How do middle class people afford international vacationing?

[slackerinabox]

My wife comes from a family that would travel internationally quite often, so I've been feeling guilty and pricing out vacations (for reference, growing up we'd only vacation domestically other than one trip back to my parent's homeland, and I didn't go to Europe until I could afford it on my own) - trip packages to Euro destinations for a couple are in the $5,000 - $9,000 range!

Now most of my peers make a similar salary range yet they all seem to travel like crazy, it's something I wonder about - how are they dropping upwards of 10% of their annual income often times multiple times a year (in NYC, where rent is already up to 50% of your income) - is everyone going into massive debt (my friends aren't huge savers based on the amount they spend dining and drinking out), or is there something I'm not getting? My wife's not demanding anything by the way, I just feel bad and am starting that jar.

 

[mmntech]

They either save up like crazy, or go into debt. A lot of these people have thousands on their credit cards that they'll never pay off.

 

[Jimzz]

They maybe have less savings, buy cheaper cars/used, more debt, etc...

Me and my wife are paying off our house early yet still travel once a year and drive decent cars. But we don't have cable, major cell phone bills, etc...

I bet there's a lot of things you could cut from your life and it would add up enough to extend your vacation style if that is your goal.

 

[Broheim]

They maybe have less savings, buy cheaper cars/used, more debt, etc...

Me and my wife are paying off our house early yet still travel once a year and drive decent cars. But we don't have cable, major cell phone bills, etc...

I bet there's a lot of things you could cut from your life and it would add up enough to extend your vacation style if that is your goal.

this, everybody can cut a lot of fluff from their budget to save up for something like vacations if they wanted to, the question you have to ask yourself is would you rather have the "fluff" or the vacation?

 

[slackerinabox]

this, everybody can cut a lot of fluff from their budget to save up for something like vacations if they wanted to, the question you have to ask yourself is would you rather have the "fluff" or the vacation?

Hmm, just seems logical to put that fluff into savings instead of a week abroad. I think I'm being too immigrant about it, I was raised by people who have very impressive portfolios but not many adventures

Credit cards - yes, I think that's what people are doing which terrifies me. I got into trouble in college with cards and then cut them all up and only have one for emergencies... Maybe I should just go on a bunch of trips then file for bankruptcy in my 80s Just kidding, just kidding.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Easy, they don't.

 

[lxskllr]

It depends on what you value most. A trip isn't really worth the cost of a cheap car to me. I'd like to go to Europe, but don't want to pay to go to Europe. I could count the vacations I've taken on one hand. I go places for long weekends, and go for detail rather than broad overviews. I could spend a lifetime exploring the US east coast, and a trip to Europe, even for a lengthy couple weeks would feel insufficient.

 

[Mixolydian]

They don't.

 

[dullard]

Forget the trip package. Why pay twice as much and spend time doing things that only other people want to do? Pick your own destinations, activities, hotels, and restaurants. It takes more planning, but then you can control costs and do exactly what YOU want to do.

Unless you travel to an expensive location, international travel really isn't that costly. Hotels in Paris or London might be $200 to $250 a night for a dump. But hotels in better destinations (Dubrovnik, Rome, and Santorini come instantly to mind for me but there are many other examples such as much of the south of France (except Nice France which is both boring and expensive)) are often $50 to $100 for a decent room. Sure you can spend more to sleep, but why?

Travel on the shoulder season. A spring/fall vacation often gets you better weather, short lines, and lower costs. I travel internationally almost exclusively in March/April or September/October for vacations.

Don't have kids. The reasons here are obvious.

Eat at the fancy restaurants for lunch. Same food, but often 1/4th the price. Then do a nice street café for dinner and watch the city/people go by. A hotel or restaurant breakfast often runs $15 to $20 per person. But the ubiquitous local bakery that is half a block away and serves unforgettable pastries is often under $2 per person (even under $1 per person in many locations if the baker doesn't speak English and you just point at a ham and cheese sandwich and a pastry). Just remember to bring local currency cash in small bills as bakeries often won't accept anything else. Stop in the grocery stores. Not only is it quite fun to see the unusual (often stomach turning) products, but you can get snacks for cheap. Finally, many international restaurants/cafés charge for the table (a per table fee, a mandatory bread fee for crap bread that you don't want, and you might feel the need to tip). Instead, order breakfast/lunch and eat it in a park bench or on a fountain in a plaza.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Too much to see here to pay big money to travel to Europe. Still have Yellowstone, the arches in Utah, redwood forest just to name a few places on my list.

 

[_Rick_]

Fly over on cheap flights, rent a campervan, and do Europe on a budget

Pretty sure you can get under 4k$ for two weeks (1k for flights, 2-2.5k rent for the van and camping site fees and fuel, leaves you with $500 for food, entry/activity fees, highway tolls)

Of course, if you require a certain level of luxury for your holidays, those costs quickly explode.
The last time I booked a hotel for a holiday was more than 10 years ago - and that was still on daddy's money.

The best way to do vacations is to just move around the continent regularly. Then you can enjoy local holidays, because there's always something new to explore.
Doesn't work that well, when there's a second salary at stake, but that's something to be balanced.

 

[Sinsear]

Vacation package = severely overpriced

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

They're probably not as middle class as you think or not spending as much as you think. Some of them are probably going into debt.

 

[el-Capitan]

We fly to Europe 3-5 times a year. We stay with our families and friends. Maybe the occasional car rental, or a weekend at a bed and breakfast.

Collecting Amex miles means about of these trips/ flights is paid in miles.

 

[JoeBleed]

As dullard and sensar said, forget the packages if you want to save money. rarely will they get you anything for less than you can get on your own with some research. I say this not because I've worked for a travel agent before, but I've done computer work for one before. I've heard them pricing trips and booking the peoples trips. It's nothing special.

I don't want to knock travel agencies on a whole. they weren't gouging people in my opinion, but you are paying them to do work you can do. But if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, they can do a decent job customizing a trip for you.

The packages though... maybe sometime they can be cheaper if there is a group going at the same time, but then it's on a schedule. Sure, you can do other stuff while you're there but you'd be skipping things you've paid for in the process. Possibly.

My personal experience has been with a travel group while in high school and my own personal trip planning a few years later. the high school trip my parents paid half for, the rest I paid for. my personal trip I paid for all on my own and planed it with a friend. Back in 2010 I went to Canada and that trip was planned with a friend. It isn't that hard. It isn't too expensive. I'd probably do more international vacationing but my issue is time off of work more than money and I don't clear a lot really. Next year will be 10 years at my current job and i'll finally get 3 weeks off. still doubt i'll be able to take it all at once or even most. I hate sitting in a cramped plain for as many hours as it takes for crossing over the atlantic ocean. So I want to stay at least a week and a half minimum. prefer at least 2 weeks of actual time there and rested vacationing. than at least a day for recovery when I get home.

Look into planning your own trip and compare prices.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Simple.

#1 Don't be house poor (ie 5 bedroom zero lot particleboard McMansion for a family of 3) 800K mortgage

#2 Don't be car poor, perpetually leasing a 600K a month BMW

#3 Don't be cell phone poor, 250 a month family iPhone cell package for 2 years when you can get cellphone service for 8 bucks a month (prepaid dumb phone)

#4 Don't be a shoe whore, ie: spending 300-400 a month on shoes (women typically)

#5 spend less a month on discretionary things. (ie gadgets and toys)

ie: you can go to Europe much much cheaper if you do it on your own and choose less expensive accommodations.

 

[ponyo]

Simple.

#1 Don't be house poor (ie 5 bedroom zero lot particleboard McMansion for a family of 3) 800K mortgage

#2 Don't be car poor, perpetually leasing a 600K a month BMW

#3 Don't be cell phone poor, 250 a month family iPhone cell package for 2 years when you can get cellphone service for 8 bucks a month (prepaid dumb phone)

#4 Don't be a shoe whore, ie: spending 300-400 a month on shoes (women typically)

#5 spend less a month on discretionary things. (ie gadgets and toys)

ie: you can go to Europe much much cheaper if you do it on your own and choose less expensive accommodations.

#6 and most important, don't have kids and travel in off season. Airfare and hotels are the biggest costs and traveling in offseason can cut your costs by half. But if you have to pay for 4-6 people, it will still be $5-10k.

Truth is middle class don't do multiple international vacation trips a year. Those that do are staying with families overseas or don't have kids. They might do one big trip a year or every couple of years but nothing like the OP described.

 

[OutHouse]

Forget the trip package. Why pay twice as much and spend time doing things that only other people want to do? Pick your own destinations, activities, hotels, and restaurants. It takes more planning, but then you can control costs and do exactly what YOU want to do.

this. i took my wife to the bahamas for our 25th last June. We did our own thing, found a vacation rental on homeaway that was 50 feet from the beach, bought our groceries at the local places and got a rental car. we went to a remote island that is way off the tourist circuit, we only saw one person walking the beach from our rental the whole week. the beach rental was small 1 bedroom with a living room and fully equipped kitchen and a grill out on the patio. They also had a cooler and the freezer had 6 of those blue re-freezable cold pack.

so we bought a bunch of lunch meat, bread and other snacks and we loaded up the cooler and spent the day exploring and lunging around on pink sand beaches of which we were the only ones in sight.

it was awesome!

plane tickets was 1400 for the both of us
beach house rental was 900 for 7 days
400 for the rental car
and about another 500 in food and misc spending.

saved for a couple of years and paid it all in cash. we did what we wanted when we wanted.

i would love to go to europe again, I was stationed there for 4 years and had a blast. Denver does have direct flights to england with BA or Germany with Luftstansa but holy shit the price of airline tickets are way too expensive for me.

 

[OutHouse]

#2 Don't be car poor, perpetually leasing a 600K a month BMW

thats one hell of a BMW

 

[sze5003]

Most people save up to do this. Or go into debt with credit cards. One of my best friends moved to Europe and has been asking me to come visit. I've been putting it off because it's pretty expensive to fly there. But he doesnt have a car over there yet, public transport is great to use, lives in his sister's apartment because she is working in London and he pretty much has the place to himself.

A lot of my friends that plan such vacations come from good families which paid for their colleges so they have no student loans or debt which makes it really easy. If I didn't have student loans to pay each month I could live like a king pretty much.

 

[Broheim]

Most people save up to do this. Or go into debt with credit cards. One of my best friends moved to Europe and has been asking me to come visit. I've been putting it off because it's pretty expensive to fly there. But he doesnt have a car over there yet, public transport is great to use, lives in his sister's apartment because she is working in London and he pretty much has the place to himself.

A lot of my friends that plan such vacations come from good families which paid for their colleges so they have no student loans or debt which makes it really easy. If I didn't have student loans to pay each month I could live like a king pretty much.

try looking for the cheapest ticket to somewhere in Europe and then find a connecting flight to London (Stansted is usually the cheapest London airport, just take the train in to the city) with ryanair or something, I'm betting that's going to be much cheaper than a direct flight. I've flown from Hamburg to Florence for about $15 with ryanair (just read the fine print, the fees are how they get you).

 

[Exterous]

As many have mentioned packages are generally over priced. You are paying for someone else to do the legwork of planning your vacation for you. We've done trips to Europe for much less than the range you noted even ebfore we started using points for a lot of things

A few could also be good at the credit card points game. For our two week trip to the UK in the summer the flight and hotels cost less than $400 total for 2 people. That included some very nice stays in places like the Caledonian Waldorf in Edinburgh and the County Hall in London

travel in off season. Airfare and hotels are the biggest costs and traveling in offseason can cut your costs by half.

And you don't have to deal with nearly as many tourist crowds. Very good advice.

try looking for the cheapest ticket to somewhere in Europe and then find a connecting flight to London (Stansted is usually the cheapest London airport, just take the train in to the city) with ryanair or something, I'm betting that's going to be much cheaper than a direct flight. I've flown from Hamburg to Florence for about $15 with ryanair (just read the fine print, the fees are how they get you).

And for the love of god don't fly back from from the UK. Their taxes and fees are insane for trans atlantic flights. If you are thinking about it just take a short hop to Dublin and fly back from there. Dublin is even nicer because they are one of the few places that have a US customs pre-clearance office in their airport. No crazy long lines at US airports to worry about!

 

[yottabit]

I have friends/family that travel a lot and the one thing they have in common is they are completely appalled at the idea of ever, ever buying a full price ticket

There are probably more opportunities to be had in savings/deals for travel than anything else. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and pay a higher rate if the extra convenience of say a direct flight is worth it to you, but if you are flexible you can save tons of money.

 

[Svnla]

I travel out of the US at least once a year so I can chim in.

I don't have expenses such as high cell phone ($30 month), no cable, no dish, my vehicle is paid for and is still running fine so no car notes (cheaper insurance on old car too), my rent/utilities is reasonable, I bring lunch at least 2 to 3 times per week, I don't smoke, rarely drink, I usually buy things when they are on sale or with coupons..ie...I always try to maximize my purchase power and minimize my expenses.

Also, it does help if you use your credit card to earn miles/points to pay for the trip (as long as you pay off all balances promptly). It usally will cost me about $750 for 1 ticket (normal price will be about $1400).

The bottom line is you can cut a lot of expenses if you want to. Just have to pick your priorities.

 

[sze5003]

try looking for the cheapest ticket to somewhere in Europe and then find a connecting flight to London (Stansted is usually the cheapest London airport, just take the train in to the city) with ryanair or something, I'm betting that's going to be much cheaper than a direct flight. I've flown from Hamburg to Florence for about $15 with ryanair (just read the fine print, the fees are how they get you).

I've flown spirit locally here in the US and yes it's cheap but they charge for everything else which is understandable. I'd be going to Poland though since that is where he is living now. A flight to Poland is pretty expensive. I need to save up for it and for the expenses once there.