Travel budget for FIRE

[sengsational]

Although I don't budget, per se, I do use historical spending rates to come up with a "planning number", if need be.

I'll have probably have spent around $11K for travel in my first 12 month retirement span (February 2014 through January 2015). That includes 3 road trips, one 10 day cruise, and one trip across the pond to the UK.

The more I research cool stuff to do, travel wise, the more I realize that cruises on megaships are, by far, the cheapest way to go. I went on short cruises as a kid, and did extended family cruises every other year or so. And took my kids on cruises as they were growing up (also every other year or so). I've probably been on 30 cruises. Those kinds of cruises are ok for relaxing or partying, but not so good for immersion in another culture / slow travel, which is the luxury afforded to someone not counting the measly number of vacation days allotted by the megacorp.

 

[NW-Bound]

... Those kinds of cruises are ok for relaxing or partying, but not so good for immersion in another culture / slow travel, which is the luxury afforded to someone not counting the measly number of vacation days allotted by the megacorp.

I have been telling my wife that, but still have to take her on a cruise next to make up for the recent RV trek.

Even so, I don't think I can sweet talk her into going on an Alaska RV trek, which may last a summer.

 

[2B]

Travel budget? I don't need no stinkin' travel budget. I travel as much as I can drag DW out of the house. I realize it will be harder to travel as we age so spending now isn't a long term fixed budget item. We'll probably spend around $18k this year but that includes a nominal $12k trip to Italy/Sicily. The other trips were all within the US. I'd like to increase our traveling and wouldn't worry about the spending levels unless they started to get above $40-50k/yr.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

The more I research cool stuff to do, travel wise, the more I realize that cruises on megaships are, by far, the cheapest way to go. I went on short cruises as a kid, and did extended family cruises every other year or so. And took my kids on cruises as they were growing up (also every other year or so). I've probably been on 30 cruises. Those kinds of cruises are ok for relaxing or partying, but not so good for immersion in another culture / slow travel, which is the luxury afforded to someone not counting the measly number of vacation days allotted by the megacorp.

So, I've given this a lot of thought as well, and after taking some 13+ cruises ranging from 7 - 14 days, I'm no longer convinced this is the case. I think cruising works well for ports you can do on your own, but not so well if you need to add on the cost of a land tour. I'm also increasingly of the opinion that in ER, sea days are a waste of my money. Post-ER, the sea days were almost necessary in order to shed stress from w#rk, but now I find them annoying.

I know, ironic!

What I suspect is going to occur going forward, is any cruise we book will need to be very port intensive, ideally with at least one overnight option. I also see an increasing number of river cruises in our future.

 

[Lsbcal]

Looking at our daily trip cost for 27 days in the UK, it was not that much more then a nice US trip. Per day airfare costs naturally decline as one takes more days at the destination. Seems to argue for more leisurely overseas travel.

I was looking at a Rick Steves Greece tour and it seems to run about 2x per day over what we would pay for DIY travel.

Opinions on this?

 

[NW-Bound]

+1 on cruises no longer as desirable for a retiree.

When I was working, a cruise was a welcome respite, a chance to relax. But now, I am already relaxing at home, and if I want to be in nature I can go up to my 2nd home at 7,000 ft.

So, my definition of travel is no longer sitting on a lounge chair on a ship. I want to see different places and people. I want to go on a hike.

RV'ing works, but perhaps it's time for me to get that smaller class B. And I may be able to take it to Europe later for extensive traveling, as I thought about doing a few years ago.

 

[Beldar]

I guess I'm the odd person out or sour grape on this issue. I can't honestly recall any time I've spent money on "travel", if travel is used in the vacation / recreational sense. We've just never had the desire. Maybe a few hour day trip in the past, but thats about it.

Yes, I've been all over the US and many times abroad, but that has always been on Mega/Midi/Mini Corp or Uncle Sam's nickle. I don't know what the reward would be doing it on my own. Sure, there's alot of things I'd like to see (Roman ruins, battlefields, architecture) but I can just look at a picture or watch a video. If I spent some of the sums mentioned here I'd be on a vacation alright, a medical vacation!

I guess its just a lifetime of non-stop work and LBYM, thats why I am at FI today and hopefully RE in the near future. I have had many friends over the years who have always taken the yearly cruise/week overseas and so forth, and they will be working until they drop. "The Millionaire Next Door" rings true for me in retrospect.

Maybe my outlook will change once RE'd. My hat's off to all of you who can travel.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Beldar, that's the best things about having such a wide range of folks on the forum. There are others that feel like you do, but they just don't post on a thread about travel budgets, lol.
Ask W2R about it...she traveled a million miles as a kid and teen with her family and is very happy to be enjoying life at home. And I say cheers to that and it just means the tent camping in Kazakhstan won't ever get crowded, which is all the better for me!



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[NW-Bound]

One thing about travel is that if you wait too long, the desire goes away, and you will be OK too.

W2R talked about a trip to see the mall and museums in Washington DC, but never did it, and now she didn't care anymore.

The same thing with me about spending a summer in Alaska. The window for me to do that will pass in a few years. I've got to make plan for 2015, or it will never be. I would just be an [-]armchair[/-] rocking chair traveler watching the tube.

 

[Birchwood]

We expect about 10K per year. I just retired. We like to see the whole USA and drive around a lot. I also have photography as a hobby, which will work real well.
We stay at cheap motels and bring grocery food with us. We only eat one big meal a day, and eat the continental breakfast at the motels.
We use the car and truck we have and hope to drive them to 100K miles.
I have a senior's pass at the federal parks, and free for life.
We like to go to places where we can hike or walk a lot. For lunch we pack peanut butter sandwiches and fruits like apple or pear. We eat a good meal at night, usually in a barbecue place or sea food or sushi.

 

[NW-Bound]

While working, we had done quite a bit of traveling by fly-and-drive, and had been to many US cities, and a few popular European destinations. My wife, traveling with friends, has been to some more exotic places like the Komodo island (to see that terrible lizard).

So now, RV'ing allows us to go outside of the cities, and have a different experience. We have been to places that are not common tourist destinations, not at all convenient for fly-and-drive, and not as well publicized. Nothing like Siberia or Kazakhstan of course, but places that we did not get to before. Our recent trek to the Canadian Maritimes was great, but perhaps I did not space it out properly and wore my wife down with the distance we traveled.

 

[Chuckanut]

I find it interesting how travel seems to work increase my own interest and fun in various world events. It makes the world more real to me.

A few years ago while in Turkey I was walking along a path with a couple who were about 10 years older than I. They confirmed what I had believed already: It's easier to travel when you are younger, travel enriches one's life in so many ways, and you have the memories long after your traveling days are limited or over. And, it can be just plain fun.

I consider a 3 star hotel to be plenty fine for me. I have also roughed it in 2 star hotels from time to time. My #1 requirement is that the hotel be near what I want to see and do. After that if the bed is reasonably comfortable and the place has warm water, I am in car camper's heaven.

I buy food at grocery stores. Sometimes I watch to see where the local workers get lunch or dinner. That's usually cheap and good. One of my best meals was a grilled sausage with mustard and a piece of brown bread at a dumpy looking stand in Vienna. The place was surrounded by business people in suits happily eating their less than three euro lunch. Or those wonderful sandwiches sold at the entrance to the U-Bahn stations in Berlin, again just 3 euros.

 

[Looking4Ward]

My travel budget for 2015 is $18K . Interesting talk about cruises....

We've never been on a cruise, so last night we booked a 7 day cruise out of Galveston for next August. Have to do it while school is out because of our 9 year old son, so of course everything is also much (much!) more expensive when school is out.

We also opted for an upper aft stateroom with a balcony. Cost is roughly $2800 and I know we won't be less than another $1K for parking, gratuities, drinks, etc.

I didn't get the "we got a great deal!" feeling on this one but since it's our first time we figured if we end up liking the experience we can devote much more time in the future to learning the secrets and finding the bargains.

 

[jollystomper]

Based on our Quicken data for past trips I'm budgeting 12K for travel when I retire, but of course that is the most flexible part of our budget. That will either be a couple of big trips and a few little ones, or lots of little ones (those are easy being on the east coast).

One thing we haven't tried yet is a cruise... we would like to try one but have mixed feelings about them, as a couple of friends have had some real bad experiences ( including assaults) on them. We'll see.

 

[Lucantes]

I'm budgeting 12K for travel when I retire, but of course that is the most flexible part of our budget. That will either be a couple of big trips and a few little ones, or lots of little ones

Same as what I have in our projected retirement budget.
Being located just 15 minutes south of Port Canaveral I can see us trying to stick in some quick/cheap cruises also (never been on a cruise yet).
We will have done most of our desired international travel by the time we retire in 2017, as we currently work/live overseas already, and will probably spend most travel time visiting all the great places in the USA!

 

[explanade]

Tricky thing about travel budgets is that you often have to plan and in many cases pay months ahead.

So I've spent money on trips for 2015 and will probably spend more before the year is out.

Sometimes you can get better deals prepaying hotels for trips several months into the future. Also a good way to meet spending requirements for some credit card promotions for points or miles.

 

[aim-high]

...
Sometimes you can get better deals prepaying hotels for trips several months into the future. ...

Is this something you negotiate or find advertised?

 

[RetiredAndFree]

Tricky thing about travel budgets is that you often have to plan and in many cases pay months ahead.

So I've spent money on trips for 2015 and will probably spend more before the year is out.

Good point/reminder. We fund our annual travel budget on Jan 1 of each year, and I would estimate about 70% goes to cover current year costs, and about 30% goes to future year costs. So, while year one of ER meant that only about 70% of our spend was for current year travel, going forward we were back to 100%. (30% outlay from prior year, plus 70% outlay in current year = 100%)

Another thing I do is to link my yearly budget worksheets in Excel so that I can reserve funds for a particular trip in, say two years, then see the impact on all the years preceding and following. One of the really fun things about doing so is that I can dream/plan big, and as long as the numbers show a positive or 0 net result at year end, I know I'm good to go.

 

[explanade]

No it's things like the rates you can't cancel. Also generally if you know you're making a trip on certain dates, you can book lower rates the more you book in advance.

I haven't tried to book the last minute specials though. You can't count on them and generally booking in advance gets you lower rates.

 

[NW-Bound]

In our travel, we often see tour buses offloading geezers with white hair at museums and scenic spots. Everybody out. Lining up for admission. For eating. For the restrooms. Back on the bus in 1 hour.

I tell my wife I want to travel early and on my own, before the above becomes the only way I can do it.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

In our travel, we often see tour buses offloading geezers with white hair at museums and scenic spots. Everybody out. Lining up for admission. For eating. For the restrooms. Back on the bus in 1 hour.

I tell my wife I want to travel early and on my own, before the above becomes the only way I can do it.

But you know, NW-Bound, I'm actually OK with doing the above at a certain point in my life if it's the only way I can continue to travel. I've been in love with travel since age 18, when I planned my first trip, and in looking at my still-traveling 80 year old father, suspect it will be a lifelong addiction.

In our 'younger' ER years, we're focusing on trips that allow for great physical output - hiking, biking, kayaking, backpacking, etc., understanding these may have a limited shelf life. If, at some point we have to downshift to accommodate aging bodies, I'm totally OK with that.

Still beats the heck out of sitting in front of a TV all day.

 

[NW-Bound]

Agree. But I can't help thinking that some of the white-haired travelers have been saving, and at that point in life decide to splurge before it's too late.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

Agree. But I can't help thinking that some of the white-haired travelers have been saving, and at that point in life decide to splurge before it's too late.

Aah, yes, in that case I can see the bittersweet aspect.

 

[Lsbcal]

What has made us hesitate going back to Europe is the 2 hr drive to the airport, the 2 hr wait for checkin,security and the flight, and then the 11 hour flight (San Francisco to Heathrow). At least 15 hours and we don't sleep well on planes.

 

[Mulligan]

What has made us hesitate going back to Europe is the 2 hr drive to the airport, the 2 hr wait for checkin,security and the flight, and then the 11 hour flight (San Francisco to Heathrow). At least 15 hours and we don't sleep well on planes.

I can relate.... 4 hours in a plane is my max. Any longer and I am afraid I will go crazy and the next thing that would happen is me yelling "Don't taze me bro".


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