This is for those of you who actually budget your money (or at least keep pretty close track of it). My wife and I (coming up on 20 years this summer) have never budgeted, and have been lucky enough never to have needed to watch our spending too closely. But after talking to some friends and family members recently about what they often spend on a family vacation–amounts that have seemed quite high to me–I wondered what people tend to spend on their vacations. I’d hoped some of you might be willing to share what you tend to spend, and to avoid any sorts of specific monetary amounts, I thought it might be useful if you could describe it in terms of a percentage of your annual income. Is it 5% of what you make in a year? 10%?
I guess I’m just curious and wondering what a “normal” range might be (and whether I am, in fact, an incredibly stingy person when it comes to treating my wife and kids to a nice trip each year). If you could also say whether you’re popping for a vacation for yourself, or for a family of 5 (that would be me), it’d probably also be helpful.
That depends on what your definition of “normal” is… Do you want to stay in a tent, a hostel or a five star hotel? I’ve had equally enjoyable vacations in all of those accommodations… and, in case you’re wondering, there are many hostels with family rooms.
For reference, I’ve only traveled with my significant other… no family as of yet.
Another factor is fun: how much must you pay for your kicks? Will the family have just as much fun at a museum as they would at an amusement park? There’s quite the wide range of price plans there, too.
Each vacation, I like to plan one “splurge day” where we do a fancy night out, like a formal dinner followed by an opera… and the other days are spent cheaply… a picnic in the park, a visit to a museum, window shopping, hiking, etc. That way, I don’t feel bad about blowing a few hundred dollars one day, when I can spend the rest of the week on the same amount.
As for percentage of income, hmm. I’ve never looked at it that way. I’ve always saved up a particular amount before the vacation, based on a simple budget… after transportation and lodging is covered, I allocate a daily amount, depending on where I am: metropolitan or rural, domestic or foreign. Anything left over at the end of the day goes towards the “splurge”
If you’re treating the family to a yearly vacation, you’re not being stingy at all… many families don’t do such things.
As for our trips, you probably don’t wanna know. But since that’s not useful at all, I’ll add that Priceline can be a great resource for cheaper travel stuff. We use it most for rental cars and hotels. For flights you have to be more flexible than Jacquie and I want to be.
A straight search on Priceline is basically the same as Expedia or one of the other travel sites. What you need to do then is click on the “Name your own price” link and follow the process. The thing to keep in mind is that you must commit to buying the room or car before you see if your asked-for price is accepted. I just used them yesterday to save a few bucks on a rental car for Moab.
The travel sites are also a great way to find a hotel that you’ll probably like. Not only can you get prices, you also get detailed information about the hotels, and can read actual customer reviews. They can be very telling! Having said that, the recommended hotel for NAUCC (Rapid City’s Best Western Ramkota Hotel) were very nice, and the place looks great.
But really what you spend should be part of an overall picture of the type of experience you want to have, as mentioned above. Maybe eat cheap for most meals, but splurge a few times to treat yourselves.
I’ve been on a few cruises since I’ve been with Jacquie. The price of the cruise is just the beginning. If you’re going to Alaska, for example, make sure you set aside enough to do the cool tours that are meaningful to you. Otherwise the vacation won’t have the same impact.
I will put it this way, the last road trip I went on saved me $50.
It was a fun time, There were three of us and we either slept in the van or camped leaving the site at dawn before they got checked. Never payed for a place to sleep! We ate food we brought (and a couple retired guys gave us a chicken and some other food after we talked to them for an hour or two at a picnic site, super cool people.) and the only thing that really cost money was gas and a day skiing at Banff. The three week trip ended up costing me $400 (including $170 for skiing) while staying in the city was costing an average of $450/month with rent, utilities, food, etc.
Being a single college student with adventurous friends has its perks!
Thanks for the responses so far, y’all. I was just struck when a couple people I know (who admittedly make or have more money than I do) sort of nonchalantly said that their last 7-10 day vacation ran them in the US$10-14K range. That sounded like a lot of money to me. But I suspect (though don’t know for sure) that they probably make in the $200-250K range annually, putting their expenditure at around 5% or so of their annual income.
I grew up with a father (a silver-spoon raised kid) who would have gladly spent every dime on luxuries, and a mother who worried desperately about every penny spent. I seem to have inherited my mom’s tendency toward thrift, and was just looking for some kind of “average” as just a stop-check kind of thing.
FWIW, we’re going to Vegas for a shortish spring break trip (5 nights), and the cost of flight and lodging is not bad at all (something like $1200 for all 5 of us, including a suite at the MGM). The kids want to see Spamalot and the Blue Men, the Star Trek thing at the Hilton, and do some racing experience thing. So tickets and all are going to add up (avg $75 per person per show). It should be fun.
For Vegas, our experience is that a rental car is usually cheaper than a bunch of cab rides, unless you’re centrally located and don’t want to go to places like the Hilton or downtown.
That said, you are at the end of the monorail track, which will take you to the Hilton and close to the Wynn I guess. But an all-day ticket x 5 may still add up to more than a rental car so check it out.
All the parking’s free in town, but avoid driving on the strip if you can, it’s the most distracting street in the world, and Vegas driving is aggressive, big city driving.
I loved the Blue Man Group. Hope to see their show again someday!
I don’t understand the appeal of the Vegas vacation…especially as a family vacation. I stopped by there while driving across the country and my friend and I both didn’t really enjoy it. I mean…it was interesting to see once, but it isn’t something I would plan a vacation for, especially a family one.
I got offered about 50 fliers for women to come to my room and most people were drunk and annoying and pretending they were having the time of their lives…because…its vegas! It was incredibly hot outside as well. It is kind of like a mix of a college town on a Friday night with a lot more drunk and annoying people of all ages…mixed with a Red Light district…mixed with the desert. I don’t really plan on going there again anytime soon, but maybe something will come up and I will be bored and will find myself there again.
America has far better places for a fun vacation rather than Vegas. Also…the M&M world store they have in Vegas has 3 stories of M&M stuff…but NO CRISPY M&Ms…what is up with that!
That is a lot. To me, having a lot of money is no excuse for spending a lot of money.
My most extravagant vacation to date was a three week tour of Western Europe by train, with nights in five-star hotels, gourmet dinners, operas, bus tours, the whole shebang, and I spent all of $5k USD.
I cut corners by alternating nights at hostels, stuffing my pockets at the “free breakfast” buffets, and taking walking / biking tours of some cities. A “Let’s Go” or “Lonely Planet” guidebook will pay for itself in 1-2 days of travel, as it often lists low-cost entertainment and dining options.
Another benefit to staying in hostels is the fact that you’re in close quarters with other travelers who have “done their homework”. Talk to your hostel-mates and you’ll find a wealth of low-cost diversions. On my last trip, I even tagged along with a group of hostel-mates to a few events… it was a blast!
It also depends on what you consider a vacation. I tend to be a bit of a homebody, and I work from home mostly. So, to me, going out to unicycle is like a mini vacation almost everyday!
I tend to be on the thrifty side too, much to my wife’s chagrin. I’ve never booked a multi-thousand dollar vacation before. RTL will probably be the most expensive “vacation” I’ve ever taken.
Also, California is an expensive place to live, but part of what makes it worth it to me is having so many vacation-like places within a day’s drive, not to mention a half hour ride or even just a glance out the window.
You definitely did some walking along the strip, but it sounds like you probably didn’t go inside many places, or see any shows. Every place has its good and bad points, and walking OR driving on Las Vegas Blvd. is definitely one of the downsides of Las Vegas. Also it sounds like you were there in the summer. We went for our anniversary last year (July1). Ouch! The other three seasons are much, much better for being outside, with winter definitely being the best!
Also it’s very much the place that it is, and it definitely isn’t a lot of other things. It’s not for everyone. But one of my favorite things about the place is the architecture and similar amazing stuff. It’s a great education about who really “wins” at all that gambling when you look at what it’s built. Nice roller coasters and other forms of non-show entertainment as well. If you don’t like the casino scene, there’s always Hoover Dam, the Valley of Fire, and Red Rock Canyon as well. And the Elvis and Liberace museums, of course!
No idea. Me being a big M&M fan, that doesn’t make sense to me either…
Bill Gates and Donald Trump spend a miniscule fraction of 1% of their income on family vacations, but their vacations still cost more than I earn in a year. So I’m not sure fracture of annual income matters…
One cool thing my cousin did was delay getting his dental work done, then go to India and get it all done at a fraction of the cost, by American trainied dentists!! They ended up coming out ahead on that vacation, spending a few thousand, and coming back with twenty thousand in their mouth.
Mexico and Thailand are good countries for this as well!
We ate food we brought (and a couple retired guys gave us a chicken and some other food after we talked to them for an hour or two at a picnic site, super cool people.) and the only thing that really cost money was gas and a day skiing at Banff. The three week trip ended up costing me $400 (including $170 for skiing) while staying in the city was costing an average of $450/month with rent, utilities, food, etc.
