Travel
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: Travel Budget--Poll of sorts
This.
Also, because my job requires a great deal of travel, most of our nights are either complimentary due to being a meeting planner (not often) or free thanks to points. So on the 1-2 nights we need to pay, it's easier for us to splurge if there's a property or neighborhood we really want. And like pp, while making sure I'm staying at the Ritz isn't exactly my top priority, I'm not exactly gonna stay at hostels anymore either.
We are in the same boat as a lot of others. I'm 29, H is 36. We both make good money, and neither have nor want kids. We live pretty far below our means when we are home so that we can afford to splurge on travel, as it is a huge priority/major hobby for both of us.
We are also very lucky in that we are always more constrained by vacation days away from work than by budget for travel. We typically take 1-2 big international trips per year, and several long weekend trips closer to home. What we spend depends on the type of trip and destination.
Last year when we went on safari, we spent WAY above $250/night, but we could afford it and wanted the extra luxury, so I don't see any harm in it. When we stay other places, I typically research and do all I can to find the cheapest accommodation that is up to our standards. Sometimes that is $100/night, sometimes (very rarely) it is $400/night. As long as we can afford it, I don't have a problem paying for nicer places.
Thanks for all of the replies. I really enjoy reading about how others plan trips. I love to find bargains and even though we could afford to spend more, I have a really hard time doing so unless it is for a special occasion or I really feel it is worth it (Turtle Bay on the North Shore). I get a kick out of searching several websites and keeping spreadsheets of hotels.
I agree that hotel location and a private bathroom are really important. For us, having a view or luxuries isn't always as much of a priority. That is why I tried to be really careful with my wording, I didn't want to come across as thinking my way was better or anything.
Kinda late, but I wanted to chime in (in case OP is still reading
).
My situation seems to differ from many of the posters. Husband and I are in our late twenties living off one income (mine) while he finishes medical school. We live in a HCOL area, so don't have much wiggle room in our budget. We've taken a couple trips since we've been married. The big ones were:
- Costa Rica -- 10 days, $5k total
- Yellowstone/Grand Teton -- 10 days, just over $2k total
Planning for our May Peru trip... shooting for under $7k for 21 days.
I'm with you, OP, in that at this point, I can't imagine paying $250+ for a hotel room. However, we've traveled to budget locations where we have cheap options. Though even when we do go more expensive places someday, I'll still be searching hard for a lower cost hotel. We're the type of people who want a clean hotel with a decent bed, hot water and minimal noise (if possible). We don't spend much time in the hotels, so we're not picky about amenities.
But like everyone has said, different people have different priorities. Though I echo your sentiment when you think in your head that your friends/family could do trips cheaper!
I think it's more about priorities and comfort level than budget.
I used to have an insane travel budget as part of my compensation package through work, but it could only be spent on transportation, so we took lots of trips, but tend to skimp on hotels.
My typical hotel criteria are:
- convenient location
- a private room (I had a stranger for a roommate on my Antarctica trip to save costs, but I'm not really into shared dorms)
- linens & towels provided
- an en suite bathroom (This is negotiable, but I really don't like having to leave my room to shower, use the facilities, etc)
- free WiFi is much appreciated if it's an option
I typically stay at small 2-star hotels, but obviously some people have a few more criteria they'd like to meet. And some have less.
We're still young (25) and have no kids or bigger debt (However we also don't own a home/condo). I make good money, especially for being so young, but H is on the low end of the stick.
We don't really have a set travel budget for the year and as we decide on our goals for the future (timing buying a place, having kids, etc); we will adjust, but currently after 401Ks and expenses we just have a general savings account.
At this point we've decided we'd rather travel than buy a place. The opportunity arose for Europe (my sister is living in England for 6 months) so we looked at our savings and estimated the trip and still feel comfortable with what we'll have left so we're going. 18 days (including flying) will cost us around $7,500. We have 11 nights of hotels and I budgeted (based on friends input/googling): $1750. Since we decided to rent apts, we'll be slightly under that. I am thoroughly impressed with your budget OP!
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I don't think anyone here would think that! Each person has a different way of doing things- no right or wrong. A lot of people think I'm insane for not wanting to fly in coach for a flight over 4 hours. Yes, it probably is silly, but there is nothing worse than me arriving somewhere in pain or tired. LOL I'm totally like you with the spreadsheet, though. I think my entire life is run by Excel.
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i agree!! no one here would think that. there's budgets from one side of the spectrum to the othere here and no judging-as long as you get to go on a trip you do it within your means-be them large or small and to your taste-be it extravagant or no
My H and I are 26, no kids, no debt, and have cut our bills down to the bare bones so we can travel. How much we spend depends on our circumstances at the time. I recently moved across the state for my H's job and I have been unemployed for a while so we've had to cut back a bit. He doesn't necessarily make a high salary, but we live in LCOL area so it's certainly manageable, we're very frugal, and save as much money and vacation time as possible.
Sometimes friends and family ask how we can afford it. I always tell them it's about priorities, saving money, and seeking out the best deals. When I had a job we occasionally splurged, but now we're definitely budget travelers and we're ok with that for the time being.
We usually take one big trip per year and I spend a LOT of time monitoring flights, researching accommodations, etc. We're leaving for our 4-week Europe trip this month and we'll be staying in hostels this time. Obviously this doesn't appeal to everyone and we love to stay in nice hotels sometimes, but right now it's what's feasible and we're just happy as long as we can still continue to travel.
My budget is definitely nowhere near some of the other people's on this board, so you're not alone. We travel in off or shoulder seasons and even when we "splurge" we never spend over $200 a night on a hotel. However, I still find it really interesting that there's such a variety and love reading about trips of all types!
For us it varies by trip- we're much more inclined to splurge on a luxury room when we're on a weekend trip than we are when we're doing two weeks somewhere. Location is almost always the biggest factor when I look for accomodations- I want views, I want walking distance to sights and restaurants, etc.- and I am willing to give up on amenities to have a better location.
When we take longer trips we often change locations halfway through and stay at one budget-friendly property and then move to a more upscale place for the second part of our trip. When we went to Puerto Rico we stayed at a guesthouse that had shared bathrooms but was right in the middle of Old San Juan, then moved to a beautiful oceanfront property on the east side of the island for the second half of our trip. In Peru we stayed at a very inexpensive little B&B that offered total privacy, amazing views of the Ollantaytambo ruins and had a rushing river right under our window then moved to an amazing hotel right in the middle of Cusco that had vaulted ceilings, a fireplace and balcony overlooking a square. This way we get a little bit of luxury out of each trip without totally breaking the bank.
An American Girl's Travels
We're in our late 20s, make decent salaries (who doesn't want to make more money?), and eventually we will have kids. We are teachers and we travel during our mid-winter break (we don't travel much during the summer since we use that time to go visit DH's family and we join a country club and want to utilize our membership.) Because our break is only 10 days long, our trips are 7 days/6 nights or less. During our mid-winter break (February), we typically travel to Europe and so far I've always been able to get our tickets for less than $700/pp. Since our tickets aren't what we'd call super expensive, our budget does allow us to spend more on a hotel.
We never spend more than $300/night on a hotel and the price has always depended on where we were staying/what's included. In Spain, we we stayed for about $100/night, no breakfast included. In Switzerland, we stayed for $250/night, breakfast included. We are also sort of picky about hotels - we're willing to pay for good location, excellent accommodations, etc.
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We don't really budget for travel. We'll pay more for a nicer room at a nicer hotel (if we can't use MH's hotel reward points) if it's on our own dime. But in the past several years, we have traveled a lot on someone else's dime since MH has a lot of work-vacation trips sponsored by his employer. And MH travels a ton for his job so he keeps racking up on his personal airline and hotel reward points. But even if he didn't, we are an older couple without kids that live comfortably from a financial standpoint.
You may be amazed by travel/hotel budgets, but I'm amazed that you're in the position to take a 17-night vacation in one trip. I don't think either MH or I have ever taken a long vacation like that. Even for our honeymoon in the Maldives, which was 9 or 10 days max (including the long travel time back and forth).
I think you're very lucky you can take 2 consecutive weeks of vacation for 1 trip.
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