Poll: What will you splurge on when you travel?

[RetiredHappy]

We only fly first or business class and always have even 15 years before we retired. When we cruise, we only book suites and use higher end cruise line. No Carnival or Norwegian cruise lines for us. We also pay for better and higher end shore excursions, and eat at sit-down restaurants. Even when we are not travelling, we eat out everyday in nice sit-down restaurants.

I have stated before that we always try to stay at 2-bedroom nice suites/villas whenever we travel and we achieve that by owning high-end timeshare system - Westin and Marriott. We also only golf at nice golf courses and we golf 3 to 5 times a week, regardless of whether we are home, mainly at the country club where we belong, or nice courses when we are travelling on land.

Bottom line, we "splurge" regardless of travelling or staying put. "Splurging" is our normal everyday living. Our lives are pretty good.

 

[Lsbcal]

I read a lot of the answers and they seem to refer a lot to European travel. Just got back from a mostly Italy one month stint. The last few days were hell as I got a very nasty virus (not Covid). Hint: get religion about washing hands and maybe masking in confined spaces with crowds. First time in my life visiting the ER on getting home. 3 weeks so far and getting to almost normal. DW got it from me, ugh. Our doc told me a lot of patients are coming back sick. Next year it is US travel .

Splurging will depend on where we go and all the available options. Would pay for good airlines seats like Premium Economy or even Business class. Hotels should be excellent with either a decent breakfast or we will go out for breakfast. I am done with looking at the dinner menu's for a good deal and will go for what I want. Trying to be looser with the $'s. DW applauds that change.

I've been a careful spender for too many years.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

On Maui, instead of taking the horrendous road to Hana, I rented a plane and we flew into the Hana Airport

Horrendous?
When I went to Hana, my favorite part was the drive out there. Many parts of the road had recently been repaved, but there was no actual construction going on at the time. I remember stopping at an arboretum along the route and marveling at the rainbow eucalyptuses. The mangoes were ripe when I was there and there were trees along the route that had dropped mangoes on the road. I had all the windows of my rental car down and I remember running over some of them and having the car smell like mangoes for the rest of the day. I remember all the waterfalls along the way and stopping to swim in some of the pools. I remember stopping at a black sand beach as well.
Once I got to Hana? I remember the Seven Sacred Pools, and Lindbergh's final resting place... And that's about it. Then I got to make that amazing drive back to Lahaina and getting to see everything again from the opposite perspective.
For me, it truly was more about the journey than the destination.

 

[marko]

Absolutely. For me, I won't do any cooking or cleaning or any chore of any kind while on vacation. I want to be waited on and doted on non-stop.

Eggs-actlty! To each his own, but if I wanted to cook my own breakfast, make my bed, take out the trash, pick up after myself in the bath, and start the laundry when I leave, I may as well stay home.

Give me a nice two or three room hotel suite on the 40th floor and room service and I'm a happy man. Just leave those bath towels on the floor! And the breakfast dishes magically disappear while you're in the shower. (just leave a hefty tip when you go)

 

[Lsbcal]

Marko, good attitude there.



BTW: Does anyone know what happens when you "Like" a post. Do others see your choice?

 

[grasshopper]

We spend extra for premium economy. We like active travel and never cruise with over 150 guests, yes it is more than $100 a day. We like small, less than 18 guests walking tours, most of the lodging is 4-5 star, dining is local sometimes in someone's kitchen. And it is always about the experience.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

Marko, good attitude there.



BTW: Does anyone know what happens when you "Like" a post. Do others see your choice?

Look at posts #39, 46 in this thread. At the bottom, it shows who likes your post. You also get an e-mail.
I'll "like" yours and you should see what happens. If you "like" a post, it shows up as a thumbs up and "you" when you look back at them.

 

[sparky08]

I wish the difference in Economy and Economy Plus (or Business) wasn't so large. Almost always, I just stick with Economy.

 

[audreyh1]

Marko, good attitude there.



BTW: Does anyone know what happens when you "Like" a post. Do others see your choice?

yes

 

[ERD50]

SIL "hates" me now ever since I got her upgraded to First once. Now, she must fly First all the time!

It's one of those things that once you try it, especially on a long haul, going back to coach can be extremely painful.

ahhh, that reminds me of another splurge - For one of our "round number" anniversaries, I planned on getting Box Seats to the Chicago Symphony (we'd go every once in a while, good seats, but never Box Seats). The price was pretty ridiculous, but I decided this was a splurge, just do it.

A couple days later, still thinking about it, I get an email from CSO, they are offering a discount on Box Seats, for the event I planned on! IIRC, ~ 50%, making it not that much more than the front row balcony we usually got.

My wife liked the Box Seats so much, now she wants them each time! We did get them again, but haven't been back for a while for other sad reasons (Chicago politicians seem to think the rights of criminals are ahead of the rights of law abiding citizens - I'll leave it at that).

 

[motley]

(Chicago politicians seem to think the rights of criminals are ahead of the rights of law abiding citizens - I'll leave it at that).

So it's OK to make political statements if it's in a tiny font?

 

[ERD50]

So it's OK to make political statements if it's in a tiny font?

shhhhhh!

 

[MichaelB]

Do we really need to remind members political comments are not welcome?

 

[marko]

We spend extra for premium economy. We like active travel and never cruise with over 150 guests, yes it is more than $100 a day. We like small, less than 18 guests walking tours, most of the lodging is 4-5 star, dining is local sometimes in someone's kitchen. And it is always about the experience.

Your photo above illustrates those unplanned, impromptu and incredibly fantastic things that you often run into in Europe. Dinners like the one in your photo, while informal are the things that unbelievable memories are made of! Although, things like this rarely fall into the "splurge" category as they tend to be quite reasonable.

When we first returned from our years in Europe we'd host 14 to 20 every Saturday night for several summers. Always had a theme and always proper dress required. Going through a case of wine was not uncommon.

 

[athena53]

I read a lot of the answers and they seem to refer a lot to European travel. Just got back from a mostly Italy one month stint. The last few days were hell as I got a very nasty virus (not Covid). Hint: get religion about washing hands and maybe masking in confined spaces with crowds. First time in my life visiting the ER on getting home. 3 weeks so far and getting to almost normal. DW got it from me, ugh. Our doc told me a lot of patients are coming back sick. Next year it is US travel .

Yeah, I think I got my case of COVID on the day I spent in London before returning home- either the Underground or the Churchill War Rooms. I should have masked, Fortunately the symptoms were minor and I'm "negative" again.

More thoughts on trave splurges: this is more on the level of rip-offs but I just got back from another wonderful trip to Chicago with DS and family. Kids are enamored of the Hilton O'Hare because of the airport view. Food prices are crazy-high- mostly business travelers on expense accounts and NOTHING within a reasonable distance- even at O'Hare it's all airside except for a nondescript coffee shop in Baggage Claim. So, we ate in the hotel restaurants- not the two most expensive, though. I even BTD'd on TWO glasses of wine at dinner (DS and DDIL are teetotallers) and had shrimp added to my salad ($8.95 for 4 pieces ). You just learn to suspend all notion of reasonable prices.

But a wonderful time was had by all.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

Yeah, I think I got my case of COVID on the day I spent in London before returning home- either the Underground or the Churchill War Rooms. I should have masked, Fortunately the symptoms were minor and I'm "negative" again.

More thoughts on trave splurges: this is more on the level of rip-offs but I just got back from another wonderful trip to Chicago with DS and family. Kids are enamored of the Hilton O'Hare because of the airport view. Food prices are crazy-high- mostly business travelers on expense accounts and NOTHING within a reasonable distance- even at O'Hare it's all airside except for a nondescript coffee shop in Baggage Claim. So, we ate in the hotel restaurants- not the two most expensive, though. I even BTD'd on TWO glasses of wine at dinner (DS and DDIL are teetotallers) and had shrimp added to my salad ($8.95 for 4 pieces ). You just learn to suspend all notion of reasonable prices.

But a wonderful time was had by all.

We got stuck in Rome at a hotel with airport shuttle service but nothing else nearby. This was in 2007 and I remember they wanted €12 for a small bowl of soup. We ended up eating dinner that night from the vending machines down the hall since DW refused to pay what the hotel restaurant wanted for their food. I think our breakfast the next morning at the airport was more reasonable than the hotel restaurant prices.
We were happy to get back home from that trip. It was a nice honeymoon, but it was also nice to get back.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

We hadn't traveled much since FIRE due to covid but we took a trip to Europe this summer and splurged on business class. I thought it was well worth the splurge and we booked business to London for our next trip this Christmas season. After being crammed into the cattle car section so many times for w*rk, including international trips, I don't mind spending every penny. I managed to book at a sweet spot in fares, so it could have been worse. We really appreciated the lounge access for our layovers, too.

 

[2017ish]

Overnight, over the atlantic or pacific (Or equivalent distance heading to deep south america), we fly Business Class. (For example, Atlanta to Doha, to Singapore--gotta upgrade. Singapore to Sorong, via Jakarta? We'll suck it up and save the money for other things.)

Expensive restaurants, for sure--but, on a two-three month trip, we'll usually only do a maximum of ~10 michelin level restaurants. We truly enjoy street food and relatively undiscovered gems--and by staying in AirBnBs or the equivalent, we can cook our own breakfasts and pack our own lunches as well.

Experiences? By most people's standards, that is what we spend the most on, so sure. Antarctica and South Georgia. Easter Island and Galapagos. Patagonia. Snorkeling with Humpbacks in Tonga. Hiking for 20 days in Nepal. Gorillas in DRC. Liveaboard dive boats. Diving in New Guinea, Fiji, and Indonesia. Small group outings in Alaska National Parks. Etc. Etc. For us, these are the things that we saved for and retired to experience.

Of course, if the US financial markets were to have an unprecedented crash, we wouldn't be willing (or able) to do any of this....

 

[motley]

I was just reviewing the diffs in diff classes of airline flights because a lot has changed since the last time I flew. It used to be first class and then everything else was "coach" (economy). The diffs in price of economy vs premium economy vs business vs first class are crazy.

 

[Retired Expat]

I wish the difference in Economy and Economy Plus (or Business) wasn't so large. Almost always, I just stick with Economy.

Flying to the US next week. Business fare is 5 figures! Premium economy was about half that. But airline offered a $200 upgrade to premium economy Going That I will do! Hope I can do the same coming back

 

[Sanstar]

First class air travel.

 

[marko]

First class air travel.

Is it a splurge when it's the only way you'll fly?

 

[RetiredHappy]

Is it a splurge when it's the only way you'll fly?

Yep, business class and first class is the only way that we fly.

 

[FIREd]

In general I fly economy for shorter flights (< 4 hours) and I’ll upgrade to business for longer flights (> 8 hours).

But I don’t fly much anymore and my biggest splurge generally is on accommodation. I don’t go for luxury necessarily but cleanliness, comfort, convenient location, and good service are a must and it usually comes at a price.

 

[marko]

Yep, business class and first class is the only way that we fly.

Right. So like us, it doesn't qualify as a splurge. Coach never enters our mind.