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No wonder people don't vacation much!

May 17th, 2009 at 03:35 am

I added up 1 week in Hawaii totals.
This was a "typical" vacation normal middle class Americans go on. This was first time we went on that kind of "stay in one place by the beach" trip.

And the cost was very high!
$4,500 (includes everything - airfare, hotels, food, active sports such as horse riding and scuba diving and a surfing lesson, shopping...)

No wonder people who vacation like this don't do it often.

1 week cost 4,500 (and we had good deals on airfare and hotels)

1 MONTH vacations normally costs us about 10-11K.

1 month Ecuador (including a week on a luxury ship in Galapagos) was 10K

1 month in Argentina, having best food and nice wine was 11K

1 month in Europe this fall was 11K (though we had free central lodging for all but 4 or 5 days)

6 months in China was 6K.

4 months traveling across South-East Asia was around 8k

So the rule is - short vacations are always more expensive.

I'll think much more carefully about taking short trips now.

Next time, if we go to Hawaii we'll rent a house for a month. We can use free time to cook together and try new gourmet recipes. (I found that restaurant food on Kauai, while as expensive as in NYC is generally not as good).

And we can snorkel, scuba dive, and take more surfing lessons. I think, from recent experience, this kind of month would run less than 10K as opposed to almost 5k for 1 week. I need to start saving for it. Though I need to think of our 5 week China trip in July. Less than 2 months left.

That is one of the reasons I did not buy a house yet - I keep thinking "if I wait two more months, I can save for China vacation in that time. After we buy it, it will take us a year to save for it!

9 Responses to “No wonder people don't vacation much!”

  1. Thrifty Ray Says:
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    Wow, you have alot of personal experience to pull from!!! My hub and I are taking our first ever vacation to Puerta Vallarta starting next weekend. We have saved and paid on it for a year...can't wait!! It is a one week vacation and I am sure it will rival the cost of your week in HI. However, we are going guilt free since it is paid for in cash...6 more days....

  2. whitestripe Says:
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    i agree short trips are much more expensive. but factor in - you might have done the same amount of stuff in a month that you did in a week, because you wanted to experience everything. maybe you might have done a bit more - but you probably would have explored more and found other things to do through locals. DF's trip to the US cost around 8k for a month, which included a fine for a traffic infringement as well. compared to a weekend away for us for a music festival, which runs at about 1-2k. hmm!

  3. Valerie Says:
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    i would love to take a long vacation, but anything past two weeks and my job calls that, fired.

    my last vacation was a staycation - at home. next vacation we rent a beach house on the outer banks in north carolina for a week. far from in expensive, but the best vacation ever.

  4. ralph Says:
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    Yes, they are all VERY expensive! I shudder to think how much of my debt is old vacations. Staycations are what I do now, and I like them!

  5. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
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    Please do blog about how you manage to free up such nice chunks of time from work. You and a mate both? Do you have work you can do from "on the road"?

  6. disneysteve Says:
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    I think you've made a lot of assumptions and inaccurate comparisons. You can't compare a trip to a costly US destination (Hawaii) with a trip to South America where the dollar goes a lot farther.

    We go to Disney World every year. Many people ask how we can possibly afford that because when they went, they spent $5,000 or more for a week. When we tell them that we spend about $2,000 they are amazed and want the details.

    In any destination, there are ways to cut costs while still having a great trip and seeing what the area has to offer. For example, while in San Juan on a cruise stop, one shore excursion we were interested in was $30/person if booked through the cruise tour desk. There were 5 of us, so $150 total. We found a way to take the same trip for $30 total once we got in port.

    Another factor is that transportation is usually one of the biggest costs. It doesn't matter if you are staying for 4 days or 4 weeks. The plane tickets are the same price. So in that sense, a longer trip is more economical.

    The problem is that in the US, most Americans can't take a trip longer than one week at a time due to their job vacation time limitations and/or their children's school schedules. We've been fortunate to take 2-week trips a couple of times in recent years and will again this summer, but that's our limit. I can't pick up and leave my job for a month.

    Another factor which is a more personal issue is that I like to spread out my vacation time. I get 4 weeks off each year but I don't want to take it all at once. That would mean working 11 months in a row without a break. No way am I doing that. I prefer a week in the spring, a couple weeks in the summer and a week in the fall so that I get a periodic break from work and always have something to look forward to.

    I'm sure plenty of people go to Hawaii for a week and spend less than $4,500. Maybe they don't go horseback riding and scuba diving and take surfing lessons (we wouldn't). Maybe they stay at less costly hotels or rent a condo like my receptionist did for her honeymoon a couple of years ago.

  7. Nika Says:
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    Joan, I work for an international company. Many European countries have very generous vacation norms of 1-2 months. So to treat all employees equally, 6 weeks annual vacation is given to all staff.

    My husband works for an American employer. He has only 13 days, but he was earning enough comp time to keep up with me. (when he travels for work and has to spend extra hours on the road he counts it as time he can take later). No one has EVER taken such long stretches of vacation at his work. He was the first. He fought for that option and got it. He still got promoted as soon as he was eligible.

    Steve, actually the airfare was the cheapest part of our trip to Hawaii.

    Of course, I know that dollar goes a lot further in Latin America or Asia(not as far as it used to, but nevertheless...). That is one of our considerations when going somewhere. And after going that far, one wants to stay there for a while. (Yes, yes, I know, Hawaii was almost as far. This was the first time I did such a short trip with such a long, tough cheap, flight).

    And we do book everything locally, when we get there, for fraction of the cost. Between the 2 of us we speak 6 languages at least on a basic level, so that helps.

    We love active vacations, so going somewhere and not doing those things is just not worth it.

    I also have a lot of trouble taking any days while not going anywhere. The guilt of "staycation" would be overwhelming because I view it as time that is wasted sitting at home while it could be, eventually, much better spent skiing a new mountain in Canada or hiking in Patagonia.

  8. janiebird Says:
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    You must have a very responsible career and you must be one smart cookie!!!!!

  9. Nika Says:
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    Janie, how sweet.
    Actually, I am the most junior person (age, experience, and career-wise) in a high-level office. I do like my job, so I guess I am luckier than many.

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