Most expensive vacation you’ve ever taken?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are people just trolling and making up these numbers ?

Unbelievable.

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.

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.

Of course, well paying careers are key. But at some point, if you were raised middle class, you decided to substantially increase your spending far beyond that which you need to be comfortable or taken care of. It's interesting to me that you are taking regular luxury vacations to "create memories" just because you have money to burn. Maybe I just can't shake my own middle class frugality. I love to travel, can easily afford that kind of travel, and yet view a 60k Galapagos tour as a very wasteful (and let's be honest, environmentally destructive) way to spend one's wealth. But you're right, there comes a point where acquiring more wealth is pointless.

So you don't have to do a trip you consider wasteful. Others prefer to do so, they might be donating over $60K/year to charities as well as taking that trip---you do not know. I grew up LMC, and we were frugal and until we had enough not to be (college, retirement saved for, cars paid for with cash, no mortgages with multiple homes). Now we are still "frugal" but on a different level. We don't just spend spend spend, we consider if we value something enough to spend that much. And yes there are still times we say "nope, not this time or this year". So it's all relative. Because if you dont' still think about it, you will overspend and not be in a good place (and I say this as someone who is UHNW).

[Anonymous]

Honeymoon. Two weeks in Cabo $25k in 2006.

[Anonymous]

Most expensive? We were in Tuscany having lunch and we had three kids in college and I told my husband how wonderful it was that we could be there when we had just spent $120+ after tax for school. He ordered another bottle of wine.

[Anonymous]

Most expensive trip I have taken is 2 weeks in Italy (last year) for our family of four, total cost was 22k, it was beyond amazing. We will be spending around 26k this year on a 2 week trip to Thailand/Vietnam in December. For context, we make 800k and have a NW of 5.5 mil (started making good money in last 7-8 years). We both come form middle class families but work in lucrative careers and also got lucky in the stock market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most expensive trip I have taken is 2 weeks in Italy (last year) for our family of four, total cost was 22k, it was beyond amazing. We will be spending around 26k this year on a 2 week trip to Thailand/Vietnam in December. For context, we make 800k and have a NW of 5.5 mil (started making good money in last 7-8 years). We both come form middle class families but work in lucrative careers and also got lucky in the stock market.

This trip must be super-luxury...it's hard to spend more than $200/night at even 5 star hotels...though I guess if you fly first class that can eat up a bunch of the budget.

Should be fun!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve traveled to over 40 countries and the max I’ve spent on a trip was 4k in Italy for 2 people, 10 days. Net worth 2.5 million - compared to many posts, I guess we really budget.

If you’re avoiding peak season and popular vacation areas that sounds doable. But go somewhere that everyone else likes, in peak season? A decent hotel starts like $350 a night. So just hotels and economy airfare to Europe will run you almost 6k before you even get to food and events. In my experience if you want a 10 day trip somewhere nice in Europe during the summer it’s easily about 10k.

[Anonymous]

My friend took the MOST expensive vacation of anyone when 28. He went to Cancun Mexico on Spring Break. He madly fell in love with the Shot Girl at the bar. Like you see in the movies. He brought her to the USA, they got married, had a kid, she pushed him to get a new car, new house, get bigger and bigger jobs then after she got citizenship she divorced him, took the kid and half his cash and went back to Mexico.

[Anonymous]

Japan 2025- about 20K when it was all said and done. 3 people. Good hotel in Tokyo (not 5 star) a few modest tours, really nice dinners and drinks. Flew business class. It was worth it to spend that time with DH and DS.

We want to go to Barcelona next year, but I think we're going to do something more modest- Montreal, maybe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northern Italy and Switzerland. Trains. The Switzerland days were MUCH more expensive than the Northern Italy ones.

Also, I didn't add it all up but it was probably around 10K all told. Moving from place to place makes vacations more expensive

Tip to others who want to enjoy travel: never add all the costs up. It kills the joy.

Well, most people do need to "add up all costs" so they can plan. It's called budgeting

I have never budgeted for anything. I just always made sure - in a general way - that my expenditures increased more slowly than my income. For a long time vacations were spent visiting family (who luckily lived in great places to visit). Now we are well-off I think we often spend $20 - $50,000 on summer vacations. I have no idea because i don't add it up. But we stay in anything from luxury hotels to basic campsites, depending on the location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northern Italy and Switzerland. Trains. The Switzerland days were MUCH more expensive than the Northern Italy ones.

Also, I didn't add it all up but it was probably around 10K all told. Moving from place to place makes vacations more expensive

Tip to others who want to enjoy travel: never add all the costs up. It kills the joy.

Well, most people do need to "add up all costs" so they can plan. It's called budgeting

I have never budgeted for anything. I just always made sure - in a general way - that my expenditures increased more slowly than my income. For a long time vacations were spent visiting family (who luckily lived in great places to visit). Now we are well-off I think we often spend $20 - $50,000 on summer vacations. I have no idea because i don't add it up. But we stay in anything from luxury hotels to basic campsites, depending on the location.

Well most people budget, or should budget.

We are UHNW and we still "budget", it's just much more flexible now and more of a determination of "is it worth spending that much or not" or "can we do it but stay somewhere a bit cheaper since we need two rooms"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most expensive trip I have taken is 2 weeks in Italy (last year) for our family of four, total cost was 22k, it was beyond amazing. We will be spending around 26k this year on a 2 week trip to Thailand/Vietnam in December. For context, we make 800k and have a NW of 5.5 mil (started making good money in last 7-8 years). We both come form middle class families but work in lucrative careers and also got lucky in the stock market.

This trip must be super-luxury...it's hard to spend more than $200/night at even 5 star hotels...though I guess if you fly first class that can eat up a bunch of the budget.

Should be fun!

PP here. Not flying business class, just Premium Economy, even those tickets are $3500 a piece during last 2 weeks of December. Travel to Thailand is very expensive during last 2 weeks of December, it's their best weather and New Year's time. Unfortunately for us, with our kids in high school that's the only month which is feasible from school days off perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most expensive trip I have taken is 2 weeks in Italy (last year) for our family of four, total cost was 22k, it was beyond amazing. We will be spending around 26k this year on a 2 week trip to Thailand/Vietnam in December. For context, we make 800k and have a NW of 5.5 mil (started making good money in last 7-8 years). We both come form middle class families but work in lucrative careers and also got lucky in the stock market.

This trip must be super-luxury...it's hard to spend more than $200/night at even 5 star hotels...though I guess if you fly first class that can eat up a bunch of the budget.

Should be fun!

PP here. Not flying business class, just Premium Economy, even those tickets are $3500 a piece during last 2 weeks of December. Travel to Thailand is very expensive during last 2 weeks of December, it's their best weather and New Year's time. Unfortunately for us, with our kids in high school that's the only month which is feasible from school days off perspective.

Piper, you are going to fly over the North Pole!

[Anonymous]

10k - 6 months backpacking through eastern and Southern Africa + 2.5K for 3 months in Central America. Best year of my life!

Just spend 1k for 10 days in the Greek islands.

I travel a lot so budget accordingly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Summering in Spain -closing in on 50k

lol @ “summering”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know how much money you make to take $60K vacations. I think posters need to add this information.

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.

Hahahaha are you getting a boner while you write this?