I guess it's even more difficult for us, coming from South East Asia to Europe, as our money seems to shrink by more than half once we get there! (Also the travelling time of 15 hours can really kill you). So you see, you don't really have to be immensely wealthy to travel. I'm doing it, on my annual pay that when converted to the US Dollar, will put me right below the poverty line. <BR>I guess it's all in the wanting. I really wanted to go to Europe, and I have been saving for it for over a year. So, if I have to save over 6 thousand of my own currency just to get 1 thousand measly pound sterling, well, at least I did it with my own money!! I guess it's easier if you're single, and work at a relatively well paid job. My partner and I have decided that we're going to make this travelling thing an annual event. We're leaving for the UK this coming weekend, and we're just so excited, we can't get any work done at the office. I say, save whatever you can, because watching Travellers on the Discovery Channel is just not the same as doing it yourself.

Debbie: Im from Sydney, Australia and like you have often wondered how everyone here manages to travel so often. My husband and I are planning our first(he says only) trip to Britain/Ireland and Italy for May next year. I see know, that one of our greatest cost barriers in comparison to most here who seem to be American is the airfares. Our airfair Sydney to London is about $2,000 AUS each, with the Australian Dollar as it is right now that's about $4,000 each US. (Im frightening myself here... yikes) Anyway, my husband has said, this will be your only chance to go, so make sure of where you want to go and I have $20,000AUS to do it with. We are planning to go for 6 weeks and are looking at an Insight Escorted Tour. But more importantly, you have all inspired me to get off my lazy bum and go back to work and use the money for travel only. Ive also been tossing up how much do I love my BMW that sits 9 days out of 14 in the garage. I think you have all helped me answer that question, the price of it would give me at least one other big trip or a few little ones! After Europe, I really want to go to Canada and to see the Autumn Spectacular colour in the New England area of America... bye bye BMW... hello America!.... <BR>Thanks all, for helping me become a travel addict... <BR> <BR> <BR>

Wow! I love this website! This topic is great as I see that I'm not the only one who has brown bagged-it, sat at home on a Saturday night, forgone somethings I would want to travel! It's true once you get that first stamp in your passport you're never the same person again. Man, I'm not rich but travel is sooo addicting.... as it's enriching and once you get a taste of what's out there in the world you want more of it!

What a laugh!!!!! How did this thread end up on the Great Britain board? Are Brits perhaps considered richer than the French and Italians? Whomever it is at Fodors with the wickedly wonderful sense of humor - thanks, you brightened my day.

Kerryanne, $2,000 Australian is equivalent of about $1,100 US, so it's not that bad. Have a great trip.

I have to say that this thread has been the best I've ever read on the Fodors site. My sincerest thanks to all who contributed because (as I'm sure you've noticed) many of us out here surely needed to hear it. Good luck to everyone scrimping and saving... <BR>I'll see you over there someday!! <BR> <BR>The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.

This post is still a classic, must-see, IMO, so to the top!

Debby, if I were actually rich I would travel the world all year long! I get to Europe by watching internet fares .... sometimes (usually in the winter) an airline will have a typo and voila! A round trip ticket from Hawaii to London is just $299! Or a round trip ticket from Hawaii to Paris is just $169! OR I sign up for all kinds of mileage partnerships (like with long distance companies) to rack up miles. Two of my European trips were free. And then all I do is stay in cheap hotels.

Well, here is a little tip that isn't going to buy you a round-trip fare to Paris, but still it is amazing at how much it mounts up to. I always felt my little trick was "small potoatoes" until I heard it mentioned casually by a major credit planner as an outstanding way to save money. <BR> <BR>I NEVER spend the change in my pocket, exept for pennies. If I buy a pack of gum or whatever, that cost, say, 55 cents, I break a bill for it, regardless of whether or not I have the 55 cents in loose change. <BR> <BR>I keep a set of cheap, plastic coin tubes on my dresser and, each night, put the nickels, dimes and quarters away. <BR> <BR>I live in a small city and make a lot of little transactions every day, a cup of coffee here, breath mints there, whatever. <BR> <BR>The tubes make the coins easy to roll and last year I bundled everything up and found I'd rat-holed $498 in money that I absolutely had never missed! <BR> <BR>I mentioned this to a very skeptical friend who vowed to give it a whirl. He was stunned to find he'd saved nearly $300 in 6 months. <BR> <BR>Again, this isn't going to make you rich or pay for your trip, but the $498 bought a round-trip ticket to London + at least one meal and a night in a budget hotel. <BR> <BR>The beauty of it being that it was relatively painless.

Similarly, when keeping my checkbook, before subtracting each check I round it up. When the statement comes in, I log the difference (always positive) in the back (so I have an general idea of what's in there) (balance shown + sum in the back). Granted you can never balance your checkbook to the penny, but I figure you save lots of time *not* searching for that 5-cents' difference! (Plus you build a nice little cushion in your checking account.) CPAs, please don't yell at me.

Among other things, I also save my change. Everyday I throw my change (and my husband's) into a champagne bucket. After 2 years, I finally took it all to the bank and it was about $700! My bank has a machine they dump the change in and it sorts and tallies it.

i thought this was a great thread very postive and helpful I'l add my two cents: we went to paris for thanksgiving , why because it was cheaper then florida. i found a 3* hotel for less then a 100.00 anight. I asked for an additional dicount because we were there for 8 nights and they gave us a night fee. our airfare from ny to paris was 424 all taxes included, high but it was a holiday. we ate in local cafes and took the metro and some bus tours . we went to disney on our own. the train was 12 dollars and admission was 15.00 as it was winter and our dollar was strong 8ff to the dollar. our disney trip was 27.00 dollards vs. 61.25 it would have cost us with cityrama tours. we also used the bus rouge in paris which was great as we could hop on and off all day. i must admit i have a bad back so the metro stairs were sometimes more then i could take. we loved the cafe dome near our hotel and ate there regularly, with all the parisiens. to us the best thing was to be in paris together. <BR> I must admit my husband's income is very good and perhaps i am a tad spoiled but as i came from humble beginings as did my husband we still are CHEAP . to me it is a challenge to get thins the chepest possible. Our friend is a travel agent and the best she could do for this period was 998.00 each airfare and hotel, that would have been close to 2000.00 us our tickets were 848.00 our hotel bill was 670.00 including breakfast and 5 calls to the us. whcih left us with 478.00 differance for other nice things. the interent gives us a million sites for travel , why not use them. i hope people enjoy this old thread i thought it was great

Yes! <BR>I can't believe how rich I am. i did my taxes in January and there was not enough space on the form for all my money $9,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 USD <BR>ya see, I ran out of space here too. <BR> <BR>I love being rich.

What a great thread! <BR> <BR>I haven't seen this reasoning yet.. <BR>I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the early age of 17. Only by the grace of God was it discovered and I was cured. Anytime I feel ill, however, there is always the search for additional cancer. This lingering thought resides deep in my mind and has served as an impetus for me to travel. <BR>It has been a long time since I was 17, and I went on to have three incredible children. <BR>We travel at every opportunity and strive to see that our children do as well. Our travel is a priority. We make our choices accordingly. I am never unhappy about going on a trip, only if I choose not too. <BR>Keep Traveling, and Live Well! <BR>Gloria

No, I don't consider myself wealthy, though others might. My husband is a lawyer, and I run a business, and we both make 6-figure incomes, but believe me, we don't have huge investment funds or tons of disposable income - we spend practically every extra penny we have after private school tuition (we live in an area where public schools are simply dreadful and not an option for anyone who can afford better - and besides, my dad was a private school headmaster) on travel. We also live just outside Washinton, DC, where the cost of living is exceedingly high. We have hardly any savings and mighty few investments, but we do have a beautiful old house in France that is the light of our lives and that, when rented, defrays our costs of travel. You do what you need to do to brighten your life. We go to France as a family once a year (all we can afford) for a month or so. Sometimes we exchange our house in France for accommodations elsewhere in Europe. We're in our late 40s, so we're at our prime as far as earnings are concerned, probably, but the house in France has proved to pay for itself and be a tax break in many ways, so it's been a blessing in more ways than one. We feel that you should spend your money from the heart, and we have. We'll never make millions on the stock market, but we'll be able to look out over the Vézère valley from our front door and be heartstruck with the beauty of the scene. Our kids are getting a great education and will be bilingual, which will serve them well in the global economy they'll be working in. You make your choices and live by them. Would I ever have known I would be living this kind of life when I was 20? Well, no and yes - I was a francophile from the get-go. I had my eye on a place in Honfleur when I was 26 - it was only $13,000 dollars - imagine - and it was just so far beyond <BR> my financial reach at that point I laughed it off. Don't laugh off your dreams, young people, they really can come to fruition. <BR>To get back to the question at hand, I probably would be really wealthy if I hadn't bought a home in France, didn't havekids in private schools to the tne of $32,000 a year, and didn't travel to France 2-3times a year. <BR>Addiction is a terrible thing.....

Wealth is ALL relative! It's how you look at it and what exactly you mean? I have a job that is not very well paid but I try to spend as little as possible so that I may take an International trip every year. Once you make that first trip it gets under your skin and you just have to feed it like an addiction! It isn't that important to stay at the BEST places everywhere or eat at the finest restaurants or for that matter to travel during the time of year when the weather is the best! It's all priorities. You stay at a modest 2 or 3 star property, eat at inexpensive places and travel during low seasons. That's the way to travel without being WEALTHY! I know because I somehow manage to travel every year and I do not bring home a large paycheck! Where there is a will there is a way!!!

Have I got this right? <BR> <BR>Two professionals each earning in 6 figures. <BR> <BR>A house in the US and one in France--albeit one with occasional problems with the septic tank. <BR> <BR>An annual trip to France for the entire family. <BR> <BR>Two kids in private school at the cost of $32,000 a year--in an area where many people go to public school and do just fine in the college sweepstakes (I do happen to know where the poster lives). <BR> <BR>She home exchanges? Don't make me laugh. There is a poster on AOL who is--more or less the home exchange expert over there and has done it many times. The poster in question has had a vendetta with her for years. She and her buddies--using many aliases--have disparaged that person for years due to her "low class" home exchanges. That the poster now admits to doing it herself is a hoot. I guess it is true confessions time, no? <BR> <BR>By anyone's yardstick, the poster is loaded. I guess her idea of wealth is 2 6 figure incomes without having the mundane problem of working, no? <BR> <BR>By the way, does one trip to France a year for the whole family for approximately 4 weeks make you a part time resident? The poster calls herself "a part time resident of France on other boards. I would not put it that way. I would say that she is loaded, snobby, a full time resident of the United States, with a vacation place she incessantly advertises on every travel message board in order to rent it out (neglecting to mention problems with the heat and septic tank). If she doesn't like the tenants she gets, I have even seen her disparage them by name on boards. <BR> <BR>Sometimes, it would be the better part of valor to say nothing. <BR> <BR>Trips to Europe can be planned by people of modest income, if you go in the off season, rent apartments or stay in modest hotels (who needs antiques in the room if you are going to be out all day). A good meal can be had at modest prices or you can go to the grocery store and create a picnic. Students have been doing this for years. <BR> <BR>And, finally, I have no idea why people would brag about their income, the price they pay for private school, and all sorts of personal details on a message board. It does make one wonder.

Debby: You ask if everyone here is immensely wealthy? Yes.

No, I am not very wealthy, but yes I do make several (3 or 4) trips to Europe each year. I wait till the airlines are offering very discounted rates in the off season (ex: EWR-LGW $199 r/t), then upgrade to FC with miles. I am an elite level with many hotel chains & get free stays & upgrades. In cities I always use public transportation (I have never taken a taxi overseas. I'll shop for soft drinks & snacks at local grocery stores and eat in inexpensive cafes & restaurants, or else bring food back to my hotel. Also utilizing my hotel elite status, I'll get access to their lounge with free food & beverages all day. Finally, my trips are relatively short, I do long weekends (over a US holiday) where the most I'm in a hotel is 3 days.

The people here who are single or married without kids have a lot more disposible income and it is much easier for them to make it ovwer to Europe from the US or downunder. People with kids, college is expensive, isn't it? Heck, food and clothes are expensive not to mention gymnastics, snowboarding and athletic shoes. These people who take there kids to Europe are either firmly upper-middle class, in-debt up to their eyeballs OR very canny with off-season airfare, timeshares, home exchanges, picnic food, etc. My hats off to anyone who is in the lower middle-class and aspires to treat their offspring to a European experience, because it ain't easy. You double income airline pilots, lawyers and doctors, well, hats off to you too for working so hard to earn some luxury.