Travel Budget

[Birchwood]

I'm sure this varies a lot. How much is your yearly travel allowance?
What % is this of your annual expenses?

 

[utrecht]

Our travel budget is $3000 per month. Thats probably a lot more than most people but we really want to travel a lot. So far we haven't come close to spending that much. Ive been recovering from surgery and its also been hard to get away for long periods while our son is still in HS.

 

[truenorth418]

I'm looking to spend about $25,000 on travel this year - that's 40% of my budget.

 

[Senator]

I have $2,000 in my budget per month. I plan on taking 3-4 USA trips per year, for ~2 weeks each, if at all possible. About 20% of my allocated retirement spending, but about 60% of what I spend now.

Spending that much may be a challenge, as I am pretty frugal when traveling. As I get more comfortable in my retirement, I would like to do a 3-month RV trip to Alaska.

I fly Spirit airlines, fly mid-week, book trips somewhat off-season, etc.

I just applied for my passport this AM, just in case I venture through Canada or the Caribean in the near future...

 

[hnzw_rui]

I'm sure this varies a lot. How much is your yearly travel allowance?
What % is this of your annual expenses?

Still working so not much time for travel. Household budget set aside for family vacations is $5-10K/year (50/50 split for me & mom). We go on a 5-week vacation (+1 week recovery) once every 2-3 years. However, we usually take a 1-2 week staycation every year around the Christmas/New Year.

 

[Meadbh]

$10,000. That's about 20% of my annual expenses.

In my first year of ER I thought I might need $10,000, but decided to budget for $8,000. I exceeded my budget, so in Year 2 I increased my budget back up to $10,000. This year is Year 3 and I have spent less to date, but I will make up for that next year.

 

[utrecht]

I have $2,000 in my budget per month. I plan on taking 3-4 USA trips per year, for ~2 weeks each, if at all possible.

Spending that much may be a challenge, as I am pretty frugal when traveling. As I get more comfortable in my retirement, I would like to do a 3-month RV trip to Alaska.

I fly Spirit airlines, fly mid-week, book trips somewhat off-season, etc.

I just applied for my passport this AM, just in case I venture through Canada or the Caribean in the near future...

UGH! I've flown Spirit a few times and they absolutely SUCK! Southwest, Jet Blue, Virgnin and others are just as cheap and have so much better service, more leg room, wifi, TVs in the back of the seats. I'll never fly Spirit again.

 

[tmm99]

I have set aside $5,000. I spent that much each year when I was wor*ing, but now, I am kind of enjoying staying home doing things in town with my DH etc, so I will see.

 

[Senator]

UGH! I've flown Spirit a few times and they absolutely SUCK! Southwest, Jet Blue, Virgnin and others are just as cheap and have so much better service, more leg room, wifi, TVs in the back of the seats. I'll never fly Spirit again.

I admit, not the most comfortable. I am flying from MSP to Vegas for $58 each way.

 

[mrfeh]

In retirement, travel will be about 10% of annual budget.

 

[CaliforniaMan]

The way I look at our travel budget is how much we spend on travel related living expenses relative to what we spend at home. Last winter we spent three months in SE Asia and, not counting airfare, we actually spent less than we would living at home (we do have a house there). For example if we spend $1500 a month on food and eating out etc in the U.S. but then spend $2500 on the same things when we travel I figure our actual travel expenses we have to save for are $1000. I don't count what we would spend anyway. So now our goal is to make our basic travel expenses close to what we would spend living at home, and save for the travel extras, those experiences we are willing to spend a little more on. So far it is a plan, will see how it works out over the next few years. Wonder if anybody else looks at it this way?

 

[Bamaman]

We're perpetual travelers, and just got home last Friday after 3 weeks in Scandinavia and Russia. I casually ran into my sister and her husband walking down the street in Warnermunde, Germany.

We don't really have a budget, but our trips usually are about $4K including everything. We just travel when incredible bargain trips are spotted online. If we don't find a bargain, we travel to Canada.

My wife only recently got computer literate. Bad move. She's already signed us up for an inexpensive Celebrity cruise from Rome to Greece/Turkey and back to Venice April, 2017. Fortunately, I've located round trip flights for $750 thru London.

We realistically believe we've only got 10 more years of travel left in us. We're seeing the world while we're capable of physically and mentally traveling.

 

[Rustic23]

We spend about $10,000 which is 20% of our spending but less than 10% of our annual income. Therefore, we really don't have a travel budget. We have lived in Europe, Hawaii, and in east coast and west coast cities. While there are a few foreign trips on our bucket list, most of our travel revolve around reunions rather than bucket destinations.

 

[braumeister]

I lump travel spending in with hobby spending, since they frequently overlap to a considerable extent.
Over the last eight years, this category has varied between 8% and 26% of total spending.

 

[Meadbh]

The way I look at our travel budget is how much we spend on travel related living expenses relative to what we spend at home. Last winter we spent three months in SE Asia and, not counting airfare, we actually spent less than we would living at home (we do have a house there). For example if we spend $1500 a month on food and eating out etc in the U.S. but then spend $2500 on the same things when we travel I figure our actual travel expenses we have to save for are $1000. I don't count what we would spend anyway. So now our goal is to make our basic travel expenses close to what we would spend living at home, and save for the travel extras, those experiences we are willing to spend a little more on. So far it is a plan, will see how it works out over the next few years. Wonder if anybody else looks at it this way?

I do look at it that way. Of course I enter travel expenses in my Travel category. But I realize that I would have been spending money on groceries, gas, etc at home if I were not traveling. For example, in 2016 I will be taking a 13 day repositioning cruise across the Atlantic. For less than the cost of a business class airfare, I will get transportation plus almost two weeks of living expenses. When I get to Europe I will be spending two weeks there, one of which will be at an upscale resort that I am exchanging time with. I will be able to prepare many of my own meals. And because many of my travel expenses will have been prepaid, I expect that my total spending that month may be lower than at home. Looked at like that, I can't afford not to travel. Thanks to ER, I have the time to do so.

 

[audreyh1]

About 15% of our after-tax spending budget. We also have a travel fund that has grown over the years that can be tapped into if we go over budget any given year and/or choose to splurge on travel at any time.

 

[hnzw_rui]

So now our goal is to make our basic travel expenses close to what we would spend living at home, and save for the travel extras, those experiences we are willing to spend a little more on. So far it is a plan, will see how it works out over the next few years. Wonder if anybody else looks at it this way?

We do somewhat. It's really just the groceries and discretionary expenses that we can offset. Most of our other costs are fixed (rent, insurance, phone, internet, etc). Still, it's awesome that a meal for a group of 20 in the Philippines costs the same as dinner for 10 in the US.

 

[utrecht]

I admit, not the most comfortable. I am flying from MSP to Vegas for $58 each way.

2 wks ago we flew from Ft Lauderdale to Wash D on Jet Blue for $116 RT. In Oct we are going from Ft Lauderdale to Dallas on Southwest for $108 RT.

Much better than Spirit. Southwest has no fees for carry on or checked bags and no fees for flight changes. Jet Blue has free carry ons. Spirit charges for everything. I'm afraid to ask a Spirit employee for directions cuz they might charge me. Cant even get a friggin pretzel on their planes.

 

[LauAnn]

$8,000 -- 32% of budget.

 

[Nemo2]

For example, in 2016 I will be taking a 13 day repositioning cruise across the Atlantic. For less than the cost of a business class airfare, I will get transportation plus almost two weeks of living expenses.

We have made the same comments to friends numerous times - next Spring we're on a 12 day repositioning cruise, oceanview cabin, St. Maarten-Barcelona for $349.50 US p.p. base fare & taxes....(gratuities not included).

(Of course, we do have to fly Toronto-St.Maarten one-way, and then Porto-Toronto one-way home...but, all in all......)

 

[utrecht]

We have made the same comments to friends numerous times - next Spring we're on a 12 day repositioning cruise, oceanview cabin, St. Maarten-Barcelona for $349.50 US p.p. base fare & taxes....(gratuities not included).

(Of course, we do have to fly Toronto-St.Maarten one-way, and then Porto-Toronto one-way home...but, all in all......)

Where's the best place to find these re-positioning cruises?

 

[Nemo2]

Where's the best place to find these re-positioning cruises?

We start with VTG, since they have fairly comprehensive listings, then check to see what Expedia and/or the individual cruise lines are charging.........this Spring's trip, and next Spring's (same ship) trip we ended up booking with VTG.

 

[Gill]

Where's the best place to find these re-positioning cruises?

Look on any cruise line website. Repositioning cruises aren't any different than any other cruise except for the fact you end up at a different port from where the cruise began. They usually are when there is a seasonal change, such as when ships are repositioned in the Spring from the Caribbean to Alaska or Europe. For example, you might find a ship in May that has been sailing the Caribean all Winter have a sailing from Miami to San Francisco. They're not necessarily any cheaper although they sometimes are.
Bruce

 

[CaliforniaMan]

We do somewhat. It's really just the groceries and discretionary expenses that we can offset. Most of our other costs are fixed (rent, insurance, phone, internet, etc). Still, it's awesome that a meal for a group of 20 in the Philippines costs the same as dinner for 10 in the US.

When we did our first long term (for us) trip outside the U.S. we put our cable and phone on vacation hold, so those expenses really dropped. Gas, electric, water etc were way down since we were away, no mortgage, so we did find our fixed costs drop quite a bit.

And I am with you on the awesomeness of what you can do on less part. We really enjoyed going out with friends to all of the movies, restaurants, live music, etc, for a small fraction of the cost it would take here.

I am thinking that if the next time we spend 4 or 5 months there, we will save enough to take some side trips to other countries in the area, or maybe another trip to Europe. And when you spend time like that it starts to be more like living there than visiting, which I like.

 

[FI by 2024]

The way I look at our travel budget is how much we spend on travel related living expenses relative to what we spend at home.....Wonder if anybody else looks at it this way?

I do this too. When I have an upcoming trip, I mentally add the grocery-gas-entertainment-etc money for that time period to the vacation bucket. It works well for me.

I budget ~$3600 each year but usually spend about $2000. The $2000 is about 5% of after-tax spending. It's so low because the military is gracious enough to send me several places each year. This has been the best year yet. Virginia, Qatar, Bahrain, Turkey, and Germany!

In retirement (which is still a fair ways off) I'm estimating $6000/year, ~15% of my budget. Hoping to take advantage of free military air transport, maybe an RV, maybe some house sitting, etc.


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