Traveling internationally is cheaper than domestic travel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People could have such extraordinary vacations in the South Pacific - Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu - for less than the cost of renting a beach house in Bethany or Rehoboth or the Outer Banks in August.

For more informed people, the US isn't competing these days. Lame and expensive. There are far better opportunities and experiences overseas than what the US tourism industry is offering at these price levels.

Seems there are now ridiculous posts. The flights to these locations are never inexpensive unless you know some secret. They are routinely like $1700 - $2000 flights per person.

They aren't business travel destinations (which creates volume that brings down average prices) and you usually are connecting twice (if flying from the DMV).

Flights to mainland Asia are much cheaper because they are heavily trafficked routes...and then costs in places like Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia are absurdly low for meals, hotels, etc.

Have you rented a house in the Delaware beaches or the Outer Banks in July or August?

There are seriously better options at these price points - including Asia and the South Pacific.

Yeah...and it averages around $4300/week...versus nearly $8,000 just to get your family of 4 to the South Pacific in coach.

Asia is a completely different story, so I agree there.

All that said, maybe the poster who mentioned the South Pacific lives in LA...so sure, then it's cheaper.

The South Pacific is an extreme example of a distant destination with few flights, but it certainly doesn't need to cost you 8000$ to get your family to 4 to East Asian destinations like Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. Just set up price alerts, and jump when the ticket prices are 1000$ or below. It's fairly easy to do if you don't mind an extra connecting stop or aren't picky about the dates. And then your expenses overseas are far lower than in the USA if you don't pick 5 star everything.

Yeah...that's literally what I just said. South Pacific was a terrible example...while mainland Asia (where you can go to similar tropical Pacific places) is very different.

[Anonymous]

I honestly think people just haven't done the math. During COVID, US lodging became so expensive that going most places outside of the US became not only cheaper but more bang for your buck.

The main exception I've found is that Switzerland is still more expensive than the US

[Anonymous]

I’m currently in the UK, and the prices seem okay, but it really depends on what time of year you travel, and where in that one country you are in.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone in this forum ever considered the environmental impact of flying internationally just for fun? No, of course not. Fun and your own desires always come first, regardless of their consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone in this forum ever considered the environmental impact of flying internationally just for fun? No, of course not. Fun and your own desires always come first, regardless of their consequences.

No. You must have been the first person in the DMV area to ever raise the issue of international travel contributing to climate change. Maybe the first in the world!

Perhaps you can also post on the real estate forum and suggest that everyone move their families to 1 BR apartments in lieu of single family homes as that would also reduce environmental footprints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People could have such extraordinary vacations in the South Pacific - Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu - for less than the cost of renting a beach house in Bethany or Rehoboth or the Outer Banks in August.

For more informed people, the US isn't competing these days. Lame and expensive. There are far better opportunities and experiences overseas than what the US tourism industry is offering at these price levels.

But doesn’t this only make sense if you can take several weeks of vacation at a time? Flying around the world for a one week vacation doesn’t seem economical, comfortable, or good for the environment., I think the issue is that most Americans just can’t afford to take off 2-3 weeks at a time. I don’t think I’ve ever taken a vacation longer than 10 days. I’m not the type to rent a house in rehobeth for a month but the people I know that do that do it specifically so that one or both spouses can drive back and forth to DC for work meetings as needed.

Agreed. We took a few multiweek vacations to Europe before we had kids- twice ~2 weeks to Europe and 3 weeks in SE Asia for our honeymoon. But I really had to save up my leave for those and we had understanding employers who granted that much at a time. And because we didn't have kids we had a lot more flexibility on time of year, flight times/routes and were able to use miles for our tickets. It's a lot harder to make that work now due to the school scheuldes and the random bits of time I'm taking off throughout the year for school breaks, events, etc. Not to mention our parents are older and we pretty much have to go to them now. We'd like to take or kids on an international trip soon for a couple weeks to make it worthwhile but there's no way we could pull that off every year or multiple times a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People could have such extraordinary vacations in the South Pacific - Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu - for less than the cost of renting a beach house in Bethany or Rehoboth or the Outer Banks in August.

For more informed people, the US isn't competing these days. Lame and expensive. There are far better opportunities and experiences overseas than what the US tourism industry is offering at these price levels.

But doesn’t this only make sense if you can take several weeks of vacation at a time? Flying around the world for a one week vacation doesn’t seem economical, comfortable, or good for the environment., I think the issue is that most Americans just can’t afford to take off 2-3 weeks at a time. I don’t think I’ve ever taken a vacation longer than 10 days. I’m not the type to rent a house in rehobeth for a month but the people I know that do that do it specifically so that one or both spouses can drive back and forth to DC for work meetings as needed.

Agreed. We took a few multiweek vacations to Europe before we had kids- twice ~2 weeks to Europe and 3 weeks in SE Asia for our honeymoon. But I really had to save up my leave for those and we had understanding employers who granted that much at a time. And because we didn't have kids we had a lot more flexibility on time of year, flight times/routes and were able to use miles for our tickets. It's a lot harder to make that work now due to the school scheuldes and the random bits of time I'm taking off throughout the year for school breaks, events, etc. Not to mention our parents are older and we pretty much have to go to them now. We'd like to take or kids on an international trip soon for a couple weeks to make it worthwhile but there's no way we could pull that off every year or multiple times a year.

We do an international trip once every two or three years. For us, it’s plenty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took my children to Spain last summer for 2 weeks and the whole trip cost less than a Bethany rental, flight included.

This is not believable.

Well, I guess if you rent a massive house in Bethany and a tiny place in the middle of nowhere in Spain. And I agree that Spain is cheaper overall, but flights would basically make the costs break even.

There’s no need to exaggerate to prove your point. It just makes you look ridiculous.

That probably isn't far off.

I just looked and the average weekly rental for a 3 bedroom Bethany house is 4300 per week. Flights to Spain next summer are about $750. Food is far cheaper as are accommodations (2 bedroom in central Madrid during the summer is 1500-2500 for 2 weeks). I bet it would be cheaper to go to Spain for 2 weeks.

A vacation to Bethany and a vacation to Madrid are two totally different vacations …

[Anonymous]

Kids preferred vacation in the US because it has all modern amenities. Europe is also dangerous with pick pocket

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids preferred vacation in the US because it has all modern amenities. Europe is also dangerous with pick pocket

Translation: We don't like to experience anything new. I am not actually a DC urban mom or dad (or I'm very very bad at risk management).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids preferred vacation in the US because it has all modern amenities. Europe is also dangerous with pick pocket

Nothing wrong with preferring to vacation in the US- there is plenty to see here, but I’m not sure your reasons are valid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids preferred vacation in the US because it has all modern amenities.

Have you been to Europe?

Anonymous wrote: Europe is also dangerous

Have you been to the US?

[Anonymous]

This obviously depends on location. For example, I can definitely take a New England road trip staying in cheap hotels and eating inexpensive food more cheaply than any trip to Europe could possibly be.

Plane tickets— even “cheap ones”— to Europe are expensive, compared to driving your own car to many destinations in the US.

As a kid, my family would spend two days driving across the country to stay with family. The only lodging we paid for was one night in a hotel each way. We could not have afforded to all fly to Europe (or anywhere).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This obviously depends on location. For example, I can definitely take a New England road trip staying in cheap hotels and eating inexpensive food more cheaply than any trip to Europe could possibly be.

Plane tickets— even “cheap ones”— to Europe are expensive, compared to driving your own car to many destinations in the US.

As a kid, my family would spend two days driving across the country to stay with family. The only lodging we paid for was one night in a hotel each way. We could not have afforded to all fly to Europe (or anywhere).

Food is a wash. You can eat cheaply in both places. But have you priced out road trip hotels lately? Hundreds a night for what would have been $85 six dollars ago. For crappy chains. Doesn't take long for the expenses to even out. If you'r road tripping for a week and not camping, I'd suspect Europe would still be cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People could have such extraordinary vacations in the South Pacific - Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu - for less than the cost of renting a beach house in Bethany or Rehoboth or the Outer Banks in August.

For more informed people, the US isn't competing these days. Lame and expensive. There are far better opportunities and experiences overseas than what the US tourism industry is offering at these price levels.

But doesn’t this only make sense if you can take several weeks of vacation at a time? Flying around the world for a one week vacation doesn’t seem economical, comfortable, or good for the environment., I think the issue is that most Americans just can’t afford to take off 2-3 weeks at a time. I don’t think I’ve ever taken a vacation longer than 10 days. I’m not the type to rent a house in rehobeth for a month but the people I know that do that do it specifically so that one or both spouses can drive back and forth to DC for work meetings as needed.

Well, that's a choice Americans have made. Many other countries value time. Meanwhile, American have chosen this system, where you can't even travel for longer than a few days.

This is a choice, no matter if you like Democrats or Republicans. This is what we chose for ourselves.

I personally didn’t choose this.