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Vacationing is cheaper than staying at home.

August 22nd, 2014 at 08:04 pm

That is how this worked out. (Of course, we paid for our flights and hotel rooms months before we left), so this was food, local travel, incidentals.

At the end of it all, we are left with surplus, which is not what happens when we stay at home.

Food was a lot cheaper in China and Singapore. We ate better, and we did have few very high end local experiences (as in $100 per dinner, which in those places can get you a really really nice dinner in a very gorgeous restaurant with impeccable service, much more than you can get for that price in NYC).

Plus we did not need to pay for our NYC commutes, including massive tolls, and did not need to buy groceries.

It is amazing to come back from a vacation with more money than you had before you left.

On the expat pipe dream front... In order for us to live abroad for 1 year, for example in Singapore, we would need.

1) get a job to pay for life there. Doable, for DH, his field is hot and he is in the "expert" category.

2) Get a leave of absence from both of our jobs.
Hard, but not impossible.

3) Have enough money to re-integrate. Check. We currently got to the 10 month emergency fund (10 months of current take home pay in investments).

4). Pay our US obligation that will still be there.
Even if we go away we will have to pay our

Mortgage (12 months) $21,770
Maintenance (12 months) $16,800
Life insurance me (yearly) $360
Life insurance DH (yearly) $958
Car payments (12) $3,000
Student loan payments (12) $1,692

Total $44,580

That is a lot to save "extra". Not sure how rational this whole thing is, but, if we want it, it is again, hard, but not impossible.

So, for now, I need to work on savings. Later on, we can decide if we want to take that leap or not. But, if we have the money, it will be our choice to make.
If we don't, there won't be a choice.

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