What % of income do you spend on travel?

[Johnny199r]

Do you have a % you stick to in your budget or just travel as much as you want?

My spouse and I mostly just go to the Rockies, but really want to get out there in the world, once we save up enough vacation time. I really want to do a 4-6 week trip to Greece/Turkey, which I imagine would cost quite a bit.

[burn_this_city]

Why set a percentage? If you want to go somewhere plan for it and save accordingly. I don't see the point in setting aside x amount for vacations.

[Sylvanfan]

Last year we spent about 1.5% of our take home pay on fuel, hotel rooms, and eating meals on the road plus entertainment. This year we have pared that back. Before we had our son we used to take one nicer trip every year probably 10% of our take home pay at the time.

Go to a travel agent, or look it up online, determine the price and save up that amount to do the trip. It's far easier to travel if you do not have a child/children.

[Swarly]

between 15-20%

[Regulator75]

Past 2 years, 0%.

[BlackArcher101]

2%

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

Do you have a % you stick to in your budget or just travel as much as you want?

My spouse and I mostly just go to the Rockies, but really want to get out there in the world, once we save up enough vacation time. I really want to do a 4-6 week trip to Greece/Turkey, which I imagine would cost quite a bit.

I would say about 1-2% usually. I try to go to Europe every year, but I travel cheaply and stay with family and friends a lot.

I went to Greece/Turkey last year for just over 2 weeks. It is pretty expensive.

[Table 5]

I don't really do it by % because I don't really have consistent income, but we usually try do to 1 big international trip a year and 2-3 within North America (that usually I can tie into some work related). Back when we didn't have a kid, that 1 big trip used to be 2 big trips.

Traveling is definitely the one thing I like to spend my discretionary income on. I think it's one of the best things you can spend your money on, and a great way to become more tolerant of others.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Does the skytrain count as travel?

[edslunch]

Probably 10%. Post-Christmas (skiing or south), Family day (skiing), March break (skiing or south), Summer (BC). Not counting regular weekend skiing or camping trips. Yes it's a lot, but makes the long winter tolerable and is a trade off for making good salaries here.

[Canehdianman]

Under 5% on our household budget.

[Methanolic]

Originally Posted by Regulator75

Past 2 years, 0%.

Past 4 years, 0%.

[bubbsy]

it depends. Last year, weddings in asia/UK last year came in heavy, ontop of the annual trips back to calgary (from TO) to see the family (bundle that into being new parents and upgrading to a house) was a brutal budgeting year.

This year, we have the trips back to calgary, but other than that, nada.... after getting married we set out for 1 major trip a year, but since having the kid, i think that may go on pause for a while until we're done "breeding" haha.

[DownhillGoat]

No percentage. Basically travel when I want and have the cash on hand. Honestly don't want to figure out the %.

I'm not one for consumer debt but travel is one of the few things I can justify dipping into a line of credit for (life experiences don't depreciate in value), although I still generally avoid it at all costs. In the case of the OP, it's generally going to be harder to get 4-6 weeks off at a time (especially for a couple) than it will be to save up for a trip or pay back an unsecured loan. Save what you can and when the time comes that you can make it work just do it.

I don't know of anyone who's ever said "if there's one regret I have it was going on that 6 week trip to Europe".

[Flames0910]

I think the limiting factor for me is number of vacation days, not budget. That said, most of the places I have been in the last couple years have had favourable exchange rates.

[Hot_Flatus]

It depends entirely what you're looking for in travel if you're going to put a number to it.

There are times we travel on a shoestring to see as much as possible over longer periods of time. Other times we splurge for a shorter period of time as we are not concerned with making it last as long.

[OutOfTheCube]

Very little. I really dislike traveling (particularly air travel) in general and my wife doesn't care so much. We have some places we want to get to but neither of us have any desire to leave North America.

Our 6 night honeymoon in Disneyland is what we both consider a BIG trip.

[malcolmk14]

Probably around 10-15%

[Dion]

I don't have any set percentage. For me it's the cost and what I consider fair value.

What I use comes out saving I have set aside for possible trips.

[bluejays]

I don't do the percentage thing, but I look for what's good bang for buck really, and for the most part a place I can say, "that was a really cool experience". I used to do all inclusives for every trip and while great bang for buck, it would be more or less the same party experiences, so I figured about 3 years ago, I can always do them when I'm older. Now that I'm 30, I should explore more and do the overseas thing more. So at the end of the day I would say I spend about $7K a year to do this type of the about 3 times a year. It's actually prevented me from affording to buy a place, but it's such a great experience that I can't give it up.