How much do you spend on vacations?

jessica490 · May 2014

How much do you typically spend on a vacation each time you go, and how often do you travel?? I'm finding myself looking to spend more than we used to on them, and I feel like I'm going kinda going overboard (Caribbean locations/cruises/Sandals etc...) My thought process is that we have no debt except the mortgage and 1 car lease, and we are building out retirement up every year and we have no plans for kids so our splurge is going to be vacations. We are still building our house fund (currently $20,000) as we want to buy in 2015 if everything works out (may move to VA), and we are also building our e-fund ($9,000, wanting $20,000 in there to feel safe). We have a vacation fund that we started adding to everytime we get paid so there is always money in there. I want to start a bucket list of places we want to go. I traveled a lot with my parents growing up, but H never did so I want to bring him to all kinds of cool places that I did. We usually do 1-2 vacations a year. We never do weekend local trips because I don't find New England exciting at all anymore, so my idea of a vacation is actually getting on a plane. We have family/friends in California and Florida so we have cheap places to stay anytime. We are also visiting my manager in Sept who moved to Virginia to check it out (may want to move there for a job at my company). But I'm just curious as to what everyone spends and do you feel like you go overboard or don't vacation enough?

SmrBrd2012 · May 2014

IMO, H and I don't vacation enough. Especially because once we start TTC, vacations will be even less frequent so I'm torn between wanting to travel more and wanting to save more...We've been averaging about 1 big trip per year for the last 3 years. Before that we didn't take any big trips. But we still don't spend more than 2k on travel, accommodations, and food. Usually these are 5-7 day trips to all inclusive places. We usually do one or two long weekend trips per year that involve driving a few hours (we're also in New England so we tend to go up to VT, NH, or ME).

juliebeannn · May 2014

DH and I have been married 3 years and went on vacation for our first and second anniversary. We didn't go this year b/c we closed on a house just a week prior to our third anniversary, but we plan on continuing our anniversary vacations until kiddos come along. We budget around $2-3k for vacation. This works for us. (We also have no debt other than the new mortgage and have contributing a good amount to retirement.)

formerlyGDaisy09 · May 2014

We're going on our first big trip in 5 years in June(!!!!) I think once we've paid for the trip including airfare and any trip-related shopping we have to do (and renewing our passports) the price tag is about $4500 for 8days/7nights in Jamaica.

Next we want to do Italy....I'm thinking we need about $5000....Airfare to Europe is usually about $1000/person, I think.

We've done smaller trips in the past, 5 days in Vermont ($1000). 7days in the mid-west combined with a friend's wedding ($1200). Next summer we have a wedding in Napa, I think our vacation will be there next year, I'm going to budget around $2500.

We tend to splurge a bit more when we're on vacation.

brij2006 · May 2014

We've been out of college for 5 years and before starting DR's Total Money Makeover, we would travel constantly. Here's the breakdown of what was in 2012 (our most traveled year). H also has a show car that we have traveled a lot with. So that was many of the 4 day weekends....

Dominican Republic (7 nights, All-inclusive, adults only) = $3,100 (worth every penny spent!)

Lake of the Ozarks (1 week family vacation) = $1,800

St Louis (3 day weekend) = $350 (stayed with family for free) x2 (went twice that year) = $700
San Diego (9 days visiting BF) = $900 (Flight, entertainment, and eating out all week. Stayed at hotel her husband had for free)

Ohio (4 day weekend, stayed with friends) = $400
Wisconsin (3 day weekend) = $500
Pennsylvania (4 day weekend) = $800

Weekend getaway to Chicago (1 night, 2 days) = $600

Las Vegas (4 day weekend) = $2,200

So in 2012 alone we spent $11,000 in traveling. We're avid travelers though and were constantly going away almost every weekend, which adds up very quickly when factoring in eating out, gas, entertainment, etc. H also works 10 hour shifts and can be off on Friday's and still get a 40 hour workweek in. So that helped out too.

We would put any of my bonus and commission money into a separate account for traveling. We also put his overtime money into that account too. We only budget ourselves on our regular paychecks. So the better we do at work, the more we get to travel. Now that money goes towards paying off debt, but we plan to spend a minimum of $6k/year on travel once we're debt free.

Xstatic3333 · May 2014

We haven't done too many big trips since I've been in grad school most of our relationship, but I want to until we TTC. Our upcoming trip to Bonaire will cost about $5000 total (when we go somewhere warm we dive, which drives the price up) and I want to take one big trip and one small one like this until it's baby time. Current wish list places are Iceland, Spain, and Dominica.

I don't think it's wrong to spend a lot on travel if it's important to you. The way I look at it is, we're healthy now. The future has no guarantees. I put a lot towards retirement, but am ok with travel slowing our other financial goals.

hoffse · May 2014

We take one big trip per year, but we travel internationally. Our relaxing vacation is typically a long weekend at a friend's beach house, which never runs us more than $200. Our big trip, though, is pretty $$$$.

This year is going to be more expensive because we're going to London in August. The exchange rate is NOT in our favor, and traveling in August means airfare was about $1400/person to get the dates we wanted. It's possible to get Euro airfares cheaper than that, but you typically have to be flexible with dates and location and be willing to travel off-season.

I'm willing to travel off-season as a general matter, but it just didn't work this year because H is starting his new job in September. He gets the entire month of August off, and it just made sense to go then.

I am not yet willing to be flexible about the countries we visit. We have a pretty long bucket list, and we both want to get through our top 5 locations or so before we start picking the places that happen to have cheap airfare when we're ready to buy. So for now we just spend what we need to spend to get to our top places, regardless of exchange rate and deals. Eventually, though, we'll be able to save money by picking places based on an airfare deal.

We also feel like if we're going to go, we should do some really cool things while we are there. In London we'll be seeing a show on the West End, we're going to one of the BBC Proms concerts, we're going to have private access tickets to Stonehenge at sunrise, we will get to tour Parliament and Buckingham Palace, and we will take day trips to Canterbury, Bath, and York. All of that costs money - some of it significantly so - but we're going to be there so we're going to do it.

When all is said and done, I'm thinking London will cost about $7000.

Next year we're looking at Peru for Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley or else Ecuador for the Galapagos. Both of those will run $6500-$7000, because actually getting there is kind of complicated and requires multiple flights.

If you want to just take a relaxing trip to the Caribbean, $3000-$4000 should be more than enough for an all-inclusive, flights, and some extras (spa treatments, excursions, etc.) If you want to really TRAVEL though, it can really add up if you are being as picky as us.

vlagrl29 · May 2014

I want to say $1800 for about 9-10 days. We like to take long vacations. We like to rent a beach cottage if we are by the ocean or a cabin if we are in the mountains. This allows us to be able to cook our breakfasts every day and make dinner every other night. I don't like eating out all the time when on vacation because I feel like I gained 10 lbs by the time we get home, plus it saves money. What's really cool is this year and last year DH has booked a wedding for both of our vacations. Last year it was near colorado springs and this year it is in sanibel island. This year we are getting our airlines paid for and the first 3-4 nights paid by the couple. Last year DH spend the $1800 that he made on our vacation. That makes it pretty awesome!

jessica490 · May 2014

Wow, ok. I don't think I realized how expensive traveling really is since we stayed at our friends/family homes often...I thought that when we booked our past expensive vacay's that $2000-$3000 was a lot of money, but I guess that sounds about average...maybe I just feel guilty about spending that amount of money at once...but I'd rather have the memories than the material things...thanks for the insights!!

vlagrl29 · May 2014

it's worth it to me. we never went on vacations when i was a kid so now we always go somewhere once a year.

mana8503 · May 2014

We tend to do day trips due to budget. My step kids are 500 miles away so most vacations are based on when we get them. When we go down its about $500 for a weekend (includes gas, food, presents/activities , and income lost). We go down 5-6 times a year and they come up to us for 1-2 weeks in the summer. In the summer we do the day trips, zoo, parks, beach etc. It still adds ups.

Our last true vacation was our honeymoon and that was 4k for 8 days all inclusive in Dominican Republic.

hoffse · May 2014

OP there are lots of ways to travel internationally for cheap. You just have to be willing to do it.

You probably don't get Clark Howard's radio show where you live, but he's a financial guru based out of Atlanta. His websites lists the daily airfare deals out of the Atlanta airport, both domestically and internationally. He actually takes his entire studio staff on a week-long trip each year, and the place they go depends entirely on which airfare deals they can get. His travel philosophy is "find a killer deal on airfare, buy it, and then decide why you want to go there." He's taken his office to Asia, Europe, Montana, Hawaii - it just depends on which rock-bottom airfare deals he can snag.

Airfare is really the hardest because to travel internationally you MUST fly. Once we've finished our top list, we will start to use Clark Howard's technique for travel.

Hotels are easier, but again it depends on what you're willing to do. We could do Peru for a lot cheaper than I quoted, but then we'd be staying in Peruvian hostels. Given that Lima still has very high rates of TB, and you can't drink the water unless it's boiled, I'm just not willing to do that. So we will stay in several of the nicer tourist hotels, and we will pay out the nose for it. But that's just a choice we make. I'm willing to go lower-end in certain parts of the world, but I'm not in others.

Off-season travel is probably the easiest way to save money. If we were going to London in November instead of August, it would save us about $700 on airfare alone. Hotels in London are not markedly less off-season (because people go there year-round for business), but in other parts of the world the off-season hotel prices do drop a lot as well. Avoid traveling during the summer months for Europe/Asia and the winter months for South America/Australia, and you'll save a bundle.

Finally, exchange rate is huge. Right now we're paying about $1.62 for every pound we spend while booking things in advance. That's really bad, especially because prices translate directly (ie: an $8 burger in the US would be an 8 pound burger in the UK). If we had been willing to go to Budapest, however, we would have been paying in forints. Right now the exchange rate is about 2 forints to every penny. So even when the price of a meal is 500 forints, that's still only $2.25.

I don't feel bad spending this much. We don't have kids, we save aggressively, we pay down debt aggressively, and this is something we do for ourselves once a year. We are taking some of the more expensive trips now while we have that disposable income. We are saving less expensive travel for after kids, when our budget gets tighter and our willingness to travel great distances declines.

vlagrl29 · May 2014

we only spent 3k when going to hawaii on the off season back in 2009. I want to go again so bad!

brij2006 · May 2014

@hoffse Your London trip sounds amazing! I studied abroad there for 6 weeks and traveled to 7 different countries while there (on a college student budget). So if you have any questions on what's worth it, what's not, the cheapest way to get around, etc. Just let me know.

FYI, When I was there in 2008 it was at the crash of our market. The exchange rate was $2 for 1 pound. Yeah, ouch!

formerlyGDaisy09 · May 2014

I recall being in London in 2004 and the exchange rate was at least $2 for a pound and was in France on the same trip and Euros were $1.80/euro.

the canadian dollar used to be a good exchange rate, however I think it's about equal now.

I'm only 3 hours from Montreal, H and I did a weekend there for $500 a few years ago.

Xstatic3333 · May 2014

Oh man @hoffse, Peru is a good one! That may need to go on our list too.

hoffse · May 2014

Yeah we feel lucky that the exchange rate has improved, but it's still stupid expensive. Whatever. We hardly ever buy "stuff" anymore, and one week a year we get to splash out.

The exchange rate for the Euro has improved a lot - we're down to about $1.30 per euro.

@Xstatic - you should check out the Peru thing. Super cool. Kind of complicated because you have to account for altitude, and the hotels in the sacred valley tend to be either insect-ridden or ridiculously luxurious (not much in between), so it's pretty $$, but I think it would be totally worth it.

That said, I'm not sure why H wants to go so badly. He hates heights. There are no guard rails at Machu Picchu.

The Galapagos were also his idea, and again I'm not sure why he wants to go. He also hates birds because his mother's pet parrot bit off his pinky finger when he was a baby (true story), so birds tend to make him deeply uncomfortable. The Galapagos is overrun by birds.

Oh well, I'm not going to question it!

ta78 · May 2014

If we didn't have kids I would splurge a lot more on travel. Traveling internationally is near impossible for our budget right now with 2 kids and the other things we are focusing on at the moment.

We did just get back from a 2 week California road trip. Both my brother and our best friends live in California, but we still spent around 1000. Seattle to San Francisco to Los Angeles and back. This will probably be our yearly vacation for the next few years until we downsize homes and build up our e.fund. We do also go on a lot of weekend trips around Washington/Oregon if we want to get out of town.

Wulfgar · May 2014

For us, we spend roughly $600 a year to go to Lake Erie with MW's family. We also get a zoo pass so we can take our son to the zoo.

Both MW and I would like to travel more, but most likely will not be able to if she wants to work part time. The public schools in our area are really bad so we are planning on Catholic school for our son.

Our plan once our student loans are paid off is to do one large trip every few years or once we both have an extra week of vacation, go with my parents to what ever time share they have that works.

I would love to go back to Europe again with MW and family, but it will have to be off peak, I am thinking Spring break time frame depending on pricing.

IAmSherlocked · May 2014

We tend to spend a lot on travel, mostly to visit our families since none of them are local.

We live in Georgia, but most of DH's family live in Colorado, so we take at least one 1-week trip to visit them each year. We recently started staying at hotels because there's no room at his parent's house so that ups our costs, for a total of about $1,000 each trip. I usually get cheap tickets through Southwest so the majority of our money is spent on hotel and car rental (we use employee discounts to keep costs low). I also have to travel for work about once a month or so, and depending on where I'm going DH might tag along and we make a mini-trip out of it--those trips only cost us the $ for DH's plane ticket and any events/restaurants we might visit since all my expenses are deductible. If I'm not home DH works a lot of overtime, so these impromptu trips are usually covered by his OT pay and then some.

We also go visit either my uncle in Orlando, or DH's cousin in Panama City maybe once a year, but those trips don't cost us much. Usually just the price of gas and we'll treat uncle/cousin to dinner to thank them for letting us crash at their place for the weekend.

Our major costs come when we go to visit Brazil. Our last trip there, including everything was about $3,000. Most of my family lives there so I like to go and visit as often as I can (especially to see my parents) but it can be expensive to travel so I usually only get a chance to go once every couple of years. DH and I went there this year for the first time together so that he could finally meet my family (normally I go by myself) and plane tickets alone cost us about $1700 at a non-peak season time, and that's after I had used some of my credit card miles to help with the cost. He absolutely loved Brazil and wants to make at least one trip down there a year, especially after we start a family so that our kids get to know my culture as well as the US.

We would really like to start visiting some more places just as a couple (or maybe with some friends) instead of always just having to visit the same places to see family. We haven't figured out exactly how much we want to budget for that though. When I was younger my parents traveled a lot and really made it a point to immerse ourselves in the culture of whatever place we visited, and that's how I like to travel as well. DH prefers to stay in more touristy (read:pricier) places, so that makes traveling an interesting adventure in compromising for us both, haha. I think once we get a little more money into savings we'll start focusing some more on taking these kinds of trips--hopefully next year! DH has an opportunity to go to Italy for a month and half for work at the end of this year. I'm hoping we'll have enough money saved so I can go with him, but we won't know if he's going until the last minute so that might put the costs for me to go out of reach. I hope not!

jessica490 · May 2014

Great ideas!

KatieCutie05 · May 2014

We only go on weekend away trips once a year since we're in a crap ton of debt but i have no idea how people afford vacations with a family... we are spending 6-700 on a 2 night trip to myrtle beach (only a 3 hour drive) and we're staying off the beach to save money. I don't even want to know what it would cost for a week long vaca with a whole family.

if we ever are debt free we'll be taking trips to sandals every few years - we are going to go back to where we honeymooned in Jamaica at Sandals Whitehouse for our 5 year wedding anniversary ... in 4 years. God willing we will actually be able to afford it then.

maple2 · May 2014

Pre-kids I would typically go on multi-month trips during major life transitions, but they were always on the cheap. I did 2 months backpacking in WA. The only real costs were gas out there, food for the trip, postage to mail food to pick-up locations along the trail, and the occasional meal out when we came off the trail. We were always camping or staying with friends, which kept it cheap. Less than $2000 for 2 months. During another break DH and I went to Guatemala, Peru and Ecuador for 5 months. We did splurge and pay for language school for the first 4 weeks and for the hiking trip to Machu Pichu, but otherwise we opted for cheaper accommodations and did a lot of our own meal prep. We also took local public transportation, which definitely kept costs down and added to the adventure. Including airfare, we spent around $5000. We did a lot of backpacking, which really got us out of the touristy areas and kept costs down. We would often take shorter, closer trips between these big adventures, but we pretty much never went anywhere where we had to stay in a hotel to save money. We either visited friends/family or camped/rented a cabin in a more rustic area. Typically we spent less than $500. We are lucky that we really enjoy the outdoors, which makes it much easier to take a cheaper vacation.

jessica490 · May 2014

KatieCutie05 said:

We only go on weekend away trips once a year since we're in a crap ton of debt but i have no idea how people afford vacations with a family... we are spending 6-700 on a 2 night trip to myrtle beach (only a 3 hour drive) and we're staying off the beach to save money. I don't even want to know what it would cost for a week long vaca with a whole family.

if we ever are debt free we'll be taking trips to sandals every few years - we are going to go back to where we honeymooned in Jamaica at Sandals Whitehouse for our 5 year wedding anniversary ... in 4 years. God willing we will actually be able to afford it then.

Im with you on the Sandals thing. We went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon and want to go back for our 5 yr in 2017 but to think of saving up $4000-$5000 grand or so is crazy. We have to go to a cheaper Sandals location (the Jamaica ones)

vlagrl29 · May 2014

There is a chance we may be going to the virgin islands next April. One of DH's interns, mom is getting married there and may hire him for photography. That would be fabulous.

hoffse · May 2014

jessica490 said:

KatieCutie05 said:

We only go on weekend away trips once a year since we're in a crap ton of debt but i have no idea how people afford vacations with a family... we are spending 6-700 on a 2 night trip to myrtle beach (only a 3 hour drive) and we're staying off the beach to save money. I don't even want to know what it would cost for a week long vaca with a whole family.

if we ever are debt free we'll be taking trips to sandals every few years - we are going to go back to where we honeymooned in Jamaica at Sandals Whitehouse for our 5 year wedding anniversary ... in 4 years. God willing we will actually be able to afford it then.

Im with you on the Sandals thing. We went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon and want to go back for our 5 yr in 2017 but to think of saving up $4000-$5000 grand or so is crazy. We have to go to a cheaper Sandals location (the Jamaica ones)

H and I went to Whitehouse for our honeymoon also and loved it. It's really the best deal of the Sandals chain I think - every single room has a full ocean view with the way it's built, and the beach is incredibly long and private. We actually chose the second cheapest room category (to be on the top floor - it was literally $50 more for the entire week over the cheapest category), and we were extremely happy with it. We managed to get a palapa on the very end of the property each day, and we felt like we really didn't have to fight the crowds at all. I think that trip ran us about $3K with a couple excursions and a spa treatment. It seemed really reasonable to us, for everything you get.

Also - we aren't divers but Sandals includes 2 dives a day for people who are. It's not like diving in Bonaire (or so I hear), but that's a pretty good deal nonetheless.

ta78 · May 2014

maple2 said:

Pre-kids I would typically go on multi-month trips during major life transitions, but they were always on the cheap. I did 2 months backpacking in WA. The only real costs were gas out there, food for the trip, postage to mail food to pick-up locations along the trail, and the occasional meal out when we came off the trail. We were always camping or staying with friends, which kept it cheap. Less than $2000 for 2 months. During another break DH and I went to Guatemala, Peru and Ecuador for 5 months. We did splurge and pay for language school for the first 4 weeks and for the hiking trip to Machu Pichu, but otherwise we opted for cheaper accommodations and did a lot of our own meal prep. We also took local public transportation, which definitely kept costs down and added to the adventure. Including airfare, we spent around $5000. We did a lot of backpacking, which really got us out of the touristy areas and kept costs down. We would often take shorter, closer trips between these big adventures, but we pretty much never went anywhere where we had to stay in a hotel to save money. We either visited friends/family or camped/rented a cabin in a more rustic area. Typically we spent less than $500. We are lucky that we really enjoy the outdoors, which makes it much easier to take a cheaper vacation.

@maple2 I would love to hear more about where you backpacked. I live in Washington and we have just started hiking.

Xstatic3333 · May 2014

hoffse said:

jessica490 said:

KatieCutie05 said:

We only go on weekend away trips once a year since we're in a crap ton of debt but i have no idea how people afford vacations with a family... we are spending 6-700 on a 2 night trip to myrtle beach (only a 3 hour drive) and we're staying off the beach to save money. I don't even want to know what it would cost for a week long vaca with a whole family.

if we ever are debt free we'll be taking trips to sandals every few years - we are going to go back to where we honeymooned in Jamaica at Sandals Whitehouse for our 5 year wedding anniversary ... in 4 years. God willing we will actually be able to afford it then.

Im with you on the Sandals thing. We went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon and want to go back for our 5 yr in 2017 but to think of saving up $4000-$5000 grand or so is crazy. We have to go to a cheaper Sandals location (the Jamaica ones)

H and I went to Whitehouse for our honeymoon also and loved it. It's really the best deal of the Sandals chain I think - every single room has a full ocean view with the way it's built, and the beach is incredibly long and private. We actually chose the second cheapest room category (to be on the top floor - it was literally $50 more for the entire week over the cheapest category), and we were extremely happy with it. We managed to get a palapa on the very end of the property each day, and we felt like we really didn't have to fight the crowds at all. I think that trip ran us about $3K with a couple excursions and a spa treatment. It seemed really reasonable to us, for everything you get.

Also - we aren't divers but Sandals includes 2 dives a day for people who are. It's not like diving in Bonaire (or so I hear), but that's a pretty good deal nonetheless.

GREAT tip! Thanks!

maple2 · May 2014

ta78 said:

@maple2 I would love to hear more about where you backpacked. I live in Washington and we have just started hiking.

Oh, I wish I was still in WA for the hiking. It is incredible! Where do you live? On that particular trip we tried to hike the Pacific Crest Trail through WA. We ran into snow and had to make some detours, but it was absolutely beautiful. I loved the northern section from around Seattle to Port Angeles. I was living in the Columbia Rive gorge when I was in WA, so I did most of my hiking along the rivers that feed into it as well as the Mt. Adams ranger district. The Olympic peninsula also has well maintained trails that showcase a really different part of the state. Oh, and the Wonderland Trail around Mt. Ranier was one of my favorite trips of all time.

I didn't know about this site when I lived there, but maybe it will help you find some hikes in your area: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I hope you make as many great memories as I did!

jessica490 · May 2014

hoffse said:

jessica490 said:

KatieCutie05 said:

We only go on weekend away trips once a year since we're in a crap ton of debt but i have no idea how people afford vacations with a family... we are spending 6-700 on a 2 night trip to myrtle beach (only a 3 hour drive) and we're staying off the beach to save money. I don't even want to know what it would cost for a week long vaca with a whole family.

if we ever are debt free we'll be taking trips to sandals every few years - we are going to go back to where we honeymooned in Jamaica at Sandals Whitehouse for our 5 year wedding anniversary ... in 4 years. God willing we will actually be able to afford it then.

Im with you on the Sandals thing. We went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon and want to go back for our 5 yr in 2017 but to think of saving up $4000-$5000 grand or so is crazy. We have to go to a cheaper Sandals location (the Jamaica ones)

H and I went to Whitehouse for our honeymoon also and loved it. It's really the best deal of the Sandals chain I think - every single room has a full ocean view with the way it's built, and the beach is incredibly long and private. We actually chose the second cheapest room category (to be on the top floor - it was literally $50 more for the entire week over the cheapest category), and we were extremely happy with it. We managed to get a palapa on the very end of the property each day, and we felt like we really didn't have to fight the crowds at all. I think that trip ran us about $3K with a couple excursions and a spa treatment. It seemed really reasonable to us, for everything you get.

Also - we aren't divers but Sandals includes 2 dives a day for people who are. It's not like diving in Bonaire (or so I hear), but that's a pretty good deal nonetheless.

Wow, that sounds great! I will look into that location when the time comes! Cheaper is better too.

Mom987 · May 2014

We have two young kids, so everywhere we go as a family of four is diving distance and 2/3 nights. I'd say $500-800. When the kids are older, we'll go for longer periods of time or just the two of us for 3-day weekends as well.

How much do you spend on vacations?

Re: How much do you spend on vacations?

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