I'm Only the Trombone Player

It's Sharing Time

So, one June, Lennie and I traveled to far-off Galloway, NJ, to spend time at her sister's timeshare. We enjoyed it, the dining out, the little shopping village in Smithville, and the pool. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to buy our own week.

Now, if you don't know it, Galloway is in southern Jersey, about 30 minutes north of Atlantic City. Neither Lennie nor I is a big-time gambler, so the proximity to that particular den of inequity isn't much of a draw. As I said, we enjoyed dining out and shopping in the little shops, particularly the kitchenware and Christmas shops.

Now there are no regrets with our timeshare purchase; we didn't buy directly from the venue, we went through a broker, and purchased from an owner. There's a significant price difference, and we saved a ton of money. No matter what, you can't think of a timeshare as an investment; you'll never make your money back. That's even more true if you buy it from the venue.

I do regret one thing, well two really. There are high (think summery) and low (think wintery) seasons at this timeshare. In my enthusiasm, while perusing the brokerage site, I came across a bargain! Two weeks, during the low season, for less than the week I bought for the high season. Great Deal, Right! Well, not so much. The fees are the same for all the weeks, which aren't bad when you divide them by seven and compare them to a seven-day hotel stay. So those two weeks cost us the same.

Here's the rub: The area tends to close down during the winter. Many of the restaurants go on hiatus, the shopkeepers bug out for warmer climes, and there is far less to do. There is an indoor pool, but it's small, doesn't look nearly as inviting, and is often full of children.

So those two low weeks aren't the bargain I thought they'd be. We can try to trade them, but trading off the low weeks will be tough. We did go down in November, planning to do the Cape May Christmas tour, but screwed up the dates and got there a week early. There's always next year!

So the plan now is to sell either one or both of the low weeks and buy a week somewhere warm and sunny.