Whats your travel/vacation budget?

[Xtrema]

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YouTube has made travel less fun.

Traveling around the world to see something I just watched in 4k .. Reduces the appeal.

Seeing what those travel logger did and follow is no fun.

Running in to some hole in the wall that nobody ever seen or talked about is actually more exciting.

[The_Rural_Juror]

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Just an example, if you want to see Mayan ruins near Cancun, everyone suggests Chitzen Itza. And yes, it's amazing, but it's absolutely packed for most of the day, and it's pretty much one big gift shop too. Right in the Hotel Zone in Cancun, there's a very small and very cheap set of Mayan ruins at "el Rey" and it's deserted. It's walking distance from some of the hotels, and a five minute cab ride from the rest. Like $1 to get in, and when we were there, I think we saw less than a dozen people. It's a much smaller site, but you can explore at your own pace, and honestly, I enjoyed it more.

How else would anyone experience the sites made famous by the groundbreaking music video of Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche) by 98 degrees?

[Rocket1k78]

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Agree. We did a big trip (Europe. 2.5 weeks. 3 cities) with our 8 month old last year and it was great. We did everything we wanted to and didn't feel like we missed out on anything as long as we were realistic with our expectations. If anything, having the little one with us made the trip way more memorable, especially when looking back at the pictures.

That said, my wife and I went to Vegas without the baby a few weeks later and that was also amazing lol... we felt so freeee

Yeah the kids might not remember how epic of a trip they were on but as a parent you're absolutely right that the memories for us will always be there.
Me and my wife went to Van last year for a week with no kids and it was so nice just doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted

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Seeing what those travel logger did and follow is no fun.

Running in to some hole in the wall that nobody ever seen or talked about is actually more exciting.

#truth. We still had a fun time but finding hole in the walls is by far the best times and experiences if its good haha

[eblend]

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I find the older I have become the less I desire I have to travel and especially abroad. I seem to get far more enjoyment out just exploring hidden gems in Alberta, there's so much here that I still haven't seen or explored as much as I would've liked yet.

I find I have less and less patience with respect to the whole aspect of flying somewhere, so much so that I am willing to give up wonderful destinations and experiences just to avoid the logistics of getting there.

Even a day trip has value to me, last summer - a day trip to Drumheller to enjoy some dirt racing and a dinner afterwards. Last summer, day trip to the Manyberries badlands - will repeat this year. Even the drive is worth it because of the landscape and history one can stumble upon.

This is true for me as well kind of. I don't really want to plan big trips, maybe with a group but if it's just me and the wife I will end up doing all the planning, and that's a pain in the ass recently.

Speaking of local places..Just came back from Whitehorse, and a few years ago was in Yellowknife for fun....not many people do this for fun and many people questions why the hell would I want to go into -40c weather, but I love it.

[Masked Bandit]

I had to go back through our 2019 financial records to see and travel accounted for 22% of our total expenditures. We live below our means for things like vehicles, housing & clothing but travel is our splurge.

[Gainsbarre]

I spent $18,220.95 on travel in 2019 (yes I have a spreadsheet tracking travel expenses), although this was for a total of 91 days and includes expenses like food and fuel, albeit at a higher rate with more driving and restaurant meals. Most was for solo travel, although I did take my parents with me on a few trips. I like to think of myself as still cost conscious when I travel in finding flight deals, and staying in hotels that are two or three star. 14 trips taken last year included Belize, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, 5 other trips to the USA, Australia, Iceland, Taiwan/Japan and South America (Brazil/Argentina/Chile/Easter Island).

I agree with travelling off the beaten path. I just came back last night from my 6th trip to Japan, and I wanted to visit Hokkaido and Shikoku on this most recent trip to say that I've been to all 4 of Japan's main islands. Japanese tour itineraries I've come across online make little to no mention of sites/things to do in Shikoku, so I spent the night in Takamatsu as it was the easiest place to get to from the Okayama area (a major nearby transit hub on the main island of Honshu). Discovered the Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu, which may be the finest of all Japanese gardens I've been to, and I've been to over a dozen inside/outside of Japan. Contrast this to my visit to Himeji Castle, which was also worth a visit, but is mentioned in nearly every guidebook and was overrun with other tourists when I was there.

[flipstah]

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I spent $18,220.95 on travel in 2019 (yes I have a spreadsheet tracking travel expenses), although this was for a total of 91 days and includes expenses like food and fuel, albeit at a higher rate with more driving and restaurant meals. Most was for solo travel, although I did take my parents with me on a few trips. I like to think of myself as still cost conscious when I travel in finding flight deals, and staying in hotels that are two or three star. 14 trips taken last year included Belize, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, 5 other trips to the USA, Australia, Iceland, Taiwan/Japan and South America (Brazil/Argentina/Chile/Easter Island).

I agree with travelling off the beaten path. I just came back last night from my 6th trip to Japan, and I wanted to visit Hokkaido and Shikoku on this most recent trip to say that I've been to all 4 of Japan's main islands. Japanese tour itineraries I've come across online make little to no mention of sites/things to do in Shikoku, so I spent the night in Takamatsu as it was the easiest place to get to from the Okayama area (a major nearby transit hub on the main island of Honshu). Discovered the Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu, which may be the finest of all Japanese gardens I've been to, and I've been to over a dozen inside/outside of Japan. Contrast this to my visit to Himeji Castle, which was also worth a visit, but is mentioned in nearly every guidebook and was overrun with other tourists when I was there.

An average of ~$200/day? That's awesome. I like it.

Of course that was rudimentary maths.

[Gainsbarre]

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An average of ~$200/day? That's awesome. I like it.

Of course that was rudimentary maths.

Yeah I used to use that as a benchmark for whether or not the trip was expensive - now I have to bump it up to about $220/day.

Australia was $245/day last year for me, even cheaper than Iceland ($220 - flights were super cheap and I bought most meals in Iceland at Bonus). Cheapest was $119/day for a weekend getaway to Washington because I had a flight voucher with Delta - lowered the cost of my roundtrip YYC-SEA flight to only 1.99 US.

Most expensive for me was $400/day for a 9 day visit to Equador and the Galapagos back in November 2017 - paid just over for $2,700 for a gadventures tour that included a week long cruise of the Galapagos with airfare to and from Quito.

[Mitsu3000gt]

On a per-person basis, ~$200/day is pretty easy to do in most countries with decent food and accommodation. That is a good rough target for a decent trip I think.

Just checking a few of mine, Japan was $187/day (Flight, accommodation, all meals, all activities, train tickets, etc.), Hawaii is almost always around $250/day for everything but could be way cheaper if you didn't go for a nice dinner every day, Disney World is super cheap, around $180/day for everything. NZ and Iceland were a bit more, closer to $300/day but we went all out and could have done it way cheaper if we wanted. All my Europe trips were around $200-250/day according to my napkin math.

[blitz]

Travelling along vs with someone is going to effect your $/day rate fairly dramatically.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Travelling along vs with someone is going to effect your $/day rate fairly dramatically.

Not in my experience. We wouldn't be staying in the same level of accommodation if we traveled alone. Food, flights, activities, etc. are directly proportionate to the # of people for the most part. A car rental is about the only thing I can think of that might be required regardless of the # of people, but many trips don't even require car rentals and transit passes are also individual. Just looking at the trips we've taken anyway, there would be hardly any difference, if any, if we were alone or together on a $/person basis.

[blitz]

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Not in my experience. We wouldn't be staying in the same level of accommodation if we traveled alone.

Well sure, if you compare staying in hostels traveling alone vs a nice room travelling with someone. Which is a stupid thing to assume is the norm, IMO.

[killramos]

Can confirm, travelling with the wife costs much more

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Well sure, if you compare staying in hostels traveling alone vs a nice room travelling with someone. Which is a stupid thing to assume is the norm, IMO.

That's not what I'm comparing, I didn't even mention hostels - I don't think I have ever stayed in a hostel

If I am with someone we get bigger/nicer places than we would if traveling alone. You certainly don't have to downgrade to a hostel. It's easy to get a nice room for cheap even by yourself. For example, in Japan you can get an entire apartment to yourself for $80 CAD/nt easily - there is no need to be looking at hostels or capsule hotels to save $20.

[ExtraSlow]

Only kiind of on-topic, but I was discussing a job offer with someone, and their meal allowance for Canada/USA travel of peons is $50/day per person, and $75/day for managers. Hotels anywhere I travel for work as $120-$180 USD/night.

[blitz]

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That's not what I'm comparing, I didn't even mention hostels - I don't think I have ever stayed in a hostel

If I am with someone we get bigger/nicer places than we would if traveling alone. You certainly don't have to downgrade to a hostel. It's easy to get a nice room for cheap even by yourself. For example, in Japan you can get an entire apartment to yourself for $80 CAD/nt easily - there is no need to be looking at hostels or capsule hotels to save $20.

In 95% of cases if a place sleeps one person it will also sleep 2 people, especially if they're a couple. It's not really an apples to apples comparison to lower your standards because you're traveling alone and then claim there's no benefit to splitting hotel costs between 2 people.

Just seems like a really dumb thing to argue.

[ExtraSlow]

You can tell who married above thier station.

[lasimmon]

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Only kiind of on-topic, but I was discussing a job offer with someone, and their meal allowance for Canada/USA travel of peons is $50/day per person, and $75/day for managers. Hotels anywhere I travel for work as $120-$180 USD/night.

50/day sounds pretty standard to me.

I would assume that doesn't include the hotel, so not sure why thats in there?

[ExtraSlow]

Trying to add in the hotel to show what a personal trip cold be if you had the same destination and standard. So $50+$150=$200/day before any taxi, flight etc.

Now, many places everyone travels for vacations are less expensive than cities like Houston and Denver, so it's not a good comparison.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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In 95% of cases if a place sleeps one person it will also sleep 2 people, especially if they're a couple. It's not really an apples to apples comparison to lower your standards because you're traveling alone and then claim there's no benefit to splitting hotel costs between 2 people.

Just seems like a really dumb thing to argue.

Nobody's arguing, all I did was reply with my personal experience and obviously YMMV. I've been in that exact station and had it work out just like I described, so I shared my experience.

It's not really a downgrade - just for example if I am with someone, maybe we get the place with a big jacuzzi. If I'm alone, I can get just as nice of a place in a similar location without that, for less money, and I don't need a huge hot tub all to myself. Big difference between that and a hostel. Or maybe you get the place with the queen bed instead of a king, but all else equal. You aren't really downgrading, but you're saving money. Basically you just adjust the amenities to better suit 1 person rather than 2, and you can pay a lot less but maintain the same location and overall quality of accommodation.