2026 - mapping a year of travel
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| For Sun Valley you may be able to save money by flying to Boise and taking a shuttle to Sun valley. It is a beautiful drive (not too treacherous). Sounds like you have a free place to stay there but the best western there is nice and very reasonable. |
Anonymous
In June it’s gonna be totally covered in snow. Hard pass. |
Anonymous
So much better than the North Island in winter. Rain all the time. |
Anonymous
Pray tell, what is this train to Ireland you speak of? |
Anonymous
Totally covered in snow? I had one snow day during the 13 years I was in school. |
Anonymous
Came here to say this. Must be the Hogwarts Express. |
Anonymous
|
Anonymous
|
I don’t get how someone goes from barely being able to afford travel to spending $25K-$30K(!) on it in one year. That far exceeds what most people can/do spend.
Our yearly travel is usually something like: Jan and/or Feb— use a holiday weekend to visit someplace like NYC, Williamsburg, Philly, or Norfolk. Spring break— road trip, either to visit relatives or do something else (eg, Niagara Falls). Memorial Day weekend— camping trip Summer— drive to stay with family for a week. Sometimes, also a week at the beach (driving) or a bigger trip, like national parks out west or Europe. Labor Day weekend— camping trip. Fall— sometimes a holiday weekend road trip. Christmas time— drive to visit family for the holidays. |
Anonymous
|
We do 3 holiday each year - 2 teens. We are based in VA and are in private school which means a very long summer and our beginning of June.
We focus on summer travel and used to do Xmas but now more spring as we have 12 days for break. Dec travel is so $$. I budget roughly $30k annually. We do a summer $13-15k and a spring 8-10k and then do maybe a short jaunt over holidays to see family or a domestic flight for maybe just 3-4 nights to break things up. I try to get airline tix 8-9 mo in advance actually / they always say it's not ideal but let me tell ya you need the long planning range to find what you want in accommodations and I do use cc points at least every other yr or annually. We do a mix of international and a lot of W coast. Also Mexico and Central America. We used to do more Canada and islands but we've seen a lot there. We typically target Airbnb since that takes out need for 2 hotel rooms. Our best holidays are places that offer a blend of activities so not just camping/outdoors but not just to a city aka Paris or London. We do resorts but not long stays. Example is summer Aug trip incl resort in Bend, Airbnb up the Portland coast and 2 days in a cabin in a forest  so we save and spend so it balances the budget. As a general rule we don't drive but train internationally and fly domestically. We stay at $800-1000/night resort rooms but also $250 airbnbs so it's just a blend.
I mean it's a lot of research and you want to pick places where you have options. Or maybe I should say, we like options hahaha.
|
Anonymous
| And I don't know how you do holidays with kids that require more than 1 room that isn't a beach trip for some serious money. Travel is just so $$$ these days! |
Anonymous
LOL! 
|
Anonymous
|
Not sure if you like any of these ideas but here it goes:
Summer 2025: Iceland Winter Break 25/26: Finland Long weekend in January: Beaver Creek My oldest does a spring sport in HS, and cannot travel for spring break. This year we did a staycation and I'm considering that again. I'm still considering summer 2026 - no plans yet. I take about 4-5 weeks PTO - I am for one week over spring break, one week over winter break, and 2 weeks over the summer and some random days here or there. |
Anonymous
|
FYI, Sun Valley from the East is a long trip. I’ve been going there for 35 years (and now my sister lives there). Either you fly to Boise or Twin falls and drive (and with Boise there’s the risk that the mountain pass from Mountain Home is closed) or you fly to Hailey and there are MANY times I’ve missed the connection in Salt Lake due to delays leaving DC. It’s also really pricey. If you’re going over a holiday weekend to make the 3 days PTO work you have enough time but it will be busier and more expensive (lodging, flights, etc). If you’re going for just 5 days (a weekend and 3 days PTO) you’ll spend basically 2 of those days at least (more if you get stuck anywhere) traveling and it will be hard.
In terms of your question, we (family of 4) typically do something somewhat local to where we now live (not DMV) for spring break ranging from 3-5 days PTO / $2-$5 k; a driving-based summer trip further afield 5 days PTO / $4k; 5 days PTO to visit my sister when parents are also there (just me and kids) and every other year a Christmas-time trip to in-laws / extended family (about $5k / 8 days PTO). During the course of the year we probably take an average of 3-4 weekend trips too (no PTO) so probably another $4k or so. I get 26 paid days a year, can earn time to use later if we’re busy, can earn comp time for travel, and this last year earned twi days off as performance awards. My husband has unlimited PTO but typically takes fewer days than I do. |
Anonymous
|
That's a pretty hefty travel budget. I plan to travel out for the year (when I can) because it's much cheaper to book tickets far in advance and with lodging.
Christmas: We always do a Christmas trip and have found if we go around the 15th/16th of Dec-27th (ish) we have the best prices but school let out later this past year and isn't much better next year, which makes finding flights hard. We take budget flights and love going to Europe. We look for affordable lodging (family hostels, airbnb/booking.com apartments). example: 7 nights at a wonderful family hostel that included a terrific breakfast buffet & was super central in Copenhagen was $819 so extremely reasonable. We booked our Christmas trip lodging a months or two ago for Quebec City this year (free cancellation) since I wasn't find great tickets for our dates and we can just drive up to QC and have a magical time. Spring Break: This is when I often find the cheapest tickets!! Again, I book FAR ahead (I start looking about 10-11 months in advance and keep my eye out for a great deal). I've scored tickets for around $300 London, $330 Copenhagen, and $460 Madrid. I try to book lodging far ahead too but I also have friends and I've had friends offer to host us - this really helps! Summer: Again, plan far ahead! Same type of thing. You have to really track the flight prices and jump on deals when you see them; they are usually for very specific dates. Ex: there were tons of reasonably priced tickets for 6/11-6/19 a few months back to Europe ($300-$500 pp!!). |
Anonymous
|
Interesting discussion!
Next year, kids are in marching band and will be doing some travel for $2500 each - $5000 total. They will have some small contribution thru fundraising (the younger one) and work (the older one) -- but that will take a big bite of our travel budget. Other than that, we'll be flying to see family so can stay for free but flights and rental car will probably be around $3000. And then we'll probably do maybe a long weekend in late Spring/early fall in NE and some overnights at cheap hotels for skiing in NE. So probably $10,000...without even a one week family vacation!! |