When did this become the norm?
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Anonymous
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The internet and self booking has made it easier to score deals and take advantage of dynamic pricing. But it has also made travel easier. When my parents traveled in the 1980s, it was a huge deal: tickets booked through the airline, through agents, all hotels booked through agents, ahead of time, travelers checks etc. Preparing for an international trip was a serious endeavor. I was recently in central europe and I could get around without a guidebook or map or much in the way of local language because I had a phone that guided me. I could order and pay for a taxi using a lyft-like app, so language wasn't an issue. I used google translate to figure out food on the menu and book our train tickets for the next day and find a restaurant. A lot of mental barriers to travel have lifted. I also tried to explain to my daughter the experiences I had backpacking through europe with my Lets Go guide, some money, and no real idea what I was doing--having to figure out maps, and hostels, and food, and trains, etc at age 19 was pretty great, in retrospect.
The wealthy are wealthier. Covid/pandemic has made many people say "eff it, I'm doing what I want to do now." Air BnB makes it easier on families. My kids are shocked at the idea of sharing a bed or sleeping on the floor, like I did as a kid. Finally, I think people work more now--we have so many distractions and demands. work, activities, healthy cooking, exercising, home decorating, et, etc, our lives are more stressful and we see vacations as "rewards" to "destress." |
Anonymous
| Post-Covid, we prioritize travel and live shows. Less on eating out at mediocre places and clothes. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. |
Anonymous
+1. And seeing others’ social media makes me more interested in traveling. Not that I want to post my pictures, but it gives the feeling that “everyone” is traveling internationally. |
Anonymous
| I agree with PP who said Covid changed their priorities. We travel quite a bit. We’ve been to Hawaii about 7x in last 5 years as our whole family love the weather there etc. We also ski out west every year. Recently we’ve been going to Asia quite a bit as well. Before kids were young we stuck to domestic travel lots of Orlando and OBX. Now they are able to handle longer flights we don’t really stick to the East coast. Not on social media & can’t wait to retire and travel even more. |
Anonymous
I want more details on how you scored those airfares and lodging prices in the last two years. |
Anonymous
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Why wouldn't you want your kids to see some beauty whether it's global or US travels that take them there? I don't understand. Surely, not go nuts if you don't have the money but yeah, if I can afford it you bet I'll be taking some vacations when school is out.
It's a long day most days, I think everyone has always wanted time away. These days, travel is much easier whether driving, flying or what not. So more people are able to do stuff. We have cell phones and laptops and ipads to stay connected so of course it's easier to not worry about staying in one place. We always do one big trip annually whether summer (usually) or spring break. Hey with 3 months of summer - you bet your bottom dollar we are not spending every damn day in DC! LOL We typically stay put for the holidays but when the kids were younger, we used to go away. Travel is about opportunities to enjoy yourself, relaxing or adventures or all 3 - you should try it sometime OP and then you'll want to do it as many times as possible!!!! LOL! |
Anonymous
Maybe you should stay home and let them figure it out... |
Anonymous
| We travel like this. We also drive cheap cars, made sacrifices with housing, don’t spend on luxury items typically, etc etc. Our hhi is about 300k so we have wealth and we prioritize travel. |
Anonymous
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Airfare is SO much cheaper than it was 30 years ago. I remember paying $400 each way for my cross-country trips in 1990 to go to college -- and that was with aggressive price shopping and the cheapest airlines. That would be about $1K in today's dollars. No way would you pay $1K each way for a cross-country trip on a random day in September or May. I don't think I even paid $400 each way for Christmas week. We never stayed in hotels in the 1970s, so I think they were also relatively more expensive. For hotels, a big part of hte price decrease is the major upswings in immigration over the past 20 years or so -- who do you think is building, staffing, cleaning those hotels? Mostly very cheap immigrant labor. I think that's also even true in Europe now--they were able to staff up first with people coming from Eastern Europe after the fall of the Wall, and then coming from the Middle East.
Plus everyone (except me) has miles. I think it's one of the biggest scams/tax dodges around. People fly for business and get miles -- even paying extra (and charging their employer/client) to get extra miles. It's a massive untaxed benefit. And then it just becomes a feedback loop. Everyone sees everyone else doing it, so they are more likely to prioritize it. It just wasn't as much of a status thing for most people in the 70s and 80s. |
Anonymous
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Not sure if it’s been said but a lot of us in the DMV have kids on the older side. My parents and in-laws did most of their traveling after their kids were out of the house, but that was like 45-47 for them. We’ll be 54/56 - and many of our friends even older. We and they don’t want to put off all travel until we are older.
Also, this is a very intl area. We do not have an into background but I would say the majority of kids’ friends have at least one parent born outside the US, people are military, foreign service, world bank - travel for people on all these categories is commonplace. |
Anonymous
I book incredibly early: March-May for best winter break prices, May-June for best spring break prices (though I did see some scattered flight deals after that, they would have been hard to snag), and October-November for summer flights, though in 2021 I got the $400 Lisbon in March 2021 using reward points but that would not work today. I also often fly ultra-budget like Play Airlines, personal item+sometimes a carry-on or two shared between my family of 4. I'm not seeing as many deals with the full-service airlines, at least during school breaks when I can travel. Lodging: I try to book as early as I can as well and I scour booking.com, airbnb and I read through the reviews and I only book places with tons of reviews. I usually find the best options through booking.com in Europe. We have stayed in a few family hostels through the Meininger brand and it was great; I book that directly through the company because they give you 20% off for kids. I wouldn't have known all of this though without readily accessible info online. |
Anonymous
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When I was a kid in the 80s, we actually traveled alot, at least every 1-2 months, but it was just a 2-3 hour road trip to see family in a nearby state. I treasure those memories more than any vacation I’ve ever taken, and I’ve visited many wonderful places around the world.
I think the way people travel is what has changed the most. I actually probably traveled more as a kid (for the family visit trips) than I do now as an adult with my own family, but since I now live in the same place that my extended family lives, my vacations out of the area are far less frequent and much bigger productions than when I traveled as a kid. I actually miss the simplicity of my childhood travels. |
Anonymous
I think it’s making up for lost time and maybe a sense of foreboding? Like all these places won’t be as easily accessible soon bc of climate change and political conflict. |
Anonymous
I recognize it and work on it, which is more than most people ! |
Anonymous
| I travel for the ‘gram. If I’m double fisting Thrasher’s on the boardwalk, you bet I’m posting to make all y’all jealous. |