Vacation expenses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Life's too short for all this pointless travel just to make a bunch of photos. My family is all super tall so flying is a drag as well. We just go to our second home on the Vineyard and hang out there. Ofc we are not from the DC.

We aren’t on social media and don’t show our photos to anyone but ourselves. We also don’t care (or even sometimes know) if we got the “Instagram worthy” photos of a particular place. We truly enjoy getting away and seeing new things or returning to old favorites. We travel (mostly by air) about 4 times a year and it is what I most look forward to in life. My kids have always loved to travel and still do even as busy teens. We get so much great time together on trips, and also them with each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a HHI of about $400k and we’re a family of 5. We spend about $30-40k on vacations per year, but travel is a priority for our family. We do Caribbean for 1-2 weeks and then another cultural trip (Europe, Asia, Latin America) for 1-2 weeks, plus some local weekend trips each year. I don’t see how a family of 5 can travel for much under $15k for any international trip. I set a Google flight alert and try to get the cheapest nonstop flights and it’s usually between $5-10k for flights alone for our family. We don’t stay in fancy hotels, but prioritize location over amenities.

What is a cultural trip? You can do cultural trips in the US or non cultural ones abroad.

A cultural trip in the US? You made me chuckle.

I think there is Hawaiian culture to appreciate for one thing. I could probably find it elsewhere too if I spent more time thinking about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Life's too short for all this pointless travel just to make a bunch of photos. My family is all super tall so flying is a drag as well. We just go to our second home on the Vineyard and hang out there. Ofc we are not from the DC.

We aren’t on social media and don’t show our photos to anyone but ourselves. We also don’t care (or even sometimes know) if we got the “Instagram worthy” photos of a particular place. We truly enjoy getting away and seeing new things or returning to old favorites. We travel (mostly by air) about 4 times a year and it is what I most look forward to in life. My kids have always loved to travel and still do even as busy teens. We get so much great time together on trips, and also them with each other.

Same. I think it is hilarious that people think others travel to be able to post instagram pictures. Maybe some do but I don't even have an insta account and take fewer pictures than I probably should. We travel because we enjoy it. It is nice to get out of your everyday routine, see something new, eat some good food etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a HHI of about $400k and we’re a family of 5. We spend about $30-40k on vacations per year, but travel is a priority for our family. We do Caribbean for 1-2 weeks and then another cultural trip (Europe, Asia, Latin America) for 1-2 weeks, plus some local weekend trips each year. I don’t see how a family of 5 can travel for much under $15k for any international trip. I set a Google flight alert and try to get the cheapest nonstop flights and it’s usually between $5-10k for flights alone for our family. We don’t stay in fancy hotels, but prioritize location over amenities.

What is a cultural trip? You can do cultural trips in the US or non cultural ones abroad.

We try and do a "cultural" trip in a different country, where we visit and explore a different place and try to have a different cultural experience each year, focused more on learning and exploration (museums, tours, etc), rather than a restorative/relaxing beach experience, which we get from our Caribbean trip.

I wish international "cultural trips" weren't so expensive. I maybe need to find a way to make is less so. We did that for our family vacation last year, and it didn't feel like vacation. We're flipping back to a new part of the Caribbean this year...but it'd be great to do both if we could.

Mexico is a great option for less expensive cultural trips. Mexico City, Oaxaca, Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende are good options. Also look into South America - not cheaper to get to than Europe, but cheaper once you are there.

[Anonymous]

HHI around 330k. It varies but has gone up now that our kids are tweens/teens. We spent about 4k/week at the beach last year, about 6k for 9 days costa rica and DH and I each took trips that cost about 2k each. --so last year was 14k.

This year: nothing at xmas but europe for spring break will be about 6k (flights are on points), usual week at the beach this summer, and possibly another summer trip that will cost about 5k. We are also spending 8k on sleep away camp so that feels like a lot. Thinking our sleep away camp choice (which my kids love) is now insanely expensive--4k for 12 days, in north carolina.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HHI around 330k. It varies but has gone up now that our kids are tweens/teens. We spent about 4k/week at the beach last year, about 6k for 9 days costa rica and DH and I each took trips that cost about 2k each. --so last year was 14k.

This year: nothing at xmas but europe for spring break will be about 6k (flights are on points), usual week at the beach this summer, and possibly another summer trip that will cost about 5k. We are also spending 8k on sleep away camp so that feels like a lot. Thinking our sleep away camp choice (which my kids love) is now insanely expensive--4k for 12 days, in north carolina.

That’s a great price for spring break in Europe! We are going and even getting most of our lodging on points it’s about $10k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a HHI of about $400k and we’re a family of 5. We spend about $30-40k on vacations per year, but travel is a priority for our family. We do Caribbean for 1-2 weeks and then another cultural trip (Europe, Asia, Latin America) for 1-2 weeks, plus some local weekend trips each year. I don’t see how a family of 5 can travel for much under $15k for any international trip. I set a Google flight alert and try to get the cheapest nonstop flights and it’s usually between $5-10k for flights alone for our family. We don’t stay in fancy hotels, but prioritize location over amenities.

What is a cultural trip? You can do cultural trips in the US or non cultural ones abroad.

A cultural trip in the US? You made me chuckle.

I think there is Hawaiian culture to appreciate for one thing. I could probably find it elsewhere too if I spent more time thinking about it.

How insular and myopic to dismiss the existence of culture in the US!