MWR features discount travel opportunities

With the Armed Forces  Vacation Club

Commentary by Cassandra Kardeke

221st Base Support Battalion Public Affairs Office

With all the entitlements that go along with being in the military, there’s one benefit that tends to be overlooked within Morale, Welfare and Recreation.

A few years back, I heard of a great vacation package that just sounded too good to be true. A week’s stay in a condominium for under $250. Even better was the fact that you could pick a place almost anywhere in the world, including destinations most people just dream about.

Knowing the old adage, “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is,” I put that piece of information away for another day. However a couple years later while searching through websites looking to try something new, I happened upon the MWR website and thought I’d look into that $250 condo deal.

Through MWR, the Armed Forces Vacation Club offers special rates and weekly condo rentals to all service members, Department of Defense civilians and federal employees. You can learn more about eligibility requirements and travel deals at www.armymwr.com/portal/travel/lodging/patronlinks/sav.asp. Click on the AFVC link and it tells you how easy it is to plan your next vacation.

I did find that there was a catch — picking the place to go. During high-season, places in the Caribbean or Bahamas aren’t readily available. So when choosing a destination it’s best to be flexible. If you already have the dates planned out, just browse through the site to find availabilities in different locations.

I soon discovered that there are several accommodations to choose from for the same low rate. Houseboats on canals throughout the United Kingdom (and several other places) are available for the weekly rate of $249. Thatch-roof bungalows, fully equipped, are available in Africa. Studio apartments and chateus are available in southern France. When choosing a destination, all available resorts pop up for you to browse through.

Still not believing the luxurious places I was seeing for only $250 my family decided to give it a try. Let’s just see if this really is too good to be true. In our case, we decided to choose places that Ryan Air services. I mean, if you’re going to try to save money, you might as well save on the airfare too, right?

We ended up choosing a resort in the Scottish Highlands that offered fully-furnished cabins for up to six people with full access to the resort’s fitness center, indoor pool, spa and restaurant. A notice at the bottom of the screen informed me that we would have to pay for any electricity used within the cabin. But considering the savings we would already have it wasn’t too worrisome.

We were not disappointed. A map of Scotland, informational brochures and a listing of local events were sent to us by the resort a few weeks before the trip. Ryan Air flew us into Glasgow, we picked up a rental car and headed north into the Highlands. The cabin was located in a beautifully green hilly area. It was everything we expected and more. We spent our week visiting sites throughout the Highlands such as the William Wallace memorial, lavender fields, Edinburgh Castle, a reindeer park, and of course, Loch Ness, returning each night to our cozy cabin. When it was finally time to leave, it was that electric bill that began to worry me, but it ended up being only $12 for the entire week.

Sitting in a hot tub the night before our vacation ended it dawned on me that we had just spent a week  at a beautiful resort in Scotland  sightseeing throughout the country and it hadn’t burned a hole in my purse. I later asked the resort’s receptionist what it would have cost had we not gone through the vacation club. She informed me that our cabin rents out for £700 a week. Considering the conversion rate at that time, which was $1.62 for one pound, we saved over $800 on our accommodations alone. It actually wasn’t too good to be true — it was better.

If money is an issue (and even if it’s not), be sure to check out all your options when planning your next vacation. And check out the MWR vacation club packages —you just may end up in a place that you thought you’d only dream about.

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