Willing to share your travel budget?

[2017ish]

Still in planning stage, but our projections are for >50% of our spending during the first two years of retirement (will be 57/56 when pull trigger in '17). Nearly all of that will be international dive and trek travel.

Will be great to have the time to do long trips....

E.T.A.--for raw numbers, DW's task will be to bring us in at less than the lower end of Danmar's range.

 

[Gumby]

Business travel blows.

Yes it does. I've done plenty of it and after a very short time it all looks the same. I never see anything but the airport, the back seat of the cab, the law firm conference room, the court room and the hotel, where I'm cramming for a court appearance or deposition the next day and eating crappy room service. And it's all the same everywhere. I've been to many cities, but never actually seen them.

 

[Meadbh]

I was fortunate to have a better experience with business travel. I got to see a great many places across Canada that I otherwise would never have visited, both large and small. The nature of my work meant that I got out and met local people. In addition, I participated in many conferences at interesting locations at home and abroad (mostly at my own expense) and there was almost always an opportunity to take some time to explore. I have been thinking recently that I may never visit many of these locations again. But it's all good, and I'm glad I had the opportunity.

 

[rodi]

On the subject of food/meals while travelling. I count them. I also count some at-home but travel related expenses. Bortadella shot for the dog so I can kennel him - yep. Kennel - yep. Passport renewal fees - (kids needed this for this past trip) yep. If I buy new luggage or something - it gets billed against the trip I'm buying it for.

I look at meals while travelling similar to fuel for the car while travelling... If I'm on a road trip, it makes sense to count the gas for the car as part of the travel expenses... even though I'd need gas for the car if I were home, also.

 

[NW-Bound]

+1
10% of budget allocated to travel and having a hard time spending it. Sometimes I think that budget item is there because I feel "I have to" because every retiree is supposed to just love to travel. Typically don't like international travel until I get there. Lately come to realize there aren't a whole lot of places I want to visit. Some people like external adventures; I like adventures of the mind. It's amazing how many books I've read since I retired.

We'll see. Maybe after a few years I'll just get that RV and be done with the whole subject.

I am not sure that people think that retirees are "supposed to love travel". It's just that for people who do want to travel, retirement is when they have the time for extended travel. People with offsprings are also old enough to be empty nesters, and that frees them to do what they want. And if they plan things right, they are also financially established to have more disposable income to allocate to this activity.

If a retiree does not like to travel, he/she can use the free time and the extra money to pursue other leisure activities. That's what retirement is all about.

We traveled quite a bit even when we were working. A big part of it is that both of our extended families are in town, so we did not waste vacation time to take the kids to visit their grandparents. People commonly lose 1 week to go visit each side of the family each year, and that's terrible when you have to be at a place 5 or 10 years to get vacation days increased from 2 weeks/year to 3 weeks. And as our parents were in town, they even watched the kids when we wanted to take off on our own.

So, we did not have to wait till retirement to travel. There was a time when we did 2 trips abroad plus 2 domestic trips each year. My wife had 30+ years with her megacorp so she had more than 4 weeks/year of vacation, and I worked sporadic consulting job and could go whenever I wanted. It was great!

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

We kept track of our spend for two relatively recent trips: One to Korea & Japan (2015) and the second to Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Cambodia (2014).

For the Korea & Japan trip, we ended up spending approximately $290CDN/day combined.
For the Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Cambodia trip, we spent approximately $230CDN/day combined.

We generally stayed in budget/modest accommodations with the odd splurge. The cost per day was basically total spend divided by number of days including travel days. Total spend included everything you'd expect including airfare, visas, sim cards, etc but not including souvenirs/shopping and no insurance (as we're covered by work for health and are willing to take the risk on general travel). The trips were both about 3.5 weeks in length with consideration that with a longer trip, the overseas airfare (which is one of the biggest costs) obviously averages out more over the days.

For retirement in a few years, we're targeting approximately $350CDN/day combined. We expect costs will increase as we'll have to buy insurance and likely need/want to travel a bit more comfortably. But, we're also hoping we can reduce costs with longer stays by doing monthly rentals, cooking, etc.

 

[Moneygrubber]

7k per year for wife and I.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[NW-Bound]

We have no preset budget for travel, and play by ears depending on how our other discretionary expenses run each year.

Last year we spend $10K on travel, but we also had some other non-recurrent expenses. For 2016, we can go up to $30-40K for travel with the money that frees up. But I do not see that I enjoy travel that much to spend that kind of money. We are frugal travelers, so that kind of money is a lot of travel. Liking travel as we do, too much of it then it starts to feel like work.

I expect 2016 to be a lean year regarding market returns, so might as well not running hog-wild. I do not even have any plan right now, not even ideas for RV trips. Been working on DIY projects on my main home, and also have plans to work on the deck of the 2nd home. The work keeps me busy and engaged, so I have not been surfing the Web looking for travel ideas. Some impromptu things may pop up anytime though.

 

[Dawg52]

Other than trips to my condo at the Redneck Riviera, I don't travel much. If I include all my cost associated with the condo, I probably spend over 6k a year. But the condo has gone up in value and I live there 30% of the time, so I don't consider all that as part of my travel budget. It's really more of an investment and a quality of life issue. Funny how we look at things. I do plan to take one decent trip a year outside of my beach trips and I can do that in the 2-3k range. Last year's trip out west came in under $2k, but I did stay with relatives for a few nights along the way.

 

[kaudrey]

We are still working (retiring in 10 years). Last year was the first year I actually kept track of our travel. We spent $12K. In my budget, the travel line item is now set at $10K a year, but if we go over, it just means we spend less on something else.


When we retire, the travel line item bumps up to $25K. We LOVE to travel!

 

[Danmar]

I had to laugh when I read that. My business travel frequently took me to places I thought desirable, but I was never able to take extra days to explore them. So now I sometimes find myself going back to those cities just because they're still new and interesting to me. It's also fascinating to see the changes since my first visits long ago.

Same with us. My business travel took me to New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong on a regular basis. A lot more fun to do it now. Stay at better hotels now too.