Anonymous wrote:OP here. We would love to do an Europe trip before oldest goes to college. If we can only swing one trip, what should we prioritize? And I would love to do shorter trips to cities. But a lot of cities require flights, which are so pricey now.

How many days?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We would love to do an Europe trip before oldest goes to college. If we can only swing one trip, what should we prioritize? And I would love to do shorter trips to cities. But a lot of cities require flights, which are so pricey now.

Europe is big. 50 countries. One trip is not enough.

Kindly, OP expressed budget constraints.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We would love to do an Europe trip before oldest goes to college. If we can only swing one trip, what should we prioritize? And I would love to do shorter trips to cities. But a lot of cities require flights, which are so pricey now.

Europe is big. 50 countries. One trip is not enough.

OP here. We would love to do an Europe trip before oldest goes to college. If we can only swing one trip, what should we prioritize? And I would love to do shorter trips to cities. But a lot of cities require flights, which are so pricey now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious about this too. My kids will have been to quite a few states (mostly because we have moved within the US a few times) and about 5 countries. When I graduated from high school I had never been outside the US, but that was many years ago. And we were poor.

OP here. Travel abroad wasn’t a thing even for most middle class families. Now it’s the norm?? I wonder for how long given inflation. But yeah, it’s crazy all the places kids have been to from my kids’ classes.

Flights are much cheaper now (even with recent inflation) than 30 years ago. In mid-90s I went to SE Asia, flight was $1600. Same flight today is $1700, even though inflation since then almost exactly doubled.

Also, not to stereotype, but the average DCUM is not even close to median US household income- aka middle class. You may think of yourself as middle class, but you very likely are not. Nationally, median household income is about 80k. In this area it's about $115k.

I also think the internet makes reasonably priced travel for families so much easier to plan. It’s so much easier to understand the options than when we were kids and our parents would have to get a travel agent and go with what they could offer.

So far, my kid has been to 15 states, not including those we’ve driven through. Places like NY, CA and FL include multiple visits, whereas we’ve only be to Louisiana once. I expect more domestic travel as we start to visit more colleges. I’ve suggested the western states with national parks, but my family has little interest in them. Internationally, we’ve taken out kid to 2 European destinations, the Caribbean and 3 destinations in Canada. I’m hoping for more vacations to Europe again before graduation, but I find them harder to plan now that my kid is in HS. I never left the US, except for Canada, prior to my honeymoon.

Anonymous wrote:I have several kids, and they haven't all traveled equally because sometimes we do 1:1 (parent:child) trips and other times we've offered a trip and the older ones don't want to go, so we let them stay home and just took the younger one (older ones were college and high school.)
But in general:
Domestically they've all been to NYC a few times, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Chicago. Dozens of national parks including Acadia, the Everglades, Mammoth Cave, Mount Rushmore, Smoky Mountains, Bryce Canyon....and many man more. They've also been to Disney World.
Individuals have been to Joshua Tree, the Painted Desert, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Rocky Mountain National park, and more.

Internationally they've all been to England, Germany, and Canada (Quebec and Ontario.) Individuals have been to Scotland and Colombia.

These are just destinations before high school graduation. Most of them have graduated and gone on to go more places on their own.

Oh, HHI $160k now---but when they were elementary/middle school years it was much lower--below $100k

I have several kids, and they haven't all traveled equally because sometimes we do 1:1 (parent:child) trips and other times we've offered a trip and the older ones don't want to go, so we let them stay home and just took the younger one (older ones were college and high school.)
But in general:
Domestically they've all been to NYC a few times, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Chicago. Dozens of national parks including Acadia, the Everglades, Mammoth Cave, Mount Rushmore, Smoky Mountains, Bryce Canyon....and many man more. They've also been to Disney World.
Individuals have been to Joshua Tree, the Painted Desert, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Rocky Mountain National park, and more.

Internationally they've all been to England, Germany, and Canada (Quebec and Ontario.) Individuals have been to Scotland and Colombia.

These are just destinations before high school graduation. Most of them have graduated and gone on to go more places on their own.

HHI of $325k. My kids will have been to 20-ish states in the U.S. and at least 10 countries (Canada, Mexico, Ireland, UK, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Colombia)

We have friends all over the U.S. and a few abroad and make it a point to visit them.

One kid. When we were married HHI was about $180k but we live in the exurbs and bought almost 25 years ago. My son has been to 40 states (just missing middle America) and 21 countries. We always prioritized travel as a family and after the divorce I prioritized it as well. But I had to get into the credit card points and miles game to be able to continue traveling. Now my trips are free or almost free but I do have to maintain a running spreadsheet of credit cards to know when to close and re-open them.

50 states and at least five countries on each major continent (North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia) is a good general goal.

I know a family that decided to travel to all 50 states before their kids turned 18. They went away every Thanksgiving, Christmas ans Spring break and a little bit in the summer. They didn’t just set foot in a state ans call it a day, rather, they made it a point to see local points of interest, museums and eat any food the place was known for. It seemed like a really cool idea. They have lots of money, so that helped make it possible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI of $800k with two under five and at this point I can’t imagine anything other than the most basic, driveable beach rental vacay. Maybe we will fly to the Caribbean eventually but I don’t like all-inclusive because we don’t drink, don’t want to send the kids to a kids’ club, and don’t like eating out more than one or two meals a week. Omg we sound like the most annoying people ever! DH and I traveled quite a bit in our early marriage but we have settled down to being homebodies in our mid-late 30s. Maybe we will grow out of it once both kids reach ES.

ETA: I hear about families taking their somewhat older kids to Paris or Japan or New Zealand (all places I loved going to pre-kids) and I am simultaneously jealous but also “WTF that sounds awful”. I guess I am just tired…

Yes that’s all it is. We didn’t do it in the early years either. I mean, we went NOWHERE for “vacation” because none of it seemed doable with the little ones. Even when the youngest was in K, we spent spring break hunkered down at home resting and recuperating. Everything is just so tiring then. My kids are now 13 and 9. We’re in Europe right now and they’re doing great. Can walk all day, eat any restaurant, entertain themselves on trains and planes. It’ll be you one day too, but I wouldn’t have been able to believe that either when I was in your position.

Kids are 8, 10 & 13 and we’ve been all over the US (I think 32 states? But we live in nyc and drive to New England and mid Atlantic often, have family in CA and OR and have been to a bunch of national parks and to Hawaii. Want to do Alaska soon). Also most of Western Europe with them all - all of Scandinavia, France, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Malta, Greece, going to Belgium this week. Haven’t done Spain or Germany yet. We’ve been to about 8 places in the Caribbean (not all with all 3 kids, but since we started having kids, always an easy trip), Bermuda, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, heading to Costa Rica later this year. We’ve been to Russia (7 years ago! Would not go now). Also Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore and Japan.
Top trips we are planning are Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Morocco, safari (and likely South Africa for a friend’s wedding), India, China.
We prioritize travel for sure. HHI is now about 850k but it was much lower when we had kids. We still always tried to take at least one international trip per year. Our kids are amazing travelers and have a great time. We are traveling now and they’re walking upwards of 20k steps a day, planning itineraries and snack stops and learning to navigate new places. We don’t stay in fancy hotels or even in the center of most cities so it’s not luxury easy tourism most of the time. We tend to rent apartments and make some of our own meals. They all speak a second (European) language and eldest is learning Chinese as well. We are trying to raise them to be good citizens of the world.

I’m from Arlington but live in another part of VA now but our northern va adjusted income is 204k, 127k in our area. We prioritize travel, travel budget-lower mid-range and so far our kids 5& almost 8 have been to 6/7 countries respectively: Italy, France, canada, Portugal, Germany, France, Denmark, UK. They’ve been to 12 states.

Tbh, I’m wanting to move to Europe and keep exploring so idk how many by the time they graduate. I got a taste of Europe with kids and I really like it but I’m considered the oddball in my area.