Depressed about international travel costs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have averaged about five international trips per year for the last 15 years or so. It can be done with planning and budgeting. And as others have said, it’s all about priorities. But there’s no question that the costs have gone up considerably in recent years, that’s a fact.

Average of 5? impressive that you even have the time.

They’re not all two week trips, we often fit in a couple trips over extended holidays like Thanksgiving and Fourth of July, adding a day or two before and after. Plus Spring Break, summer vacation, winter holidays. It can be done!

[Anonymous]

Those responding to the OP - do you realize they posted this in 2014?

[Anonymous]

Family Going to London next week on direct flight British airways. Cost $430 round trip (no checked luggage and no seat assignment). The flight alone was $80 rest was taxes. Booked in November. We have air bnb that is nice area for around $250 a night. Also booked very early. So I think you can save a lot of money if book far in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought a European vacation was cheaper than Disney, no?

This is what is snidely said on here ALLLLL the time.

At 1,000 a ticket, at least, it would cost us 5k to fly to London and back.

We'll definitely do it but maybe now people will understand why I'm waiting until my kids are older and can actually appreciate it vs. wanting to spend every day at a park. Which we could do here for free

Can we please retire the old trope that a playground in Paris is worlds better than taking your young kids (under 8) to Disney World? Or somewhere else age appropriate to their interests?

Just an FYI, I was looking around for some travel for my own family this summer, and I'm finding non stop flights to London under $600 at the end of August (the exact dates I used were August 17-24.)

[Anonymous]

Traveling as a family is definitely expensive, and if you're paying for a car, lodging, etc. you're gonna be out of pocket quite a bit of money. For me, I go visit family once every couple of years, I stay with them, so I'm not paying for food or lodging, so the cost is offset somewhat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in England and some of my friends are planning a mini-reunion in May. Kids are invited but looking at tickets, I'm just depressed about how much air fare is. Even without kids, it seems very expensive.

How do people afford it? We'd been planning on a 10th anniversary trip, but between not having enough vacation time (thanks to snow days and other assorted days off of school) and money, I don't think the trip will happen, though we've been saving for awhile.

Let's vote Bernie.

We want free international travel.

[Anonymous]

We're headed to Germany in the summer for two weeks and got tickets on Condor for $3200 for 4. Only one 50lb suitcase between us and small carry ons, so it'll be interesting. We're renting a car and getting airbnb's.

We definitely budget for travel, as it is important to us. Try to do one big trip a year - Canada, CA, Europe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought a European vacation was cheaper than Disney, no?

This is what is snidely said on here ALLLLL the time.

At 1,000 a ticket, at least, it would cost us 5k to fly to London and back.

We'll definitely do it but maybe now people will understand why I'm waiting until my kids are older and can actually appreciate it vs. wanting to spend every day at a park. Which we could do here for free

Can we please retire the old trope that a playground in Paris is worlds better than taking your young kids (under 8) to Disney World? Or somewhere else age appropriate to their interests?

Just an FYI, I was looking around for some travel for my own family this summer, and I'm finding non stop flights to London under $600 at the end of August (the exact dates I used were August 17-24.)

+1.

Flying to London is often very cheap. The challenge is going to smaller cities on the continent.

[Anonymous]

This is going to be unpopular (and no one can go back and change their circumstances, so it's a little I told you so - sorry), but this was definitely a factor when we were deciding on our family size. For all of you who once upon a time said, "But my family just wouldn't be complete without [2,3,4,whatever] kids!" - this is the choice you made. I'm not really disposed to hear any whining after the fact.

[Anonymous]

Money talks, everyone else drives their car to "vacation" with relatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is going to be unpopular (and no one can go back and change their circumstances, so it's a little I told you so - sorry), but this was definitely a factor when we were deciding on our family size. For all of you who once upon a time said, "But my family just wouldn't be complete without [2,3,4,whatever] kids!" - this is the choice you made. I'm not really disposed to hear any whining after the fact.

So when only children complain about having to handle their elderly parents (or deceased parents) affairs alone, with no siblings to share the burden, do you say the same thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we are using FF miles but even those tix are "pricey" these days.

Ack I know! I had been saving my AA miles to get to Europe, and when I finally had enough and went to book, made an exasperating discovery. Many, or most really, of AA award tickets to Europe are on British Airways- which charge ridiculous fees. The agent called it a "tax" but I investigated and it is really a fuel surcharge (that most US carriers build into a ticket rather than an add-on like BA). It was going to cost $1500 for two "free" tickets. I ended up finding a non-BA flight to there, but we had to use my husband's United miles for the return trip, even being flexible on dates it was tough to avoid BA. But doing it that way cost us only ~$200 rather than the $1500. It was really irritating though, I guess in the future we'll have to use the AA miles for domestic and International travel where AA flies a lot of flights themselves (e.g., Central America).

Yes! So frustrating. I used to fly American a ton for work (and had an AA credit card) and have 130k miles right now but it has been so difficult to use miles for trips to Europe. Got rid of the American credit card a couple years ago and got a Chase Sapphire instead. We had to do the same thing as you on a trip to Italy a few years ago- I could get us to Rome on AA but we had to use DH's United miles to get back.

[Anonymous]

You need to plan way in advance. I managed to score a $655 roundtrip ticket to Singapore from LAX via ANA Airlines in August for travel in June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is going to be unpopular (and no one can go back and change their circumstances, so it's a little I told you so - sorry), but this was definitely a factor when we were deciding on our family size. For all of you who once upon a time said, "But my family just wouldn't be complete without [2,3,4,whatever] kids!" - this is the choice you made. I'm not really disposed to hear any whining after the fact.

So when only children complain about having to handle their elderly parents (or deceased parents) affairs alone, with no siblings to share the burden, do you say the same thing?

You're assuming that siblings will all share in the burden equally. IRL, that rarely happens. It's usually one sibling who deals with eldercare and the rest just don't care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I know my vent is whiny and a first world problem. I'm also just sincerely curious how people can afford international travel both time- and money-wise...

It's not easy, but it's doable. It comes down to priorities. If you prioritize travel, then you cut other costs. That's what we do.

True to an extent, but I'd say that breaks down at certain HHI levels. For a lot of families, there simply is not a lot leftover once the necessities are covered. I think back to my parents- they weren't going to take away my sister's one dance lesson per week or my clarinet to finance a trip to Europe. Eliminating pizza takeout once per month wasn't going to get us to China. I feel fortunate than we can squirrel a bit more away to travel more often, but then again, we're not going to raid my kid's college fund to do it either.