Author Topic: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?  (Read 11710 times)

MrSal

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #50 on: January 31, 2019, 08:20:11 AM »
People are paying an outrageous amount for vacations.  Paying over $600 for ANY airfare deserves face punching (even Australia).  Scotts Cheap Flights is a great source to find these deals.


I don’t know where you’re finding round-trip fares from eastern US to major cities in Western Europe  of $600. When we were looking for flights, the cheapest one was about $900 RT, but it had a stop in Moscow (!) and would have taken 13+ hours.


I can barely get to destinations in the US for under $500... $600 to Europe is laughable.

People are paying an outrageous amount for vacations.  Paying over $600 for ANY airfare deserves face punching (even Australia).  Scotts Cheap Flights is a great source to find these deals.

I understand you're on vacation, so treat yourself.. But holy shit you guys. $10k for a 2 week trip?

I travel solo, so I always do Hostels... I've yet to pay over $30 a night.

For food, the hostel makes me free breakfast.  I usually skip lunch, then do a ~$15 dinner.

Public transportation is fairly cheap... Then the rest is visiting museums/sight seeing/whatever else.. Mostly free things (maybe I spend $20 per day on activities).

$50-$75 per day is what I spend, depending which country I'm traveling.

I don’t know where you’re finding round-trip fares from eastern US to major cities in Western Europe  of $600. When we were looking for flights, the cheapest one was about $900 RT, but it had a stop in Moscow (!) and would have taken 13+ hours.

Thing is, we are FI and retired already. And old. So eventually you have to spend SOME money or what’s the point?

Google Flights? Im finding them as low as 297$ DIRECT, from Eastern US to London/Paris/Amsterdam ... High season Im finding them for 350-450 also direct.


Also US is more expensive to travel within.

Example of Eastern US - Lisbon (which is not a major hub so prices arent as cheap) in June, so very high season:



When I traveled with my parents, we traveled to good hotels and good destinations. No where have he ever paid 10k for 4 people even!

Hotels there are plenty in an area, no need to spend 400$/night. But nowadays with AirBnB costs are so low. I can rent an apartment good for 10 people for about 150-250 high season.

I just saw on AirBnB an example for a 4-5 ppl family in Paris next to Eiffel tower. 2 bedrooms, 14 nights = $2100
« Last Edit: January 31, 2019, 08:29:28 AM by MrSal »

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #51 on: January 31, 2019, 08:28:27 AM »
People are paying an outrageous amount for vacations.  Paying over $600 for ANY airfare deserves face punching (even Australia).  Scotts Cheap Flights is a great source to find these deals.


I don’t know where you’re finding round-trip fares from eastern US to major cities in Western Europe  of $600. When we were looking for flights, the cheapest one was about $900 RT, but it had a stop in Moscow (!) and would have taken 13+ hours.


I can barely get to destinations in the US for under $500... $600 to Europe is laughable.

People are paying an outrageous amount for vacations.  Paying over $600 for ANY airfare deserves face punching (even Australia).  Scotts Cheap Flights is a great source to find these deals.

I understand you're on vacation, so treat yourself.. But holy shit you guys. $10k for a 2 week trip?

I travel solo, so I always do Hostels... I've yet to pay over $30 a night.

For food, the hostel makes me free breakfast.  I usually skip lunch, then do a ~$15 dinner.

Public transportation is fairly cheap... Then the rest is visiting museums/sight seeing/whatever else.. Mostly free things (maybe I spend $20 per day on activities).

$50-$75 per day is what I spend, depending which country I'm traveling.

I don’t know where you’re finding round-trip fares from eastern US to major cities in Western Europe  of $600. When we were looking for flights, the cheapest one was about $900 RT, but it had a stop in Moscow (!) and would have taken 13+ hours.

Thing is, we are FI and retired already. And old. So eventually you have to spend SOME money or what’s the point?

Google Flights? Im finding them as low as 297$ DIRECT, from Eastern US to London/Paris/Amsterdam ... High season Im finding them for 350-450 also direct.


Also US is more expensive to travel within.

The OP said they are coming from the west coast, not the east cost. 
Which east coast airport are you using for $297?  How much would it cost to travel to that airport?

MrSal

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #52 on: January 31, 2019, 08:32:59 AM »
People are paying an outrageous amount for vacations.  Paying over $600 for ANY airfare deserves face punching (even Australia).  Scotts Cheap Flights is a great source to find these deals.


I don’t know where you’re finding round-trip fares from eastern US to major cities in Western Europe  of $600. When we were looking for flights, the cheapest one was about $900 RT, but it had a stop in Moscow (!) and would have taken 13+ hours.


I can barely get to destinations in the US for under $500... $600 to Europe is laughable.

People are paying an outrageous amount for vacations.  Paying over $600 for ANY airfare deserves face punching (even Australia).  Scotts Cheap Flights is a great source to find these deals.

I understand you're on vacation, so treat yourself.. But holy shit you guys. $10k for a 2 week trip?

I travel solo, so I always do Hostels... I've yet to pay over $30 a night.

For food, the hostel makes me free breakfast.  I usually skip lunch, then do a ~$15 dinner.

Public transportation is fairly cheap... Then the rest is visiting museums/sight seeing/whatever else.. Mostly free things (maybe I spend $20 per day on activities).

$50-$75 per day is what I spend, depending which country I'm traveling.

I don’t know where you’re finding round-trip fares from eastern US to major cities in Western Europe  of $600. When we were looking for flights, the cheapest one was about $900 RT, but it had a stop in Moscow (!) and would have taken 13+ hours.

Thing is, we are FI and retired already. And old. So eventually you have to spend SOME money or what’s the point?

Google Flights? Im finding them as low as 297$ DIRECT, from Eastern US to London/Paris/Amsterdam ... High season Im finding them for 350-450 also direct.


Also US is more expensive to travel within.

The OP said they are coming from the west coast, not the east cost. 
Which east coast airport are you using for $297?  How much would it cost to travel to that airport?

From West coast prices are similar, sometimes even cheaper (I have seen as low as $200 from West Coast)

In the case above it was Newark but I am sure you can find similar prices on other airports, I have gone to Europe from JFK, Newark, Philly ...

San Francisco to London direct flight in June, 405 dollars I saw just now!

Here's an example from LAX to Barcelona:

« Last Edit: January 31, 2019, 08:35:31 AM by MrSal »

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #53 on: January 31, 2019, 08:45:28 AM »
That's a good fare from Newark, but I just looked and a flight to Newark is going to cost me about $400.

You also have to take into account this poster's travel dates. Most people can't just go whenever.


MrSal

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #54 on: January 31, 2019, 08:51:46 AM »
That's a good fare from Newark, but I just looked and a flight to Newark is going to cost me about $400.

You also have to take into account this poster's travel dates. Most people can't just go whenever.

What's your closest major airport? I am just using some hubs that are common, I am sure you can find similar prices from other airports.

But a simulated trip, 4 people to Barcelona from San Francisco 14 nights

2 bedroom AirBnB = 2150$
Airfare for 4 people = 1370$

Total = 3520$

If you go with friends it's even cheaper since you can have bigger apartments for the same price or not much more. (8 people the apartment would be  3200$ in downtown Barcelona)

It leaves a lot of room for food and entertainment. Especially considering that food in europe is cheap when going out (you can have dinner at a fancy place in the trendy area for 15/person ... if you drink wine a little more) and this for dinner time ... if eating at lunch time you can get advantage of specials - a lot of restaurants do those because of business customers. I can have a full menu of soup + main plate + drink + dessert for 5-9 euros.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2019, 09:03:37 AM by MrSal »

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #55 on: January 31, 2019, 09:36:43 AM »
That's a good fare from Newark, but I just looked and a flight to Newark is going to cost me about $400.

You also have to take into account this poster's travel dates. Most people can't just go whenever.

What's your closest major airport? I am just using some hubs that are common, I am sure you can find similar prices from other airports.


Try CID.

Secret Stache

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #56 on: January 31, 2019, 10:19:20 AM »
Use points not dollars and only pay for the taxes.  Even then, use a capital one card to pay the taxes and use the travel eraser to get that money back. 

MrSal

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #57 on: January 31, 2019, 10:26:25 AM »
That's a good fare from Newark, but I just looked and a flight to Newark is going to cost me about $400.

You also have to take into account this poster's travel dates. Most people can't just go whenever.

What's your closest major airport? I am just using some hubs that are common, I am sure you can find similar prices from other airports.


Try CID.

From CID didn't find much - only took a quick look. However, from ORD which is what 170 miles away? You can get to london RT for $311 dollars. So, if you are 4 people it can be worth it to travel by car to Chicago in order to save close to 2000 dollars or more.

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #58 on: January 31, 2019, 10:41:06 AM »
That's a good fare from Newark, but I just looked and a flight to Newark is going to cost me about $400.

You also have to take into account this poster's travel dates. Most people can't just go whenever.

What's your closest major airport? I am just using some hubs that are common, I am sure you can find similar prices from other airports.


Try CID.

From CID didn't find much - only took a quick look. However, from ORD which is what 170 miles away? You can get to london RT for $311 dollars. So, if you are 4 people it can be worth it to travel by car to Chicago in order to save close to 2000 dollars or more.

We have done the drive to ORD to save a good amount of money a few times. It's 240 miles from CID to ORD according to my map. But it can be quite sketchy to downright dangerous in the winter, so we only use it as a summer option.

MrSal

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #59 on: January 31, 2019, 12:46:29 PM »
And again accomodation can be quite cheap, here is an example of a singe family house in one of the most touristy places in Switzerland .. Lake Front house!!

It was a 3 bedroom house, although it was just the two of us we decided renting it because it was so cheap, we spent 1 night at the hotel and checked out right away because this was cheap (hotel room was 60 euros/night for bedroom). This house was like 70 euros/night - at the time I even asked the lady "per person?" ... she said no no... full house.

It could sleep easily 8 people.





It had the own dock/pier and a boat house with a small boat... which we used to navigate the lake.


JoJo

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #60 on: January 31, 2019, 01:38:47 PM »
Maximum for me is $100 day + airfare to & fro.   I usually go much longer than 2 weeks (I'm 40% retired) and often spend less than the 100 per day (7 weeks in indonesia came in at $52 a day, and 7 weeks in the Balkans came in at $60 a day).  Airfare I try to keep under $1100, and recently been trying to use up airline miles first.


mm1970

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #61 on: January 31, 2019, 03:08:01 PM »
@spartana  Was that found through any particular site, directly from Norwegian, or???  My officemate has been traveling to Sweden a bit (and it going in April) because his son just married a Swede.  He's recommended Norwegian to me because of the brand new planes.

MrSal

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #62 on: January 31, 2019, 04:23:20 PM »
@spartana  Was that found through any particular site, directly from Norwegian, or???  My officemate has been traveling to Sweden a bit (and it going in April) because his son just married a Swede.  He's recommended Norwegian to me because of the brand new planes.


www.google.com/flights probably the best one or one of the best... you can search the calendar, which then enables you to find the best price, sometimes +/- 1-2 days makes a big difference.

mm1970

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #63 on: January 31, 2019, 05:15:04 PM »
@spartana  Was that found through any particular site, directly from Norwegian, or???  My officemate has been traveling to Sweden a bit (and it going in April) because his son just married a Swede.  He's recommended Norwegian to me because of the brand new planes.
I booked directly thru Norwegien Air but found various sites quoted the sameish rate. I just look at the calender which has the lowest cost price for each day and looked for the cheapest fate - which may not always be available by the time you book. I think a Google search shows all the prices for all the airlines. I'm a newbie at this as I rarely fly so others may have better advice. I also can't change the ticket but there are fares that allow for that for a bit more. Plus I'm just doing carry on so no luggage fee.
Thanks for the update. I was checking the Norwegian site.  Then an hour later the entire month of July was mysteriously unavailable.  But Google still had it when I decided to search incognito. 

I think many sites do this, which is why I tend to search for flights at work and then book at home.  I'm going to pass now until we get solid dates.  We are trying to work around our friends & relatives who live in Denmark (no point going if they are vacationing in the states!)  That may be the difference between $700/ticket and $1200/ticket.  C'est la vie.  Or whatever the Danish version of that is.

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #64 on: January 31, 2019, 05:28:36 PM »
This is similar to my r/t flight on Norwegian Airlines of $179 each way or $358 r/t. A non-stop on a 787 Dreamliner (whatever that is). I have a a much later return date though but there were shorter term stays in the same price range.
Probably can return on the same day of the week a different week for about the same price.

kpd905

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #65 on: February 01, 2019, 01:24:37 AM »

From CID didn't find much - only took a quick look. However, from ORD which is what 170 miles away? You can get to london RT for $311 dollars. So, if you are 4 people it can be worth it to travel by car to Chicago in order to save close to 2000 dollars or more.

We have done the drive to ORD to save a good amount of money a few times. It's 240 miles from CID to ORD according to my map. But it can be quite sketchy to downright dangerous in the winter, so we only use it as a summer option.

You'd pay an extra $2,000 just to avoid a few hours of winter driving?

bryan995

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #66 on: February 01, 2019, 04:23:22 AM »
Spend? As in real money?
I would go for mostly free via some very easy to execute credit card churning stratagies Give yourself 6-9 months prep time and the largest chunk (hotel+air) can be effectively free.

MrSal

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #67 on: February 01, 2019, 05:51:13 AM »

From CID didn't find much - only took a quick look. However, from ORD which is what 170 miles away? You can get to london RT for $311 dollars. So, if you are 4 people it can be worth it to travel by car to Chicago in order to save close to 2000 dollars or more.

We have done the drive to ORD to save a good amount of money a few times. It's 240 miles from CID to ORD according to my map. But it can be quite sketchy to downright dangerous in the winter, so we only use it as a summer option.

You'd pay an extra $2,000 just to avoid a few hours of winter driving?

The prices I mentioned were in the summer so I guess he'd be fine :D

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #68 on: February 01, 2019, 06:48:14 AM »

From CID didn't find much - only took a quick look. However, from ORD which is what 170 miles away? You can get to london RT for $311 dollars. So, if you are 4 people it can be worth it to travel by car to Chicago in order to save close to 2000 dollars or more.

We have done the drive to ORD to save a good amount of money a few times. It's 240 miles from CID to ORD according to my map. But it can be quite sketchy to downright dangerous in the winter, so we only use it as a summer option.

You'd pay an extra $2,000 just to avoid a few hours of winter driving?

I do "winter driving" every day of the winter. Yesterday I had coworkers take 2+ hours to get home on their normal 15 minute commutes. The number of accidents on the interstate was insane, and city roads were not better.
There are days where it would be deadly to travel and other days where what would normally be "a few hours" but could turn into an all day ordeal.   When you book the tickets 5 months out, you don't know which day you are getting.

Likely, I wouldn't pick that destination if the fares are that high; we'd just skip the trip.  But yes, we typically fly from the local airport during the winter.  Tickets are not refundable if you have to cancel because the driving wasn't safe and I couldn't get 200+ miles to the airport. They are refundable if the airline cancels your flight because the flying is unsafe.

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #69 on: February 01, 2019, 07:54:02 AM »
I think it varies widely. My kids are teens now and I get two hotel rooms - but we never stay any place fancy. I bargain shop for airfare. Last trip was over summer 2018 $450 to Europe (out of DC area, into London, flying home from AMS) x 4 people. VRBO in London was about $1000 for the week. We did tours or paid admission to places most of the days of the trip, plus subway passes, and ate out one meal per day. Took train and ferry to the Netherlands and stayed with relatives, rented a car. Total trip for 4 came to about $5000, maybe a bit less. We did one expensive tour that took us to Stonehenge and Windsor Castle.

Anyhow - hunting down inexpensive airfares can be done. Sign up w/ the airlines (Wow, Norwegian Air, etc.) and with services like Travel Zoo, Fare Finder, etc. Use Skyscanner and Google Flights. The more flexible you are able to be about travel dates, the easier it is to find low fares. 90% of my travel is in the summer and if you start looking early and have date flexibility you can find pretty low fares.


MrSal

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #70 on: February 01, 2019, 09:29:31 AM »
I think it varies widely. My kids are teens now and I get two hotel rooms - but we never stay any place fancy. I bargain shop for airfare. Last trip was over summer 2018 $450 to Europe (out of DC area, into London, flying home from AMS) x 4 people. VRBO in London was about $1000 for the week. We did tours or paid admission to places most of the days of the trip, plus subway passes, and ate out one meal per day. Took train and ferry to the Netherlands and stayed with relatives, rented a car. Total trip for 4 came to about $5000, maybe a bit less. We did one expensive tour that took us to Stonehenge and Windsor Castle.

Anyhow - hunting down inexpensive airfares can be done. Sign up w/ the airlines (Wow, Norwegian Air, etc.) and with services like Travel Zoo, Fare Finder, etc. Use Skyscanner and Google Flights. The more flexible you are able to be about travel dates, the easier it is to find low fares. 90% of my travel is in the summer and if you start looking early and have date flexibility you can find pretty low fares.

Thats pretty good. About 1250$/person which includes airfare, accomodation, food, etc ...

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #71 on: February 01, 2019, 10:49:10 AM »
Kind of just venting here ... whoever arranged these concerts was a dimbulb. There's one at 4:00 one day, and then another at 3:00 the next day, in two cities a 2.5 hr plane trip apart. They originally booked us to stay in City 1 the night after the concert, but it will really be tight getting to City 2, given that it will take about an hour to get to and from each airport. So now we're faced with paying extra to make the hotel change on top of scrambling to find flights out of City 1 that don't cost a fortune. Remind me to never fucking do this again (agree to be exploited - a perennial problem for musicians).

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #72 on: February 01, 2019, 10:50:06 AM »
Kind of just venting here ... whoever arranged these concerts was a dimbulb. There's one at 4:00 one day, and then another at 3:00 the next day, in two cities a 2.5 hr plane trip apart. They originally booked us to stay in City 1 the night after the concert, but it will really be tight getting to City 2, given that it will take about an hour to get to and from each airport. So now we're faced with paying extra to make the hotel change on top of scrambling to find flights out of City 1 that don't cost a fortune. Remind me to never fucking do this again (agree to be exploited - a perennial problem for musicians).

UGH, no fun.  I hope you figure it out.

OzzieandHarriet

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #73 on: February 02, 2019, 08:48:02 PM »
Kind of just venting here ... whoever arranged these concerts was a dimbulb. There's one at 4:00 one day, and then another at 3:00 the next day, in two cities a 2.5 hr plane trip apart. They originally booked us to stay in City 1 the night after the concert, but it will really be tight getting to City 2, given that it will take about an hour to get to and from each airport. So now we're faced with paying extra to make the hotel change on top of scrambling to find flights out of City 1 that don't cost a fortune. Remind me to never fucking do this again (agree to be exploited - a perennial problem for musicians).
Can you opt out of the second concert and give yourself some extra days in city #1 and just go to city #3 at a more leisurely pace? If you are retired can you just make arrangements separately from the group to go earlier and stay longer at the first and last cities than the group does? Get more bang for you buck that way and a less exhausting travel schedule.

We got it worked out, I think. I had the times mixed up for one thing — City 1 concert is at 3:00 and City 2 is at 4:00. It will be a little tight but not impossible. City 2 is actually the last concert on the tour, and no, I can’t skip it - I’m the only one on my instrument. We are getting in a day early to the first stop and then staying 4 more days in that last city, so it will be a pretty good chunk of vacation (for us). There are also a couple of free days in the middle there. Anyway, we booked all the flights so we should be good to go.

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #74 on: February 05, 2019, 11:40:07 AM »
@MrSal you assume that you will be traveling with friends which is great assuming that is your preference.  For me that isn't the way I want to travel.

So in addition to travel to ORD from CID as is your example you need to examine when flights leave with a 3.5 hour trip.  A 6 am flight means getting a hotel room the day before or an 11pm arrival home means a hotel in Chicago coming back.  Also one has to pay for gas and now parking at ORD vs an Uber or a ride from friends to CID.  Even the cheap lot will cost at least $10/day so a 10 day trip it's another $100.  So that $600 flight is really at least $800 and likely more of a PITA since it is easy to get to my first gate from my midsize Midwest airport (Which is not CID but is a similar distance from Chicago).

MrSal

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Re: How much would you spend on a two-week vacation?
« Reply #75 on: February 05, 2019, 12:33:13 PM »
@MrSal you assume that you will be traveling with friends which is great assuming that is your preference.  For me that isn't the way I want to travel.

So in addition to travel to ORD from CID as is your example you need to examine when flights leave with a 3.5 hour trip.  A 6 am flight means getting a hotel room the day before or an 11pm arrival home means a hotel in Chicago coming back.  Also one has to pay for gas and now parking at ORD vs an Uber or a ride from friends to CID.  Even the cheap lot will cost at least $10/day so a 10 day trip it's another $100.  So that $600 flight is really at least $800 and likely more of a PITA since it is easy to get to my first gate from my midsize Midwest airport (Which is not CID but is a similar distance from Chicago).

I didnt assume anything. I assumed first a 4 people family (parents w/ 2 kids) ... I just then said that if traveling with more people (such as with a group of friends) it gets even cheaper. I gave both scenarios.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!