Is this a normal or excessive amount of travel?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like she's doing something right, in my book!

This year, I'm going the Caribbean between Christmas and New Years, going skiing in Colorado at the end of January, going to S. American at the end of February, and will take at least two weeks in the summer (not yet sure if they will be consecutive or separate trips). I also have one weekend trip planned and will like do a few others. Life's too short to not do what you love!

Are you bring 4 other people along on these trips then complaining when your husband won’t pay for one more?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a question. How much money do you think they spend on this?

5 weeklong vacations for 5 people is a lot and I think it would be expensive. Especially since it sounds like at least 2 or 3 are to international destinations.

At least 50k but probably much more

My sister has the audacity to think she’s a regular middle class traveler because they fly coach, occasionally do VRBO (but for like 800 a night) and don’t bring their nanny

Lol for days

[Anonymous]

It’s rich people travel and she’s complaining because she doesn't realize it sounds incredibly entitled and spoiled.

You might want to remind her that most people in the US don’t travel like this.

[Anonymous]

OP where do you live?

This amount of travel is pretty normal and middle of the road for any affluent area in DC.

Most families do this around here. Travel over each school break.

At school, the kids ask each other: where did you go? And it’s all Disney, skiing, Hawaii, Europe, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That sounds like our schedule - minus we don't get a week in February - usually 5 days. We travel some long weekends and not others.

Is her compliant about frequency or location? I am not sure we could do much more. . . I get tired and looking forward to home time after travel with kids!

Both. Her DH does prefer going to the same places (hence they go skiing, to the Caribbean, and the beach every year). I think they do a thing where he picks a destination, then she picks, etc. and he always picks the same places which she finds frustrating. But she also wants a sixth week long vacation in the fall - I think she wants to time it with the Jewish High Holidays. We’re not Jewish but in NY you get those days off from school.

Anyway, my attempts to tell her that if your problem in life is that your DH is too cheap to pay for a SIXTH annual vacation, your life is not that bad, etc. fell on deaf ears.

I’m surprised by all the people saying this is a normal, even “boring” amount of travel!

Well to be fair, if he gets to pick 3 places each year and she only gets 2, I can see why she’s put out and wants one more. That’s only fair. Especially if he always opts for the same boring places each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP where do you live?

This amount of travel is pretty normal and middle of the road for any affluent area in DC.

Most families do this around here. Travel over each school break.

At school, the kids ask each other: where did you go? And it’s all Disney, skiing, Hawaii, Europe, etc.

+1

I don’t think 5 vacations sounds like a lot either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It’s rich people travel and she’s complaining because she doesn't realize it sounds incredibly entitled and spoiled.

You might want to remind her that most people in the US don’t travel like this.

Exactly. Being able to spend 50k/year on travel is probably exactly in the 1% crowd. We spend probably 8-10k/year and realize how lucky we are to be able to afford that.

She should go to actually "normal" places nearby her like Bloomfield Township:

https://www.nj.com/news/2017/03/these_15_towns_are_smack_in_the_middle_of_nj_income_range.html

And see how many people travel more than once a year.

We have neighbors who probably earn a total of 90k/year. So not poor by any means, but slightly below median for the DC region average. Were talking with them about a trip we had been on- they mentioned they had flown twice in their lives.

That's actually how normal people live.

[Anonymous]

Does she work? Does DH come on all trips? Does he work on vacation? Those are the things that would influence my opinion on "excessive".

[Anonymous]

Like everything, it is all relative. To me, that is a lot of traveling. I struggle to pay my bills each month at times. I’m a single parent of one kid. We go on a trip once every few years and it is usually a few days total. Compared to their friends, that might not be very much.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm with you, that seems like an incredibly extravagant travel budget. But I see a ton of this in our close-in DC suburb. One big winter beach trip, one big winter ski trip, several big summer trips and/or a summer house. We make 400k and do nothing like this. I personally don't get how people spend money like this AND save upwards of a half million per kid for college AND save for retirement. (And afford $1.5+ million houses.) It's just a mystery to me, but obviously the rest of Bethesda has got it figured out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP where do you live?

This amount of travel is pretty normal and middle of the road for any affluent area in DC.

Most families do this around here. Travel over each school break.

At school, the kids ask each other: where did you go? And it’s all Disney, skiing, Hawaii, Europe, etc.

+1

I don’t think 5 vacations sounds like a lot either.

Same. I was actually going to say that their travel sounds totally pedestrian and lame. Not what I would consider big travelers at all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does she work? Does DH come on all trips? Does he work on vacation? Those are the things that would influence my opinion on "excessive".

OP here. No she doesn’t work. SAHM with a full time nanny.

Her DH works in banking.

[Anonymous]

We travel exclusively to see family, because we have young children. Even when we were childless and flush, we didn’t travel this much. It’s bad for the environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP where do you live?

This amount of travel is pretty normal and middle of the road for any affluent area in DC.

Most families do this around here. Travel over each school break.

At school, the kids ask each other: where did you go? And it’s all Disney, skiing, Hawaii, Europe, etc.

+1

I don’t think 5 vacations sounds like a lot either.

Same. I was actually going to say that their travel sounds totally pedestrian and lame. Not what I would consider big travelers at all!

Really what would you consider “superior travel”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It’s rich people travel and she’s complaining because she doesn't realize it sounds incredibly entitled and spoiled.

You might want to remind her that most people in the US don’t travel like this.

Exactly. Being able to spend 50k/year on travel is probably exactly in the 1% crowd. We spend probably 8-10k/year and realize how lucky we are to be able to afford that.

She should go to actually "normal" places nearby her like Bloomfield Township:

https://www.nj.com/news/2017/03/these_15_towns_are_smack_in_the_middle_of_nj_income_range.html

And see how many people travel more than once a year.

We have neighbors who probably earn a total of 90k/year. So not poor by any means, but slightly below median for the DC region average. Were talking with them about a trip we had been on- they mentioned they had flown twice in their lives.

That's actually how normal people live.

+1