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What's Your Annual Travel Budget?
Old 05-24-2018, 11:49 AM   #1
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What's Your Annual Travel Budget?

When we retired at age 50/51, we set a $10K yearly limit.

Now ages 65/66, we have no limit and decided in our mid-50s to no longer fly coach (we both have history of back problems).

We average $20-$25K a year in travel and don't feel guilty about it. Wish we had not been so conservative in our early retirement years.

Figure we have another 10 to 15 years of active travel. After that we may resort to guided tours and possible cruises (though we dread the thought of that).
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Old 05-24-2018, 12:01 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by mexexpat View Post
When we retired at age 50/51, we set a $10K yearly limit.

Now ages 65/66, we have no limit and decided in our mid-50s to no longer fly coach (we both have history of back problems).

We average $20-$25K a year in travel and don't feel guilty about it. Wish we had not been so conservative in our early retirement years.

Figure we have another 10 to 15 years of active travel. After that we may resort to guided tours and possible cruises (though we dread the thought of that).
Our budget for 2018 is 15k. Looking to upgrade it some more in the coming years if possible. 58/57 ages.
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Old 05-24-2018, 12:03 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by mexexpat View Post
When we retired at age 50/51, we set a $10K yearly limit.

Now ages 65/66, we have no limit and decided in our mid-50s to no longer fly coach (we both have history of back problems).

We average $20-$25K a year in travel and don't feel guilty about it. Wish we had not been so conservative in our early retirement years.

Figure we have another 10 to 15 years of active travel. After that we may resort to guided tours and possible cruises (though we dread the thought of that).
I think your travel budget sounds reasonable, for someone who loves travel and can afford it. I am not sure if your projection of 10-15 years of active travel is realistic or not; I am pushing 70 and seem to be aging much more quickly now than I was at 65. So anyway, I'd suggest prioritizing your travel and getting the most important trips done ASAP. For example, do you long to climb Macchu Picchu, or perhaps shoot the rapids on the Colorado River or wherever-it-is that people do that? If so, do it right now. Do not assume that you will be able to do as much as you think, later on, because nobody really knows for sure.

Personally my annual travel budget is $0.00, but then we prefer staying home. I am living in my Dream Home and love being here so much.

I haven't traveled more than 5-10 miles from home, since I retired back in 2009. The one exception was in 2012 when I spent $913.80 on evacuating to Alabama for Hurricane Isaac, but I took that from my emergency funds rather than budgeting for it.
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Old 05-24-2018, 12:14 PM   #4
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My personal travel budget is $0. If I can't afford to FIRE then I can't afford to travel IMO. If I had the time and money I may do some travelling but it's not a big deal to me.
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Old 05-24-2018, 12:16 PM   #5
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I think we will spend $18K to $20K on travel this year. That includes multiple road trips within CA for family visits, camping, holidays; a few days in Vegas; a FL Keys/Caribbean trip; and the Switzerland/Austria trip we're planning for fall. We're in our second year of retirement, and so far this year we've been away at least one night during every month. In July we're staying home!
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Old 05-24-2018, 12:20 PM   #6
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I don't like to travel any more. Mine is zero.
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Old 05-24-2018, 12:42 PM   #7
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We set aside about $27K per year mostly for airline tickets. Since we are away from our primary residence for about 5 months of the year, we count the food, automobile, gasoline, and entertainment expenses separately as part of our regular budget.
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Old 05-24-2018, 12:49 PM   #8
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We've spent anywhere from $10K to $40K in the past few years. It just depends on whims and opportunities. We typical buy private travel, with a guide and driver, work with the guide or the company to define an itinerary, and specify in detail the kind of accommodations we want. (B&B and small hotels) We avoid groups, even small ones, to the maximum extent possible. We marvel at the giant cruise ships, which look to us like floating dog kennels.

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Old 05-24-2018, 12:57 PM   #9
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Our travel budget is $3600/yr. However we've owned boats forever and that was costing us about $8000/yr so we deliberately traveled less, kinda figured we should indulge in one or the other, not both. But we sold our boat over the winter with no plan to get another soon if ever, so we'll be spending more on travel this year, but (much) less than the past total of both.
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Old 05-24-2018, 01:02 PM   #10
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This is our first full year of retirement at age 58.
Don't have a travel budget per se but after checking our financial records, I noticed we have spent $7K so far this year on travel (29 days outside home) .

I figure we will spend $15K -$20K in travel this year.

Thanks,
Rick
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Old 05-24-2018, 01:25 PM   #11
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We are 59 and 64 and spend 10-14k/year. That gives us 2 nice trips.
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Old 05-24-2018, 01:29 PM   #12
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Now, about $12,000 - $15,000 per year. After we FIRE, I budgeted $48,000 a year, but I don't think we'll spend that much. I figure one big Euro trip, a big domestic trip and a weekend get away a month is what we'll do.
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Old 05-24-2018, 01:37 PM   #13
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i'm budgeting $12K a year when retired; we spend maybe $3K a year now...
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Old 05-24-2018, 01:39 PM   #14
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I think it will end up averaging about $15K/year and that's for just me. Typically two major trips a year with any long-haul flights in Business Class. This year it was 3 weeks in India and Nepal, used miles to fly Business, and Scotland with a side trip to Paris coming up in September. A few smaller trips, too- road trips to visit family, maybe a flight to see friends in Ohio, a bicycling trip to a B&B on the Katy Trail a few hours away (drive there but spend most of my time after that on the bicycle).

Next year: UnCruise in the Sea of Cortes in March, probably a meeting of my professional society in Honolulu and an UnCruise between Molokai and Honolulu in November.

ETA: UnCruise is the name of the cruise line- small ships, no fancy-dress nights, very nature-focused. Love those people.
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Old 05-24-2018, 01:46 PM   #15
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Yikes, you all are making me re-think my travel provision of $10K. We are 53 and I have another 2-3 years of servitude. I suppose that what we can spend will depend on my number when I call it quits. I think I would travel less if I could claim my freedom sooner.
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Old 05-24-2018, 01:52 PM   #16
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I think I would travel less if I could claim my freedom sooner.
I very much agree with this. If budgeting less for travel will get me out of full time work sooner then it's worth it.
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Old 05-24-2018, 02:32 PM   #17
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No budget but probably spent around 6k already, leaving for Thailand, Hong Kong and Malaysia next month for 4 months, that’ll be at least another 6k
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Old 05-24-2018, 03:29 PM   #18
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No budget per se, I just track total spending. So far, 2 1/2 yrs into ER, I have spent only about 1.0k on travel, all local. I'm surprised my interest in it has waned since ER, as before that I would peruse brochures regularly and thnik "When I'm retired, I will go". I seem to be like W2R now, and also just enjoy my home and local community so very much. The pet care is a factor too of course, but I really do have very good resources to care for them in my absence if I really wanted to go away for more than a day trip. I just, again to my surprise, do not want to.
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Old 05-24-2018, 03:42 PM   #19
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I'm surprised my interest in it has waned since ER, as before that I would peruse brochures regularly and think "When I'm retired, I will go". I seem to be like W2R now, and also just enjoy my home and local community so very much.
I've got really mixed feelings sometimes. That last 3-week trip is probably the longest I want to be away from home. I love my house and I have a good life here. I even feel a little bad pulling out of the driveway when I'm headed to the airport. Sill, it's the travel to interesting places that keeps my neurons firing. For now, I need both home and interesting destinations!
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Old 05-24-2018, 03:54 PM   #20
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This is my first year of retirement and I've budgeted $10-15K for both travel and entertainment (e.g., theatre and concert tickets). Looking through old ER threads on the topic helped me come up with this number. So far I've been on two 10-day trips and spent $4700. I have two additional trips planned through August and will add at least one more and some holiday travel by end of year. All travel is domestic but my touristy destinations tend to have expensive hotels.
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