Is $12,000 per year in travel enough

[Moemg]

Haven't taken an 'official' tour yet, except for one in Iceland to see the geysers/waterfalls/tectonic plates, etc......and we didn't do that through the cruise line. (Oops, just remembered, we grabbed a bus, run by volunteers, in Greenock, Scotland, for a little around-the-town drive.)

Usually we prefer to make our own way wherever possible.

Just curious do you visit museums and attractions that have entry fees or is that a no no ?

 

[Nemo2]

Just curious do you visit museums and attractions that have entry fees or is that a no no ?

It's not unheard of; we have paid to visit places, (castles and the like), that we really want to see, but oftentimes the exterior of many buildings, (the architecture/presence of them), offers us more allure than the interior.

All in all though, we get more utility out of wandering the back alleys of old cities....places where people have lived for numerous centuries, and continue to reside.

One of my favorite cities, destroyed now and I'll never return, was Aleppo, Syria; I was there almost 54 years ago, I had no money and spent no money, but wandered around enthralled.

Added: On our upcoming trip we will visit Auschwitz, and pay.......in Prague we visited Terezín and paid...it's all relative to priorities.

 

[brett]

Now that we are retired our travel for the past four years has generally include two trips plus a number of smaller ones such as a one week AI getaway.

Typically we take an eight week trip in the fall. Often to places like Greece/Turkey/Italy or Spain/Portugal. We keep our travel open and watch out for last minute cruises that we can pick up at a significant discount.

In winter it is two-three months of travel to avoid the cold weather and snow. Three years have been SE Asia, Australia. One year has been South America/Central America for nine weeks with one 14 day cruise thrown in. Back to SE Asia with the Philippines thrown in next winter.

Our actual travel expenses do not exceed 12K USD on an annualized basis.
We stay in 5 stars all the way down to 1 stars and local pensions/small hotels.

This is not a difficult to do. We use the web to search out good travel opportunities, we keep our schedules flexible, and we also keep an eye on FX market opportunities that serve to decrease or increase our cost of travel.

So, as Canadians, US travel and US priced travel options are not on our horizon. This has meant far fewer cruise opportunities. UK, European travel options are on the horizon because of their weakening currencies. And a trip back to South Africa may be on the horizon as a side trip from Europe because their currency is making a return trip less expensive as each day passes.

When our currency was strong we took advantage of it and did lots of US travel, and purchases of cruises priced in USD. Our neighbours to the south have a great opportunity for travel at the moment. The USD is high, many other currencies are low. Now is the time to travel. Not necessarily for US currency priced options such as Med cruises etc but for independent travel or travel booked through European firms in their respective currencies so as to take full advantage of the FX situation. Or to Canada, Australia, or SE Asia. And from what we have seen, air fares are at very attractive prices.

 

[Nemo2]

Working on the final stages of our scheduled Fall trip, leave October 22, arrive home November 20:

Thus far:

- Flights Toronto-Sofia, Bulgaria, via Turkish Airlines, (~ 4 1/2 hour layover in Istanbul)......$962.92 Canadian total

- Accomodation in Sofia for 13 nights.....$445 Canadian total, (we plan to maintain this place and do day trips; transportation, (likely trains), plus any overnighters will be extra, as will groceries, apparently inexpensive in Bulgaria, for the duration)

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/18903877


- Flight Sofia to Rome via Alitalia $113.34 Canadian total. (includes cost of one checked bag..$30 Canadian)

- Overnight in Rome, (across from the train station), $74.53 Canadian, (plus, I believe, a €3 per person city tax)

- Train Rome to Civitavecchia and transport (likely bus) from Rome Airport to station hotel not yet included, cost minimal.

- Repositioning cruise Civitavecchia to San Juan, Puerto Rico ~ $2159.25 Canadian, (we have some onboard credits to partially offset 'mandatory gratuities', but haven't included them here)

- Flights Air Canada, San Juan to Toronto, $691.90 Canadian

- Overnight hotel in Toronto, (we'll use their free shuttle to get to the hotel the evening we arrive, and again to return to the airport the following morning to catch the MegaBus home), $100.08 Canadian.

- Also not yet included, shuttle from cruise terminal to airport in San Juan, top up of previous medical insurance policy, and MegaBus charges to & from Toronto.


Sub total: $4547.02 Canadian...approx $3,660 US

 

[Meadbh]

Working on the final stages of our scheduled Fall trip, leave October 22, arrive home November 20:

Thus far:

- Flights Toronto-Sofia, Bulgaria, via Turkish Airlines, (~ 4 1/2 hour layover in Istanbul)......$962.92 Canadian total

- Accomodation in Sofia for 13 nights.....$445 Canadian total, (we plan to maintain this place and do day trips; transportation, (likely trains), plus any overnighters will be extra, as will groceries, apparently inexpensive in Bulgaria, for the duration)

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/18903877


- Flight Sofia to Rome via Alitalia $113.34 Canadian total. (includes cost of one checked bag..$30 Canadian)

- Overnight in Rome, (across from the train station), $74.53 Canadian, (plus, I believe, a €3 per person city tax)

- Train Rome to Civitavecchia and transport (likely bus) from Rome Airport to station hotel not yet included, cost minimal.

- Repositioning cruise Civitavecchia to San Juan, Puerto Rico ~ $2159.25 Canadian, (we have some onboard credits to partially offset 'mandatory gratuities', but haven't included them here)

- Flights Air Canada, San Juan to Toronto, $691.90 Canadian

- Overnight hotel in Toronto, (we'll use their free shuttle to get to the hotel the evening we arrive, and again to return to the airport the following morning to catch the MegaBus home), $100.08 Canadian.

- Also not yet included, shuttle from cruise terminal to airport in San Juan, top up of previous medical insurance policy, and MegaBus charges to & from Toronto.


Sub total: $4547.02 Canadian...approx $3,660 US

I don't know how you do it, Nemo2!

 

[Nemo2]

I don't know how you do it, Nemo2!

But, but......that is how we do it.

 

[97guns]

Im sitting at around $8k for the year on trips to Hawaii, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and multiple smaller road trips with a couple trips in the immediate plans and probably a few others that are not in the plans so I'll be exceeding the 12k, I'm guessing closer to $15k... that's with budget traveling, budget rooms, cheapest rental car, cheap everything

 

[Souschef]

Since we are traveling less, we have decided to go with higher end tours. In the past 2 years, we took 2 tours with Tauck.
Philadelphia to Washington-11 days, $4900 each plus air
Western Canada tour 10 days $5700 each plus air
We enjoyed them both, staying in high end hotels like Fairmonts.
BUT, we are done with group tours and now proceed at our own pace, in many cases using the same itineraries that the tours do.
We may even stay at the same hotels, but there is no" bags outside at 7:30 on the bus at 8:30"

 

[MissMolly]

The low cost traveling that some of you manage to do absolutely blows me away. I think you guys need to get together and teach a class to folks like me.

 

[braumeister]

Working on the final stages of our scheduled Fall trip, leave October 22, arrive home November 20:
...
Sub total: $4547.02 Canadian...approx $3,660 US

You, sir, are positively scary. Impressive scary, but still …

Wow!

 

[CaliKid]

We are at the "no comment" level of spending on travel. It's fun but it's getting scary when I add it all up in Quicken.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Planning to FIRE at 45 with plan to slow travel 1-2 months per year staying in one spot for most of it. I am budgeting $12K per year to do this. I'm Canadian and from what i can tell $3000USD will get me a decent place for one month pretty much anywhere in the world (found some even in NYC on AirBnB). It's amazing the value you can get on long term accommodations versus what one night in a hotel costs. It's just my wife and I so would have plane tickets on top of that and there are always ways to get deals on that - wait for sales, points, etc. I don't consider food expenses in my budget since i have to pay for food anyways. We don't anticipate going to places where a car is needed so we would save on that. If cars were needed for trips they would be rentals.

Our hobbies are somewhat inexpensive - hiking, mountain biking, golf, kayaking, exploring new foods. Some of those obviously more expensive than others and depending on the trip we may or may not even be doing those things. ie a Palm Springs vacation would have golf while a New York one would not

So is this budget reasonable? I've also thought about renting out our primary house for the time we are gone - which would offset any travel costs as well rather than pay someone to look after it

Thats about 12000 more than I currently spend

 

[cathy63]

But, but......that is how we do it.

You guys are amazing! We've got 3 weeks in Scandinavia next month, and though we beat you on airfares, we don't have anything anywhere near those room rates. And I bet food will be a lot cheaper where you're going too. We are totally splurging by going to the most expensive part of Europe to celebrate our 30th anniversary though. Next year we're definitely going to the cheap countries!

I hope you have an awesome time.

 

[Moemg]

I think most of us can add a few thousand to Nemo's trip to account for dining out, tours ,cabs ,a little shopping and just sipping a glass of wine at an outside cafe .

 

[explanade]

I know food in Scandinavia is expensive but what is Scandinavian cuisine?

Heavy on the seafood?

But I think Asian fusion is popular up there as well.

 

[Nemo2]

I think most of us can add a few thousand to Nemo's trip to account for dining out, tours ,cabs ,a little shopping and just sipping a glass of wine at an outside cafe .

Indeed. I recall posting, some time in the past, that "We don't dine, we grab something to eat". Ingestion is not a priority for us; we don't, on ships, run up bar bills, go to the 'specialty restaurants', (or visit the spa, or, or or..), nor, on land, do we frequent restaurants.

On our recent Pullmantur cruises, after a hot day, we had a Tecate or two, but they were included in the price...if they weren't, we wouldn't have had them.

It's all a matter of choices, and we'd rather wander around places we've never seen before, perhaps munching on an apple and/or a piece of cheese, than sit in bistros or cafés.

"Chacun à son goût" as the Maasai say......oh, wait....

 

[Souschef]

Indeed. I recall posting, some time in the past, that "We don't dine, we grab something to eat". Ingestion is not a priority for us; we don't, on ships, run up bar bills, go to the 'specialty restaurants', (or visit the spa, or, or or..), nor, on land, do we frequent restaurants.

On our recent Pullmantur cruises, after a hot day, we had a Tecate or two, but they were included in the price...if they weren't, we wouldn't have had them. Why NOT?

It's all a matter of choices, and we'd rather wander around places we've never seen before, perhaps munching on an apple and/or a piece of cheese, than sit in bistros or cafés.

You are right, about whatever floats your boat, but we enjoy dining, going to bistros, etc. as part of the experience.
I am reminded of an acquaintance of mine, who knew the price of everything, but the value of nothing.
I do not regret the 400 Euros for a private tour of Monet's Giverney, or the flight over the Nazca lines in Peru.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

 

[Nemo2]

You are right, about whatever floats your boat, but we enjoy dining, going to bistros, etc. as part of the experience.
I am reminded of an acquaintance of mine, who knew the price of everything, but the value of nothing.
I do not regret the 400 Euros for a private tour of Monet's Giverney, or the flight over the Nazca lines in Peru.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Oscar Wilde was an acquaintance of yours?

As to the 'Why not?': because it didn't mean that much to us.

On one ship, at the behest of friends who enjoyed it, we accompanied them to one of the (included) restaurants a few times; other than enjoying their company, we both regarded the 'restaurant experience' as more of a PITA than a 'treat' and wouldn't have done it without them as, by itself, it was of no importance to us.

I've commented before that I/we are not looking for converts.....(in the immortal words of Popeye "I Yam What I Yam")....and don't expect others to become acolytes........if we had waaay more money than we have we might possibly, (since both of us detest flying), upgrade to Business Class on transocean flights, but DW was a SAHM for a number of years after graduating from university (and before returning to school and becoming a software developer), while the only 'real' job I ever had, (other than working so that I could continue traveling), lasted for a mere 13 years before I quit forever age 46, so we are not in that category.

Even if we did have considerably more money, eating in restaurants would still have zero attraction for us........more money would translate into more time spent wandering the alleys of old towns and cities, and I'm not sure why 'sitting in a bistro' is more pleasurable than 'sitting on a park bench'.

 

[athena53]

Even if we did have considerably more money, eating in restaurants would still have zero attraction for us........more money would translate into more time spent wandering the alleys of old towns and cities, and I'm not sure why 'sitting in a bistro' is more pleasurable than 'sitting on a park bench'.

I agree- DH and I tended to think of food as fuel to keep us going. We almost always had dinner in the room, typically stuff from the local grocery and liquor stores. I'm off to Iceland next month and, with DH gone from this world, I'm even less likely to hang out in restaurants. I did, however, book a day tour to Greenland because that's my priority!

To each his own, though- I've always said that one person's Vacation from Hell is another's Dream Trip. You couldn't pay me to take a cruise on a mega-ship and many people on CruiseCritic take multiple cruises a year on them.

And, to answer the original question: $12K/year is about what I anticipate spending all on my own. Much of it will go to Business-Class airfares but that's a priority of mine on long hauls.

 

[Nemo2]

To each his own, though- I've always said that one person's Vacation from Hell is another's Dream Trip. You couldn't pay me to take a cruise on a mega-ship and many people on CruiseCritic take multiple cruises a year on them.

We're with you on this one too......the smaller the ship the better. We do take transatlantics on ships larger than we'd 'prefer', but it's a permanent 'Naaah" for the leviathans.

 

[athena53]

We're with you on this one too......the smaller the ship the better. We do take transatlantics on ships larger than we'd 'prefer', but it's a permanent 'Naaah" for the leviathans.

Yeah, I just booked my 4th cruise with UnCruise Adventures- it's an 88-passenger ship. Staterooms nothing to write home about (although all have windows), ONE dining room with far more limited choices than the big ships (but locally-sourced where possible, prepared mostly from fresh ingredients), excursions very focused on nature rather than shopping for tanzanite. I could get a room with a balcony (oh, yeah, they call them "verandahs") and a butler on a mega-ship for the same price but that's not me. I'm glad there's something for everybody.

 

[Nemo2]

Yeah, I just booked my 4th cruise with UnCruise Adventures- it's an 88-passenger ship. Staterooms nothing to write home about (although all have windows), ONE dining room with far more limited choices than the big ships (but locally-sourced where possible, prepared mostly from fresh ingredients), excursions very focused on nature rather than shopping for tanzanite. I could get a room with a balcony (oh, yeah, they call them "verandahs") and a butler on a mega-ship for the same price but that's not me. I'm glad there's something for everybody.

The ship sounds great!

One we had our eyes on, (somewhat larger than yours), but passed up this year, is VTG's #16334 on the Wind Surf, @14,745 GT.....Tenerife-St. Maarten @$973 US p.p.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Surf_(ship) (For some reason the link takes you to a Wiki site where you have to click on 'ship'.)

 

[Sojourner]

It's all a matter of choices, and we'd rather wander around places we've never seen before, perhaps munching on an apple and/or a piece of cheese, than sit in bistros or cafés.

Even if we did have considerably more money, eating in restaurants would still have zero attraction for us........more money would translate into more time spent wandering the alleys of old towns and cities, and I'm not sure why 'sitting in a bistro' is more pleasurable than 'sitting on a park bench'.

Very intriguing take on the world. My snap reaction upon reading this was "Well, sitting in a quaint little café and sipping a glass of wine al fresco on an old cobblestone street somewhere in Europe is like a little slice of heaven to me, and how could anyone think otherwise?" But upon further reflection, I think it's just part of what I see as the grand and varied tapestry of the overall travel experience. For me, sitting in a small, out-of-the-way café with locals all around makes me feel like an actual part of that little corner of the world—their real world—and there is so much fulfillment and satisfaction in that. And sitting on a park bench nibbling on an apple and some cheese for a quick lunch or snack would give me a similar sense of being present and truly immersing myself in the local environment and culture. One isn't better than the other, as they both add to the diversity and richness of the experience. I do tend to avoid the obvious tourist traps whenever possible, for those tend to yank me out of the moment and disrupt the magic of the experience.

Wow... writing this is making me suddenly crave a trip to Italy or France! I'm going to a wine tasting party later today, so maybe while I'm sipping and sampling I can close my eyes and envision myself in that little Italian enoteca in Rome I enjoyed so much on my last visit.

 

[Senator]

I have gone on several trips this year in the USA. About 10 weeks total, many nights in a Motel. LOTS of excursions. LOTS of food. We NEVER make our own food on a trip.

I spend less than $1,500 per week on my outings, for two people and a dog. We have driven to most places.

Use Groupon when you get there, over 55 discounts, gas coupons, veterans discounts, etc.

I bet I save $50+ at each location per week due to coupons.

 

[W2R]

I'm not sure why 'sitting in a bistro' is more pleasurable than 'sitting on a park bench'.

I'll just quietly suggest that for some (not all) it might possibly have something to do with alcohol/wine.
Pardon me while I hide over here....