What's your vacation budget?

[NancyIL]

We have no set vacation budget. We decide where we want to go, and then I do the best I can to plan a nice vacation at modest prices. We use airline miles when flying to Europe or elsewhere that's quite expensive (Alaska). In places with high hotel prices, I usually use hotel points for free hotel nights OR bid on Priceline.

I spent $10,000 on a 3-week vacation in Europe last summer with my two adult daughters. I used FF miles for the plane tickets, we stayed 3 nights each in Paris and London (and took the Eurostar train between the two cities), then went on a 12-night British Isles cruise on Princess. When the cruise ended, my daughters flew home, and I stayed 2 more nights in the UK. That was the most I've ever spent on one trip, but I think I got a lot of bang for the buck.

 

[Ava]

We're a family of 2 adults & 1 child (toddler) and my budget for our upcoming Disney trip is $3000. That includes flights, hotel, park tickets, and food, plus a little extra added in for miscellaneous. I'm hoping to come in under that when all is said & done but would rather over-budget than under-budget.

This is our first real vacation since DD was born, so I don't know what I'd budget for other destinations. Our only traveling with her so far has been to visit family.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

10% of our income. As our income grew so did our vacation fund!

I think a percentage is a better way to compare apples to apples...thanks!

 

[Princess_Emily]

We Drive to Minneapolis! watch for cheap flights with Airtran (one year we got cheap flights for $65pp one way for 5 people) Flights are crazy expensive from Winnipeg (around $600-$700pp round trip). If you can handle the 7 hour ride to MSP it could be worth it

Wow, really? $65 pp each way would definitely be worth the drive! Thanks for the tip. We'll keep an eye on Airtran for next time. Plus we have relatives in Minneapolis, so we could stay over there one night and make a visit out of it.

 

[neatokimmo]

this is so awesome! i would LOOOOVE to take DD13 to D.C.! can you tell me how you got the marriott so cheap? priceline?

I went to DC last Sept and got the Palamor (sp) a 4* in arlington on priceline for $70 which included breakfast. If you go to betterbidding.com they will teach you how to get a cheap room in DC. I couldn't have been happier with our room or the location.

 

[BUTTERHEAD1]

I would say we spend between 4-5 thousand on our trips. We usually go for 10 days at a value resort and try and go during free dining.

 

[MinnieForMe]

We try to keep it around $3000-4000 but that's off site for just under two weeks and we fly during school vacation. We are also hoping to take a cruise this summer and I'm hoping to find an incredible deal for around $3000 (wishful thinking).

 

[marie1203]

Our Disney trips for from $2,000 to $6500 for the 2 of us. To answer your question in a regular year. I will start in Sep last year since DH was deployed until then and I don't vacation without him.

A week at the smokey Mountains Sep 10 $2,000
5 days in NH for SIL wedding Sep 10 $2,000
Anniversary trip was cancel due to military training ($500)
Valentine's day 11 night out $400
March 11 Dad visit (taking him to visit my sister university) $500
March 11 florida trip (4days) $800 (we are staying at a timeshare with MIL, so we are not paying lodging)
June 11 DH bday weekend $800
August 11 my bday (not sure what DH has plan) around $1200
October 11 Disney trip 7 days $3500
Sep 11 NH 5 days $1200 to visit DH best friend that is having a baby.

 

[wvjules]

This year we went to Disney in January. That was $1100 for room, tickets and Free dining package, $600 for airfare and $450 for marathon entry fee. So that trip was $2150 plus $150 for incidentals.

We will probably do a small long weekend over the summer no more than $1000.

DBF is hopefully going to Barbados to visit his buddy, only has to pay airfare and food costs so probably not more than $1000.

While DBF is gone, DD and I will find somewhere to go cheaply.

Then in December/January we are going to Hawai'i for 2 weeks. I'm planning on keeping it close to $10,000.

So our vacation budget for this year is approximately $15,000.

ETA: I forgot to add a trip to DL in Sept. Hopefully we can squeeze that one in too since I really, really want the Coast 2 Coast medal.

 

[jennyf2]

We don't really have a set vacation buget...I'm a single mom of 2 boys & I work for an airline so flights are FREE If I had to pay for airfare we would be in a different situation. We take quite a few short/day trips thru out the year. But our BIG trip is always Disney in August! Our Disney trips usually cost approx $2000...I save my change, have a HUGE garage sale (usually make approx $1500 ) & do surveys online to help with the cost.

Can't wait for August!!!

 

[quagmire0]

We're currently at about $2250. That includes Airfare for 4 (2 tickets were free thanks to a Southwest Credit Card promo), 3 bed condo @ Windsor Hills for 8 nights, 7-day passes (regular, no options), crossover suv rental for the week, and each day of parking at the parks. What it doesn't include is food, which I'm allowing for an $800 budget ($100 for groceries to cover breakfasts and lunches, $700 for dinners/activities/souvenirs). So, all told, we'll be around $3000 - $3500.

 

[Pakey]

We do anywhere from 10-15% of our income depending on what else we might want to do during that year. We are empty nesters with no debt; kids are through with college. Vacations were much less grand when we were still raising our children.

We do one big vacation each year; we spent over $20,000 for our last vacation a few months ago to Egypt. We pay $2000 a year in maintenance fees on our DVC contracts, and we usually take one trip there each year where we take at least one of our adult children/families with us and one trip where it's just my husband and I. Coming from California, airfare is the largest expense for these trips.

Our travel is very important to us. I would sacrifice in other areas, if needed, before giving up the vacations. This year we are going to take 2 less expensive trips (one to Hawaii and one unknown yet) and we are taking 2 of our sons/families to WDW.

 

[lurkernj]

Our travel is very important to us. I would sacrifice in other areas, if needed, before giving up the vacations. This year we are going to take 2 less expensive trips (one to Hawaii and one unknown yet) and we are taking 2 of our sons/families to WDW.

Yup, I will gladly eat out less and shop less in order to put more money in the travel savings account. Travel is very important. I need to have something to look forward to (and something to plan) in order to get through the mundane everyday stuff.