What would you do?

[FLAMESRULE]

Still planning on going to our Euro trip in Aug/Sept. We got the flights on points, but wifey is a bit nervous. My bro-in-law and sister are going to Australia for a year or 2 this December and we're planning on going for a visit.

We've sort of done the opposite of most I'd imagine...didnt do much traveling the last couple years and saved some pretty good money...going to start using it now that things are supposedly going to be a bit cheaper.

[cracher]

Has the cost to travel to the US changed that much?

I hit San Clemente/Orange county every couple of months. Just booked to go May and June again and found that the prices were the exactly the same as the last time I went, 4 months ago. Same hotel, same price through hotwire (charged in CAD). Same $400/week car through costco (again, billed in CAD). Flights are actually a bit cheaper. Green fees are cheaper than here... If there is additional expense due to CAD:USD, it's not much. Perhaps everything is a bit slow to react to the dollar differences.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Already scaled back a bit, taking a road trip to Whitefish rather than a bigger Mexico/all inclusive type holiday. The exchange sucks compared to the last few years, but honestly, it still wasn't that bad. For us, gas and food in the US was still cheaper down there than in Calgary.

[CliffFletcher]

Postponed buying a new car - we'll try to get another year or two out of our 8-year-old minivan that's costing us $2,000 to $4,000 a year in maintenance and repairs.

Postponed a trip to Hawaii indefinitely.

No fear of immediate layoffs at my company, but that will change if the price of oil is still sub-$60 in November (and I'm assuming it will be). So I'd like to have a nest egg of 4-5 months of salary set aside.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by cracher

Has the cost to travel to the US changed that much?

I hit San Clemente/Orange county every couple of months. Just booked to go May and June again and found that the prices were the exactly the same as the last time I went, 4 months ago. Same hotel, same price through hotwire (charged in CAD). Same $400/week car through costco (again, billed in CAD). Flights are actually a bit cheaper. Green fees are cheaper than here... If there is additional expense due to CAD:USD, it's not much. Perhaps everything is a bit slow to react to the dollar differences.

Well the exchange is why people are shying away from the US. Frankly if the US raises interest rates and Canada cuts that exchange makes travel that much more painful in the US. At this point its basically $1.27, so with some interest rates factor in you would be likely around $1.32 (just a guess on my part).

[Weitz]

I've got a vacation planned for next week (just a week down in mexico) and a couple more later this year. I have great job security right now and my GF does as well so we are not concerned.

Also looking at purchasing a condo this summer. Pretty much living life normally.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Slava

I'm going to England for the Rugby World Cup later this year. I'm more than excited and kind of consider it a once in a lifetime sort of trip (although who am I kidding, I would probably want to go again!)

I feel a little bad reading through this thread when everyone else basically says they're cutting back. I should say that I am taking it easy and not doing a lot leading up to this, and its a trip that has been in the works for a couple years.

Nice, A mate of mine over there was trying to get some of us here to come over, play a few games and see some World Cup games, but it never came together.

What tickets do you have?

Also, there should be a good Calgary conection on the Canada team.

[cracher]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well the exchange is why people are shying away from the US. Frankly if the US raises interest rates and Canada cuts that exchange makes travel that much more painful in the US. At this point its basically $1.27, so with some interest rates factor in you would be likely around $1.32 (just a guess on my part).

Of course, your theory is sound and I cannot disagree in any way. But I literally booked flight/hotel/car last night and did not observe appreciable differences in cost for exactly the same trips in September and November 2014. The differences will arise with food/activity/outlet mall expenditures, but these costs are what you make them to be. Food will be a killer. But other expenses like golf and shopping are a wash - the deals won't be as good as a year ago, but it's still comparable to here. $60USD dress pants from nordstrom rack is still cheaper than the same pair at $150CAD at chinook nordstrom.

[Table 5]

No significant changes here either. I'm actually ramping things up bit on the business end if anything...but then again, I have no connection with the energy industry. It's never fun to see others suffer, but in many ways the downturn has been good for me, as with the Canadian dollar falling, my purchase power has increased (I get paid in USD, but spend it in CAD).

For completely schadenfreude reasons, I hope the downturn screws over every crooked developer and half-assed tradesman in town.

[CaptainCrunch]

I haven't taken a vacation in more then 7 years, I take mini breaks off instead, so I'm not going to change that strategy. Even thought I'm not in O+G I'm definitely feeling the pinch right now as most of the people out there are in a bit of a panic mode when it comes to making changes to their finance systems unless its mission critical.

I'm finishing off paying for my jeep next month, so I'm holding off on buying anything major and socking that money away.

I'm also cutting back on a lot of un-neccessary things like booze purchases and premium car washes

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I haven't taken a vacation in more then 7 years, I take mini breaks off instead, so I'm not going to change that strategy. Even thought I'm not in O+G I'm definitely feeling the pinch right now as most of the people out there are in a bit of a panic mode when it comes to making changes to their finance systems unless its mission critical.

I'm finishing off paying for my jeep next month, so I'm holding off on buying anything major and socking that money away.

I'm also cutting back on a lot of un-neccessary things like booze purchases and premium car washes

wow wow wow, let's not make hasty decisions....

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I haven't taken a vacation in more then 7 years, I take mini breaks off instead, so I'm not going to change that strategy. Even thought I'm not in O+G I'm definitely feeling the pinch right now as most of the people out there are in a bit of a panic mode when it comes to making changes to their finance systems unless its mission critical.

I'm finishing off paying for my jeep next month, so I'm holding off on buying anything major and socking that money away.

I'm also cutting back on a lot of un-neccessary things like booze purchases and premium car washes

What do you define as a "mini break"? Are you a contractor and just take some time off between contracts or something?

[CaptainCrunch]

No I'm an employee, I'll take a couple of days off here or there, take an extra day on long weekends etc. So this long weekend I'm adding an extra day.


For the longest time in the companies that I work for I've been pretty much a department of 1, so I don't like going away because nobody is going to be able to cover for me while I'm gone so coming back will just be stressful.

What's going to be interesting is I'm hitting my fourth year at my current job so I now get an extra week of vacation time as per the deal I made when I came on board.

[Simon96Taco]

Originally Posted by Hugh Jahrmes

My employer has recently applied for the work share program; assuming we are approved we will be working a max of 32 hours a week with the rest being covered by EI..

That's interesting. Would you mind sharing who the employer is, or even a bit more detail about the industry/size of employer, etc?

[Ozy_Flame]

The downturn doesn't have to ruin vacation plans, just don't go to the US.

For example, when I went to Japan during the 2008/2009 downturn, the Canadian dollar bought you 75 Yen. Right now, you can get 94 Yen, which is almost on par with what the exchange rate was in 2007 during the major boom (when I was there). That is 25% more purchasing power, and the difference pro-rated over a three month holiday was about $2000 at the end of it.

Bottom line - This is your chance to go somewhere else other than North America.

[Burke Salad]

We are toning down our usual go to some city in the states for shopping/site seeing etc. Going to just go to Vancouver Island and have a more relaxing beach/site seeing trip. Got to pinch pennies where we can.

[Regular_John]

The US/CAD exchange rate is effecting our travel plans more than anything. In the past we found it was affordable to take 1-2 trips down a year without a ton of planning (ex: "hey it's our anniversary in two weeks, let's drive to Seattle") up front.

But once we start budgeting hotels/activities with the current exchange it's been curtailing our plans pretty quick.

We may try to get some home improvements in this year if we're staying home.

[Tiger]

Probably won't change plans much, we don't have a big vacation planned as we have a basement and backyard to do this summer. Still going ahead with that, just a little more stressed about the money

[polak]

No big vacations for me this year as I'm buying a place instead.

Feel relatively secure at my job but still hesitant to over extend myself even a little bit with spending this year.

Next year it's Euro 2016 or bust though!

Also, I'll add that I told myself if I get laid off before I buy a place I'm blowing this Popsicle stand and doing some serious backpacking / working crap jobs abroad.

I'd take it as a sign.

[blueski]

Working my but off still. Cut all expenses that aren't necessities. Wife went back to work earlier than planned. Have about six months of emergency fund put away, looking to build that to a years worth by September. Can't predict what my job situtation will be like for rest of the year or how long this market will be like it curently is so I'm trying the best I can to be ready for the pessimistic scenarios if they play out.

Promised the kids if they eat well and sleep well and both grow to 48 inches we would go to silverwood in the USA for a weekend. Looks like we'll be camping lots instead. We have the gear, they love camping and Dad being able to pay the mortgage if I get laid off for an unknown duration is more important than a vacation.