Poll:Do you have a yearly Travel Budget during retirement?

[cyber888]

I thought I'd do a poll on how much people spend on travel on a yearly basis when retired. I was trying to do a budget when I retire next year, and wonder how other travel lovers splurge on travel. I'm looking at around $10k-$11K initially.

[luckydude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyber888 I thought I'd do a poll on how much people spend on travel on a yearly basis when retired. I was trying to do a budget when I retire next year, and wonder how other travel lovers splurge on travel. I'm looking at around $10k-$11K initially.

Pre-Covid I was spending $40k-50k a year (family of four, 2 kids), usually 2 international trips (2-3 weeks in duration) + 2 domestic trips (less than a week).

No travel in 2020 and 2021 so $0.

With Covid in the rear-view mirror, we plan to ramp up traveling to make up for lost time. This year we're taking 2 international trips---4 weeks in UK/France in summer and 3.5 weeks in Australia at end of year. I spent $40k for the UK/France trip and a big part of the cost was airfare; it's just much more expensive to fly now. We usually travel biz class or buy premium econ and try to upgrade with points/mileage. I expect to spend the same amount for the Australia trip, so I figure around $80k this year for traveling.

I plan on doing the same (2 big trips a year) for the next couple of years until kids go to college. So I figure around $80k/year in 2023 and 2024.

Once kids go to college in 2025, I will have a lot more free time to travel, so I plan to do multiple solo trips to mountain biking destinations such as Australia, Peru, Canada, Switzerland, etc. I figure 2-3 such trips a year + 2 big trips with family, so I expect to spend up to $150k a year for traveling. Hopefully I'll be able to do this for at least another decade before age slows me down. I don't really spend money on anything else, so traveling is my thing for BTD.

[Alan]

We used to spend well over $20k/year on travel pre-Covid and had planned a long trip to the USA next year but our daughter is now moving back here to England so it looks like our travel spend is going to be in the range $5-$10k going forward with a very occasional trip to Australia to visit my brother and other family members. (She and her Australian partner plan to retire to Adelaide in 10 to 15 years)

[old medic]

We don't really have a budget. We normally camp someplace every month.

[DrRoy]

It's more than my first RE year budget, but we have been in the $30-50K range.

[pacergal]

$10-15K has been our standard, some years more, some less, recently almost $0.
We are planning and budgeting for a big family trip in 2024, so it will be much more.

[cyber888]

Right, if you are 4 people, you definitely spend more. It's just DW and me, so 2 people for us. We're looking to fly Premium economy - I guess you have to shell $4000-$5000 each person for business class to Europe.

Summer is also peak season and more expensive. DW does not like crowds, so we'll probably do off-season which is also cheaper. We did Venice, Italy and France during summer, and too much crowd for my partner.

Good luck with the trips.

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckydude Pre-Covid I was spending $40k-50k a year (family of four, 2 kids), usually 2 international trips (2-3 weeks in duration) + 2 domestic trips (less than a week). No travel in 2020 and 2021 so $0. With Covid in the rear-view mirror, we plan to ramp up traveling to make up for lost time. This year we're taking 2 international trips---4 weeks in UK/France in summer and 3.5 weeks in Australia at end of year. I spent $40k for the UK/France trip and a big part of the cost was airfare; it's just much more expensive to fly now. We usually travel biz class or buy premium econ and try to upgrade with points/mileage. I expect to spend the same amount for the Australia trip, so I figure around $80k this year for traveling. I plan on doing the same (2 big trips a year) for the next couple of years until kids go to college. So I figure around $80k/year in 2023 and 2024. Once kids go to college in 2025, I will have a lot more free time to travel, so I plan to do multiple solo trips to mountain biking destinations such as Australia, Peru, Canada, Switzerland, etc. I figure 2-3 such trips a year + 2 big trips with family, so I expect to spend up to $150k a year for traveling. Hopefully I'll be able to do this for at least another decade before age slows me down. I don't really spend money on anything else, so traveling is my thing for BTD.

[braumeister]

We don't budget, but I try to forecast our spending in various categories over the year. Some years are BTD for a cruise or long foreign travel, others are relatively tame. Trying to stay in a fixed band for such a discretionary spending item wouldn't work for us.

Here is our Travel & Hobby spending for the last 15 years. The jump at 2013 is when DW joined me in retirement.

[Walt34]

Given that we hate travel our travel budget is usually in the hundreds of dollars annually and those trips are usually for medical stuff. Occasionally we'll go one or two states away to see relatives for major gatherings but not often.

[cyber888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pacergal $10-15K has been our standard, some years more, some less, recently almost $0. We are planning and budgeting for a big family trip in 2024, so it will be much more.

This is the budget I was thinking too, base on my calculations.

[luckydude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyber888 Right, if you are 4 people, you definitely spend more. It's just DW and me, so 2 people for us. We're looking to fly Premium economy - I guess you have to shell $4000-$5000 each person for business class to Europe. Summer is also peak season and more expensive. DW does not like crowds, so we'll probably do off-season which is also cheaper. We did Venice, Italy and France during summer, and too much crowd for my partner. Good luck with the trips.

Thanks cyber888. Happy travels to you as well.

The airfare is the killer in our travel budget for sure. Unfortunately, our 2 kids are still in school so we can only travel during high seasons (summer and Xmas/NY) when airfare is much more expensive.

Before Covid we were able to defray a lot of the airfare costs through frequent flier miles/points so our trips were cheaper, but a lot of those expired during 2 years of Covid shutdown, so we're now forced to shell out much more than before. For our summer trip this year, 40% of the $40k spent were for airfare.

[jollystomper]

As part of retirement planning, we estimated $20K/year travel (to be increased by inflation) and included that in our retirement expenses. This was more driven by having multiple children living overseas, where our major travel costs would be visiting them.

We hit that amount in 2019, but then the pandemic came and only only child and family current live overseas, so we have not come close to that annual amount since then. We likely will spend less, but it will not bother us to spend $20K (or more) annually if the situation calls for it.

[Dtail]

Around 16k budget for the two of us and yes I budget all major expense categories.
We include family visits in this category too.

[rodi]

When the kids were pre-college we only did international travel every 4 years - because airfare for 4 was prohibitive. That said - we took them on a 9 week adventure in 7 countries the year after I retired. And they've been travelling interntationally since toddlers... every 4 years.

As of last september (2021) the youngest is in college. We tried to travel internationally this past spring with a transatlantic cruise and some travel in Europe... But the cruise ship canceled citing covid... So covid saved us some money. Covid also saved us money when I was willing to prepay our upcoming Machu Picchu/Galapagos trip last fall and saved about $3k/person on the tour.

Our plan is about $20k/year - with approx $2k of that being camping in the scooby van, and the rest for bigger trips.

This is now for 2 people. Not limited by school schedules. Much more doable.

[SecondAttempt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi This is now for 2 people. Not limited by school schedules. Much more doable.

Both my ex-wife and my current partner were/are teachers. I have never had more than a few days vacation that were not during school breaks. I'm not complaining but I am looking forward to the flexibility of visiting places at other times of the year.

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckydude Pre-Covid I was spending $40k-50k a year (family of four, 2 kids), usually 2 international trips (2-3 weeks in duration) + 2 domestic trips (less than a week). No travel in 2020 and 2021 so $0. With Covid in the rear-view mirror, we plan to ramp up traveling to make up for lost time. This year we're taking 2 international trips---4 weeks in UK/France in summer and 3.5 weeks in Australia at end of year. I spent $40k for the UK/France trip and a big part of the cost was airfare; it's just much more expensive to fly now. We usually travel biz class or buy premium econ and try to upgrade with points/mileage. I expect to spend the same amount for the Australia trip, so I figure around $80k this year for traveling. I plan on doing the same (2 big trips a year) for the next couple of years until kids go to college. So I figure around $80k/year in 2023 and 2024. Once kids go to college in 2025, I will have a lot more free time to travel, so I plan to do multiple solo trips to mountain biking destinations such as Australia, Peru, Canada, Switzerland, etc. I figure 2-3 such trips a year + 2 big trips with family, so I expect to spend up to $150k a year for traveling. Hopefully I'll be able to do this for at least another decade before age slows me down. I don't really spend money on anything else, so traveling is my thing for BTD.

Where are you going in Australia? We are thinking of a trip late this year and are working on an itinerary for a 2-month stay.

We budgeted around $40-$45K per year on travel but it has varied a lot between COVID shutdowns and our health issues this year. Ramping up for 2023 though!

[brett]

IF you are planning a longer stay in Australia you might want to sign up for, or keep current with Jetstar Australia sales and specials.

Last time we were in Australia our friends gave us a head up on low air prices to Tasmania.

We flew into Hobart from Brisbane and back to Sydney from Launceston a week or so later. Both were very inexpensive flights. Less than $50 AUD as I recall. We really enjoyed driving around Tasmania. It is very different.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyber888 I thought I'd do a poll on how much people spend on travel on a yearly basis when retired. I was trying to do a budget when I retire next year, and wonder how other travel lovers splurge on travel. I'm looking at around $10k-$11K initially.

Other travel lovers? Sorry, like some others here, I do not love travel. Never have, never will, quite the opposite. I have had to travel quite extensively/constantly throughout my childhood and working years, due to life's exigencies, and this was enough to learn that I utterly despise travel. I spend as little as possible on travel as possible. $0/year if I can manage that (hurricanes sometime dictate otherwise).

We actually love where we live and have arranged an ideal (and idyllic) life for ourselves here in this fascinating city, so we see no sane reason for us to want to leave. If I'm going to splurge, I guarantee it will not be on travel.

[Teacher Terry]

When I was married we spent between 5-14/k year. This year I spent 5k on a trip to Ireland and in 2024 will go to Paris with a friend. After that I am probably done due to finances.

[COcheesehead]

We start the year at $25,000 and add to that with any income we make doing our little side gigs. That can add another $10-15k.