Vacation destination you wish but can’t afford due to TIME and/or Budget? (hotels, airline)
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My wife and I have averaged about $90/day for the two of us over several years of long-term travel. Even when you add in the stuff from back home that we still pay for like health insurance, Netflix, etc. it's significantly cheaper than it costs us to live in USA.
That's for mostly countries people would consider inexpensive, not because we're chasing bargains but because that's the way the world is the overwhelming majority of countries are inexpensive compared to USA and western Europe. That average does include legs through Europe and other some other countries that aren't necessarily cheaper than USA like Israel, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Singapore, etc.
NYC. I have been there once but on a budget; hotel through Priceline "name your own price", several meals purchased with gift cards that we received as Christmas gifts, and only shopping for a few cheap souvenirs for family members but NO way going into any of the boutiques along Fifth Ave. or seeing a Broadway show, those things were too prohibitively expensive.
So back to NYC but with money not an object; stay in a 4-5 star hotel of our choosing, carriage ride in Central Park, Broadway show (or two!), dining in nice restaurants without a gift card or checking out the prices ahead of time, and at least poking my head into the shops along Fifth Ave. Also pricey tours of the other boroughs and even a river cruise to see the Manhattan skyline at night.
This may not sound like an expensive or exotic vacation to some, but believe me, with NYC prices, it would cost at least several thousand dollars.
From all the posts, I think this one is the easiet and most affordable one.
“New York City” and “affordable” don’t belong in the same sentence.
If you want to experience it to the fullest, then it is definitely going to drain your account balance(s) some.
We were recently in Switzerland on a family vacations trip.
McDoland’s one basic meal cost $37.00
Talk about “affordable”
NYC is a lot more affordable (obviously depending on the traveler’s budget) and generally easy to reach if you are a mainland US resident.
Air tickets to LGA are usually not bad. Travel within city on Subway saves money too.
And in my personal option, the street food in NYC is not only A LOT cheaper but fresh and better tasting too.
Tickets to museums and other places could be somewhat costly and then the biggest cost is hotel stay. It’s a bottomless pit on how much do you want to spend on a hotel stay.
If one is smart enough; he can find a reasonable hotel deal for a few nights stay.
IMO, NYC trip is not bad at all if one has a reasonable expectations.
We were recently in Switzerland on a family vacations trip.
McDoland’s one basic meal cost $37.00
Talk about “affordable”
NYC is a lot more affordable (obviously depending on the traveler’s budget) and generally easy to reach if you are a mainland US resident.
Air tickets to LGA are usually not bad. Travel within city on Subway saves money too.
And in my personal option, the street food in NYC is not only A LOT cheaper but fresh and better tasting too.
Tickets to museums and other places could be somewhat costly and then the biggest cost is hotel stay. It’s a bottomless pit on how much do you want to spend on a hotel stay.
If one is smart enough; he can find a reasonable hotel deal for a few nights stay.
IMO, NYC trip is not bad at all if one has a reasonable expectations.
Well, I agree with you about Switzerland. I went to Zurich and felt suffocated by how expensive everything seemed.
As if only rich people and celebrities are welcome there.
We were recently in Switzerland on a family vacations trip.
McDoland’s one basic meal cost $37.00
Talk about “affordable”
NYC is a lot more affordable (obviously depending on the traveler’s budget) and generally easy to reach if you are a mainland US resident.
Air tickets to LGA are usually not bad. Travel within city on Subway saves money too.
And in my personal option, the street food in NYC is not only A LOT cheaper but fresh and better tasting too.
Tickets to museums and other places could be somewhat costly and then the biggest cost is hotel stay. It’s a bottomless pit on how much do you want to spend on a hotel stay.
If one is smart enough; he can find a reasonable hotel deal for a few nights stay.
IMO, NYC trip is not bad at all if one has a reasonable expectations.
I get what you're saying but that was my point in naming this destination, I would like to do it without reasonable expectations. Not eat street food, not ride the subway, not look for a reasonable hotel deal. In other words, experience NYC like someone who has $2 million in the bank would experience NYC.
When we did four days/nights on a budget there last year, I mean really on a budget, as in, eating with gift cards, getting a super hotel deal ($179/night for Midtown Manhattan but with the $30/night ??? fee and taxes added was closer to $240/night) and walking or riding the subway everywhere, the entire cost was still between $1,000-$2,000. If we did it again only for a few more days and like someone with no budget to worry about, it could easily cost at least $4,000-$5,000. I'm pretty sure we could do somewhere in Europe for that.
I get what you're saying but that was my point in naming this destination, I would like to do it without reasonable expectations. Not eat street food, not ride the subway, not look for a reasonable hotel deal. In other words, experience NYC like someone who has $2 million in the bank would experience NYC.
When we did four days/nights on a budget there last year, I mean really on a budget, as in, eating with gift cards, getting a super hotel deal ($179/night for Midtown Manhattan but with the $30/night ??? fee and taxes added was closer to $240/night) and walking or riding the subway everywhere, the entire cost was still between $1,000-$2,000. If we did it again only for a few more days and like someone with no budget to worry about, it could easily cost at least $4,000-$5,000. I'm pretty sure we could do somewhere in Europe for that.
Umm...your desire is odd. Why would you have a dream to experience NYC like a millionaire knowing that you aren't a millionaire? You want limos and Le Bernardin for each meal?
Umm...your desire is odd. Why would you have a dream to experience NYC like a millionaire knowing that you aren't a millionaire? You want limos and Le Bernardin for each meal?
Yeah, I guess it would seem odd because I didn't word that very well. What I meant was that I would like to visit NYC without having to think about how much anything costs. If I want to stay somewhere, see something, do something, dine somewhere, I don't care how much it costs, it doesn't matter, I have plenty of money.
I do not have the same taste as a very wealthy person and I am not someone who could ever squander $1,000 on dinner for two, for example, that isn't what I meant at all. Just to feel free to spend without checking prices.
As far as the continental U.S., we have visited well over half the states and I still think that NYC is easily the most expensive place that we have been, including LA and San Diego. We have not been to San Francisco, maybe that would be comparable.
I get that it doesn't compare to somewhere like Switzerland as far as cost.
Hopefully that makes more sense.
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