Yeah, I was looking at a deal in July to go over XMas and lift tickets were like 40-50% off. Whistler definitely offers deals if you plan ahead. |
PP here who posted on the $17k for Europe. - Flights are about $1200 - $1500 each as we typically have to travel at spring break/summer break/winter break times due to school schedule. Also aim for direct flights. $6k - Lodging is a big mix - with four, most places in europe require you to get suites or two connecting rooms as the usual occupancy limit is 3 for any sort of regular room. Either option runs you a minimum of $500 a night ($500/night for a suite or $250/room x2 rooms) and usually more in a city center. We've tried VRBOs and sometimes can get a little cheaper, but not always. 10 nights x $500 night = $5k (low end) - Transit: often taking a train to a second city/location over the course of the trip, plus local transit: $1k - Food for Four: A mix of decent lunches and good dinners, with one or two standout meals. We do eat in the hotel or lounge when we can for breakfast to bring down the cost. Sometimes it's less, but this is my guess for averaging out for a family of four including two tween boys: $75 breakfast/coffees/snacks, $125 lunch, $200 dinner per day: ~$400/day x 10 days= $4000 - Activities: we are already at $16k and haven't even spent anything on museums, boat/river tours, a private guide here or there, etc etc. None of this is luxury in the least - it is convenient and we focus in on good locations and good food. We could easily spend a lot more. |
| I am hung up on the vacation days you would need to go on these trips. Its like 30 days. And that does not count potential other days here and there throughout the year you might need to visit family, attend kid activities, mental health, etc. I get 20 days a year plus vacations. On a good year we can manage 3 week long vacations... and I have to work remotely a bit on one of those weeks. |
We do all of what OP said on half what she's saying, except the vacations because we don't have the time - between work schedules and kid activities. We max out 401k and save a lot each month in investments. I guess if we had the time, we could reduce the investments and still be fine. But I won't want to travel that much until after we retire. Who wants to travel on all their free time and then get back to work/kid logistics? I need more low key downtime. |
You would be wrong about most using private school. There are plenty of families where I am that have family incomes over $1 million and their kids are in public schools. The stay at home mothers are there for the kids. The ones who do use private school it’s sometimes because their kid is a promising athlete or they have a troubled kid. |
BS . No wealthy family that is concerned about their kids education would send them to public. My friends on West Cuast did it - transferred their child to public in high school. The child had a major educational and social crisis. There were no regular classes during Covid and teachers are never responding to emails. No mentoring whatsoever and impossible even get reference for college application. Nobody cares. And that’s one of the best public schools on West Coast ! |
Which European city is this? I ask because your hotel stay seems to be on the high end. As for your food budget, you definitely eat out a lot. Breakfast should not be $25 per person. Have you tried visiting a local grocery store. Yogurt for breakfast is a great alternative. Buy some rolls and cream cheese, cucumbers and tomato and you will be fine. Some hotel rooms used to have a coffee machine. If there is a microwave you could heat up water for hot tea. Occasionally do a McDonalds dinner instead of a restaurant. I once had the nicest lunch at a gas station. It was a nice sandwich. Never needed more, it was plenty of food |
I'll answer your questions, but my post wasn't saying that this kind of vacation has to cost this much - I know there are ways to do it more cheaply. The PP had challenged how it is possible to spend $17k so I was addressing that question - it's quite easy and honestly not fancy. While we aren't looking to splurge on these vacations, I also want it to FEEL like a vacation and I don't want to be cooking and if you're staying at a hotel, you do generally dine out every meal. As to your questions: Which European city is this? We've done Paris, Rome, Venice, Copenhagen, Stockholm, London, and Vienna - so expensive major cities so far. I ask because your hotel stay seems to be on the high end. I don't think they are highend - you can find a lot more expensive. But we prefer to be in the city center especially with younger kids to make it more manageable. As for your food budget, you definitely eat out a lot. Yes, we find trying local restaurants and new/local food to be one of the most fun parts of travel. Breakfast should not be $25 per person. I said that was breakfast/snacks/coffee - $5 per coffee while out and about, perhaps gelato in the afternoon, and that leaves you about $10 -15 per person for actual breakfast, which isn't unreasonable. Have you tried visiting a local grocery store. Yes, sometimes we do for snacks. Yogurt for breakfast is a great alternative. Buy some rolls and cream cheese, cucumbers and tomato and you will be fine. If I'm staying in a hotel, where am I going to store that? Cut up the stuff? It's totally possible and we've done but but it's not super convenient. Again, I'm not trying to save a couple of hundred dollars necessarily. Some hotel rooms used to have a coffee machine. If there is a microwave you could heat up water for hot tea. We do this in the morning but often want more while out. Occasionally do a McDonalds dinner instead of a restaurant. Sorry, this is a hard no. Again, we aren't aiming to spend a ton of money but we do want to enjoy the trip, try new or local places, etc. I once had the nicest lunch at a gas station. It was a nice sandwich. Never needed more, it was plenty of food. We've done some local spots like this before on recommendations and it was great. definitely can be fun. Add in a few really nice restaurants and it evens out to about the rates I listed. |
| Couple weeks trip to Middle East for 3 as $15k back in 2023. So I do think $17k for 5 persons is actually pretty reasonable |
We make over 1 million and our kids go to public school |
I guess if they end up having liberal arts degrees that won’t matter for them |
Trying to figure out this comment…tons of private school kids end up getting liberal arts degrees. |