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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chielgirl
..I can travel to Thailand for 5-6 weeks, including airfare, for less than $2k.
I stay with my family for 2 nights, my first and last because it's relatively close to the airport.
I found a decent hotel near BKK that I use... $20USD including transfer to Airport.
We (USA early retirees) will ALL be in Thailand for medical and dental medi-vacations, as Europe has done for decades.
I hope to move there (on Business) in early 2013. I find it quite affordable, and can hardly wait to find a nice abode to rent near the beach. (My work detail is quite near Hua Hin)
Affordable Travel is not tough, but finding the time is TOUGH.
I found a decent hotel near BKK that I use... $20USD including transfer to Airport.
We (USA early retirees) will ALL be in Thailand for medical and dental medi-vacations, as Europe has done for decades.
I hope to move there (on Business) in early 2013. I find it quite affordable, and can hardly wait to find a nice abode to rent near the beach. (My work detail is quite near Hua Hin)
Affordable Travel is not tough, but finding the time is TOUGH.
Stealth, let me know the name of the hotel with airport transit.
Sorry about Hua Hin, not my favorite city, but my family has a place there.
It's kind of creepy in some ways with the older farang and their young girlfirends; many of the farang look so unhappy, even when they're having coffee at a restaurant in the mornings.
It's also somewhat pricey because of the tourist trade.
It's in the middle of diving and the mountains in the north so I stop there in transit.
If you're ever going to Chiang Mai, I've got a nice place for under $10 with internet and cable on a quiet soi in the old town.
We basically set aside $X every month from our paychecks and earmark that money as our vacation budget. As we have no kids and no real debt other than our mortgage, that adds up to a sizeable chunk of change.
Also we both used to travel all the time (less frequently now) and between my wife and I we still have over 1 million Hilton HHonors points and maybe 200k Marriott points (used to be a lot more, but we dumped a chunk of them on trips to the Aruba Marriott Tradewinds and the Cosmo in Vegas this year). We usually either pay for our flights or hotel rooms with points, so that cuts out a large part of the cost.
Actually, it is a task to travel even when we live in Europe.
We all have jobs, cost of living, houses to care for, families, etc.
I travel very cheaply (have a camper van) and can't always fit what I want into the mix.
Sure, countries are closer, but so are states in the US.
Travel doesn't have to be to another continent or country.
Yes, but to never travel? I live in Europe for a few years, including London, pretty darn easy to jet off to a destination, and cheap as heck to do. Plus people over there get vacation time whereas in the US, many get none or lucky to get all of one week.
I was just clarifying if he meant other than Europe, because I find it hard to believe that if someone wanted to, they could not manage a to take a trip to a European country from the UK one time in their life.
I am an airline employee and still young, I couldn't afford it otherwise. I travel with equally frugal friends and go very light on hotel accommodations and stay away from many unnecessary luxuries. To give you an example: I spent three days in Tokyo and spent only $90, including hotel.
I know my answer isn't the answer you're looking for, but it works for me.
I work in the executive end of a hospitality company; my desire not only for travel, but also for the ability to transfer and work in different locales, is part of what spurred me on in this career.
If you work for a major chain like Hyatt, Hilton, Starwood, etc. you usually get perks with airlines and other affiliates, as well as a designated number of free days every year to spend at a hotel in your company's chain, usually inclusive of breakfast or other perks. When I worked for Hyatt, they had a slammin' benefits package that included 14 free nights per year, which could be split up however you wanted - so, if you wanted to drive, say, from SF to LA for a concert and stay Downtown or in Century City for two nights on your days off, you could do that, and you'd still have 12 free days that you could use to, say, fly to Hawaii, Fiji, and Japan on vacation.
So, basically, say you want to go to Japan. You apply to use your free nights and get approved for hotels in Tokyo and Osaka and a resort near Kyoto, then fly on an affiliate airline for $100 each way and take rail within Japan and spent frugally. You took a weeklong trip to Japan with your S/O and after eating out and buying souveniers, you spent under $1000 - if you hadn't been with the company, you would have paid over $3k for the same trip.
I don't get those perks anymore because I don't work for a chain, but I get paid more, so it balances out.
My husband and I donate generously to an animal rescue, and my pup is a rescue. I had two rescues but recently lost one to cancer. I'll be taking a foster for a couple of months in mid-November when business travel winds down for the year. As much as I say "no," I know that there's a chance the foster might stay forever.
The sad fact is that if the puppy mills closed and people spayed and neutered their animals, the need for rescues and shelters would be cut by 90% and people like you could travel. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Annerk,
I would be preaching to the choir with you
Just like we still have slaves in parts of the world, and the oppression of women and children as well, we still treat animals like they have no feelings, no pain, no suffering and no rights. Hopefully, humankind will wake up one day.
Remember that some of the "great travel perks" received by airline and hotel chain employees are to compensate for substandard pay and benefits.
Many moons ago, I worked for a hotel chain. The pay at the hotel division was much less than other divisions in the company. Sure, it was great to get a cheap hotel room but the pay did not allow for much travel. And I was paying more for medical insurance for the hotel chain in 1989 than I am paying with my current employer in 2012.
Remember that some of the "great travel perks" received by airline and hotel chain employees are to compensate for substandard pay and benefits.
Many moons ago, I worked for a hotel chain. The pay at the hotel division was much less than other divisions in the company. Sure, it was great to get a cheap hotel room but the pay did not allow for much travel. And I was paying more for medical insurance for the hotel chain in 1989 than I am paying with my current employer in 2012.
Depends on who you work for, where you're working, and what position you have, like pretty much any other job.
Starting pay for a front desk agent at the Hyatt in San Francisco I worked in was $18.50/hr and benefits were quite cheap; so, if you were a young single person with low debt and overhead costs, it worked out just fine. Alternately, I was a temp manager at a Doubletree some moons ago, and they were paying $11/hr with minimal benefits compensation while everyone else in the area was paying $15.
Yes, but to never travel? I live in Europe for a few years, including London, pretty darn easy to jet off to a destination, and cheap as heck to do. Plus people over there get vacation time whereas in the US, many get none or lucky to get all of one week.
I was just clarifying if he meant other than Europe, because I find it hard to believe that if someone wanted to, they could not manage a to take a trip to a European country from the UK one time in their life.
Many people never travel.
It's not their passion.
I work with people who think that traveling to a town 40 km away is too far.
And I work with others who travel a lot.
Different strokes, etc.
For example, you may wish to specialize in providing business or corporate travel services to small and medium-sized companies that cannot afford employees
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