Mikey

After spending a few months reading posts on this site I am really curious how much people spend on travel each year and what kind of jobs they have. Curious about the annual income of people here and/or what percentage of their income is spent on travel. I am a middle-level manager with a high-tech company, my wife is a part time nurse. We make about $125K/ year. We ususally spend between $5K and $12k a year on travel. We do not have kids which helps.

abe

Wow, to me that sounds like a lot for travel! I actually LOVE to travel and I believe my husband and I do it more than most, but we could never spend that much! I am an attorney and he works for the U.S. Treasury Dept. Together our income is about $175k a year, but in living in downtown Chicago where the cost of living is OUTRAGEOUS that isn't all that much. We don't have children either but we are just starting out and have house payments, car payments, student loan payments etc. etc. We take a big vacation every other year in addition to a bunch of long weekends and spend about $6k on off years we just take small trips and spend about $2500. <BR> <BR>If you are able to spend that much on travel, you are very lucky and I envy you!!! We are hoping to be that way when we retire about 30 years from now!!

George Duhhhbya

I am the former governor of Texas and the President-elect. My wife is just my wife, and I have no idea what she does all day. No one has told me how much this new job pays, but whatever it is, it is a whole lot more than my Daddy ever expected me to make on my own. <BR> <BR>Let me describe my job, because a lot of Europeans don't know much about it. Dick Cheney (he's my vice-President, but you English people can think of him as my butler) says I should get up around 8 or so and go downstairs to the oval office around 9:30. Dick says I should sign some papers and stay awake during some boring meetings about stuff like the greenhouse effect. Then he says I can have a grilled cheese sandwich and two poptarts with chocolate milk for lunch. Then a nap, some more stupid meetings, return some phone calls, and call it a day around 4. <BR> <BR>Dick says I spend a lot on travel. Well, spend isn't the right word because the taxpayers pick up the tab. Dick says I'll have to go abroad every few months. This is scary because I have never traveled, and I don't speak any of those foreigner languages. Dick says he'll translate, though, so that's something. <BR> <BR>Anyway, thanks for asking Mikey. Watch for my inauguration on TV next month. That oughtta be some kegger.

AAGorejr

I'd plan on traveling back to my "home" state of Tennessee but even they voted for that "other guy". <BR> <BR>Maybe I will go back and mend some fences. Maybe if I would have fixed some toilets during the campaign I would have won it all. <BR> <BR>I got to go look for a real job now. Are travel expenses tax deductbile when you're job hunting? <BR> Does Alec Baldwin need a valet? <BR> <BR>Hopefully Tipper can sell her campaign photos and then get a job drumming again. <BR> <BR>Got to go. My friends in orange robes are here. Got to raise some travel money some how. What countires don't have an extradition treaty with the U.S.?

a survivor

WOW - this is an interesting example of how folks set their priorities. I don't make anywhere NEAR the salary of you two guys and I manage to go to Europe once a year and also, visit family in California & Boston (about 3 to 5 trips collectively). <BR> <BR>I'm single, no kids, my car is paid for (& hopefully, the '93 Honda will keep purring for several more years). <BR>All together, I spend about 4k on travel. <BR> <BR>Abe - it's nice to think about being able to travel when you retire, but life has a way of throwing a monkey wrench into one's grand plans. God willing, the treatments I endured during the earlier part of this year will permanently keep the cancer in remission. I may not have 30 yrs -- okay, none of us know if we'll be alive to post tomorrow. Sorry for the melodrama; all this holiday hooplah, end of the year reflection, etc. etc. <BR> <BR>I guess my point is, that if travel is important to you, then there are ways to make it a priority. Oh, and as for my salary? I earn 38k. <BR> <BR>

abe

I don't believe it is important what percentage of your income is spent on travel, the point is what percentage of your DISPOSABLE inncome is spent on travel. To "a survivor" it may seem like my $175k/year is a lot in comparison to his salary but truth be told, I probably have less disposable income. Yhe area of the country you live in and the cost of living there have a lot to do with it. We have a home mortgage that is over $2200/month (no we don't live in a big house, we have a tiny 2 bedroom condo in the city) and we also pay $1500/month on our student loans (law school was by no means cheap) this doesn't include any other expenses. To us saving $4000/year for travel is difficult not a priority problem. <BR> <BR>I am glad you are traveling now and enjoying it, not waiting to retirement. I hope we can travel quite a bit prior to then too!

jane

My husband and I make about 100K a year. He makes almost 2x what I do (both full time- he's an engineer and I'm in marketing), but I have other perks: The big difference is that he gets a flat 2 weeks vacation per year. At my company, you start with 2 weeks and you get an additional day of vacation for every year you've worked there(up to 4 weeks total). I've been here over 5 years so I have 3 weeks AND I can roll my vacation from one year to the next. So right now, I could take 6 weeks off in a row, but I don't want to travel extensively without my husband. I also travel for work a couple times a year, within the US, so I can tack on a visit to friends/places across the country and have most or all of the airfare paid for. We usually take a week long trip together during the year and a couple long weekends here and there, probably spending 3-4K total. We also have house, car, and student loan payments, but no kids.

Gina

Well, I don't exactly feel like broadcasting my income all over the Web, but I can probably try to put things in perspective without doing that. <BR> <BR>I'm a freelance writer; I went out on my own as a freelancer back in July after building my business for about a year and a half while employed full-time as a writer for an association. My income is probably better than most freelance writers' simply because I did that first, rather than jumping into the independent pool and then trying to generate income. <BR> <BR>I spend a *lot* on travel each year, simply because it's my hobby, my passion, my favorite indulgence. I didn't travel much as a child (my parents weren't that into it then), and maybe in some ways I'm making up for lost time. I'd rather spend money on travel than on new furniture or a new car or another major purchase. (You should see my couch.) Plus, since I'm single with no dependents, I don't have a ton of other expenses to deal with as many others do. <BR> <BR>Anyway, since I'm a freelancer, I have the independence to travel when I want (mostly--when major projects are due it can get tight), and therefore can take advantage of rock-bottom last-minute sales, auctions, courier flights, so on and so forth. My best friend and I just decided to go to Paris in April thanks to the Icelandair Lucky Fares two-for-one sale; it's costing us $242.26 each. *TOTAL, with tax.* (BTW, the sale's still on until January 8, but flights are going *fast*--go to icelandair.com and look for "lucky fares.") I couldn't have done that as an employee, since I'm already going to Rome and Tunisia in January and Mardi Gras in New Orleans in February. <BR> <BR>I scour the 'net for bargains to make as much travel as possible happen. I pack light and stay in very inexpensive places. The Henri IV in Paris, for example--it's rather a garret, but it's a safe, clean garret right next to the Palais du Justice on the Ile de la Cite, and it was about $17 U.S. last fall, per person for a non-ensuite double. <BR> <BR>Since I do some travel writing, I can also try to make these trips pay by submitting articles to publications I work with, and if I'm lucky, getting assignments in advance of the trip. (I have 3-4 stories planned for the Rome-Tunisia trip, for example.) If I do enough pitching and writing, I can also make a fair number of these expenses tax deductible. <BR> <BR>In summary--I think I'm one of the luckiest people in the world, because I get to make my living doing what I love (writing, and frequently traveling and writing about travel). I'm not rich, but I'm comfortable, and I work hard to make the money I make; I also work hard to make as much travel happen as possible. There have been times when I've said "Oh, I didn't really need to buy that (outfit, jewelry, whatever)," but I've learned that I never, ever say, "I didn't really need to take that trip to Venice, I shouldn't have spent the money." <BR> <BR>We were out visiting a friend of my mom's at the nursing home in Nebraska, where my parents live, yesterday. This lady, who's 98, traveled the world when she was younger--Russia, China, Taiwan, all over, when travel wasn't nearly as common as it is now. She still can talk for hours about those trips, and I could listen to her for hours. She told me "Do it while you can. Travel as long as you can." And that's what I intend to do.

a survivor

-- <BR>life is about choices. Granted there are many circumstances over which we don't have control. <BR> <BR>Abe - in a few years, once you've paid off those law school loans (and I'm sure it was your choice to go to that 'not cheap' law school?), then you can reap the benefits of a good career choice and have more disposable income for travel pursuits. However, since I was a paralegal prior to moving into a corporate environment (less salary, less pressure) then I also know that you probably won't have alot of time for travel. Most lawyers that I worked for earned a lucrative salary, but also had huge time demands that precluded much leisure. Again, it goes back to that 'life is choices' adage -- <BR> <BR>

Ang

My husband and I make traveling ahuge priority...well mostly me! I've traveled quite a bit since I was very young. Both of my parents are teachers so every break they have ever had, Thanksgiving, Christmas, mid-winter break, Easter (spring break), they've taken a trip. Most often all 3 kids went. We would leave the second we got out of school the day before a break and not come back until about 10:00 pm the Sunday (usually fell that way) before we had to go back to school. <BR> <BR>That has just really stuck with me. Every day I have off, even if its only a 3 day weekend...I have to go SOMEWHERE. Even if its only a few hours away. In saying that, I think that gives a clear picture of how much I HAVE to travel. I go crazy if I don't! <BR> <BR>Combined my husband and I make only about $70K...with me making double what he makes. That does make it easier to justify my obsession for traveling. He's a teacher and I'm a Supply Chain Anaylst for a huge international company. I'd say we're doing pretty well for only being out of school for 2 years. The cost of living here in the metro-Detroit area is moderate. Our house payment is $1000 for a moderate size ranch-style home, with 3 bedrooms, attached garage, huge yard. We both drive new cars (mine's a 99 his is a 2000). We are still paying off his student loans (fortunately for me, my parents paid for all of my schooling). <BR> <BR>How much do we spend on travel though per year...about $8000. I know thats a ton of money considering how much (or how little!) we make, but like I said, its a huge priority for me and my husband is learning to make a huge one for himself as well! That $8000 we spend doesn't include any trips to Europe or anywhere more than a only a 4 hour flight away. We take alot of cruises, many trips to Florida, Las Vegas, the east coast, Chicago. Those smaller trips...if you take enough of them...really add up!!! <BR> <BR>This summer we are going to Italy and Greece for two weeks...so I have a feeling we may spend even more this year...but so what! We'll have a blast doing it!

Dan

I have my own business and will earn about $800K this year...a great year. Our expenses living in the San Francisco Bay Area are very high, but we still make a priority of travel and go anytime we can. In 2000 we were in Europe twice...Paris, Normandy, Italy one time.....cruise on Danube another time. <BR> <BR>We are doing very well now, but have still traveled when we were younger by staying in B and B's, eating at grocery stores and skipping all expensive restaurants. Truthfully: I enjoyed that travel more. We were younger and the experiences were fantastic. We learned to love Europe and just kept going back and exploring it. <BR> <BR>The main problem is time. You need the time off to do it. I don't have official vacation time anymore. I just leave when I feel I can leave. The other main problem is age. You cannot wait until your 60s or 70s to start because Europe travel takes stamina. At that age you just may not have it. <BR> <BR>My recommendation: Go now. Go cheap if you have to, but go while you are young. That way you can still see parts when you age, but your will not feel as if it is your only trip ever. Budget is not that big of a deal. If you can get over there, you can enjoy the area.

Tony Hughes

Dan, can I have a job please?

bob

Here is my story. I make about $85K-$100K plus benifits and live alone. I am a strong saver. I have an 8 year old car that has long been paid for. I usually travel twice a year on "vacations" but go down to the coast 3 hours away usually 7 times a year and stay at the family home. I also spend a long weekend in NYC in the fall theater season and see shows---but I go with my mother who generally pays for 90%of trip/cost, so I don't count that. This past year, I went on the two vactions --- Paris/Italy and Montreal/Quebec and spent around $3500---$4000. Of course, I did not buy any furniture during the year or other big items. The key is to save hard during the year and pull out of savings whatever the cost of vacation is. I agree with the poster that time is the hardest part. I work 12-15 hour days and infact, I have been on vacation/Holiday the last 2 days yet I have spent them in the office like a normal work day. SI believe I travel to fun places due to how long I work and it is worth every penny.

Larry

DanWw - would be interesting in hearing about your Danube cruise - you can e-mail me directly. Thanks and Happy Holidays

mike

My wife and I will together make about 250K this yr. I'm a photographer and she is in management. We have plenty of disposable income, but I don't see any reason to take much "time off" (why?, to be very honest, I'm at my most relaxed and fullfilled when I am creating, sort of free falling with my medium). Oh well, who am I to argue if they want to pay me. <BR>Anyway, we usually spend about $2-3K on a local vacation (1 week). This yr. we are heading for Florence. Looks like $4-5K on this one. Actually I'm looking forward to the Brunello as much as the Uffizi. <BR>Would like to do the Hermitage next yr. I imagine it is just as expensive as Florence, maybe even more, think $5-6K on that one? Don't really know.

Tina

Tony wants a job. I'd rather come live with you, Dan. No - no, not that. I'm thinking maybe you'd like to adopt a daughter ??? <BR> <BR>Sounds like you got the right idea --- I didn't start traveling until my late thirties & now I hate not having a plane ticket sitting in my "travel drawer".

Not saying

I think my spouse and I will gross over $250,000 this year. We spent a lot on travel this year ($10,000) because we sent his mother on a once-in-a-lifetime trip. <BR> <BR>But you just won't believe how the money evaporates. This is an expensive area. We don't have any debt other than the mortgage, yet I still have to pinch pennies so we can fully fund our 401Ks and save a little something extra. Our resolution is to really buckle down and say no to certain things that all of the Jones' in our neighborhood are doing. We'll see how disciplined we can be.

Sjoerd

As a European, this is a *very* interesting thread to read. In my country, US$ 40,000 per year is considered to be a *very* good salary, and US$ 60,000 and more is top. My partner and I (double income no kids) make about US$ 80,000 per year together, and can basically travel as much as we like. I am surprised that people who make 175K or 250K have difficulties in finding money to travel. We live in Amsterdam, which is the most expensive place in the Netherlands. We have a mid-size car (European mid size = American small size!), three bicycles and a tram card. Merry Christmas to everyone!

Kenny

Blimey...! I knew Americans were better off financially than people here in Europe, but $125k, $175k,...! I think I've just lost any sympathy I had for your guys not getting much vacation time.

Michael

I find it hard to believe as well that people pulling down 200 grand a year find themselves hindered from travel by the costs, the cost of living or whatever. My wife and I combined make around $53,000 and we have been able for the past couple of years to go to Europe twice a year, once for one week and the other for two. My wife is a teacher and I am a low-level bureaucrat, not particularly vital to the company, with around 350 hours of accrued vacation time which I am supposed to save for an "emergency" however--they won't let me take more than 2 weeks at a time but I can usually get away with 3-4 weeks a year. Last summer we spent about $3500 including airfare for 2 weeks in Norway, which is by far the most expensive trip we've taken (we fly out of Boston, so airfare to W. Europe is not usually expensive). The previous year we went to England and France for a similar 2-week period and spent about $1900 total, including 1 night at a $150 Best Western in Paris which I hated to stay in because there was nothing Parisian about it but we arrived late in the day without reservations and couldn't find anything else. We stay in one star hotels and private rooms in hostels--most have them--not to show off, but because we genuinely like them (we are 30 and 27) and in Scandanavia most of the guests at the hostels aren't rowdy backpackers but Scandanavian families. I do get the impression that a lot of Americans think they are degrading themselves if they have to walk down the hall to use the bathroom or ride on a tram, moreso than ordinary people in Western Europe seem to. I suppose if one is important and great he can expect first class comfort and obsequious behavior from every aspect and person he encounters on his trip, but I think we would be more popular among the new international set, if that is what we desire, if those of us who can afford to be more humble were better at recognizing ourselves.