rankourabu

Are we talking about splurging or overpaying?
I'll happily splurge on a flight over the Nazca lines or a unique dinner, but I wont overpay $50 to have clothes washed at a hotel, when the lady down the street does it for $5 a load.

I absolutely despise staying in western chains overseas, but will splurge for a locally run boutique hotel. And will certainly not trade location for a western chain.

But in general I m cheap I'd rather have the same money cover 12-15 weeks vacation annually than blow it all in 3-4 weeks.

clockmilk

These are so interesting to read and compare.

I hate chain hotels so I'd rather opt for a boutique hotel, bed & breakfast, or a more "fun" small chain like Ace Hotel, capping the cost around the $200 a night range (or more if sharing rooms). Chain hotels just remind me of work and blandness and I like having a fun backdrop to come back to at the end of the night. A good hotel breakfast and bar is a major plus. If I have to get a chain hotel, Four Points Sheraton are solid.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I couldn't give two sh***s about rental cars, so will opt for the absolute lowest end of the range, getting a kick out of how far economy cars have come (or not come, as was the case when I got a Chevy something-or-other with roll-up windows just a few years ago).

As for food, I would never eat at a McDonald's, just because I'd rather spend that same money on street food that reflects the cuisine of the region. If I'm on a budget, food halls are great, where I can buy from stands and eat picnic-style. I'm also happy buying from a local grocery store and taking back to my hotel, because it gives me a chance to check out local markets and stock up on snacks I can't get at home.

I prefer using public transport over taxis as it's cheaper, don't have to deal with traffic, chatty/shady drivers or smoky cars. One thing I absolutely hate spending money on is transportation to/from airports, however recently on a trip I was convinced to get local driver pickups and it was worth the modest cost for the time and headaches saved.

I think a lot of spending philosophies change along with age. I can easily see spending more on nicer, quieter hotels as I get older.

Fragola

Splurging is relative to your usual habits. I'm generally okay with street foods and simple restaurants but will occasionally splurge on a fancier meal but not every night. That would be overwhelming. I also won't splurge on expensive hotel breakfast buffets generally because I can't eat all the food to make it worthwhile and have plans for the day that don't include sleeping off the big meal.

When pressed for time or not knowing the local language I have splurged for taxis from the airport but generally prefer public transit or inexpensive car rental if I know I won't need to splurge on big city parking fees. I don't like paying too much for hotels and never use hotel laundry service unless it has coin operated machines.

I like to have interesting experiences and will spend money on things such as hot air balloon rides, helicopter rides, show tickets, diving and whale watching excursions. On a past trip to Phoenix I considered trying this out http://www.fightercombat.com/ but time constraints and digestive issues ruled that out. On my next trip to Las Vegas I'd like to do this http://www.wynnlasvegas.com/Shows/LeReve/DreamDive. A better description can be found here http://blog.vegas.com/las-vegas-show...s-vegas-44119/

darthbimmer

I nominate this for Notable Quotes in the next TalkMail.

tmorse6570

We'll spend a little more than usual on nice meals.

Annalisa12

Funny! I love the spa services my husband and I visited. He got better treatment than I.. he got offered a happy ending. I giggled so much after as I had all the money and paid for the massage AND gave a trip to the lady who offered my husband a very happy time!!!

Annalisa12

I splurge on;

Taxis, dry cleaning/laundry, drinks, local candy, books, foot massages (even twice a day, every day), magazines

Chinesecowboy88

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BB10; Kbd) AppleWebKit/537.35+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/10.2.1.3247 Mobile Safari/537.35+)

For my wife and I, trips mean money well spent on fine dining - we look for Michelin Star restaurants, cultural excursions with private guides - why be in a group with people who are just there because they want to 4square it, top quality hotels/resorts and liquor! We save up for our trips knowing that we may not visit again in a while so we go all out!

petz

To the Airport.

Airport taxi form specialced companies that also give me Award miles, speaking of which I Need to check if I got the miles

iceblueshoes

+1
I'm in the same boat. Sometimes, I'll think "ooh look this is neat", but then think, this is x% I can out towards another flight...

Or for like the past year I've been wanting to get a new tv but everytime I'm about to get it, I stop and think, "but that's almost a flight to ..."
As a friend of mine said when we were looking at the new 4K TV's "why pay so much for a TV if I can pay that and go see the real place with my own eyes". That and they don't have anything really in native 4K resolution... but I digress...
Same. While I can appreciate a good meal, I don't feel the need or urge to go all out on Michelin star resto's at all. Usually I'll go to the equivalent of Tesco and just pick up on a few things to snack on throughout the day, but I do try to have at least 1 decent and good local meal to get an idea of the cuisine when I go abroad.

To me, I'm more of a bang for the buck guy. If a tour says, it's x.xx price, I try to see how much I can do it myself. It's like a game to me, but has paid off bigtime in the past ie. Great Wall of China.

Kagehitokiri

i spent a lot on very little travel

the best will call for you

mbloes

Funny. We stayed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo once and I felt like we were the only customers there that were using the trains.

365RoadWarrior

My leisure trael has been on hold since 2007, and most of it is real shoestring travel - cheap hotels/hostels, meals, public transport or bicycle. But, as I thought about it, I do splurge on one thing: immunizations. They're expensive, but I get basically everything recommended.

GetSetJetSet

Varies, sometimes I will stay in cheap hotels are airbnb, other times I want a nice luxury hotel and no hassles. As far as a cost that could easily be eliminated, I tend to waste $ on cabs because I don't want to deal with public transportation if I have a limited amount of time to explore a place.

drvannostren

I don't splurge on anything. I know splurge is relative to each person, so for me, someone of...meager means, or average lets say, my splurge is the trip itself.

I pay virtually as little as possible for accommodations because I literally shower/sleep there, that's about it. I don't even want to spend like $80 because I drop my bag off, then I'm out the door to explore or whatever and I don't usually come back until the day is done. I've frequented sleepinginairports, rather than pay for a hotel I've slept in many airports.

I'm awful with food, so I'll just go wherever and hope that I don't hate it. I won't even entertain an expensive place because I can't enjoy it.

I don't rent cars or take taxis lol. I find them both to basically be ripoffs. I generally try to take public transport or the old art of walking.

For my airline ticket, it's usually the cheapest fare bucket, which is often the motivation for the trip in the first place.

I travel "planned" on the cheap, then once on the ground that's where I try to not care too much, I penny pinch a little but I've never REALLY wanted to do something and though "I better not, it's too pricey".