How Do You Travel So Much ?
 

Hello there !
Browsing this site for the answers I found to my very big surprise
that people do travel A LOT !
I've been going Florida every year and East Coast beaches summertime. Ouch ! Seemed good at the time though ...:)
I was amazed to see the post from one lady who loved Paris, came home
and went back to Paris in two weeks ...
How do you, guys managing this kind of traveling ?
I am opening my eyes and ready to jump and become TRAVELER as others,
but here my full time job comes to my mind and "2 weeks vacation" beep
goes off every time I am thinking about that lady ...
Please, don't get me wrong, I am not envy, I am very happy for everyone who
able to go around the worl and bring and share memories.
Just learning from you.
Thanks

I've been with my company over 25 years, and have 31 days/year for vacation or incidental sick days.

No children, no mortgage, rarely a car pmt (buy used cars), no loans, old house, old furniture, budget clothing, rarely eat out, etc. Our life is not grim however - we enjoy our backyard 'grotto' (koi ponds, bistro chairs, ferns, fountains, taped music...), playing with Skeeter (our new dog), renting movies, weekend trips to friends' house.

We never exchange gifts between us - just put $ aside for one or two Europe trips per year. Sometimes we have to go 18 mos in between. As our parents age, we may need to cut back, but for now - full steam ahead!

I'm retired!

Hi Tat,

If you check airfares and hotel rates, you might find that Europe is no more expensive than going to Florida in the season.

I agree with Travelnut. We don't spend as much thru the year and prefer to save that money for traveling. We don't own a brand new car, we don't buy new furniture every few years, and we don't typically buy designer clothes. We certainly don't live in the pitts, but we don't have that "keeping up with the Jonses'" attitude, either. We have a comfortable lifestyle, yet our travel priorities are different than that of some of our friends/family.

My husband gets three weeks per year vacation, plus personal days, and I get as much time as I want off for travel, so that helps, too. We also try to put most of my paycheck strictly into our "travel fund," and pay bills with his income.

When we plan a trip, we decide what it's going to cost and make a savings goal for the date we want to travel. We also save money while traveling by renting apartments and not eating out three meals a day. There are many ways to make a trip affordable without cutting down on the cutlural experience or excitement.

This is axactly what my Mom said when I told her about you, guys.
I think I am getting there too.
I am realizing now that all material things are nothing compare to spiritual and emotional.
Please, continue, I am so greatful for your answers, really, Thanks.
I did like so much when one lady said that "budget travelers see everything others do ... " Brilliant.
Plus I just read Europeans do not dress up anymore, which is beneficiary for us, right ? WOW ! I am so exited, thanks.

And I am excited that you are exited, Tat. :)

A lot of the regulars here are retired. Some (but not most) are wealthy. But I suspect the majority are like me...working a full-time job and getting 2 to 4 weeks vacation per year. It's not that we go over to Europe at the drop of a hat...it's that we've been doing it once or twice a year for many years.

Over time, those experiences add up.

Fortunately I am retired so now have the time to do what I always wanted to do -- travel. I live in Florida and most of my retired friends have second homes up north or in the mountains. Instead I prefer to spend the money traveling, and probably that costs me a lot less annually than the expenses of their second homes.

When I estimate a cost of $10,000 a month for traveling in Europe, which tends to be our average cost with the style we travel, I really should also be deducting what we'd be spending at home. I suspect that we save a good $3000 to $5000 a month by not doing our usual eating out at home, having our phone, air-conditioning, and other utilities on a reduced "vacation" billing or usage, and general expenses of buying groceries and entertainment cost, plus gasoline and other expenses we'd be doing at home. So in fact it is costing us maybe half of what we think it is costing us.

Hi Tat

I made a super smart decision back in the late 70's by selling thousands of shares of real cheap Microsoft stock, quitting my job as a computer advisor to Bill Gates and then investing the proceeds into an earthworm farm and a couple of catfish ponds.

I had a hunch computers were just a passing fad like hula hoops and frisbees. I just hope today that Bill is doing half as well as me financially.

I can't say I fit into the category of someone who went to Paris, loved it and two weeks later returned. I don't have that kind of freedom. I'm not retired or even close to that stage of life. I'm a mother of 2 young children with a husband who works insane hours, but with the demands of our growing family we make travel a priority. Whether it's stateside or abroad. And we don't let being a family of 4 with 2 young children stop us. Travel is truly our passion and it's becoming a family affair. My husband gets 4 weeks vacation a year, plus holidays and bonus personal days. Our income is such that we live comfortably, and can also save for travel. Though we've managed to travel even before we had a nice income--even as graduate students. I'd have to say our biggest weapon to frequent travel is frequent flyer miles via a frequent flyer affiliated credit card. We rarely take a trip abroad where we pay for the airline tickets. We also don't typically stay in 4 or 5-star establishments or eat at expensive restaurants. If you keep it simple travel to Europe can actually be cheaper than you'd think.

Tat,

I get three weeks of vacation a year give or take a few days. For me, I always thought that travelling to Europe was expensive and beyond my means, but I've been discovering that it's not that costly, particularily with the good advice you can get out of books and on sites such as this.

Travel to Europe does not cost more than travel within the U.S., with the possible exception of airfare. However, as others have pointed out, if you monitor flight prices regularly and jump when it hits the price you've decided you'll pay, you can fly to Europe for not more than flying within the U.S. (or perhaps less depending on where you are flying from).

Also, I've found that the price of really tasty healthy food is not very high in Europe. You can do well on a budget.

Finally, there is such a range of hotels to stay in - you don't need to pay a high price for a place to stay - although you may have to do without certain amenities (some or most of which you might not have used anyway).

We recently started going to Europe and I am glad we did - we just love it! And we've found that our trip is as expensive as we choose to make it!

Happy travels,
SRS

Degas, honey, if Bill Gates has more money than you, he sure doesn't have the charm and good looks!
I started traveling when I was 10 days old and I figure I will until I am too old to manage. It never seemed to matter if I had the money or not, alone or with someone, I went places!
Most people that want to travel, do it within their budgets, my son has seen most of Europe and a lot of that travel was done in the company of a large backpack!
I am afraid that I have become a Travel Snob, thinking that you aren't really travelling unless you cross an ocean to go somewhere,or they speak another language - so I would not count Florida :)
You could take a long weekend and go to Montreal, you can go to Mexico, Puerto Rico..you don't have to go to Paris and then back, you can start out easy~
BTW-where does it say that Europeans don't "dress up anymore"?

A lot of us are neither retired nor wealthy. I have to do a lot of travel for business and use frequent flyer and stayer points to eliminate plane fare and reduce other travel costs. And when business travel takes me to Europe I always add on days for myself - naturally not at the same hotel my employer pays for. You can tavel just as cheaply in the US as in Europe and if you do a lot of searching for bargains you can even stay in some very charming hotels and splurge on a great restaurant once in a while without breaking the bank. (We had an unforgettable dinner in Prague a couple of years ago that my friends still talk about. And it was only about $170 for 4 people including a great wine, tax and tip - at home it would have been at least $500.)

If you make up your mind you really want to travel you'll find ways to do it.

We seem to be in tune with what patrick said. We are also retired, live in Florida, and choose not to have a second home up North. Done that-Did that and found it wasn't worth the money or effort.
We go instead to Europe every summer and also enjoy the savings of not being home spending that money when in Europe.

I just read few posts about people entering Paris restorants in jeans and sneakers and this is became "normal".
I've also heard the same things from my friend who live in Germany.
I've been to Germany 15 years ago and I can say - WOW ! to this discovery myself, but if you read up this forum - it is like every other post says it :)
No biggie ... at least I don't think so.
Less clothes to pack for me :)
Please, continue discussion, you are great and I am so impressed !

Tat, for those of us who live in Europe, it's all a bit easier; since August I have been to London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam (Brussels and Antwerp, but they don't count since this is home). Always short trips, always out of season. Never any lines anywhere (walked right into the Vatican Museums in October). AND people here get ALOT of holidays. 30 days minimum, and quite a lot of bank holidays too.
What our children really want to do though, is go back to Orlando! Still saving for that one.

I'm not retired. I get 5 weeks vacation and 3 personal "holidays". And frankly, its just the last two years I've been able to think on these terms and have been to France twice. I just try to be careful; and I'm thinkin' for a big bang to my buck (euro?) travel off season a bit; actually, I LOVED the freedom of no crowds

I work in our family business so my vacation time and time off is wonderfully flexible. I rarely get the chance to take 2 weeks off at a time however. So, a long time ago I decided that any trip, even a short one, is better than no trip at all. Lots of our european travel has been 5 day visits. It has been a collection of wonderful experiences. Accumulated mileage is very helpful!!!

Hi:

I travel with both work & on vacation, great to see other parts of the world. I try to wrap my vacation trips around April & October each year (just after 'quarterend' at work & 'offseason' for most locations and I grew up 2 blocks from the Atlantic ocean so had my fill of beaches as a kid). So with my work trips I try to get the 'flavour' of the area & try to make 'local contact'. For the ones that seemed interesting I've gone back to explore on vacation & filled the gaps with unique trips but most being 5-6 day whirlwind vacations.

Later,

Z