Travel and social class

[Anonymous]

I am reading an Emily Giffen novel and the narrator says she can tell someone’s social class by hearing where a person has traveled to or where they return year after year. I thought that was interesting. Do you agree?

Idk that I really agree because just having more money to spend doesn’t really change your class background (how you were raised, where you went to school, what you do for a living, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am reading an Emily Giffen novel and the narrator says she can tell someone’s social class by hearing where a person has traveled to or where they return year after year. I thought that was interesting. Do you agree?

Idk that I really agree because just having more money to spend doesn’t really change your class background (how you were raised, where you went to school, what you do for a living, etc.).

it's definitely an indicator.

[Anonymous]

Couldn’t you tell someone’s social class just by where you met them, what they do, etc etc? I mean, to whom am I giving this test? And what would I do with the results?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Couldn’t you tell someone’s social class just by where you met them, what they do, etc etc? I mean, to whom am I giving this test? And what would I do with the results?

Well in the book it’s a college student hearing that her new roommate grew up going to Christmas markets in Europe, skiing out west every spring break, and vacations on Sea Island every summer.

Tipped her off immediately to the roommate being from a high class family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Couldn’t you tell someone’s social class just by where you met them, what they do, etc etc? I mean, to whom am I giving this test? And what would I do with the results?

Ha ha hardly. Take me, for example. I met my spouse in a major European city while we both were studying abroad as college juniors many years ago. You might think that would be an indicator of at least a little bit of money. Boy was my spouse surprised when we got back to the states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Couldn’t you tell someone’s social class just by where you met them, what they do, etc etc? I mean, to whom am I giving this test? And what would I do with the results?

Well in the book it’s a college student hearing that her new roommate grew up going to Christmas markets in Europe, skiing out west every spring break, and vacations on Sea Island every summer.

Tipped her off immediately to the roommate being from a high class family.

This could be rich person stuff - do they own the Sea Colony house? Do they fly first class to Europe and stay in the nicest hotels? Do they go to Aspen instead of slumming it at a less lux resort? - or it could be middle class if it is coach and rentals.

Skiing out west doesn’t have to be expensive. It really depends on where you go. And most middle class families can afford to rent a house for a beach vacation for a week or even two.

[Anonymous]

Recently-ish it's become pretty inexpensive to travel. But if we're talking about the 70s/80s/90s? Yeah, it was much more rare for people to take vacations like that.

It's still pretty rare for Americans to go to Europe, most don't have passports. But it's much more accessible than it used to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Couldn’t you tell someone’s social class just by where you met them, what they do, etc etc? I mean, to whom am I giving this test? And what would I do with the results?

Well in the book it’s a college student hearing that her new roommate grew up going to Christmas markets in Europe, skiing out west every spring break, and vacations on Sea Island every summer.

Tipped her off immediately to the roommate being from a high class family.

This could be rich person stuff - do they own the Sea Colony house? Do they fly first class to Europe and stay in the nicest hotels? Do they go to Aspen instead of slumming it at a less lux resort? - or it could be middle class if it is coach and rentals.

Skiing out west doesn’t have to be expensive. It really depends on where you go. And most middle class families can afford to rent a house for a beach vacation for a week or even two.

middle class families can't afford the time off for multiple long vacations a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Couldn’t you tell someone’s social class just by where you met them, what they do, etc etc? I mean, to whom am I giving this test? And what would I do with the results?

Well in the book it’s a college student hearing that her new roommate grew up going to Christmas markets in Europe, skiing out west every spring break, and vacations on Sea Island every summer.

Tipped her off immediately to the roommate being from a high class family.

This could be rich person stuff - do they own the Sea Colony house? Do they fly first class to Europe and stay in the nicest hotels? Do they go to Aspen instead of slumming it at a less lux resort? - or it could be middle class if it is coach and rentals.

Skiing out west doesn’t have to be expensive. It really depends on where you go. And most middle class families can afford to rent a house for a beach vacation for a week or even two.

middle class families can't afford the time off for multiple long vacations a year.

2 is normal though or I should say, common.

I doubt people are going to a Christmas market every single year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Couldn’t you tell someone’s social class just by where you met them, what they do, etc etc? I mean, to whom am I giving this test? And what would I do with the results?

Well in the book it’s a college student hearing that her new roommate grew up going to Christmas markets in Europe, skiing out west every spring break, and vacations on Sea Island every summer.

Tipped her off immediately to the roommate being from a high class family.

Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Couldn’t you tell someone’s social class just by where you met them, what they do, etc etc? I mean, to whom am I giving this test? And what would I do with the results?

Well in the book it’s a college student hearing that her new roommate grew up going to Christmas markets in Europe, skiing out west every spring break, and vacations on Sea Island every summer.

Tipped her off immediately to the roommate being from a high class family.

This could be rich person stuff - do they own the Sea Colony house? Do they fly first class to Europe and stay in the nicest hotels? Do they go to Aspen instead of slumming it at a less lux resort? - or it could be middle class if it is coach and rentals.

Skiing out west doesn’t have to be expensive. It really depends on where you go. And most middle class families can afford to rent a house for a beach vacation for a week or even two.

Plane tickets, rental skis and boots, lift tickets, lodging, food for multiple people - yes, it’s expensive. Maybe not insanely expensive as staying on the mountain in Aspen but expensive.

We ski in breck every year. The condo we stay (on the mountain) in is 700 a night. It’s not cheap.

We’ve been to Snowmass too and Breck is equally as expensive.

[Anonymous]

I think it is true in the context you provided from the book - hearing about where a person grew up traveling to.

It is less true for adults, particularly those who may have had a lot of travel experiences since they reached adulthood, paid for by a career that has little to do with their class/background and is solely to do with their income. (It also depends on what you mean by "class" but I'm going to assume you don't count newly wealthy in the same bucket as those who grew up wealthy.)

I was on 2 flights as a kid, both domestic. One to Disney (stayed with an uncle) and another to Denver with my aunt for a month as a quasi-baby sitter for my cousin. Most family vacations were road trips with camping. That tells you something. My adult travels are pretty different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Couldn’t you tell someone’s social class just by where you met them, what they do, etc etc? I mean, to whom am I giving this test? And what would I do with the results?

Well in the book it’s a college student hearing that her new roommate grew up going to Christmas markets in Europe, skiing out west every spring break, and vacations on Sea Island every summer.

Tipped her off immediately to the roommate being from a high class family.

Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

No kidding. Is this what passes for incisive social commentary in an Emily giffen novel?

[Anonymous]

If you “summer” or “winter” in the same place every year, you are well-off. (Within the American context. I know it’s different for Europeans.)

I’m fairly well traveled but my vacation time and money is too precious to go back to the same place again and again, I need to save it up to see more of the world — making me (upper) middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Couldn’t you tell someone’s social class just by where you met them, what they do, etc etc? I mean, to whom am I giving this test? And what would I do with the results?

Well in the book it’s a college student hearing that her new roommate grew up going to Christmas markets in Europe, skiing out west every spring break, and vacations on Sea Island every summer.

Tipped her off immediately to the roommate being from a high class family.

This could be rich person stuff - do they own the Sea Colony house? Do they fly first class to Europe and stay in the nicest hotels? Do they go to Aspen instead of slumming it at a less lux resort? - or it could be middle class if it is coach and rentals.

Skiing out west doesn’t have to be expensive. It really depends on where you go. And most middle class families can afford to rent a house for a beach vacation for a week or even two.

middle class families can't afford the time off for multiple long vacations a year.

2 is normal though or I should say, common.

I doubt people are going to a Christmas market every single year.

2 trips that involve air travel is not common for a middle class family (unless you have a very expansive view of middle class)