parents: how the hell do you swing family vacations?

[thekunk07]

looking to go to ireland with the kids next spring. we'd be staying with my wife's relatives over there, but still, airfare appears to be over $3500. how do you all swing these trips? we usually rent a house on the cape or vineyard but $5k+ for a vacation seems more stress than it is worth.

 

[randallr]

Just start making more money Kunk, all there is too it. Actually, I have no idea that seems like a lot of money.

 

[hamish5178]

My family (the four of us) went to Ireland this past summer to visit my sister, nephew, and brother in law. It cost around 5 grand total. That's just how much travel costs, if you want cheap, don't leave the country (especially since Ireland is so expensive!).

 

[the law]

We packed into the van and drove to the Grand Canyon.

None of this foreign travel stuff for us.

 

[GQgeek]

Basically, you have to make a lot of money. Most people don't take foreign trips, or if they do, they're a rarity. I have cousins that never took a vacation out of the country. I'm gonna do a lot of traveling before i have kids (if ever). I hate the idea of being tied down. When we used to travel a lot as a family, the costs were drastically reduced by my father's air miles. Back then I think they were worth a lot more. Still, thinking back, I'm sure most of those trips would have cost a good $10-15k now (family of 5).

 

[thekunk07]

i make a **** ton, but apparently not enough. i guess its the huge mortgage, student loans, kids, et al.

 

[LabelKing]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

Basically, you have to make a lot of money. Most people don't take foreign trips, or if they do, they're a rarity. I have cousins that never took a vacation out of the country. I'm gonna do a lot of traveling before i have kids (if ever). I hate the idea of being tied down. When we used to travel a lot as a family, the costs were drastically reduced by my father's air miles. Back then I think they were worth a lot more. Still, thinking back, I'm sure most of those trips would have cost a good $10-15k now (family of 5).

Do they not?

I had the impression many people took foreign trips.

 

[globetrotter]

I drive a matrix and rent an apartment, my clothing and shoes are all from eastern europe or asia. no student loans or debt anymore we took our 3 kids on international trips twice last year and once to washington and nyc. you prioritize. (disclosure, I also pay very little for airfare and hotels)

 

[thekunk07]

yeah, my friend flies lufthansa for $50 a trip.

our fixed monthly bills are @$7000 a month for house, cars, tuition, groceries, traveling sports teams, etc.

add retirement and clothing and 529 accounts and everything else and i don't think a $7-10 trip to europe is in the cards.

 

[cheessus]

When I was a kid (not too long ago) my family of 5 went to Vietnam twice, in about the span of 10 years, and we were there for about a month each time. We stayed with relatives, so no hotel, and everything is already dirt cheap over there anyway, especially 6 years ago, which was the last time we were there. From what my mom told me, it cost around $25k each time. Flights were around 1200/person. And as is tradition with Vietnamese (and probably Asian families in general), we gave money to our relatives too, but I don't think it was that much. Anyway, I got a few linen shirts and a suit, while my dad went buck wild and got an entire wardrobe each time.

Basically this is what my parents saved up for. They made a lot of money, but I guess expenses were high with three kids. I cannot fathom doing international trips with kids if I don't have a strong connection to a country going from hotel to hotel. MAYBE if my kids were mature teenagers I could do it, but no way with kids under 10.

 

[EL72]

Unless you make some serious money, travelling overseas with three kids is a very rare occurrence. I have three (though my youngest is just 1 yo so we've not yet travelled all overseas) and the only times we've travelled far (been to Hawaii and Israel with them), we managed to combine the trip with some work-related travel that covered some of the expenses and got some of the airfare and hotels on points. Any way you slice it, $10K is the bare minimum it will cost to get your asses anywhere even if you don't pay for hotels.

That said, when the kids are small, they really don't care to travel far away so it's usually wasted on them anyway. They are just as happy being at a cabin on a lake or on a roadtrip. We're not planning any major trips until the kids get older.

 

[thekunk07]

^thanks. a very reasonable response.

 

[randallr]

I am one of three and my dad worked in Sweden for 2 years. That was awesome because I got to see all of Europe for a fraction of the cost as it would have cost our family if he hadn't done brief stint abroad.

 

[texas_jack]

When I was a kid my family drove everywhere. My first flight was when I was 19. We got to go to Mexico but we lived 6 hours from the border.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

Do they not?

I had the impression many people took foreign trips.

Most of the people you know are probably well-off. For the 4 years I was in public school, I was one of the few taking trips to Europe in the summer. It seemed like caribbean was more popular (with cheap all-inclusive packages that's not surprising), but most went nowhere.