Most expensive vacation you’ve ever taken?
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Anonymous
Also key tips not having kids in schools. One of the big expenses I did not realize with kids is that your vacation costs are double or triple what they willed otherwise be, because the costs go up so much during school breaks. We went to Italy for spring break last year and there was no way we were finding direct flights for 500 a piece! Pre pandemic flights might have been cheaper though. |
Anonymous
However, even off times, you are not finding decent hotels for under $100/night in most places. Europe is expensive and rarely are flights less than $1K for economy. |
Anonymous
Six or seven thousand miles of driving with the stops in Wisconsin and South Dakota. Our biggest budget categories were groceries, camping fees and gas. All four of us shared the driving and only stayed in motels for two of the nights. |
Anonymous
Or look at trips with Abercrombie and Kent. Even 15 years ago my parents paid about $25k per person for private safari trips. |
Anonymous
I did the National Geographic/Lindblad trip and I think we paid about $60 k for our family. It was awesome and we did see incredible wildlife, definitely better than Hawaii, but I also don’t think you need to spend $60k to see it. If you stay on one of the main islands for cheap, you can book plenty of day trips out to the smaller islands or to snorkel. The expensive trips just make it a very easy and relaxing weeks, with ever my part of your day planned and taken care of. |
Anonymous
I assume a lot of those people have generational wealth and are used to those kinds of vacations. I am wealthy now but grew up with a teacher mom, so I am used to living a middle class lifestyle. My husband also grew up middle class and is in tech and makes low 7 figures. We've never spent 50-60k on a vacation, though we could. I don't even think I've spent over 12k, and I've had some nice vacations. I'm just not comfortable spending that much, to me it is ridiculously over the top. I'd rather invest more or spend on something I use everyday. |
Anonymous
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We went to Hawaii and stayed in hotels that cost roughly $1k/night but we paid in points. We are doing the same in Grand Cayman this spring break.
We recently went to Europe and spent $500/night on hotels but our flights were on points (had to pay the taxes though.) So probably our most expensive vacation out of pocket was our upcoming Disney cruise because we couldn't use any points for that. It was about $9k not including gratuities, excursions, alcohol, etc. |
Anonymous
Some of these expensive vacations are really unique experiences like Galapagos, Antarctica, or Safari. Those I think can be worth the $50-60K price tag if you can afford it. I’ve done both a budget and luxury safari, and the differences in the experiences are huge. I’d never spend that kind of money though for a fancy hotel room in a city where you barely spend any time. I also love to travel though and would rather spend my money on those cool experiences for my family vs fancy big house, car, purses, country club fees, $20k sleepover camps. |
Anonymous
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Africa safari, plus middle east plus Seychelles.
About 125k for family of 5. |
Anonymous
I just posted. Its not about "money you make". Its your net worth. Our NW is around $35M. We spend about $100-150k on travel annually for a family of 5 (usually 2 long trips: 1 spring or early summer and 1 winter break). We also have 3 homes. |
Anonymous
Where did you stay? |
Anonymous
This is us exactly. We didn't grow up wealthy and our families aren't wealthy now. A $12k week long vacation IS very nice to us and I am okay with that. Even as it is I worry that I am creating a standard for our children that they will not be able to replicate, even with us helping them some. |
Anonymous
We both grew up in strictly middle class families in third world countries, so no generational wealth here. We came to the US to study and worked our way into well-paying careers and had a bit of luck with the stock market. Beyond a point after saving well and making sure our kids are taken care of we can’t take anything with us. We would rather create memories with the kids and grandkids. I would always look at National Geographic magazines with awe when I was a kid and I can finally visit the places I thought I’d only be able to dream of. |
Anonymous
| My parents both came from low income families, with one receiving welfare as a child. They became quite wealthy when I child, and luxury and unique travel experiences became the way they wanted to spend their money. It’s an incredible gift they gave to me, and now my children. I’m very grateful for that, as it’s not something I could ever afford. My kids are super lucky with the trips they get from grandparents, but we also take our own family trips on much smaller budgets and they are still really cool and fun. Luxury travel is awesome, but camping in national parks can be just as amazing. I think just taking your kids places and exposing them to different stuff is a great gift to give them. You don’t need to spend $50k to give them a wonderful travel experience. |
Anonymous
| About $15K at a villa in Turks and Caicos for 5 nights. Family with teens. Economy flights, nice dinners, a few expensive excursions. |