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Many non-travelers, for some reason, assume overseas vacations as a rule cost a fortune. During casual conversation with an aunt, she was floored that my airfare to Amsterdam was only $497. I asked why she was so shocked and quizzed her as to how much she thought NYC to Europe flights are. She replied, "I dunno, $8,000 or so?" She also wrongly guessed that an average hotel stay in Amsterdam set me back, like, $400 a night. She was REALLY intrigued at how one could easily find a RT airfare from JFK to Thailand for less than $600 (often true from NYC-area airports).
And that is why I don’t mind the question - answering it can often dispel a lot of ignorance. Many people never think to check what it would cost them to travel because they “know” they can never afford it. When they learn international travel doesn’t have to be ridiculously expensive, they may decide to go themselves. Maybe your aunt will check out Europe because you cleared up her misconceptions, and she’ll get to see sights she’s always dreamed about seeing (but never thought she’d be able to afford to see).
Well, I knew families who took annual trips to Disney World and Puerto Rico, or back home to Pakistan or Morocco or Bangladesh with a stop off in Saudi Arabia to go to Mecca, and were on Medicaid, Section 8, SNAP, SSI, and cash benefits. So yes, there are certainly situations where one might be interested in knowing where they obtained the funds for their annual junkets, considering that they were living off the taxpayers.
For a small family (3-4) it’s around 20,000 for a 7 day cruise with airfare and a few days of accommodation. But it is worth it. People can do it a little bit cheaper but if you are going to spend money you should do it right.
I live a normal life 48-50 weeks out of the year. For the other 2-4 I am willing to spend on 5 Star hotels and business class. I don’t drink, go to football games or go to concerts. People have different priorities and spend money on other things.
WOW! I do the same for under 5K, sometimes for under 3K. I guess I'm just not spending my money right.
People aren't taught manners anymore. We all think we have the right to know everything. And we're going to gossip whether you answer or not. Might as well make your response good (and educational).
"Weren't you ever taught.....impolite?"
Give them a pitying look.
I think they ask because they are genuinely curious. And I thoroughly disagree with the comments that imply those who don't travel have somehow wasted their money on frivolous things. Which is somewhat the same in any discussion when someone wants to know how "X can afford Y?" when the answers assumes the person asking is wasting "disposable" income. There are many, many, people who don't have disposable income. They're "wasting" it on something frivolous like food, or mortgage, or kid's doctor bills. And because they don't have disposable income, they truly don't understand how others do.
Someone upthread mentioned "a small family of 3-4 is about $20,000 for a 7 day cruise." And said it in such a casual way, like having an extra $20K is no big deal. That's half a year's pay for most people.
I think more & more people are getting more & more offended about more & more things these days, just look at social media. I don't know if it's mostly a lack of curiosity about learning something new or some sense of self-entitlement that resents sharing. Perhaps this partly explains the current attraction for walls.
Very well said. I had no idea that so many people would consider this subject to be private and, worse yet, get offended. My friends and I talk about these things quite a lot and we are not even all that close as friends. Either it’s a subculture or generation thing, or there must be a lot of economic resentment built up.
On top of that, questions like how one can afford to travel are extremely open-ended and almost anybody should be able to give a vague answer that doesn’t reveal much about their private lives, e.g. “We can afford it because we prioritize experiences over excess material goods” or “We have been budgeting for it in advance”. Is it really that hard to give a vague answer instead of getting upset over such an innocent question?
People aren't taught manners anymore. We all think we have the right to know everything. And we're going to gossip whether you answer or not. Might as well make your response good (and educational).
"Weren't you ever taught.....impolite?"
Give them a pitying look.
You speak as though this question is tantamount to asking you what your salary is or what your sex life is like.
There will always be some gray areas between reasonable conversations versus intrusive questions, and if you act like somebody has evil intentions just because they don’t draw their boundaries in exactly the same place as you, then you are yourself being impolite. Give them the benefit of the doubt, and speak in very vague terms. You could even refer them to budgeting tools and then change the subject. Getting offended accomplishes nothing and can lead to a vicious cycle that weakens relationships.
If you get offended at every little thing, eventually you will have a hard time keeping any friends at all ( which is fine if you want to be reclusive or are just not a people person, but otherwise can lead to loneliness and even depression).
I wouldn’t ask anyone how they could afford to travel often. It is none of my business. However, I would be curious about the where of the travels: what they enjoyed, what the people/culture were like, geographic, history, etc.
We travel about 4 months during a year, usually during fall and spring. We have a truck camper so do our exploring in that. It has solar/AGM batteries, compressor fridge, heater, propane stove, a real toilet, etc. We afford it by bringing along our own food and buying at local grocers when we need to. We camp at state or national parks, USFS, BLM, or other public lands, or disperse camp for free. Our only expense that differs from daily living back home is the diesel and propane.
During the last 6+ years we have been to almost all the national parks west of the Rockies, quite a few state parks, innumerable national forests and so many lakes, rivers waterfalls, beaches we lost count. We have a beautiful country and we enjoying exploring its many facets.
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