Last week I opened the cabin listing on my laptop just to look at the photos again, and the price for our exact dates showed up in bold: $822 for three nights. We are paying $612. I turned the laptop around and showed Wes, and he nodded and went back to his supper, but he was smiling at his cornbread.
We booked this cabin near Boone in April, six months out, for October 23 through 26. That's a Friday through a Monday, three nights, and both of us are taking that Monday off. It will be our October trip, and probably our last big one of the year.
Why we booked so early
We have been going to the mountains more on purpose since Hurricane Helene. When we went to Asheville in April, a lot of what we saw had reopened, and people were so glad to see visitors. The best thing we can do as weekend travelers is spend our money up there, in small towns, at local places. So I wanted an October trip, and I wanted it in the High Country.
October is peak leaf season around Boone. Rooms and cabins fill up early, and prices go up the closer you get.
So in April I looked at small cabins near Boone, found a one-bedroom with a porch and a woodstove for $612 all in for three nights, cleaning fee and taxes included, and booked it before I could talk myself out of it. That is $204 a night, more than we usually spend. But it is one trip, three nights, peak season, and a real kitchen means we will cook most of our meals.
When I checked the same listing in September, the same three nights were $822. Booking six months early saved us $210. That's almost a whole extra trip.
The refund terms, read twice
Booking early only works if you understand what happens when things go wrong. Here's the policy on this cabin, which I read twice in April and once more this week:
- Full refund if we cancel 30 or more days before check-in. For us, that means by September 23.
- 50 percent refund if we cancel between 30 and 14 days before. That runs to October 9.
- Nothing back after that.
So for the next few days, we can still walk away for free. After that, our money is half at risk, and then all at risk. And it is hurricane season. Helene came through western North Carolina at the end of September two years ago. I am not trying to scare myself, but I'm not going to pretend it can't happen either.
We've had both sides of this. Last September a tropical storm cancelled our Rodanthe cottage, and the $57 trip policy I bought paid back the full $780 about five weeks later. This August we bought a $49 policy for the Kill Devil Hills cottage and never needed it. I don't buy one every time. I buy one when a lot of money is out of reach and the weather has a real say.
For Boone, I'll decide once we pass the 30-day mark, and I'll read the actual policy wording before I pay a dime. If you're in the same spot, read your own policy, not the summary.
What we're planning
Wes will drive the Parkway, since I get carsick reading on those curves. We'll hike a little, see Linville Falls again, and sit on the porch with the woodstove going. June will stay with Tonya, since the cabin doesn't take dogs.
Here's what I've budgeted:
The cabin is $612, already paid. Gas will be about 500 miles round trip with the mountain driving, about 18 gallons at around $3.05, so roughly $55. Groceries for the cabin, about $70. One supper out in Boone, about $60. That puts us around $800 before anything else.
That's well over our usual $300. But we planned for it, we budgeted for it, and the trip account can handle it. One big mountain trip in peak season, booked early enough that we saved $210 just by paying attention. I'll report back after.
