Kennedy3

Yesterday I was listening to two friends debate their travel styles. One friend takes one trip about every two months, but stays at budget hotels and drives rather than flys. The other prefers to save her money and take only one big vacation a year. But, she travels in luxury to fabulous, exotic locations.

That got me thinking... You all seem to travel so much. Do you look for ways to save money while vacationing just so you can travel a lot? Or, do you simply dream of and plan travel most of the time and take less frequent luxury trips?

FainaAgain

Budget travel to fabulous exotic locations

Save money while vacationing? No way! I take taxi when feel tired, eat where I like the menu not looking at the prices, buy souvenirs and things which I won't buy at home.

Don't sweat over small things, don't really budget, just do lots of research at home. On vacations I sightsee, learn and spend.

I try to save every day on small things, like all kind of sales, make my own coffee, etc... so I can waste it all elsewhere

chepar

I wish I could get in my car and drive instead of fly to save money on vacation - but living in Hawaii, it's a bit hard.

Anyway, I usually do a "small" vacation one year followed by a "big" vacation the next year.

The "small" vacation will usually consist of domestic travel to somewhere on the west coast of a week or less.

The "big" vacation will be between 2-3 weeks. The last several "big" trips have all been to international destinations, though if we did a 2 week east coast trip, I would consider that to be a "big" trip also.

However, my "big" trips are not luxury splurge vacations - they're just considered "big" because of the added expense of traveling further and for a longer period of time.

If I could afford it, I would take a big trip every year as well as a couple small trips.

vinolover

Both. As often as the budget allows.

LoveItaly

Hi Kennedy, a good question for sure.

I like to travel but like most of us I cannot as much as I like to.

I enjoy all kinds of trips. Ones where I fly and stay with family, treat them to restaurants but stay with them so do not have hotel bills.

Ones where I do stay in hotels but do not require 5 star hotels as lovely as that would be.

I love restaurants and good food and wine but do not have to spend a fortune at restaurants. And do not require gourment meals every day. In fact Scarlett just recently posted that too many fantastic dinners gets tiresome and I agree. Sometimes just a good salad is wonderful.

I take taxis when I want one as Faina does. In fact I think Faina's comments apply to my thinking regarding vacations. I do not buy lots of gifts. And I don't do tons of shopping for myself but do buy something when I really fall in love with it.

Happy and more vacations to everyone!

panhandle

Budget! This way I can take an extra week without pay and extend my vacation. I tend to stay cheap as I am not in my room often anyway. I do spend alot on food though(gotta try everything!)

JJ5

Both, at different times in my life.

Now- a real splurge approximately once every two years, but lots and lots of budget vacations -maybe 10 a year, every time I can string 3 days or more away from work.

That's rather general and both of those terms are so subjective. But very much like LoveItaly, I don't require very high end anything and a couple of my splurge vacations (like my last Caribbean one) have not been as "splurge" as others, because I don't spa or actually enjoy service all that much when you really get down to the $$$ of it.

But I will pay more to be where I want to be, to get there fast (like the taxi Faina's example- exactly) and I will pay for kids that are adults to come too on occasion.

There was a era in my life I had much more time to travel than I do now and the money to do it- but couldn't/didn't because of single parenthood etc. and my own business responsabilites seemed hard to leave. And then there was the era of NO time and NO money when I and/or my children were in schools for over a decade, and now there's the era of kids' all gone, not enough money to splurge but qualitatively more time off of work- so I compromise.

Someday I may end up very property poor but a rolling stone. Like the Budha who only owns his bowl. Depends on health (mine)and other things like my parents' health. Then I may travel for a month or two at a time several times a year, but I doubt it will be a "splurge" trip as detailed on Fodors quite often.

The very high end food market/ restaurant experience most others crave on vacations, I scivy. I do know what it is, and some of it is good- but I call it tortured food. Give me regular fresh people food anyday. That alone makes the travel experience cheaper for me than for most others on Fodors.

gyppielou

Frankly, I prefer to do both!!!!! Good times!!!

Samsaf

Both. And even when we do the 'luxury' vacation, I usually find a good deal on a nice hotel and airfare. My husband says we don't have the money or the time for all the vacations I want to take!

We usually have one 'big' family vacation a year, and also some smaller ones. Also, my husband and I try to go off on a trip by ourselves a couple of times a year.

Little_Man

I wish I could take more budget quick trips, but it's hard with dogs/kids. We do 1 family vacation per year, we kind of combine luxury and budget. Stay at a budget place at the beginning of the trip, and as we tire out at the end, go somewhere very nice. Works well !

tripaholic

as many budget trips as possible. get to see more places - this is really our style!!

radiofanatic

I would rather do more budget trips. And I only do the budgeting at home - getting great deals on hotels, airfare, rentals, tours, etc. Once I'm at the place though, I don't worry so much about "cheap" and just do what I like.

jimmyk64

We kind of split the difference, Kennedy. Not budget travel, but not luxury either. Kind of upscale: searching for a good to great deal on the transportation and lodging, then visiting that destination with intensity, both financially and effort-fully.

GoTravel

My last vacation, it was cheaper for all of us to fly than to drive so fly vs. drive to save money isn't a good analogy.

I find the best deals for wherever I want to go so unless my location is luxury or budget, it really isn't an issue.

I just like to travel instead of vacation

utahtea

All of our vacations are budget ones so we can spend more time on the road. We like to take one big vacation of 3 or 4 weeks and drive our motorhome, camp and see as many interesting places as we can. We also will take one or two short one week vacations near home during the year to close by locations like Yosemite National Park.

Utahtea

J_Correa

Definitely more budget trips. We aren't at the point in our lives where we can afford to splurge anyway. We'll get there though - then we will do some splurging and see what we like better

nytraveler

Well - we don;t really have the option - because except for the rare weekend it's so hard for us to have time to get away. So we do few splurgy trips.

Occasionally we get to add a couple of days onto a business trip - but we usually have to do that singly rather than together - because we're often going in different directions. I don;t know how to qualify those - we just add on a couple of days when we're someplace interesting and have the time.

But when we do have the time (5 more years of college to pay for and then we can semi-retire) - we will do lots of trips - as splurgy as possible. (Even nearby driving trips can include some luxe.)

TxTravelPro

I am a combination, too...
-I stay in nice hotels at budget rates because I get travel industry discounts.
-I don't pay for air because I get AA benefits.
-I CHOOSE to go cheap on food because I generally cook better than most restaurants and I prefer to eat street and fresh market foods.
-Believe it or not, I totally dislike the theater and tourist traps (not that I lump those together) so I save $$$ on entertainment. I do not go to bars and I rarely drink.

Combining all the above, I can afford to to take 10-15 long weekend trips a year, which is just how I like it!

What do I do when I travel if I don't go to fancy restaurants, clubs, the theater or on tours?
- Take in the local culture
- Meet and chat with local residents
- Shop!
- Check out local art shops
- Admire architecture
- Take self guided walking tours

roger255

I want advice on an adult resort I plan to visit in
the near future, it is called charlisangels, located
in the Caribbean.
My friend was there last march and he said it was awesome, he rated it 5
stars!

vivi

I have been continually traveling for the last 2 years, I have a huge travel "wish list" and I have accomplished a lot on it! The kid are off in college and all of a sudden I have the luxury of free time and some extra money. I am in heaven, LOL.

I am semi-budget/semi-splurge. I usually fly free as my husband has a stockpile of miles. I am not a big spender as I don't dine in pricey places and I am not a shopper. But I do not scrimp on accommodations--I prefer a great location that is roomy with air conditioning. Also I am growing quite fond of VRBO and have had great luck lately with private apartments.