I don't consider us wealthy, but both my wife & I work. Travel for us is 1 of our priorities. Like others before us, we don't give big gifts to each other, & the house is alittle run down. But then we have money for a trip to Europe. We go about every 2 years. What helps us is that my wife works for United Airlines, so we get fairly good airfare(it is definitley not free though) & we can get some discounted hotel rates. But the down side is that we can only fly when there is space available, we can't reserve seats. We can't go off-season because we have 2 young school age children, & we can't go during peak season, holidays, or school breaks because of seat availability. So we try to travel to Europe on shoulder season, which is usually early to mid-June. Even then it is not easy to get 4 available seats on a plane. Now that our youngest son is 8, we will be traveling to Europe with 4 people, 2 adults & 2 kids. This was our year to go to Europe, but we figured we could not afford it, but the travel urge was so strong that we shortened our usual travel time & places, & we are going to London for just 4 days(instead of 2 weeks) in mid-June, which with the travel discounts should fit into the budget if stretched abit. That should also satisfy our Europe travel bug for this year, & start scrimping for the next trip. <BR>

Thanks for this topic -- even as an experienced traveler, I learned some things reading the responses. We have taken advantage of frequent flyer miles, but also keep a separate vacation account. However, as the money accumulates, I remove chunks of it and buy CDs to increase the interest. Also, on the advice of friends who have done this, I have just taken steps to become a "referring" travel agent for a company that offers an in-home study course. Once you pass a test, you are issued an ID card that entitles you to travel agent discounts on many things, not to mention tremendous tax breaks. I'm going to test it out on a six-week trip to Portugal and Italy this fall. If anyone would like more info, just e-mail me. I also do a tremendous amount of guide book research in addition to internet, just because I love it and figure the cost is a good investment in quality results. It has always paid off and friends we take along are always amazed at what we experience for the money.

Debbie: Fascinating thread you started here. Having caught the travel bug in a MAJOR way several years ago I am now very determined to do so on a regular basis. I am 44,married with a flexible salaried job in the hospitality industry here in Maine.Being fortunate enough to live in a beautiful coastal community my wanderlust is easier to control than if I lived in a congested urban area,I think. My husband is very supportive of my travel desires and often gives me $ to put towards trips instead of more perfume and flowers for my birthday.We have a 16 yr.old in high school where we pay tuition for her school and a college freshman whose tuition is more than a brand new ford expedition!!! I finally tallied all of our years worth of takeout at 50-60$ a week and decided that this would make a much more appropriate addition to our travel fund than to my hips! I am working on one major trip per year with 8 days in Paris beginning next week and a cruise to Alaska on the boards for 2001. Some talk about a qiuck jaunt back to southern france in late october 99 with my best friend also! I do as much research as I can to get best value although I don't do really low budget very well. <BR>It really is a matter of what is important to you and what feeds your soul! In my midlife.. I've decided its Paris for me! Happy travelling!

Hi Debby, <BR> <BR>Luckily, I spent a lot of time in my early 20's backpacking Europe on a shoestring budget. Now, almost 20 years later, I choose to travel more in third-world and developing countries so I can enjoy "grown-up" accommodations and amenities while still only spending like a student/backpacker. <BR> <BR>Consider travelling places other than Europe. Southeast Asia is extremely inexpensive these days.

Amen Daniel. I know many people have incredibly tough financial situations or just so many commitments that it is hard to get away, but for most the greatest obstacle is simply the inability to say "the hell with it, I am just going to go." I have known many people with much more money than I have ever had, but all I hear from them is "I wish I could go" or "maybe someday." You know what? That someday never comes for too many people. I just decided a few years ago that someway I was going to go somewhere. I had always dreamed of seeing the world and was envious of others whom I heard talking about their own travels. So I just did it, and my life has been so much enriched since I started travelling. Its really all about priorities really. I feel that I am a good dresser, but I rarely buy clothes. I ask for them as Christmas gifts or buy them on sale. I do drive a nice car, but it wasn't an expensive car. I do have a house, but it is not a very big house. Luckily, my wife, although more practical than I, does have an impulsive side to her, so it is not hard to get her interested in travelling. The only thing that is hard to get her to do is to go on long driving trips, and I am still working on that one. I just convinced a fellow employee to finally take the plunge and go to Italy next year. She and her husband (a grad student) are saving all year for it, but I bet she has no regrets later. Elaine is right too, Debby. You have already seen more of the world than most ever will. Virtually no one else in my family has been outside the U.S., and I can't convince them to do it.

Debby, Allow me to add to the "What, me wealthy" bunch. My wife and I leave on April 21 for Germany, returning May 11. Plane tix are $458 for me, $0 for my wife (she's using miles). First 2 nights in Titisee, $41.00/night, including breakfast and we'll take some rolls and meat for our lunch. After that we wing it, but allow $60 for lodging and $30 for food/day. We bought a German Rail Pass, $294/twinpass, allows 5 days travel (same itinerary, purchased point to point would be $377, and that would be for 3 travel days). An extravagance, 2 nights in Echternach at the Eden au Lac, @ $130/night, booked by our German friends, but we're staying with them for 2 nights in Bremen so it evens out.One thing we buy is Medical Insurance, $96 for 3 weeks, we travel by bike and I'm 61 my wife 52, so we feel it's prudent. We do all the above suggestions, no 'big' gifts, clip coupons, '89Aerostar, '91LeBaron etc. I think one advantage we have is that we live in Plano, TX, a suburb of Dallas and so we get really good fares from DFW.

Consensus among the travellers seems to be: how you dispose of your disposable income...I live in a small apartment in a blue-collar neighborhood, I ride a bicycle or bus everywhere (I do NOT own a car), I clip coupons, brown-bag lunch, meet people for dinner at inexpensive restaurants (or we entertain at home), and bargain hunt for EVERYTHING. Any extra money (Overtime pay, bonuses, refunds, birthday presents, etc) goes into the trip account. I use credit cards (Visa, Mastercard)for airplane tickets, etc. and pay them off with the trip account monies. <BR>Yes, I scrape pennies together, but if I have a choice of spending $8 on a Brad Pitt movie or taking a trip...... <BR>I also travel cheap: discount airfares, hotels with toilet down the hall, non-tourist restaurants. Instead of overpriced souvenirs from tourist shops, I buy things in the locals' stores (French jam, Italian olive oil, Spanish sparkling wine) for a lot less. I send very few postcards (at 55 cents for postage, it adds up) and bring souvenirs to those who appreciate the gift. <BR>As all veteran travellers know, off-season is the best time to travel (cheap airfares, less-crowded venues). Look for week-end deals...President's Day weekend is the best (dead of winter, the airlines practically pay YOU to take their planes) for a 5-day jaunt to London or Toronto or Hawaii or wherever. <BR>Last, but not least, figure how much a trip will cost, and divide by 6. That's how much you have to save to take a trip in 6 months....break it down by week or day...and it's not unattainable. Make your own plane reservations, hotel reservations, train passes, etc. Don't buy a tour; read Fodor's, Europe Through the Back Door, Let's Go. There are budget publications, like Budget Europe, with suggestions for inexpensive accommodations, restaurants, etc. Don't buy new outfits for your trips; wear your old stuff. Borrow things like guidebooks and dictionaries from the library; write to the tourist bureau of your destination and get loads of free stuff (like maps that usually cost $10); if you're planning to travel before June, and via Eurorail Pass, buy it before Dec.1 and buy at the cheaper price (before their standard Jan 1st price increase). Use every discount you can find (don't buy a museum pass in the U.S. with a 10% commission, buy it in the country/city). If you're buying a trainpass, buy it from a company that charges a minimum (or no) fee. Realize that some countries (Portugal, Greece) are less expensive than others (Germany, France); some areas (the Dordogne Valley of France, Northern Coast of Northern Ireland) are cheaper than other parts of the same country. READ THIS FORUM! These folks have wonderful ideas for keeping down costs. <BR> <BR>

Sorry if this is off-topic, but I felt that I had to respond to those posts saying that young Americans don't travel simply because they're all too materialistic. <BR> <BR>I believe there are a few alternative reasons. After college, I literally couldn't afford to travel largely because I owed so much on student loans, whereas in many other countries university education is essentially free. <BR> <BR>Second, I was paying health insurance premiums. Had I quit my job, I would not only have lost my employer's contribution to health benefits, but would also have had to get an individual, not group, plan, which was prohibitively expensive. Again, western Europeans and citizens of other countries with national health insurance don't have this problem. <BR> <BR>Third, I started my working life (not very well-paid, by the way), as many others do, with no bed, no dishes, no table. My non-affluent parents couldn't help much since they were helping out my retired grandparents and squirrelling away every spare cent for their own retirement, because Social Security is inadequate. <BR> <BR>Fourth, housing (rental or purchase) in the U.S. is expensive. In some European countries, there is more government subsidy of affordable housing for working people above the poverty line. <BR> <BR>I'm not saying that my experience was particularly rough; on the contrary,it was pretty typical. And plenty of people have it much, much worse. Sure, there are wealth-seeking automatons out there, but there are also very real economic conditions that constrain many others. <BR> <BR>(Donning flame-proof suit.) <BR>

Boy, did I need to read this thread! I'm the one who asked a few months ago, what do you give up in order to travel. Every few months I need a good dose of you guys. Let's hear it for the one who said, who needs a (an?) SUV! <BR> <BR>I was almost ready to give up clipping coupons, but after reading this I will not. I just saw a friend's new 4,000 square foot house at noon so I really really needed to read what everyone has written. <BR> <BR>It's priorities priorities priorities. And ours obviously is travel. But with the US world we live in, that says consume consume consume, somehow it's too easy to feel you're not doing what you're supposed to. Back to the coupons! And thanks! (Love all those frequent flyer points from the paid-off credit card purhcases. They're the best.)

What a wonderful forum that exists here in Fodor's. Such a wonderful opportunity to chat with people that share the same passion that I do for travel and adventure. This world is full of real and beautiful people! <BR> <BR>Let us all make a vow to ourselves to do the following: <BR> <BR>1) Share your thoughts and feelings about your travel experiences always, no matter how bad. <BR> <BR>2) Open your eyes even further and see more of what you've been missing. <BR> <BR>3) Love yourself enough to take care of your inner peace. <BR> <BR>4) Live for the present moment and be happy NOW, no matter what you are doing. Just be happy doing it. <BR> <BR>Daniel

Dear Flame-Proof: at the risk of being type-cast as a curmudgeon, let me shed some light on your opinions. First law of economics: there is no free lunch. When people ooh and ahhh about so-called free education and free health care and other "free" aspects of life in other countries, they are dead wrong. In America, we pay for these things out of our disposable income because there is so much more of it. Tax rates -- both obvious taxes and hidden taxes -- are much much much lower in the USA than in almost any other developed country you would care to name. The amount of labor one must expend in order to attain a moderate scale of living is much much much less in America. Let me explain some of the so-called common labor practices in some other countries, such as Germany. Yes, it is true that one enjoys a much greater number of paid holidays in Germany than in the US. What others fail to consider is that the unemployment rate in Europe (and in Germany in particular) is several times higher than in the USA. In the past 10 years, America has created almost 15 million new jobs (and don't try to tell me that every one of those jobs is flipping hamburgers...because they aren't). Europe, with about the same population, same GDP, and same demographics, has LOST almost one million jobs. Someone has to pay for those who sit out this period on welfare. Guess who pays? That's right: those who pay taxes. I could go on and on. But my point is this: those who live and work in the USA never had it so good. PS: I'm a registered Democrat.

Daniel Lee, what a beautiful soul you have. You are a wise and dear man. And a traveler, to boot.

I agree with most everyone on this issue. Most of my friends 35-40ish have never been to Europe. I have 5 times, 3 on my own. It is something that gets in your blood. I also think it has to do with where life takes you. I was born in NYC and most of my family lives there, going to Europe is thought of as the brass ring. While now I live in Fairfax, VA and many people that I grew up with are afraid to take the Metro downtown. They are very cloistered in the suburbs and love going to Walmart. That is their world. A week at the beach is all they want and that's fine, the flights to Europe are getting crowded. As I have said to many friends that I have, when I am old (hopefully) and I'm sitting around reflecting on my life, will the BMW or the big house that I couldn't afford be my fondest memories. Thats not what I want for my life.

Sorry, Al, I don't think you're a curmudgeon, because I do realize that these benefits come out of taxes in other countries, and I'm well aware of the European unemployment rates. And I really didn't mean to start a debate on us versus them. All I meant to do was reply about the specific situation for people fresh out of school and suggest that they aren't necessarily all go-go-go to buy big houses and big cars. <BR> <BR>When my European friends graduated from university, they had no educational debts, had health insurance whether they were working or not, and often had access to subsidized housing. This was not true of my American friends (except that some didn't have college loans, either). Yes, later in life their high taxes went to provide these things, but at the time they had more freedom to be footloose than their uninsured, debt-bound American counterparts.

Debby, We travel because we love it and we find a way to do it. Al, KT, don't start.

I don't know about you guys, but I am printing this thread and carrying it with me for inspiration!! <BR>

I have a comfortable income, but have been socking most of it away for kids' college and early retirement. Never even thought about going to Europe until I noticed that the Sprint Bonus points we had been accumulating for years added up to enough for two round-trip tickets to any of 20 cities in Europe. I thought "Why not?" and took a family of 5 to Europe for three weeks for about what most families our size spend for a week at Disney World. It was a scarey prospect at first, and during the week before we left I kept wondering what the heck I had gotten myself into, and even though there were major glitches, we had a ball. Travel to Europe CAN be done for about the same as most folks spend on US travel if you do your research. Best resource I have found for economizing at home so you can afford to follow your dreams is the Tightwad Gazette. Check your bookstore or type it into your Search Engine. I cannot for the life of me spell the woman's last name, but she sure knows how to save money. <BR>

Richard, sorry, your advice to me is just a bit late, as I've already bought my ticket for my sixteenth trip abroad and I've also lived in Britain. <BR> <BR>I'm not sure why you think that just because I've noticed that some people absolutely can't afford to travel (heck, some people can't even afford a roof over their heads) it necessarily follows that I don't want to travel or am not willing to scrimp, now that my still-limited budget is large enough to make it possible. In fact, I'm extremely grateful that I can travel and, as you might have noticed, much earlier in this thread I discussed how I do it. <BR> <BR>To the others on this thread -- I'm really sorry to have started this unpleasant exchange and I won't do anything like that again. I've really enjoyed reading all the constructive posts on this topic. <BR> <BR>

Exscuse me KT and Al, I don't mean to interrupt, but I need to ask a question. <BR> <BR>Anna, this woman who knows how to save, is she single? If yes, do you have her telephone number?

how i needed to see this today! on this gray, dreary, rainy day, as i am doing the spring cleaning, i think, man i wish i had a new house like so and so, or i hate this old 2 bedroom, 1 bath that needs to be fixed, house. then i read this thread and and get out the pics of the caymans or the virgin islands and then the drugstore calls and my pics from paris are in today and i think yes! this is why we chose to live so differently from our friends. what memories we can share with our other travelling friends and even here on this fantastic site! and we are expecting our first grandchild soon and we want to show him/her the world. what a way to brighten my day!!