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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When I was a kid, I could tell a family was rich if they flew for all their vacations. Flying was so expensive back then, and kids didn’t fly that much. So if you met a 10 year old who had flown a lot, either his family was rich or his parents were divorced, or both.

That changed as I got older because flying got more affordable with budget airlines. I still think that a vacation where you have to fly us out of reach for a lot of families, especially if you have more than two kids. It’s still and indication of wealth or at least an indication that you are well paid enough to have a decent amount of disposable income.

[b]And yes, where you travel is a class marker. I remember when I got to grad school and encountered truly wealthy people for the first time. I was confused about the selectivity of their vacations. To me, I wanted to go everywhere. Prague? Yes. Norfolk? Also yes? Skiing in Colorado? Yes. Jersey shore? Also yes.[/b]

[b]But wealthy people don’t like to go places where they will interact with people outside their class. Which leads to weird things where going to the Eastern Shore is “better” than going to Hungary because Budapest isn’t “classy” enough to visit. Extremely weird priorities! But you do you— Budapest was awesome (and remarkably affordable).[/b][/quote]

I feel the same way. It seems to me that many "upper class" people I meet go to the same places every year. They "only" ski in Jackson Hole or Aspen. They've never been to a ton of other amazing ski resorts for something different. They own a beach house somewhere on the East Coast so they only go to their beach town but miss out on the many other great beach towns. They only go to a certain resort or island in the Caribbean when they want a winter weather escape, thus missing out on many other great island experiences. I find that a lot of these people have never been to Asia or anywhere in Central or South America. Like you said, they'd go to Saint-Tropez, Antibes, Positano etc. but never Budapest.

I like to go somewhere different each time. I like new experiences and adventures. I think it would be boring to go to the same 3-4 places every year. [b]Does that make me middle class? lol[/b][/quote]

yes very[/quote]

NP. It really doesn’t. Anyone who can afford to travel to a lot of different places isn’t middle class.

The reason some very wealthy people go to the same places is because that’s where their social circle is, or it’s because that’s where they own a 2nd or 3rd home. I went to a NE prep school and had friends whose families would spend time every year in Nantucket, the Hamptons, or Martha’s Vineyard. They enjoyed it there, but they continued to go there because other very wealthy families were there and they socialized with them. Same thing with Vail or Jackson Hole.

I will say that, after we all got back from winter break, you could tell who had money by where they went skiing. My family is rich, but not like those families. We would go to Stowe or Killington. The richer families went to Vail. Then the ridiculously rich families went to the Swiss Alps. [/quote]

This is spot on. You vacation/summer/winter where your friends are/where your private clubs are/where it's easy to navigate etc. I find it appealing, to be honest - and we are not old $$ or extremely/uber/ridic wealthy at all (but we do have 3 homes, including 2 in locations where we belong to private clubs). That doesn't mean I won't go somewhere new every once in a blue moon, but no needs to see Budapest or fly somewhere else random.
[/quote]

I get this. Its absolutely the opposite of me, but I respect it. Just because you are wealthy doesn't mean you actually love travel. Some do, certainly, but some just like to vacation. Vacation and travel are kind of different things. I absolutely love both but I get the itch more to travel and explore more than I do get the itch for R&R. Extremely wealthy people who fly private to the same island and ski mountain but don't really care if they go to anywhere but Paris or London every 5-10 years are wealthy versions of  those who like their same AI in Cancun and cabin on the lake. That's not to knock any of it- its about how you want to spend the time you are actually away[/quote]

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