Teach me how you afford travel

[NewOrleans]

I’m continually in awe of how well-traveled people on this board are: Fiji, Bali, Costa Rica, Europe, Thailand, Africa, every Caribbean place…

Beyond some benefit that I don’t have access to (like getting to keep miles from work travel or working for a company with travel benefits), how do you afford all these amazing travels? I have teens, so we are tied to the school calendar meaning we are limited to $$$ peak travel times.  

 I follow The Points Guy and I have a Sapphire credit card (nothing I do gets me enough points to fly us to Europe or something).  I follow Scott’s/Going (but kids/school calendar- times for those deals don’t generally work.) Please teach me your ways.  

[mofongo]

This may be gauche of me, but my H makes a lot of money, we don’t have kids, and we live below our means. So, we are able to save and spend a lot on travel and experiences.

Regarding the cc stuff, I def see how it’s hard, b/c in order to GET a lot of points you have to spend a lot of money, so if that is going to put someone in debt, it makes no sense.

I do think the Caribbean/Costa Rica are going to be much more affordable than the other options you listed.

That being said I have friends who I can only assume live in debt!! That’s another thing people may be doing.

[7costanza]

In addition to just using general savings, we use our tax refund and daycare flex spending payout ($5,000) to travel most years. Maybe not the best financial decision but we try to balance saving and spending on family experiences. My kids are younger but I have no problem with the 3rd grader missing some school for a vacation at this point, so we can go when things are cheaper.

[mofongo]

It may seem outdated, but a travel agency may be useful, someone you could give your budget and desired location to, and see what they can come up with.

[dancingirl21]

We traveled extensively last year and have 5 trips planned for this year right now. My DH has traveled for work for the last 18 months and his company pays insane money for travelers. For us, that's how. It's not like this when he's not a traveler, but we try to do 2 trips per year. In addition to just having money for it, he's a United 1K member. He earns miles very fast. Last year we flew as a family of 4 to Mexico for free with his miles, and he and I flew to Europe doing the same. We always fly United (since he has status), but also so that the kids and I have a Mileage Plus account. You earn miles every time you fly with them.

We also have a Chase Sapphire and charge everything we buy on it, down to a pack of gum. You can transfer points to United 1:1, so we often do that. Or we book hotels on Chase Ultimate Rewards.

We also utilize a large portion of DH's bonus for travel recently, and put our tax refund aside for travel.

[Saudade]

I find relatively cheap flights and have low standards once I'm in the country. I will stay at some very cheap, safe, and clean places. I'll travel by Flixbus or other public transport in a country.

I also have the luxury of a pretty flexible work schedule so I can go when tickets are cheap vs going when my schedule allows it.

[al dente]

This doesn't help you, but the people I know who travel are able to do it because of work travel or cards. Like earning the points/status which then makes travel affordable. It's annoying though because to spend your own money to get that status would mean you have so much money it doesn't matter to you lol.

We do have the chase card and put EVERYTHING on it. I get like one plane ticket a year with that that would be in the $800 range.

[gretchenindisguise]

We put last year's trips on credit cards. Probably not the smartest thing, but it's honest and what we did - I at least transferred it to a 0% card. We have 5 summers left with our nuclear family at home.

[Susie]

We traveled more pre-kids, so it was cheaper then, both because we could go at off-peak times, and because there were just less of us to buy airfare/etc. for.  So, just validating that challenge.

On one of our trips to Ireland, we went with another couple and shared a car.  That cut down on a significant expense.  Another time I went to Ireland with my mom, same thing.  In Barcelona, an AirBNB was a lot cheaper than a hotel, and we didn't need to eat every meal out.  I take a lot of mass transit, like the Metro in Barcelona vs. an Uber or whatever, even when it's not the most efficient option.  We took a lot of trains and buses in Italy, and didn't stay anywhere that was very luxe.

As a more general thing, if you can be flexible re: what days of the week you can fly, and to some extent length of the trip, there can be a big difference in airfare.  Searching for flights +/- 3 days can help a lot.

ETA:  Regarding credit cards points, our primary card is a Chase Sapphire Preferred, and I have a no annual fee Chase Freedom as well, with rotating 5% categories.  I optimize points between cards and then transfer CF points to the CSP for maximum redemption.  It's still only a help, not a game changer.

[wanderingback]

It’s because many people on here make decent money.

I also think priorities have something to do with it as well. Most of my clothes are from the thrift store and I don’t relate to going to target and "accidentally" spending $200 on stuff for the house.

Also, having kids vs not having kids makes a difference. One of the reasons I only have 1 child and won’t be having more.

Flexibility helps as well. I/we typically never have a specific destination in mind. I/we just look for decent airfare and go from there. This has been especially true on my solo international trips (also a lot cheaper to travel alone!).

Lastly credit card points.

[pixy0stix]

I think you may be forgetting that GBCN rich isn't just a saying.

[gretchenindisguise]

Jan 26, 2023 18:52:34 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

We put last year's trips on credit cards. Probably not the smartest thing, but it's honest and what we did - I at least transferred it to a 0% card. We have 5 summers left with our nuclear family at home.

Oh and we each have an Alaska credit card that gives us a companion ticket each year. We each have one so we can each take a kid as the companion. Last year that's how we went to Alaska for reasonable. This year it's how we're paying for our tickets to Hawaii.

[suzubell]

I use 10xs Travel to learn everything and then follow what they say. I have tons of points and travel well as a couple and with our kids (2 boys). We are in education and social work, so not well paid

[letsgetweird]

I'm somewhat frugal when I travel. I also make decent money, I'm single, and I don't have kids.

[Roc A Bee]

Went I went to Greece, I traveled with 2 friends and it’s much cheaper bc we split rooms/houses 3 ways as well as cars/Ubers.

My family tends to travel to Mexico. We go to small towns and share a house with BIL/SIL. Once we get to Mexico, eating is pretty cheap, and our activity is laying on the beach/buy the pool so free.

My DH and I did go to Vancouver last summer. I happened to buy flights before gas prices went nuts. Then when we got there, we found it pretty affordable. It may help that I live in CA and spend a boatload on food just at home so if food is cheaper somewhere, it seems like a good deal.

We will probably drive to vacations this summer as it’s just too expensive to fly right now.

[Velar Fricative]

Same. We booked WDW a year in advance because I needed to budget lol. And we are going when it is hot is hell in August because it was way cheaper to go then. We do one big family vacation a year and mostly it’s been driving distance. We traveled a lot more before kids.

We do have a United account so we’ve gotten free flights, hotels, etc. that way. A lot of miles came from an old job where I traveled a decent amount, but it wasn’t worth the awful work environment and the well has long dried up now.

Tax refund usage is a common way to fund trips with my IRL friends/family. Other than that, it’s probably debt or bonuses. We wouldn’t know the joys of bonuses as public sector workers lol.

Overall though, I’ve learned to appreciate that we can afford to do even one big trip a year and can still enjoy cool destinations that don’t require flights. If I want to see Fiji I’ll just look at street maps on Google Earth for free lol.

[jewel]

All of our best travel was done before we had kids, so that saved a lot of money.

We have opened new credit cards a couple times, when the bonuses were really high. We each got an Alaskan Air card with enough bonus points to each fly one way to Alaska in first class (which was all we needed because we were cruising down). We sometimes travel with other families and rent a bigger house together to save on accommodations and food - did this in Hawaii and it was awesome.

In general though, my husband just makes pretty good money and we have low expenses. We are frugal in most ways. We don’t have pricey hobbies. We usually have a decent amount of “extra” money and usually prefer to spend it on travel. But sometimes we do a house project or something else instead.

This is regular conversation with my SIL. She ALWAYS gives us the must-be-nice comment about trips. We lucked into being comfortable, but travel is just where we choose to usually spend it. She has plenty of money and chooses to be spendy in ways we don’t. Most of our friends that travel are pretty similar, and tend to be frugal in a lot of other ways.

[fernweh]

We don’t have kids so that definitely helps but the biggest part is living below our means and including it in our budget. We figured out how much we can afford monthly and that amount goes into a high yield savings account for when we need it. We also put all of our monthly expenses on a travel card so we cash that in from time to time.

[mrsslocombe]

The short answer: a shit ton of privilege?

I don't have kids, and while our mortgage/maintenance are very high, we have minimal other expenses (no car, no kids, no debt). Other than food and typical necessities, we rarely buy clothes or "stuff." Basically we spend as little as possible in our "every day" life and then use it for travel. I don't do points or miles or anything like that, we don't travel enough to earn miles, especially since we are always on a different airline.

We always go off season, because we can go whenever. We're very lucky that flights from NYC tend to be lower than a lot of places and we have more options. We only fly coach, and very rarely check a bag, so we spend as little as possible on tickets.

We tend to choose places where you don't need a rental car, because we hate driving which cuts out some expense.

If we are going to be in a location for more than a couple nights, we often do a split stay-we'll stay at the $$$ place for one or two nights for the experience, then stay the rest of the time at a cheaper hotel.

We try to book a hotel that has breakfast included. Lunch is either something casual and cheap or we split a meal because my husband eats like a bird.

One of the benefits of living in NYC is that you are used to things being "expensive." So rarely do we go someplace that I think things cost a lot. I actually thought Japan was shockingly affordable.

[fryjack2]

Jan 26, 2023 18:36:17 GMT -5 mofongo said:

It may seem outdated, but a travel agency may be useful, someone you could give your budget and desired location to, and see what they can come up with.

We actually started doing this for some of our international trips because its so much easier when traveling with kids and it frees up time that I don't have to spend planning the trip.  Some trips I like to plan myself, but outdated is back in  

OP- travel has become really expensive. Now that we are a family of 4, and not a college backpacker, that $400 flight to London leaving at 2am doesn't seem as enticing.  To be honest, like Mofongo, H and I have high incomes which affords us more opportunity to travel. 

Before we had these incomes, we used to plan trips around where work paid us to go so one of us at least had a free flight and the hotel was covered.  I don't care about hotels much as long as they are clean and safe.  We try not to be in the hotel room as much as possible when we travel.  Its truly a place to sleep and shower before heading out on next adventures. 

I do a lot of price comparing.  Is a Jetblue package deal cheaper than booking hotel and flights separately? Sometimes. Sometimes better deals are found on the hotel website. Rakuten has cash back for all the travel sites.  Is flying out on a Wednesday and back on a Saturday cheaper?  Or Thursday to Tuesday? I play around with dates. 

We put everything on our one credit card, but we don't have a travel specific one.  Its too complicated for me to figure out how to maximize travel cards so I don't.  I do know people have a lot of luck doing that, though. 

I also don't mind taking kids out of school for travel.  Especially after 2 years of remote learning. 

Eating breakfast and lunch on your own instead of out saves a lot when traveling.  airbnbs or hotel rooms with refrigerators are great for that.  Bagels and sandwiches and fruit are easier to do.  

Googling budget *the place* you want to visit and see what comes up.  You can find many good tips from other travelers who travel on all kinds of budgets.  Even FB groups that share info. 

Where do you want to go? Maybe some of us here have some tips  

[mofongo]

Another thing I’ve done with cruises (not sure if possible with all inclusives) is to book a year in advance and pay on it.

[cricketwife]

I asked this same question about a year and a half ago, although you are ahead of me because I’d didn't have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or follow the points guy at that time. I got into the game very slowly. I am teacher so I am also tied to peak travel times.

I have no magic bullet but I can tell you after a year and a half of easing into this “game” I have recently booked our summer vacation largely on points. It’s domestic (Chicago). I booked our hotel all with points and one direction of the flights (I couldn’t find seats available to make it round trip. So, basically, I’ve way lowered my expectations of where points will get *me*. Others have more flexibility and probably also play the game better. suzubell , is AMAZING at the points game!

Oh, I have also started using the Chase portal for all online shopping (if available) for the extra points.

And this doesn’t solve not having the money, but during the pandemic, I started dreaming of family vacations we wanted to take. And now I refer to that list when I’m trying to see where my points will get me. I’m also using that list to save strategically both dollars and points wise to make travel a reality.

[mofongo]

Jan 26, 2023 18:54:19 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Jan 26, 2023 18:52:34 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

We put last year's trips on credit cards. Probably not the smartest thing, but it's honest and what we did - I at least transferred it to a 0% card. We have 5 summers left with our nuclear family at home.

Oh and we each have an Alaska credit card that gives us a companion ticket each year. We each have one so we can each take a kid as the companion. Last year that's how we went to Alaska for reasonable. This year it's how we're paying for our tickets to Hawaii.

They are my favorite! I’ve only gotten to fly them twice, though!

[VillainV]

We don’t. We make decent money, but have been prioritizing other things for a while, so we don’t have much of a travel budget. When we do travel, it’s usually cruises (which can be inexpensive if you can drive to the departure location instead of fly) or road-trip.

[devonpow]

DH makes a good salary and travel is his priority/what he likes to spend it on (although I’ve pointed out before that there are drawbacks - him having a job that allows us the travel we do also means he is literally never not working. He works all day, all night - in front of the TV though /
- and has never ever taken a vacation he hasn’t had to work over. So, Pluses and minuses to everything…)

In general I think flying is often the most expensive part of international travel. You can find hotels or houses at a huge variety of price points most places, do things like have an Airbnb and cook your own dinners to avoid expensive food costs, skip expensive tours and go on your own etc etc…but not much you can do about needing to pay to get there. Others might have better tips for flying inexpensively - I’ve never quite figured it out effectively.

[ECB]

I was thinking about this recently. For us- a lot of our travel has involved free lodging. We have family that owns a home in London, a friend spent 4 months in Denmark for work, DH spent two weeks in Bermuda for work - this all gave us free lodging, which is a HUGE savings. The large family trips we've taken within the US - the house was paid for by the two heads of household who wanted to make these trips happen for all the siblings and cousins to be together.

We don't have the benefit of work perks (airline miles, etc) (DHs bermuda trip was a one-off), we don't make a ton of money (at least compared to what people here make). So- the free lodging was a huge advantage.

And also- travel is a huge priority for us. So we find ways to make it happen.

[sdlaura]

Add us to the living below our means group. We spend big money on two things - childcare and travel. Our house payment is ridiculously low for our income and we never have more than one car payment at a time. A lot of that was luck for when we bought our house, but it feels like all of our friends have upgraded to bigger, nicer houses as their income grew. We are staying in our same house we bought pre-kids, even though we now have four kids. That's made a huge difference financially. We do all our spending on Southwest, Alaska, and Marriott cards so we can offset some costs with points/companion fares. Also - our kids have one school break that isn't common - a week in late October. So that's when we go on our biggest trip of the year, since no one else is traveling then, and flights and lodging are half the price of some other times of year. We never travel over Christmas since that's the most expensive week for many/most places.

I'm always amazed on these types of boards when I see people spending money/asking for gifts that are designer bags or jewelry. I'd much rather spend my money on travel.

ETA - my family didn't travel when I was growing up. Just a road trip to see family or maybe a couple hour drive to a theme park. I picked my college based on their study abroad program and tried to make life choices that meant I could continue to travel as an adult. It's been possible due to a ton of luck with (as other said) our incomes and costs. It’s a big reason we’ve both always worked FT instead of say, me scaling back when we had 3 kids under 5 in daycare.

[bee20]

While I agree "Have extra money" is part of it, there is a big difference between taking your family to Costa Rica ($550/pp flights from my area, $500/week for a family room in an eco lodge with free breakfast) and Paris ($1000/pp flights plus $200/night hotels).  Right now the US dollar is pretty strong so everything is a little cheaper than usual but I've found South America, Asia and Africa very doable for under $1k/week on the ground, so then it's a matter of finding airfare that isn't crazy multiplied by your family size.

[Deleted]

I churn credit cards. Sign up, spend the minimum to earn the bonus, and then close it when I can to not lose the bonus. Rinse and repeat. Having just one card, in my opinion, doesn't really add up fast enough to do anything significant. There's four of us and while we make good money, getting to Hawaii, for example, can easily be $3k so I want to leverage every point and mile I can. Same with hotels.

I think a few years out of where we want to go and look at the airlines that will get us there and places we will be able to stay and concentrate my strategy on cards aligned with those. For example, in Europe you'd need a different strategy than in the US for hotels because with four people, for example, I may need to book two rooms due to occupancy limits and room sizes. That's not feasible with Hilton and Marriott redemptions so something like IHG may make more sense. 

[fryjack2]

Even with including it in a budget and cutting costs elsewhere, or prioritizing travel, I know its still not easily affordable for the majority of people.

Our next trip is an international one. We are flying out of NYC instead of our home airport because it is saving us almost $3500 in plane ticket costs and its easy for us to do. If that wasn't an option, our flights for the 4 of us would have been 12k. Those were the cheapest ones I could find for our destination that didn't include 3 stops and 32 hours of traveling. Saving 12k, nevermind the cost of a hotel for the stay and activities and food, is not something that can be easily or quickly done by cutting starbucks or cable for 6 months.

The main reason people can afford international travel with a family with all the other expenses of life are because of their higher salaries.