Travel- How often, how long, how much $$?

[Jimonlimon]

One year to retirement... Thinking about annual spending budget including travel.

Summary question- How often do you go on recreational travel; how long are typical trips; assuming a set budget do you go shorter with more luxury or stretch it out with lower priced options?

We typically take a few weeklong trips per year. Any longer and it's too miserable coming back to mountains of work at my job. This year we are heading to Aruba tomorrow, Puerto Vallarta in April, Hawaii in September, and probably a weeklong hiking trip this summer. We also take a couple trips to visit the kids at their colleges across the country. We seek out deals and although we've moved on from Motel 6, we still have the mindset that lodging amenities aren't worth money when we're asleep. Typical weeks in Hawaii have been running us under $3000 in hotels, about $2000 if we share a condo and cook for ourselves. We spent about $12,000 on travel last year.

Realistically I don't think we would be doing more trips, just longer. Probably one bigger splurge per year farther away from home such as the South Pacific, South America, Europe. Definitely long hiking/backpacking trips but those don't really cost much other than transportation.

My seat-of-the pants guess is that $24,000 annual travel budget for the first several years of retirement would be plenty- a bit more for years we do a spurge trip. In fact it appears ridiculous but I also think hotels and restaurant meals are ridiculous so maybe it matches?

 

[Ronstar]

We typically do several road trips a year with one airline trip. Middle of the road spending in airbnbs and Hampton inns. Probably spend $15-$20k per year. We are now extremely limited in a MIL eldercare situation, or we would be in the $25k range.

We have a 3 week, a 2 week and a 1 week trip planned in 2023 where we can get MIL to stay with SIL.

I think $24k per year is a good start OP - looks like you've got your trips planned out well. I've found that planning several months in adavance helps the process.

 

[stepford]

It really depends on what you like to do. DW and I have had some great $1K trips (domestic road trip / camping) and some great $20K trips (multi-month international). Over the last few (pre-pandemic) years we were spending around $10K/yr which was typically several domestic road trips with 1-2 shorter (2-4 week total) overseas.

In the last 3 years we've done a lot less and have averaged maybe $2-3K/yr (all domestic). We hope to return to our earlier travel habits 'sometime soon'.

 

[skyking1]

Jim we don't have the experience to back it up, but still come up with a similar number for the first few years of retirement. It will taper as our abilities do. DW has rheumatoid arthritis and it does not improve, so I hope to front-load our travel as much as we can.

 

[tenant13]

Last year I started in Portugal where I arrived shortly before Xmas of 2021. I stayed there until early March and went to southern Spain for a few weeks. Back home at the end of March. I went to Mexico for about a month mid May and to Provincetown for two weeks at the end of July. Then I went to Europe for two months (Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Austria and Greece) at the start of September. Back home on November 1st. I'm flying out to Panama next week - no clue for how long and no idea whether I stay in Central America or head down south. I think the general idea is to spend winter in the sun.

While I do keep track of my expenses, I'm not sure I would consider my life as separated into travel and not-travel. I know how much I spend on dining out for example but that's worldwide - and while I have dinner in Vienna I don't spend money on food in US. My fixed US cost (rent, internet, phone, insurance, credit card fees etc. are around 20k). I think of that as the cost of maintaining a "base" - place that I consider home but it's hardly that anymore. Everything else is just every day spending. Some necessary (food and accommodation), some discretionary.

Interestingly, my typical travel choices lower my general cost of living. Well, normally... In 2021 I bought a car and did the road trip in North-East US and that was twice as expensive and half as pleasant as my time in Portugal. Food and accommodation quality in midwest just can't be compared to what you can get outside US. As an example: Waldorf Astoria in Panama City is around $180/night. That's what I was paying last year for a dusty Holiday Inn in... I dunno, Nashua.

 

[mountainsoft]

As others mentioned, the costs really depend on the types of vacations you take. If you like to fly off to foreign destinations for a month, or take a long boat cruise, it's gonna cost a lot more than a road trip across the state.

As for us, we rarely spend more than $2000-3000 on any single vacation, and even those are typically spaced out years apart. Most of our vacations are simple one or two night road trips, which typically cost around $500-1000. We can enjoy several of those throughout the year as opposed to one or two big trips by air.

We've made two trips to Mexico and three to Hawaii over the years and never spent more than $3000. But those were several years ago and costs were a lot less. We always rent small private cottages, usually make at least half our own meals, and rarely pay for any guided activities. Hiking, laying on a beach, sightseeing, etc. cost nothing other than the gas to get there.

Here in the pacific northwest we are lucky to have hundreds of sights and activities to enjoy within 200 miles of our home. Cities, beaches, mountains, trains, planes, and automobiles. We could spend many years traveling locally and still not see everything. Heck, I have a list of 20-30 places within 30 miles of home we still haven't seen, and I find more every day.

 

[SoloDrifter]

I'm planning for global near continuous trips next year for 2024 based out of Florida, with a mix of cruises and around month long stays in various countries around world, back in Florida every few months to handle local things, visit friends for 2-3 weeks then back at it.

I'm budgeting up to $150/day average (plus health/travel insurance separately) but it's a soft budget. If I go over budget may consider longer stays in cheap countries like Portugal, Romania and Vietnam mixed with cruises. Could end up doing longer than a couple years if still enjoying it.

It all depends on domicile situation in FL. I'm a FL resident but would prefer not to rent/own in FL. Looking into ways to confirm domicile still established in FL even though not owning/renting. Can buy a small place if need be but would like to avoid that until back more permanently.

 

[tenant13]

As others mentioned, the costs really depend on the types of vacations you take. If you like to fly off to foreign destinations for a month, or take a long boat cruise, it's gonna cost a lot more than a road trip across the state.

My personal experience from 2021-2022 contradicts this.

 

[fosterscik]

We have typically taken 3 week max trips (because we had a cat and pet sitting for longer was very difficult on the cat). Unfortunately our 18-year-old cat died over the summer after a very long and healthy life.
As a result we can go on longer trips now. We've booked a 7-1/2 week trip to SE Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia) for next March. So in 6 months or so we'll be able to tell you if we like it!

 

[brett]

This number can vary greatly. It depends on where you travel, when you travel, and how you travel. I had lots of structured business travel. Now most of our travel is spontaneous.

We typically do two extended independent 8 weeks trips a year. One is a snowbird trip the other is a fall trip. Also Mexico, Costa Rica, South America We have done 5 snowbird trips to Thailand/Vietnam, Australia. Travel in SE Asia is far less expensive that Australia or the US-Hawaii, Florida, Arizona, etc.

Our first winter trip was to Thailand. My spouse was not keen to go. We booked a flight and left a week later. After that my spouse had no interest in Florida, etc. Every year she wants to go back to the beaches in Thailand and Vietnam. Usually uncrowded beaches not popular with tourists. The only downside is the flight.

Our fall trip has been places like Italy, Greece, Turkey, etc with stops in other parts of Europe. Post covid, this spring we did 5 weeks in Portugal.

In between these trips we sometimes pick up last minute specials. Perhaps to an AI.

I do not recall ever spending 24K in one year. We came close to that we we did a 6/7 month international trip post early retirement.

We stay at no stars to six stars. We sometimes travel during shoulder season when there are fewer people and prices are lower. IF we go to SE Asia this winter it will not be until the busy lunar New Year travel timeframe has passed.

The only way you will get a handle on travel costs is to shop, go out and travel. Do research. There are lots of ways to control or to reduce you costs with little or no impact..

 

[Souschef]

We traveled from 2007 to 2018. In the first few years, we spent about 40 K on travel. We did land trips, ocean and river cruises. As we got older, and our bucket list was filled, we slowed down. Our last few trips were cruises round trip from our home port. NO airports.
Here is the summary:
CRUISES 18
DAYS 511
TRIPS 52

 

[athena53]

When DH was alive, we took two big trips a year (typically Europe) and maybe 4 or 5 road trips with a few hotel nights and some stays with family. I was still working FT but had a decent amount of vacation days. We cheerfully agreed that if time and money were no constraints, two major trips would still be our max.

He's been gone 6 years, I'm retired and I still do two major trips a year plus road trips. I'm drawn more now to small-group tours (Overseas Adventure Travel is my current favorite) and that runs the price up. I'm also 100% Business class on long-hauls. Occasionally I do an independent trip- last May I flew to Munich and wandered around Munich and Valetta, Malta and loved both. OAT is for places further out where I'm less comfortable with the language and I'm too chicken to drive in remote areas. I loved Albania. Who knew? My limit is 3 weeks- I get a bit homesick after that.

I'm probably spending more on hotels and airfare, even after accounting for inflation, because I racked up a lot of points/miles from business travel and we used them enthusiastically.

Anyway- I spent $27,000 on travel last year. $5,200 was round trip airfare to Munich (I was in an "I don't care what it costs" mood) and another $5,000 or so was for a trip this May with OAT including Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos. 2020 was about $8,000, 2021 was $17,000.

You definitely need to do research. I don't like mega-groups (including cruises), I like having everything taken care of for me in unfamiliar areas such as India and Bolivia, and I like to fly in the pointy end of the plane. It all adds up. I also found that as DH's health deteriorated as he got older (he was 15 years older than I was) we needed to be closer to public transportation, it was much easier on him to get a car service between the airport and the city rather than dragging our bags on and off buses and trains, and it was better to reserve a larger hotel room to give him a nice space to relax while I did more exploring.

 

[brett]

Since retiring we have switched to carry on only. For us that means international size carry on, limited to about 8KG (17lb).

Two reasons. One was the ability to handle our bags independently no matter where we traveled. Trains, ferry, rental cars, B&B's with no elevator, cobblestones, etc. The other was sheer convenience.

It was a challenge at first but now every time we return from a trip we are so thankful that we did carry on only.

Another thing we do is shop internationally. As an example, we picked up a last minute 21 day Australia cruise while we were travelling in SE Asia. By calling the RCI Sydney call center direct we realized a 30 percent saving (adjusted for currency) over the best price our US on line TA or the RCI NA website could provide. Our last three Mexico AI's have been booked through a UK travel site. Same for accommodation from time to time. We saved 25percent our domestic SA flights by calling the Aerolineas call centre in BA vs booking on line on the usual NA sites. Same for air in other countries...Turkey, Greece, Mexico etc.

 

[athena53]

Since retiring we have switched to carry on only. For us that means international size carry on, limited to about 8KG (17lb).

I managed that on my 3-week E. European trip because there were nightmare headlines at the time (September 2022) about lost luggage. The tour company had an agreement with a woman in Zagreb, midway through our trip, who laundered and pressed everything overnight for a very reasonable cost. I also brought only lightweight fabrics that could be hand-washed and hung up to dry overnight. No jeans!

Still, I found it VERY restrictive because of what I couldn't bring home. Our travel was all overland but I had to pass up local wine, honey, balsamic vinegar, preserves, etc. that would have brought back wonderful memories back home. I spent a couple of nights in London on the way home so even taking a gamble by checking it on the trip home would have been risky since it involved two segments in addition to my connection in Chicago.

I agree on traveling light, though. Murphy's Law is that there will INEVITABLY be a giant upward staircase on your trip with no elevator available.

 

[Surewhitey]

We spent a bit more this year with 2.5 weeks in Italy. We maxed out the travel this year with additional trips to family and taking a month or so for MIL care. Probably 7-8 weeks, Mexico three times, California, Florida and Colorado. Also a few road trips. All in approximately $15k. We aren't full-time yet, but we would likely double that if full time...

 

[brett]

A little research can really pay off.

Not only where to go, what to see but also how to travel and what the various offerings are...especially if you are a senior.

We spent five weeks in Portugal in May/June. Our flight to Madeira, was less expensive that a flight to Lisbon on the same airline even though we changed planes in Lisbon for a Madeira flight. We spent a week in Madeira in an apartment. We got a much better rate by paying part in advance via bank transfer

This was the first time in Portugal that we had not rented a car. Decided on rail based on where we planned to go.

We found out that trains fares in Portugal were half fare for seniors so we registered for that on line before arriving. On our second train trip the conductor asked for our passports to verify it against the detail we registered on line with.

Our first post retirement six month trip included an African safari. We spent some time a local TA but were not satisfied. We went on line, connected with a tour provider on line and booked directly with them at a substantial discount AND much better information.

 

[2017ish]

It all depends. For us, we strive to travel 6 months of the year, and we literally retired to travel. The majority of our spending to date (5.5 years) has been on travel. Our budget has been a lot, but our plans were to spend more traveling each year than our entire post-tax budget in the years before we retired.

We are outliers.

(We also are in the "carry-on" only camp, except for dive trips. Makes life much easier.)

_________________
Takes a lot of time to plan trips. DW probably averages 3-4 hours a day on planning/booking when we are at home. She dislikes that expenditure of time, but loves the fact that she is in control and gets precisely what she wants.

 

[Jimonlimon]

I've been dreaming about renting an apartment for 2 months at the same price as a hotel for 2 weeks.

As I noted in my original post- $24,000 per year for a few trips sounds crazy. I'd rather do more low-key travel where we enjoy scenery, culture, and experiences vs. fancy hotels and expensive tours.

 

[tulak]

I travel as much as possible. Last year I was gone for 10 out of 12 months - not the entire month - which included one domestic flight and four international flights.

Costs can vary. I self plan and stay in airbnbs a lot, unless a hotel makes sense. Stick with mid-range accommodations. For flights, I only take carry on. No way I’ll check luggage.

I probably won’t travel as much this year, but will likely have two Europe trips.

No one answer for this question. All depends on how you want to spend your time and money.

 

[flyingaway]

Since retiring we have switched to carry on only. For us that means international size carry on, limited to about 8KG (17lb).

Two reasons. One was the ability to handle our bags independently no matter where we traveled. Trains, ferry, rental cars, B&B's with no elevator, cobblestones, etc. The other was sheer convenience.

It was a challenge at first but now every time we return from a trip we are so thankful that we did carry on only.

Another thing we do is shop internationally. As an example, we picked up a last minute 21 day Australia cruise while we were travelling in SE Asia. By calling the RCI Sydney call center direct we realized a 30 percent saving (adjusted for currency) over the best price our US on line TA or the RCI NA website could provide. Our last three Mexico AI's have been booked through a UK travel site. Same for accommodation from time to time. We saved 25percent our domestic SA flights by calling the Aerolineas call centre in BA vs booking on line on the usual NA sites. Same for air in other countries...Turkey, Greece, Mexico etc.

AirAsia limits carry-on to 8kg, so I only bring a backpack with me for 32 days travel in SE Asia.

 

[Vincenzo Corleone]

Generally, we take two trips per year. At first, it was one two-week trip overseas and one one week domestically or to some island (e.g., St. John) to get away from the winter. In 2018, we changed it up a little bit and did two two-week trips overseas. In 2022, we did two overseas trips, one of which was for a month. Our travel expenses since 2016 are:

2016	$20,526
2017	$19,066
2018	$22,305
2019	$29,521
2020	$2,725
2021	$22,564
2022	$44,259

There are times when we fly on miles. My wife and I play the credit card juggling act to rack up as many miles as we can. You can probably travel for less than we do. For example, in 2016 we went to Iceland, and we enjoyed the scenery, culture, and simple experiences but we also took tours and booked activities that were on the expensive side (but oh, so much fun) - e.g., dog sledding and snowmobiling on a glacier - that many would not care to do or have the physical ability to do. One can still enjoy Iceland immensely without doing those extra things. One advantage is that my wife, with only a couple of exceptions, does all the planning and booking rather than hiring a travel agent. She's quite good at it and she has the help of TripAdvisor.

 

[brett]

AirAsia limits carry-on to 8kg, so I only bring a backpack with me for 32 days travel in SE Asia.

That is exactly why our target weight is 8KG when leaving home. My spouse uses some of the weight that I do not need.

And they do check. More than one time when prior to going through security at the AirAsia wing of KUL airport Air Asia agents were checking the weight of 'suspicious' carry on. Two agents...each with a scale. Probably because so many people check in on line and the desk never gets to see or weight their carry on.

Last time in Brisbane, we each had our carry on weighted twice ...the second time at the gate,by Jeststar. We had paid the fee to upgrade our allowance from 7Kg to I believe 10kg.

Scoot never seems to bother, or should I say they never checked ours. Each of our bags are typically well within 1Kg of the limit.

 

[DrRoy]

We are fortunate to be able to spend $30-50K per year on travel. Usually 2-3 trips from 2-3 weeks, and one longer one in the spring where we drive out west and bring the dog too. 2022 was a high year that included some Covid catch-up trips, with one of them being a European river cruise and extension to the Italian Alps. We had 6 major trips and it was just a bit more than we preferred, but didn't want to miss any of it. During a 7 month stretch, we were gone just over half of the time.

 

[athena53]

For example, in 2016 we went to Iceland, and we enjoyed the scenery, culture, and simple experiences but we also took tours and booked activities that were on the expensive side (but oh, so much fun) - e.g., dog sledding and snowmobiling on a glacier - that many would not care to do or have the physical ability to do. One can still enjoy Iceland immensely without doing those extra things. One advantage is that my wife, with only a couple of exceptions, does all the planning and booking rather than hiring a travel agent. She's quite good at it and she has the help of TripAdvisor.

I like to book excursions and private tours when traveling independently- it's such a luxury to be able to ply the guide with questions and get answers about what you're seeing! Two of my favorites: a trip down into an inactive volcano in Iceland (we descended into it via a hydraulic lift) and kayaking around the city walls of Dubrovnik.

I also use TripAdvisor a lot and I know there are fake reviews out there but so far I haven't been misled. Maybe I'm a frustrated travel writer but I enjoy contributing my own as well.

 

[Vincenzo Corleone]

I like to book excursions and private tours when traveling independently- it's such a luxury to be able to ply the guide with questions and get answers about what you're seeing! Two of my favorites: a trip down into an inactive volcano in Iceland (we descended into it via a hydraulic lift) and kayaking around the city walls of Dubrovnik.

I also use TripAdvisor a lot and I know there are fake reviews out there but so far I haven't been misled. Maybe I'm a frustrated travel writer but I enjoy contributing my own as well.

Here's a photo of me on the 2-mile hike to that very volcano of which you speak. Memories that will last a lifetime.