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It's not their business, but people are going to ask questions. Several years back, a woman I knew who was going back to college in her late 20s, working at a department store in a mall, and living in her car for awhile went on two cross-country trips in a year.
Last edited by Serious Conversation; 01-15-2019 at 01:09 PM..
Jeez. Compared to the other places I squander my discretionary income, my travel spending is pretty modest.
Its funny, travel is about the only "Socially Unassailable" discretionary spend out there, one that allows folks to look down their nose at almost anything else. You rarely here someone being called immature or selfish for refusing to cede their desire to travel. That isn't true of most other discretionary spends.
What? Who takes a boat to Galapagos when you can fly there from the mainland for a couple hundred?
We just did. It was pretty cheap, overall.
But back to the OP, if you don't stay in 4-star places like some people I know, the cost isn't exorbitant. And I don't mean hostels, either. Just nice little apartments or decent hotels. And no fancy restaurants.
People who are cruising all over the Pacific or the world.
Yes, it's all point of view.... I remember way back in my 30's one of the women in the office talking about how they had paid around $300 for a new sofa & I reflexively objected saying "But you could've bought a ticket to Paris instead!"
I was happy enough back then with estate sale furniture if I could take off somewhere with the savings later, took me a while to understand that this wasn't universal or even common thinking.
A new mattress could buy two tickets to Paris, but Paris isn't a necessity.
Finances are personal questions, but some really curious people will ask. My friend was a teacher, got sick of it, and is now working temp jobs for now. She has other friends asking her how she could pay her mortgage. She was really offended. I honestly wonder too, but I won't ask.
I live abroad (in France) and have lots of (paid) vacation time and so I travel a lot. Lately more and more people ask me how I can afford to travel so much and tbh I can't help but get offended. Am I the only one? Are people even right to ask this question? I feel like how I pay for things is none of their business.
It is none of their business. To me it infers jealousy (self-pity?) on their part because they guess they don't have the same opportunity as you.
I was never able to travel like you throughout my life but then I don't live in France.
A new mattress could buy two tickets to Paris, but Paris isn't a necessity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoCardinals
And you will spend half of your life on a mattress, yet only a few days in Paris.
The travel hacker will note that AmEx currently has a promotion going on with an online mattress company that will get you 10K Member Rewards points if you pay with that AmEx card at purchase time. Wait until there's a Air France/KLM Flying Blue promotional offer to get 30-40% more when you change your MR points into Flying Blue points, run a little more spend through associated AmEx credit cards including normal grocery, utilities, etc. and then wait for Flying Blue to have one of their promotional award ticket sales for 28-35K FB points round trip between Paris and select US destinations, including one close to you, and you get both the mattress and Paris.
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