1500 is cheap for four people. Stop complaining.

Anonymous wrote:I was looking at airfare to go visit my brother. Our youngest children have never met each other. Airfare alone is 1200 for the 4 of us. He lives in a 2 bed/1ba house. There is no room to accommodate 4 additional people. I'm guessing that hotel will be another 100-150 a night and I still need to add car and food. So far we haven't done anything but show up.

Look into renting a 2 bedroom house or apartment near your brother instead. That may cost less, especially with eating at "home."

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for replies. I suppose I'm just uninspired about visiting DH's family in Phoenix. I think that's the issue more than the $ specifically; spending it on a fun trip to a place I really want to go would feel like money well spent. Another trip to his family feels more like, meh.

Instead of you going out to visit the family, could you all meet somewhere that is more fun?

Typically around $2000 for a family of 6--trips range from 7-14 days, depending on the destination.

We camp and eat most meals at the camp site, so that saves a lot of money. We drive instead of fly.

Our splurges are the excursions we do.

I think most people spend 2-4% of their net income on vacation per year.

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=84827

For summer, we drive a lot. Horseback riding camp and festival camping, 3 people, two weeks, $3k all in. Winter and Spring break are more exotic.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for replies. I suppose I'm just uninspired about visiting DH's family in Phoenix. I think that's the issue more than the $ specifically; spending it on a fun trip to a place I really want to go would feel like money well spent. Another trip to his family feels more like, meh.

Go to the Grand Canyon overnight. Even staying on the top is fun. Take the train for more fun. Go to Sedona and do a pink jeep tour. Go to Mesa Verde.

I was looking at airfare to go visit my brother. Our youngest children have never met each other. Airfare alone is 1200 for the 4 of us. He lives in a 2 bed/1ba house. There is no room to accommodate 4 additional people. I'm guessing that hotel will be another 100-150 a night and I still need to add car and food. So far we haven't done anything but show up.

Could you spend a couple nights in Sedona?

OP here - thanks for replies. I suppose I'm just uninspired about visiting DH's family in Phoenix. I think that's the issue more than the $ specifically; spending it on a fun trip to a place I really want to go would feel like money well spent. Another trip to his family feels more like, meh.

$1500 for 4 tickets flying across the country is a good price.

We travel for two months straight, which is a lot. We budget $25k for a family of 3.

$2000-2 people and 10 days in Europe with day trips to Amsterdam and Helsinki.Staying with family is free luckily!

We go to our summer house so no incremental cost to speak of but fairly significant sunk cost. But we spend $5-10k per trip for winter skiing. Usually do at least 2 trips a winter, plus a less expensive long weekend. The high end of the price range is Christmas when everything is at peak pricing. My experience is that flying anywhere with a family of 4 is going to run $1000-$3000 unless you can use miles. Fares seem high this year. When you add car rental or transportation, lodging, food, activities, it starts to get expensive. $3k doesn't sound too bad for a cross country trip.

We finally locked in our plane tickets for a trip across country to visit family. Urgh, the price was way more than I expected. Family of four: $1500 just for the tix. I guess I'd feel better about the $$ if we were headed somewhere I really wanted to go. Yes, there are excursions and things to do with the kids, but it feels like just "visiting family" instead of a "great vacay." When all is said and done, we'll probably spend $3-4k on the trip (cost of meals, excursions, etc.). For that kind of $, I think we could schedule a really fun trip.

How much do you spend to go somewhere you really want to go for summer vacation?