Levels of FI

[RobbieB]

I really enjoy Rombauer Chardonnay. It's $35/bottle. I can tell the difference (from ten buck stuff) and it's worth it.

 

[Amethyst]

Total Wine's web site allows you to sort on type, varietal, price, and rating (if one exists). MD doesn't allow wine to be shipped to your home, so we make our selection on-line and pick it up at the store.

We used to be able to find quite a few 90's for <=$10, but there are few to be found nowadays. So now we sort by customer rating - if a $9.00 bottle gets several 5-stars along with legitimate-sounding customer praise (i.e., doesn't sound like a bot wrote it) we'll try it. So far, nothing has been bad and most have been tasty.

(I mean, to me, paying $10.00 for less than a quart of something to drink still sounds expensive )

Amethyst

Cap,

Love to see your list of great $10 wines. I find that I can not really tell a great deal of difference in a $10 bottle and a $40 bottle. Now get me into a $140 bottle and I can tell. Cheers

 

[Danmar]

I really enjoy Rombauer Chardonnay. It's $35/bottle. I can tell the difference (from ten buck stuff) and it's worth it.

Our favourite Chardonnay. Hard to get in Ontario so drink it mostly in Arizona. Easy to tell the difference and agree it's worth it, at least to us. One of our friends there refers to it as "housewife crack". Seems a little insensitive to me.

 

[sailor]

That 6 European Capitals (though it's 5 + Krakow, no? )

Hey - Krakow used to be a captial of Poland, so it still counts

My plan is to take regular size bookbags for the 8-9 week trip. We did this in Mexico and it worked out perfectly. No checked luggage. No lost luggage. Not sure if we'll do 3 days of clothes or 4 (how common are the wash/dry/fold places in mid to big city Europe?).

We also travel light, similar size bags. It's easier to do in warmer weather and if you don't pack for special activities (like sailing or horseback riding, but even swimming suits & goggles add weight). My bag is heaviest, because of work laptop, but still bookbag size.

Wash/dry/fold are not that common is smaller towns, but can be found easily near universities/colleges in most European cities - they are pricey though - I typically try to arrange with airBnB host to do laundry there - just be prepared for line drying, almost nobody has a clothes dryer at home.
We also did some small washing in the sink (socks, underwear & t-shirts) - while I don't like the feel of them, synthetic, quick dry t-shirts dry very fast and are light to pack.

 

[Nemo2]

We also did some small washing in the sink (socks, underwear & t-shirts) - while I don't like the feel of them, synthetic, quick dry t-shirts dry very fast and are light to pack.

(Mainly) for travel I bring men's 90% polyester/10% spandex boxers.....comfortable & quick drying.

 

[purplesky]

So has anyone here ever used go ahead tours. I have traveled with them a few times and actually right after 9/11 happened I went to Paris which was interesting.

You can travel for less money on your own obviously but it is kind of nice to have AN itinerary and all your transportation organized in advance.
Go ahead Tours is designed for experienced traveler so they give you the option to go on your own which is really nice.

I have brown bagged travel to places like chili ,Costa Rica ,and Nicaragua , Europe etc.and it's definitely fun and adventurous.

Getting lost is part of the fun but sometimes you lose time and it can get old.

 

[Teacher Terry]

In general we avoid tours, I don't want to be told where to be at certain time, etc. The exception was when my sister and I went to Thailand. WE booked tours for everywhere we went.

 

[purplesky]

In general we avoid tours, I don't want to be told where to be at certain time, etc. The exception was when my sister and I went to Thailand. WE booked tours for everywhere we went.

Go ahead is actually really flexible for experienced travelers.

Yeah if you totally want to be on your own 100% then It wouldn't be the way to go.

 

[FUEGO]

We also travel light, similar size bags. It's easier to do in warmer weather and if you don't pack for special activities (like sailing or horseback riding, but even swimming suits & goggles add weight). My bag is heaviest, because of work laptop, but still bookbag size.

Wash/dry/fold are not that common is smaller towns, but can be found easily near universities/colleges in most European cities - they are pricey though - I typically try to arrange with airBnB host to do laundry there - just be prepared for line drying, almost nobody has a clothes dryer at home.
We also did some small washing in the sink (socks, underwear & t-shirts) - while I don't like the feel of them, synthetic, quick dry t-shirts dry very fast and are light to pack.

We usually toss the swim suits and goggles in the bookbag too. I weighed some of my cargo shorts and they were almost 1 pound each. Fortunately I found some light weight shorts on clearance at Wally world for $5 and immediately I thought "perfect for our trip!". I might select my wardrobe based on the lightest weight 3-4 articles of clothing.

We're doing mild to slightly warm locations (summertime; nothing more northern than Berlin or Hamburg Germany probably), except we are most likely doing an ice cave tour in the Austrian Alps where it's 30-40 degrees even in the middle of summer. I'm kind of thinking I can get by with some of those sock-looking things you pull over your arms (or actual socks with the toe portion cut off!). The rest of the family might take light jackets for chilly nights elsewhere and make do with a second layer underneath that while in the cave.

Hmmm, no clothes dryers? How uncivilized! The places we rented in Mexico all had clothes dryers though I we could easily afford places that were not the cheapest options in town ("villa" or "compound" might be accurate descriptors for most of the places). Even the hotel in Cancun had a free (!!) washer and dryer (found out on our last night after [-]hand[/-] foot washing our 3 year old's poopy pants in the shower then pinning them to the air vent to dry ).

 

[bclover]

Budget travel is healthier and more real life. It's not about luxury, it's about experiencing the local lifestyle.

I went to Italy this year. My best memories were walking around, seeing Roman ruins underneath Alba, a wine tasting tour with a translator and private driver (68 Euros per person) and just seeing the relaxed lifestyle of small town Italy.

Travel is about seeing places where people don't speak English and don't care.

There is no sacrifice in budget travel.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

ok, so I gotta ask, if I stay in a luxury hotel and fly first class my trips are unhealthy and some how less authentic?? Guess my family's trip to London is doomed.

while I can enjoy how the locals live, I also want to experience the things I don't do at home. I can't get a behind the scene tour of the Louve, so that's what I saved while working for.

Sorry, I have a serious issue with the superiority attitude that in order to be a "real" traveler one must go a certain way. Who dictated that is what travel is about?? or the other holier than thou attitude that if you prefer to spend your money on other stuff than travel you are obviously wrong, because you can't be "worldly"

I just don't get it. On one hand we tout that the reward for saving and living below ones mean is to retire and enjoy life and then with the other side of our face we say if enjoying life is not "budget" it's some how less "real".

 

[RobbieB]

Of course, don't you know?

As soon as you taste the "good life" you will be addicted and spend your nest egg in 5 years and live out the rest of your miserable existence on the street in a cardboard box.

These are the terrifying truths that will manifest to all who leave the "frugal path"

 

[bclover]

Of course, don't you know?

As soon as you taste the "good life" you will be addicted and spend your nest egg in 5 years and live out the rest of your miserable existence on the street in a cardboard box.

These are the terrifying truths that will manifest to all who leave the "frugal path"

lol, I just find it interesting....
We advocate LBYM, saving for a rainy day and supposedly ER'ing to enjoy life but then we very quickly judge those who following those very suggestion but enjoy spending their cash differently.

I always feel like if I admit that yes, I went to Paris and we stayed at the Hotel du Louve, and loved it, it will be like that scene out of the movie Invasion of the body snatchers, where the zombies figure out the hero is human and they all point and say "not one of us"

 

[Gumby]

The young wife and I are most definitely not budget travelers. We like good food and wine and a nice place to stay, and we are quite willing to pony up for experiences that we can't get sitting at home. I have described a number of our trips on this forum, and I have never felt that anyone here was asking me to apologize for my vacation spending.

 

[Nemo2]

Sorry, I have a serious issue with the superiority attitude that in order to be a "real" traveler one must go a certain way.

We travel at 'ground level' because that is our preference, (I don't particularly like hotels, and I really don't like people pretending to fuss over me), if other people want to do it differently, good luck to them.

 

[FUEGO]

It's Louvre, right? That's the place with huge hordes of people pushing and shoving to see the tiny a$$ little painting of that chick with the smile on her face. Or is it a frown?

I hear it's so busy no one even goes there any more.

 

[Calico]

It's Louvre, right? That's the place with huge hordes of people pushing and shoving to see the tiny a$$ little painting of that chick with the smile on her face. Or is it a frown?

I hear it's so busy no one even goes there any more.

For all the folks who don't see the annoying attitude of superiority regarding the "right" way and the "real" way to travel which is sometimes (not always) in evidence in this forum, I give you: Exhibit A.

There is no need to mock the choices others make, just because they differ from your own.

 

[Gumby]

I'll let Fuego speak for himself, but that seemed tongue-in-cheek to me.

 

[bclover]

I'll let Fuego speak for himself, but that seemed tongue-in-cheek to me.

I guess its statements like "budget travel is more real and healthier" that leave me flummoxed. The implication seems to be because one stays at the Mandarian Oriental some how their trip is not "authentic" or if one does not see how the "locals" live, why bother.

it's all good

 

[bclover]

It's Louvre, right? That's the place with huge hordes of people pushing and shoving to see the tiny a$$ little painting of that chick with the smile on her face. Or is it a frown?

I hear it's so busy no one even goes there any more.

Naaa that's not the place. The Louvre is the marvelous museum where you can go on off hours and see absolutely magnificent works of art in all types of medium. If you have children they host superb treasure hunts that are fun and expose youngin's to art or you can do like I did and sign up for a photography class that takes you around.

the only hordes evident are at the entrances which because of the recent terror attacks in France have become super fortified.

You must be thinking of Versailles.

 

[Fermion]

I think in a lot of places you really don't want to see how the locals live anyway.

 

[DrRoy]

I have 6 months to RE. I make around $125K and taking out savings and taxes, DW and I live on $80-85K of that. No mortgage. I am expecting that our RE spending will be about the same, just spent a bit differently, including more on travel and health insurance, and less in some other areas.

 

[FUEGO]

It's Louvre, right? That's the place with huge hordes of people pushing and shoving to see the tiny a$$ little painting of that chick with the smile on her face. Or is it a frown?

I hear it's so busy no one even goes there any more.

I'll let Fuego speak for himself, but that seemed tongue-in-cheek to me.

Ding ding ding! What does he win?

Go see what you want to see, stay where you want to stay, live/eat/sleep/party like the locals or don't. Nobody really cares if we spent $1000 on a month long budget road trip or other people camp inside the Louve, Louvre, or whatever (just don't camp in the Loo) for $1000/nt.

Part of the fun of this forum to me is seeing how other people choose to spend money and comparing it with how we spend money. Occasionally I learn something and incorporate what I observe here in my own spending decisions. My objective function (like most here, I imagine) is maximizing my value received per dollar spent (within my budget of course) and not minimizing all expenses (because travel isn't necessary and $0 would be spent if minimization was the goal). Everyone has different parameters for what they value and how they spend money.

Some desire to work longer to save more and afford a higher class of travel (or cars, or houses, or something else that costs money). Some want to work less, and live frugally, making the most of what they have.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I agree that there is no right or wrong way to travel. Enjoying life is what it is all about)

 

[Danmar]

I agree that there is no right or wrong way to travel. Enjoying life is what it is all about)

Obviously, but many of the travel posts are detailing how inexpensive a trip is. We don't often read about the very expensive, luxurious ones. Makes sense as that is the dominant culture here. No issues for me. I just dont talk about our trips in a way that will ruffle feathers. Which it surely would.

 

[Nemo2]

Obviously, but many of the travel posts are detailing how inexpensive a trip is.

One factor, perhaps, is that it's always 'easier' (personal preferences aside) to spend more for something than it is to spend less?