How does anyone afford to travel now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a nurse, so very much true middle class. I live in a VHCOL city. I take 2-3 int’l trips a year by keeping them to a week or less, buying very cheap airfare and going off season/ shoulder season. Once there, I stay in the cheapest hotel I can find that is safe.

Of note, i literally never, ever order DoorDash. Anyone who has ever paid $29 all-in for a single hamburger is not allowed to whine about the costs associated with taking a trip— you are pissing away your money

I don’t pay the premium for Instacart. I don’t have regularly scheduled housecleaners. I go out to eat with friends sparingly, not just because it’s 7 pm and I don’t feel like cooking.

Oh ! And I don’t have a $800-$1000 monthly car pay like a few of my coworkers who wanted the brand new bronco instead of the 18 month old used Corolla.

Amen!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel with kids is awful. Expensive and stressful.

Kids don't give a sh*t about the locations history or have any respect for the architecture or landscape. Just care about their stupid influencers on tiktok.

Speak for your own stupid kids.

That's funny. My kid apologized for being on the phone too much in EU at age 9. I guess he did notice that it was actually lovely there.
He is going back for Christmas and promised to look around, pay attention, and enjoy the Christmas markets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don't understand are the people who fly business class all the time when they go on vacation. And pay for it with cash, not points.

Just for fun, I've looked at business class seats on some of the recent flights I've taken and they are THOUSANDS of dollars more. Like some of them were in excess of $10k. For one business class ticket.

These must be some rich mo-fos!

The higher income my husband has gotten (attorney) the more we have realized just how rich so many people are. Even though DH now makes a very comfortable salary and we do travel a lot, his clients make us look poor.

There is just SO much money in the world. Most people have no idea about the countless anonymous rich people that live in the gray area between your kid’s orthodontist and Mark Zuckerberg in terms of wealth.

[Anonymous]

We’re another family making a bit under $2K but tend to drive old cars, no Starbucks, don’t eat out much, etc. Most of our family travel is driving a few hundred miles and staying with family. And we do a lot of cheap trips.

For example, our beach trip most years is camping at Assateague for a couple of nights, while eating sandwiches and hot dogs cooked over the fire. We once did a 5 day trip to Toronto, Niagara Falls & surrounding areas for less than $1,500 for 4 people including everything down to snacks and parking cost. We take the train to NYC at a non-peak time, booking hotel & train tickets months ahead, which saves a lot of money.

That said, every few years we do a bigger trip (out west or overseas). But we still do it on a budget as much as possible.

Most people who aren’t living in poverty/are financially stable could afford to travel a little, even if it’s camping or one night in a cheap hotel, if they prioritize it. The choices aren’t spend $15K for two weeks in Europe, or stay home.

[Anonymous]

*a bit under $200K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don't understand are the people who fly business class all the time when they go on vacation. And pay for it with cash, not points.

Just for fun, I've looked at business class seats on some of the recent flights I've taken and they are THOUSANDS of dollars more. Like some of them were in excess of $10k. For one business class ticket.

These must be some rich mo-fos!

The higher income my husband has gotten (attorney) the more we have realized just how rich so many people are. Even though DH now makes a very comfortable salary and we do travel a lot, his clients make us look poor.

There is just SO much money in the world. Most people have no idea about the countless anonymous rich people that live in the gray area between your kid’s orthodontist and Mark Zuckerberg in terms of wealth.

This is SO true. Well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve started doing this. We are well off but not super rich. Most people of our income don’t do this. But we decided that it’s just going to be something we budget for.

We generally take one family trip abroad a year, and one trip as a couple. Business class seems to average out to maybe 2,500 more per person, per trip. So that’s $15,000 more per year in our travel budget to do it. That’s a lot.

But…we drive a 10 year old car, the value of our house is approximately one year of pre-tax income, our kids go to public school, etc.

I’d love to use points more. We are sitting on a huge bank of airline miles. But the redemptions are so bad when you don’t have flexibility in your travel dates (and it feels like we rarely do).

Anonymous wrote:The thing I don't understand are the people who fly business class all the time when they go on vacation. And pay for it with cash, not points.

Just for fun, I've looked at business class seats on some of the recent flights I've taken and they are THOUSANDS of dollars more. Like some of them were in excess of $10k. For one business class ticket.

These must be some rich mo-fos!

It’s true that airline miles are less flexible than universal points but I would encourage you to expand your definition of flexibility. If you can’t be flexible with dates, be flexible with origin and destination points. There’s always something!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that.

It's points. Airline and credit card points. Here's what they got me over the last 12 months and onward:

- T'giving 2024: London (tickets and all hotels on points)

- Spring break 2025: Morocco (tickets and hotel in Casa on points)

- Summer 2025: Scandinavia (tickets on points, cash for hotels)

- T'giving 2026: Colombia (tickets on points, hotel for 2 days on points)

- Spring break 2026 (upcoming): Italy (tickets on points, hotels in two cities on points)

- Summer 2026 (upcoming): Peru (tickets on points, hotel in Lima on points)

All travel economy for me + two kids.

There is definitely some cash outlay as well but free tickets and some free hotels help enormously. You have to plan way ahead and be flexible with both dates and destinations - if you're committed to finding something, you will.

[Anonymous]

It is a question of priorities.

Travel is my joy. I think it really provides children with very formative growth experiences.

So, my child has probably been to 10 countries, but we drive a 13 year old car, live in a walk up condo, attend public school, enjoy home cooked meals and free outings (like hiking).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that.

It's points. Airline and credit card points. Here's what they got me over the last 12 months and onward:

- T'giving 2024: London (tickets and all hotels on points)

- Spring break 2025: Morocco (tickets and hotel in Casa on points)

- Summer 2025: Scandinavia (tickets on points, cash for hotels)

- T'giving 2026: Colombia (tickets on points, hotel for 2 days on points)

- Spring break 2026 (upcoming): Italy (tickets on points, hotels in two cities on points)

- Summer 2026 (upcoming): Peru (tickets on points, hotel in Lima on points)

All travel economy for me + two kids.

There is definitely some cash outlay as well but free tickets and some free hotels help enormously. You have to plan way ahead and be flexible with both dates and destinations - if you're committed to finding something, you will.

The elephant in the room is that this level of points is not possible without a) a lot of money for “minimum spends” on the credit cards to get the bonuses and b)willingness to apply for business cards because there simply aren’t enough personal cards to accumulate all these points without hitting bank limits.

[Anonymous]

We make 750k a year, we take one 2 week international trip a year, one trip domestic. Anything more than that tires me in terms of planning etc. if our HHI were to decrease then definitely our travel budget would take a hit, 4 of my coworkers travelled to Europe in the past 6 months. These are your regular professionals making 150k-180k however, 3 are empty nesters and one is single so those are big factors.

[Anonymous]

Less trips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that.

We travel now becasue in a few years the US will be in a great depression and we won't be able to.

We have the money for both. However after 2026 life will not be the same in the US so....travel stops.

Right now we buy nothing no furniture, no clothing, no extras like eating out. Travel only to other countries.

Will not spend one dime in the US that we do not have to will not add to Piggy's economy while MAGA stupids let him and his son's rape the US Treasury

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because there are a lot of people who make a lot of money. It's that simple.

And yes, there really are a lot of people with large incomes. And if you are smart with money and budgets and travel, it's highly manageable. The most common complaint I hear around me isn't the cost of travel but the time scarcity.

What is a large income? I make $150k per year and cannot afford to travel at all. I don’t even spend much besides on food, rent, gas, and insurance

Do you support a large family on that, like 6 kids? If so, you are at the level of qualifying for free lunch here in nova. Between super high taxes and HCOL the money does not get you that far here. However, if you are single, you are doing something very wrong, you should be traveling!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up, it blows my mind when I had peers that have been to places like Japan or Italy. I know plenty of people who make six figures who can’t even afford to travel to Las Vegas. Most companies have cut funding for business travel because it’s expensive to pay for flights and hotels. If you have a family in any major city, I don’t know how on earth you can afford a house and kids and still be able to travel on top of that.

We travel now becasue in a few years the US will be in a great depression and we won't be able to.

We have the money for both. However after 2026 life will not be the same in the US so....travel stops.

Right now we buy nothing no furniture, no clothing, no extras like eating out. Travel only to other countries.

Will not spend one dime in the US that we do not have to will not add to Piggy's economy while MAGA stupids let him and his son's rape the US Treasury

Cool that you are able to predict the future.