The unofficial where and how much did you spent on vacation thread.

[Jack0Life]

I haven't seen a thread like this so it might be interesting. Using travel hacking even better.
I'll start.

We just celebrated our 10 yr anniversary and decided to splurge on a trip to Tahiti on an over the water bungalow(bucket list).
- Package from Costco for 2 cost $5700. 5 nights/6 days. Includes airfare from LA with breakfast and dinner and $100 resort credit.
- Round trip to LA using SW points with companion pass.
- Spent about $800 for excursions, more food, gifts, Covid tests.
- All together maybe $6500 and memories that will last a lifetime.

Getting closer to our trip, I had thoughts about canceling the trip and go somewhere in the US instead of flying so far out. We had to get a Covid test before boarding, tests once we got on the island and tests before boarding back to the US. Wife said let's forge ahead and so we did. Amazing trip and I would tell everyone to stay in one of those over the water bungalow once in your life time.
Would we do it again factoring in the cost ?? YES but we would stay longer. Traveling that far for 6 days is not enough.

We have some trips coming up that are mostly travel hacking. Flights and rooms are all points. Just car rental and food.

[Jack0Life]

Before this we went to the Rocky Mountains on our actual anniversary date in Oct.
Went hiking and visited Keystone and Vail while we were there for a preview.

- Flight to Denver. South West 8000 pts, wife companion pass free.
- Rental car $240 week.
- 2 nights in Denver at a Hyatt. 16,000 Hyatt pts.
- 4 nights close to Winter Park at a Holiday Inn. 71,000 IHG pts.
- Flight back 6500 pts. Wife free.

$240 rental+ maybe $500 in food. Had to splurge on one dinner on actual anniversary date.

The Rockies were beautiful. We actually hiked 8 miles one day and that's a lot for 2 people that never hike before. They closed the trail around the Rockies due to earlier forest fire.
Would visit again. It's beautiful out there and weather were fantastic in Oct.

[uniwelder]

I like the concept, but your examples belong in the anti-mustachian section. $6,500 for an exotic vacation, then $500 for a week’s worth of food (even with a special dinner) for 2?

[OtherJen]

We went camping in a Michigan state park last summer. $125 for 4 nights on the campsite, $50 for gas, maybe $125 for food and water (we went into town for lunch and drinks one day), $40 for firewood. We own the tent and all supplies. Does that count?

[Cranky]

We went camping twice last summer, something we’ve been saying for years and years that we wanted to do! We did buy a new tent at Costco ($100) and new sleeping bags and pads ($100.)

Otherwise, a week at a National park was gas and food and about $150 for the camping fees.

Then we did a few days at a state park here.

Currently planning a longer state trip for next summer.

[boarder42]

Here is our upcoming hawaii trip - to be fair some of the hyatt points were chase points and could have been used for 1.5% CB on groceries but i do not treat my points like cash and hack for the sole purpose of crazy fun/free vacations.  Also counting a new side hustle renting timeshares that would have not been purchased or found to be profitable with out doing some of the fun free travel hacking we do. Again this could be cash but thats not the point of it. We're FI my wife is RE and i'm leaving the work force in Jan.  These points and side hustles are all gravy as we can live solely off the stash.

[boarder42]

Our 10 year anniversary Oktoberfest trip is hacked as well

flights to and from europe First class with points - 100 dollars in fees charged i couldn't hack
5 nights in lucerne - free points
5 nights in munich - free points
5 nights in vienna - free points - hotel has free breakfast/ dinner/happy hour

all in costs i expect to be about 1k for excursions/trains/food

[boarder42]

Here is how to hack your trip

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/booking-tahiti-on-points-and-miles/

[Us2bCool]

I have a trip coming up that is not hacked at all. At the beginning of the pandemic I decided to give myself something to look forward to by booking a three week tour in Africa (I live in California). Total cost is going to be in the ballpark of $8500 for one person. I have never been to Africa and I think I'll get more out of the trip with a small tour group.

It's a lot of money, but it's all paid for and the tour isn't until April. No regrets.

[FINate]

We did Tahiti about 15 years ago and spent significantly more than $6500 :) This was pre-MMM and we went for 2 weeks. Not sure how much Tahiti can be travel hacked, it's just expensive and hard to get to. Everything is overpriced, especially food and drink because you have no other options and are essentially stuck on the resort's private Motu.

Whereas 6 days may be too short, 15 days was definitely too long. Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing trip and we have no regrets, but there's only so much lounging around by the ocean I can do before boredom sets in. While we're glad to have had the experience, we decided Hawaii is more our speed: better value, more dining options and better food, more flexible itinerary.

Our most recent vacation was a ~1 month pre-pandemic road trip around the PNW. Total cost for 2 adults and 2 kids: $1500, mostly gas and one VRBO, camped for cheap most other nights.

[FINate]

I'll also add this: I FIREd a little over 6 years ago. Since then my desire to go on a "traditional" vacation has all but evaporated. I'm generally not stressed or pressed for time, so the idea of relaxing on the beach for more than a day isn't very appealing. I'd rather go backpacking, or a mountain biking road trip, or a ski destination, or some other adventure. For anniversary trips we prefer short tips to local resort locations within 2-3 hrs drive (Sun Valley and McCall for us right now), and if the goal is drinks by the pool the options are almost limitless and very easy and affordable.

[Jack0Life]

I like the concept, but your examples belong in the anti-mustachian section. $6,500 for an exotic vacation, then $500 for a week’s worth of food (even with a special dinner) for 2?

Yeah the Tahiti trip is definitely a splurge. No questions about it.
When we were thinking about canceling, I thought to myself I can spent a 1/3 of that and go somewhere really nice in the US.
As for the Rockies, $500 is not bad for the entire week especially when you're staying in a hotel and have to eat out all the time.
We spent $150 for the special dinner and leaves us with like 12+ lunches and dinners so we're looking at like $30 per meal. Unless we're willing to eat fast food, not much to save. Wife do not like to eat fast food during vacation. Inflation is real.

[Jack0Life]

I have a trip coming up that is not hacked at all. At the beginning of the pandemic I decided to give myself something to look forward to by booking a three week tour in Africa (I live in California). Total cost is going to be in the ballpark of $8500 for one person. I have never been to Africa and I think I'll get more out of the trip with a small tour group.

It's a lot of money, but it's all paid for and the tour isn't until April. No regrets.

Super cool. Can't wait to see you post some pictures.

[Jack0Life]

We did Tahiti about 15 years ago and spent significantly more than $6500 :) This was pre-MMM and we went for 2 weeks. Not sure how much Tahiti can be travel hacked, it's just expensive and hard to get to. Everything is overpriced, especially food and drink because you have no other options and are essentially stuck on the resort's private Motu.

Whereas 6 days may be too short, 15 days was definitely too long. Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing trip and we have no regrets, but there's only so much lounging around by the ocean I can do before boredom sets in. While we're glad to have had the experience, we decided Hawaii is more our speed: better value, more dining options and better food, more flexible itinerary.

Our most recent vacation was a ~1 month pre-pandemic road trip around the PNW. Total cost for 2 adults and 2 kids: $1500, mostly gas and one VRBO, camped for cheap most other nights.

Agreed with everything you said.
We did Maui 1.5 yrs ago and that was amazing too.
The over the water bungalow was a bucket list of ours so money wasn't an object.
It was amazing to be able to swim and snorkel in the crystal clear water everyday. Where we stayed, there were so many fish to see and the sharks come out at night. We would have liked to stay 2 more nights but that's about it.
I actually wanted to do the Maldives but that is really really far away so Tahiti was just as good.

[Jack0Life]

Here is our upcoming hawaii trip - to be fair some of the hyatt points were chase points and could have been used for 1.5% CB on groceries but i do not treat my points like cash and hack for the sole purpose of crazy fun/free vacations.  Also counting a new side hustle renting timeshares that would have not been purchased or found to be profitable with out doing some of the fun free travel hacking we do. Again this could be cash but thats not the point of it. We're FI my wife is RE and i'm leaving the work force in Jan.  These points and side hustles are all gravy as we can live solely off the stash.

Good heaven you have a lot of Chase points. How many do you have ??
As of right now I have 260k and my wife has 160k. A lot of those are going to be gone by the time the winter season is over. Plan to do a lot of skiing this winter

[boarder42]

Here is our upcoming hawaii trip - to be fair some of the hyatt points were chase points and could have been used for 1.5% CB on groceries but i do not treat my points like cash and hack for the sole purpose of crazy fun/free vacations.  Also counting a new side hustle renting timeshares that would have not been purchased or found to be profitable with out doing some of the fun free travel hacking we do. Again this could be cash but thats not the point of it. We're FI my wife is RE and i'm leaving the work force in Jan.  These points and side hustles are all gravy as we can live solely off the stash.

Good heaven you have a lot of Chase points. How many do you have ??
As of right now I have 260k and my wife has 160k. A lot of those are going to be gone by the time the winter season is over. Plan to do a lot of skiing this winter

sitting on about 340k right now and will hack another 200-400k next year

[Just Joe]

We went camping in a Michigan state park last summer. $125 for 4 nights on the campsite, $50 for gas, maybe $125 for food and water (we went into town for lunch and drinks one day), $40 for firewood. We own the tent and all supplies. Does that count?

My thoughts exactly.

Cataloochie Valley. Stayed in campground with our old popup camper. <$100 gas money. <$100 food for four. ~$50 campground reservation. ~$50 misc things like firewood and propane. Would have enjoyed staying longer.

[joe189man]

PTF and learn - we want to take our kids and parents to italy in spring 2023

[Sugaree]

Went down to Honduras over the summer.  Hit it just right so that we got home before the Delta variant became a bigger concern (on our last vacation we flew out of NYC on 12/27/19, so probably just missed the OG variant there too).  We spent two weeks and budgeted about $6400 (all inclusive dive resort with a fantastic weeklong kid's camp).  We actually blew through that because my husband caught a nasty stomach virus the first week and spent some time in the hospital.

[Dr. Pepper]

Spent 1 week over thanksgiving. Went to Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Zion National Park. Total cost 2k for family of 5. Very fun trip.

[Jack0Life]

Went down to Honduras over the summer.  Hit it just right so that we got home before the Delta variant became a bigger concern (on our last vacation we flew out of NYC on 12/27/19, so probably just missed the OG variant there too).  We spent two weeks and budgeted about $6400 (all inclusive dive resort with a fantastic weeklong kid's camp).  We actually blew through that because my husband caught a nasty stomach virus the first week and spent some time in the hospital.

Worth it ??

[BookLoverL]

Most years I go to a particular hobby event here in the UK which is a long weekend that involves camping. My typical budget for the whole thing including travel, event entry fee, and food is less than Ł150. They keep putting the entry price up, though, so I might have to increase the budget to Ł200 at some point.

I didn't go this year or last year due to the pandemic.

I usually go to see various friends around the country throughout the year, but I put the train travel for that in a different budget category than 'holiday'.

[boarder42]

Went down to Honduras over the summer.  Hit it just right so that we got home before the Delta variant became a bigger concern (on our last vacation we flew out of NYC on 12/27/19, so probably just missed the OG variant there too).  We spent two weeks and budgeted about $6400 (all inclusive dive resort with a fantastic weeklong kid's camp).  We actually blew through that because my husband caught a nasty stomach virus the first week and spent some time in the hospital.

Worth it ??

no one posting something like this here will say it wasnt worth it. 

[Sugaree]

Went down to Honduras over the summer.  Hit it just right so that we got home before the Delta variant became a bigger concern (on our last vacation we flew out of NYC on 12/27/19, so probably just missed the OG variant there too).  We spent two weeks and budgeted about $6400 (all inclusive dive resort with a fantastic weeklong kid's camp).  We actually blew through that because my husband caught a nasty stomach virus the first week and spent some time in the hospital.

Worth it ??

no one posting something like this here will say it wasnt worth it.

Yeah, it was.  Other than the hospital thing. 

[ducky19]

We've travelled to St. Croix in the USVI at least 5 times, each time covering airfare with points. Not really any hotels there that can be hacked (Carambola Resort is a Marriott property, but was damaged in Maria back in '17 and just recently reopened), so we've stayed at several different VRBOs and other local places. No idea what the total of all trips is, but I can honestly say it would not have been possible without miles.

[RainyDay]

We did Rocky Mountain National Park this past September for 5 days, which has been a bucket list item for me for years.  It is without a doubt the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life.  But not cheap!

Plane tickets: $180 each
Rental car for 6 days: $240
Motels/AirBnB total for 6 nights:  $660
Food:  around $400 for two
Park pass:  $80
Tour of the Stanley Hotel (I'm a huge Stephen King fan):  $48
Day of fly fishing (DH is a former professional fly fishing guide so fishing the Colorado River was his highlight): $600 including tips

Total ~$2400

[deborah]

I love remoteness. It can be very expensive or very cheap. Where I live is very close to campgrounds where you are the only ones staying, where you can go for long walks and not see another person. We have been going away for 2 nights at a time to places like this. Campgrounds with minimal facilities, where you can sit by the fire at night gazing at the Milky Way in all its glory. Admittedly, the facilities are primitive - pit toilets, fire rings, and picnic tables are often provided, but you bring your own firewood and water. No electricity or mobile phone coverage also means a lack of internet. Being from Australia we’re used to having fewer people around - after all, we’re a country a similar size to the contiguous US, with a population of a bit  over 25 million.

But at $6 a night within less than two hours of home I can think of a dozen such places. All worth visiting more than once.

I’ve also wandered around remote parts of the country for weeks, alternating between staying at remote national parks and a day or two at camping grounds in towns where I could do my laundry and buy supplies for the next part of the trip. These expeditions were also cheaper than living at home. I’ve done something similar in the US, where I hired a car in LA and visited 23 national parks, including Death Valley, Bryce… staying at campgrounds all the way. Once I was actually in the US it was quite cheap, but much more crowded than what I prefer.

Of course, you can go to the other extreme, and fly to the other side of the world and be remote. I’ve done this too. One year,  a trip to Iceland and Greenland (including a ferry up the coast). The next, a trip to eastern Canada including a ferry up the coast of Labrador. A trip through Chile from the Atacama desert to Patagonia, including Easter island. And then a trip to northern Canada - Nahanni, kayaking with icebergs in Nunavut, belugas in Churchill, camping in tombstone park In Yukon, driving ourselves up the Dempster highway to Tuktoyaktuk. Getting to really remote, far off places isn’t cheap.

[BussoV6]

I love remoteness. It can be very expensive or very cheap. Where I live is very close to campgrounds where you are the only ones staying, where you can go for long walks and not see another person. We have been going away for 2 nights at a time to places like this. Campgrounds with minimal facilities, where you can sit by the fire at night gazing at the Milky Way in all its glory. Admittedly, the facilities are primitive - pit toilets, fire rings, and picnic tables are often provided, but you bring your own firewood and water. No electricity or mobile phone coverage also means a lack of internet. Being from Australia we’re used to having fewer people around - after all, we’re a country a similar size to the contiguous US, with a population of a bit  over 25 million.

But at $6 a night within less than two hours of home I can think of a dozen such places. All worth visiting more than once.

I’ve also wandered around remote parts of the country for weeks, alternating between staying at remote national parks and a day or two at camping grounds in towns where I could do my laundry and buy supplies for the next part of the trip. These expeditions were also cheaper than living at home. I’ve done something similar in the US, where I hired a car in LA and visited 23 national parks, including Death Valley, Bryce… staying at campgrounds all the way. Once I was actually in the US it was quite cheap, but much more crowded than what I prefer.

Of course, you can go to the other extreme, and fly to the other side of the world and be remote. I’ve done this too. One year,  a trip to Iceland and Greenland (including a ferry up the coast). The next, a trip to eastern Canada including a ferry up the coast of Labrador. A trip through Chile from the Atacama desert to Patagonia, including Easter island. And then a trip to northern Canada - Nahanni, kayaking with icebergs in Nunavut, belugas in Churchill, camping in tombstone park In Yukon, driving ourselves up the Dempster highway to Tuktoyaktuk. Getting to really remote, far off places isn’t cheap.

In my experience, Australians are the great travellers of the world (pre covid). I'm in the mining industry and have been to many really remote areas. It never failed to amaze me that I could run into Aus travellers just about anywhere. I once picked up 2 youngsters backpacking through a remote area in southern Mexico. I shared a few beers and a meal in a small town in Kazakhstan up near the Russian border with 3 Aus students who were cycling through. Aus backpackers in a really dodgy area of DRC.

Your fellow countrymen/women certainly have the wanderlust.

[MisterA]

I think the trick is to recognise how good things are in your own back-yard.

I'm in the UK and we have a campervan. We've been to most of the UK and visited France, Germany and the Netherlands. Next year we're off to the Swiss/French Alps for 2 weeks. Between 3 of us it'll cost <$2k in total. We've holidayed the Greek and the Spanish islands, at very low cost (not in the camper). We always have a great time, without spending much.

Long haul is generally expensive, so we don't travel long haul (any more). North America has many awesome places, likewise Australia. Don't dismiss the places that you can get to cheaply, and that are relatively close.

[Jack0Life]

I think the trick is to recognise how good things are in your own back-yard.

I'm in the UK and we have a campervan. We've been to most of the UK and visited France, Germany and the Netherlands. Next year we're off to the Swiss/French Alps for 2 weeks. Between 3 of us it'll cost <$2k in total. We've holidayed the Greek and the Spanish islands, at very low cost (not in the camper). We always have a great time, without spending much.

Long haul is generally expensive, so we don't travel long haul (any more). North America has many awesome places, likewise Australia. Don't dismiss the places that you can get to cheaply, and that are relatively close.

This is awesome.
Me and the wife has been planning to get a camper van and travel the US for a couple of years now but the vans are so expensive now since the pandemic. We will wait.

[Anon-E-Mouze]

Our spending on vacations varies quite a lot depending on whether there are options to use miles and points to cover flights and hotels. For example:

Joint, 3-week 50th birthday trip to Malaysian Borneo about 8 years ago.
- Business-class and/or first-class flights NYC-Bangkok-Borneo, and from Borneo-Singapore-NYC - free
- Flights within Borneo: about $250
- Hotels in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Kuching and Singapore - free (and most came with lounge access so we also got free breakfast, snacks, drinks and sometimes dinner)
- We splurged (about $250 a night, all-inclusive) for a 3-night stay at a rainforest lodge (price included transportation) and a 4-night stay on Lankayan island
- We also spent about $350 on dives (rentals and guided dives)
- We spent about $500 in other expenses (food, taxis, entrance fees) for the rest of the trip
- We donated $100 in aggregate to the two animal sanctuaries we visited and where I took photographs to support the sanctuaries' work.
- We also arranged to have friends stay in our apartment in NYC and cat sit. (They got a free apartment in NYC. We got great cat sitters for the price of a good bottle of wine.)

[GuitarStv]

Due to the extremely high carbon output, I'm morally opposed to flying places for vacations.

There are a huge number of places near to where I live that are fantastic and fun to vacation at.  Short vacations can be taken on my bike, longer ones in a car, and extremely long ones by train.

[boarder42]

Due to the extremely high carbon output, I'm morally opposed to flying places for vacations.

There are a huge number of places near to where I live that are fantastic and fun to vacation at.  Short vacations can be taken on my bike, longer ones in a car, and extremely long ones by train.

per person carbon output from new york to London by plane is less than driving from NY to LA.  So your longer trips by car may cost the environment more than someone's long haul flight by plane.

to that end why vacation or consume anything at all i mean technically being dead is the lowest carbon footprint one could leave.

[GuitarStv]

Due to the extremely high carbon output, I'm morally opposed to flying places for vacations.

There are a huge number of places near to where I live that are fantastic and fun to vacation at.  Short vacations can be taken on my bike, longer ones in a car, and extremely long ones by train.

per person carbon output from new york to London by plane is less than driving from NY to LA.  So your longer trips by car may cost the environment more than someone's long haul flight by plane.

to that end why vacation or consume anything at all i mean technically being dead is the lowest carbon footprint one could leave.

I wouldn't drive from NY to LA, that's a dumb way of travelling.  Should be a train ticket, which would be significantly less carbon.  Not sure that the reductio ad absurdum is really valid here - avoiding frivolous and unnecessary air travel is a more reasonable path to take than executing ones self.

There are a surprising number of awesome places to go and fun things to do very close by to me.  I think that this is true of most people, but we've been programmed somehow that it's not a real vacation unless you get on a plane and jet halfway around the world.  I will push back very hard on that narrative, particularly when the travel becomes another wasteful environment destroying consumerist sinkhole.

[Fomerly known as something]

In March 2017, I was in New Zealand for 4 weeks.  Total cost was between $6000-7000.  Used points when I could, stayed in some private rooms at hostels and had 3 days at hiking huts on one of the Great walks.  Half of my budget was airfare and a car rental.  Biggest single splurge was a helicopter up to hike on Franz Joseph Glacier.

Last few years I’ve been visiting SW national parks.  I tend to go shoulder season to avoid the hoards.

[Jack0Life]

I must admit most people I'm surrounded with have no clue what travel hacking is.
Just recently I've been getting my close friends to sign up for all the big bonuses that the CC are offering.
Sometimes others look from afar and think how are we traveling so much. Must cost a fortune.
I mean I'm not even a hardcore travel hacker but just between the 2 of us signing up for CC bonuses, we amassed a decent collection of points.

[boarder42]

I must admit most people I'm surrounded with have no clue what travel hacking is.
Just recently I've been getting my close friends to sign up for all the big bonuses that the CC are offering.
Sometimes others look from afar and think how are we traveling so much. Must cost a fortune.
I mean I'm not even a hardcore travel hacker but just between the 2 of us signing up for CC bonuses, we amassed a decent collection of points.

yeah just look at my post above on the retail cost of that trip to hawaii.  Even if an avg person wouldnt spend that and stay some less luxurious places it would likely still cost over 20k for a similar trip.

[Jack0Life]

We are in Salt Lake City right for 8 nights.
Our first ski trip of the year and we might not even be able to hit the slopes.
I got sick right before we left and even though I'm better now, my wife say she's feeling sick now. I can't find a self kit anywhere to see if we have Covid.
Hopefully she's better in a day or so so we can hit the slopes.

Flights- 6,500 x 2 Southwest pts each way with me flying for free. We each booked a ticket ourselves but my
           wife earned her companion pass 8 days in the new year so I canceled mine and hopped on her for free.
Hotels- 40,000 Hyatt points for 8 nights. 5,000/night for a Hyatt Place just south of Ogden. It's a 55 min drive
           to Park City and 30 min drive to Snow Basin which is what our Epic Pass is good for. This is probably
           one of the nicer Hyatt Place we've stayed in for 5,000 pts. Sits in a middle of a huge shopping center.
Car Rental- $290 for 8 days. I have Avis Preferred Plus which my buddy was able to book a rental this cheap.
Lift tickets- Covered with Epic season pass. Bought for $514/each
Daily Spending- We've been spending around $80 per day for food and such.

Really hope we can hit the slopes tomorrow. Hopefully the wife will be better tomorrow.