After a long day of driving the day before we were happy to just have a rest day in Destin. When I woke up I had a horrible nasal infection that had been building for the past week.
The pain of feeling sick was softened by the view of the white sandy beach from our 6th floor balcony. We didn’t have time to enjoy it for long though, we had an appointment.
Paying The Price for Cheap Accommodation
When you’re traveling across the US unemployed, you have to do everything as cheap as possible. We often receive calls asking us to attend timeshare presentations. We’ve received free entry into different theme parks and usually with 3 nights accommodation for typically around $150. It’s a pretty good deal but you do have to attend a presentation for 90 minutes. You have to be determined going in, knowing that you’ll say no, otherwise your 3 night accommodation package is going to end up far more expensive (usually a timeshare involves you making a hefty investment.)
This timeshare we attended with Wyndham was tougher than any other that I’d been to. The good part was that they gave us free breakfast. The consultant we had was very sweet, but they always bring in the big gun of more senior rep at the end to put the pressure on. I felt like they were calling us stupid for not taking the offer. But we stuck to our guns and eventually got out of there. Thankfully we got a $150 Amex gift card for our time so effectively our $150 investment in accommodation was free.
My frustration with timeshares is they always put you up in a fairly dodgie room (one of our toilets didn’t work and there was construction happening on our floor). Yet they show you a really nice room and expect you to buy in. I think they would be much more effective if they put you up in a room like the show room they present on the tour.
After our presentation I was exhausted and had a nap to sleep off my cold blues. I woke up in the afternoon for a short walk on the beautiful soft sand and we came across a crawly little critter.
McGuires Irish Pub
After the beach we went to McGuire’s Irish Pub where Danielle used to work. She said the steaks there were really good. They do this thing where you can order a split steak and you both get all the sides. They’ll even throw in some bean soup for 19 cents, which is totally worth it.
Completely full, we stopped in at Walmart to get some meds and then headed back to the hotel to watch a movie and get some sleep.
The Sundestin has these free DVD movie rental kiosks in the lobby where you can get up to two movies at a time which was perfect for us. It gave us a chance to wind down and relax.
We’ve used timeshare pitches to get free stuff, too. I’m a Realtor so it’s always interesting to see them work through the scripts and objection handlers. And its good script practice for me!
So sorry you didn’t feel well while there. Destin is beautiful! I have family and friends who live there and always love visiting.
Heard so many great things about Destin! The view looks amazing!
I love Destin, one of my favorite beaches, but the gulf in general is great! I have not participated in one of the time share pitches, crazy that they would give you a crappy room.
I fell for this once. It wasn’t pretty. But, we did have a nice weekend on the beach in New Smyrna Beach. We’ve never been to Destin, and we are missing out. One of these days.
We’ve been BY Destin, but never really did anything there. Looks like a great place to spend some time!