Interesting 🙄 |
It's not so much the money aspect that I can't wrap my head around; I've come to realize that people in this area sometimes just have a crap ton of money through various ways other than work (inheritance, family help, etc). What I can't always understand is how people have the time off to take these trips? If you're taking a week long Spring Break trip, and then a two week vacation in the summer, and then a two week ski vacation in the winter, peppered in with some long weekends throughout the year, how are these people able to take so much time off? |
2 homes are much more expensive to maintain not to mention being able to afford international airfare enough to make use of a second home. So it’s quite possible someone with a vacation home is more wealthy. Although it’s also possible the families have different spending priorities so it’s hard to say for sure. Can you buy a house in France for $150K? I’d assume it’s more expensive than that. |
+1 Also it’s entirely possible people are going to places other people they know have gone because it puts it on their radar and it’s nice to be able to ask for recommendations vs creating a vacation from scratch. Back in 2012 we had our honeymoon in Costa Rica, which was a popular destination among our friend group at the time. We weren’t trying to “keep up” with anyone but a number of friends mentioned how great their trips were and gave us some restaurant and excursion recommendations. We ended up booking some stuff from our own research but friends got us started with planning. Not everyone has some deep seated need to prove how “original” we are with our travel destinations. |
So you're not allowed to travel and stay in hotels until you own a second home? Bummer. |
We are a family of 4 in Maryland and we bring in "not a lot" by this area. 300k. We play the credit card game and travel a ton. Get points, companion passes, free hotel nights etc. We don't have a lot of dept, we just take advantage of all the perks |
This. It’s only travel. If you’re on DCUM and making it a weird contest, that’s just strange. |
that’s about our income and I am failing at the credit card game. We have chase preferred and after two years of spending could probably fly all four of us somewhere, but that’s it? How do I learn how to play the game correctly?? |
Same here. The only way to play it correctly from what I’ve read is to churn credit cards which just seems like a PITA. And we can on travel spring/summer and one of the tips is to travel off season. How do you do that with kids? |
Yes it’s the points from the sign up bonuses, but there are rules and methods to it so the banks don’t cut you off. |
“Prole,” that’s cute. |
I’m with you, OP. I haven’t read all of the replies yet, but I am always amazed by this as well and observe similarly.
Our hhi is $400k, we put most expenses on a bonvoy/marriott cc, we try to always fly on the same airline to accrue points, and we still can “only” afford (in money and time off) to travel basically on 1-2 one week trips (almost always in the U.S.) and some long weekends incl family visits - and to be clear I know that is more than most people get to travel and I’m very grateful we can do these trips. |
Agree with what you say OP. I also feel like I am bombarded by social media ads promoting “travel sets” to wear while traveling, an endless array of luggage, travel accessories, etc. It feels like people are constantly on the go and it baffles me as a regular working stiff. |
I'm the exact opposite. I crave active vacations - skiing, surfing, hiking, mountain biking, mountaineering, canoeing, etc, etc. No - the Grand Canyon is drastically different than the Galapagos. If you've seen one National Park, then you've seen one. And, sitting in one place sound like torture for a vacation because I have a desk job and sit in one place everyday. I'd be bored to tears plopping down on a beach and eating/drinking/being sedentary. Yikes! I'd rather go somewhere explore and try new food that locals eat, not rich tourists. Like one PP said - I also have 2 vacation homes in places I LOVE. I go there when I don't want the challenges of travel and logistics, because yes, those are tiresome and complicated- no matter how you do it. One is a ski condo in CO the other is a beach condo in FL. I keep my sport gear there and can pop over for a quick trip with nothing more than my handbag - so I can take those super cheap flights with no faff. Travel, relaxation, and vacation is not a one size fits all shoe. Different strokes for different folks. And, I still intentionally do stay cations sometimes. |
Me again. We travel loads and yes we're rich. But I've never stayed in a Four Seasons or traveled First Class - business for work only. I too am like OP - amazed by HOW MANY people travel like we do (or much more luxuriously). Our travel budget is monstrous and we don't do luxury- not our style. |