love to have a well-charted-out plan to save for some time and then go for a vacation but given the uncertainty of our lifestyles and unforeseen expenses it is not always possible to do so. As a result we develop the tendency to defer our plans or abandon them completely. This might at times have a damaging impact on the moral of our family.

While the grownup members can appreciate the credit crunch, the kids, however, are too young to understand the economy. The other setback can be that if you postpone your plans for long you might be inviting fatigue to pile up, which could result in your professional under-performance.

Is there a way we can manage? Definitely there is. Below are the two strategies you can use if you are hoping to holiday in Japan.

You can form a group of like minded families from your neighborhood and plan your vacations together. The benefit you get from this arrangement is that you can always go for bulk-booking, which can get you a saving of 30-40% if done right – a hefty saving if you’re heading to Japan.

This can bring an otherwise unaffordable Japan trip within your budget. The drawback with this approach is that all the members of the trip should have a good coordination. You might have to give up on your liberty to spend more time on places you love more.

The other way is to find a group of likeminded Japan-loving families and start a chit-fund. A chit fund is when each family contributes a fixed amount of money each month to the common pool. Depending upon the number of families you can have a selection of a family at regular intervals based on a lottery system.

The selected family is given all the money in the kitty up until that point. The family goes and enjoys their holiday and the chit fund continues. In the next lottery the name of the family which has already won is removed, although they continue to contribute to the funds.

This process continues until all the families get a share of the Japan vacation. The advantage of this method is that you continue to enjoy your liberty to plan your trip the way you like and at the same time you don’t have to defer your trip until you have all the funds available. Another advantage is that you can leverage your position beyond your savings without the fear of any interest being charged for your borrowing.

The drawback is that you will have to plan your vacation at the time of winning the lottery. This can be taken care if you have a group that is really understanding and cooperating.

These are just a few tips to help you get to Japan.