Annalisa12

I'm with you. An average 2 week holiday for my husband and myself if we are not living the high life is $15,000.

I recall being in Phuket talking to a couple in a bar. They were saying how cheap their holiday was and I later said to my husband "what are we doing wrong" when ours cost 10 times as much. (I guess one reason is we don't want to fly Air Buckalow in seat 77G

jadecocoa

8 weeks was my longest trip (Middle East 2011); have also done a few 6 (Chile, Argentina) and 7 (Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgzystan) week trips. My "regular" annual vacation is 3-4 weeks.

Long trips don't have to cost that much. I use points for airfare, travel independently, stay in local budget hotels and use public transport when possible.

blueferrari

the longest I've been - only 16 days (I only have 12 working days paid leave, but anyway I'm not willing to afford much longer trip)

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haha, my standard for 2 weeks trip is exactly 10 times lower (solo).
typically I wait the chance to secure Qatar Airways (and comparable airlines) economy promo fare in 'Air Buckalow' range, then proceed as usual. looking for reliable BnBs and hostels. research the transport passes for each cities/destinations, and so on. that is my big trip I do once a year, and the remainder of the year I just go to some destinations nearby (in region).

I should add that: you're not doing it wrong at all, it's just different approach and philosophy as traveler. mine is to go as far as possible as long as possible, in conditions that I could keep on being sane person, with fixed amount of money I set in the beginning.

that being said, there's always somebody that doing it in half or third of my budget!

when I got older and possibly have a partner or spouse, maybe kids, I think I'd change that with more relaxed trips and spending more.

in meantime, I'd keep using my methods! WHV to Australia is hovering in my mind

gooselee

Re: budget - Some examples from my book:

22 day trip to Oz/NZ and it I think came out to $14k for both of us. We flew in J but used miles, so that helped.

We also spent $2k on just a single weekend to Napa Valley, including coach airfare but not including wine purchases. Hotel on points.

And we did a 19 day trip to Morocco and Spain for I think only $5k. Air on miles, but spent on nice lodging in RAK and an airbnb in PMI.

Two weeks in Switzerland and Paris for $4k. Miles for airfare but paid for everything on the ground.

We always fly J when going overseas and like to eat nice things and stay at nice places, but have found that many times that doesn't always mean lots of $. At the end of the day, I believe people can make any budget work, really. It's just a matter of how motivated you are to really get out and see things.

gooselee

Generally true, but not universally. Many companies in the US are starting to have more flexible vacation policies.

Both Mrs. Lee and I work for US-based companies (with the vast majority of operations in the US as well) that provide unlimited vacation days. Work hard, play harder philosophy.

Some of our coworkers seem to never take vacation because they don't have anything they "need" to use. We, on the other hand, focus on doing really good work as quickly as possible so we can spend more time doing what we actually want to do (travel).

travellingwineO

At the end of med school and prior to beginning residency, I spent 12 weeks backpacking around Europe. Sine then, I've been able to sneak away for 3+ weeks on four different occasions. Doing the same next year when the wife and kids and I are off to Peru.

For those who are curious about costs, the Europe trip was about $2000 all in. The rest of our 3+week vacations (most recently for a family of four) have been in the $5000 range (using miles for flights, cash for everything else). As a professional, by far the greatest expense associated with travel is paying for the overhead while I'm away and not generating any income. Over a 3 week period, that makes $5000 look like a drop in the bucket....

invisible

$15K is all the money I and my wife spent on vacations last 6 years. All - airfare, lodging and food included.

StartinSanDiego

We are self employed, and this is our dilemma, also. We can budget the trip beautifully, in fact, our travels in Europe are frequently less expensive than staying home. We recently stayed in the Vicar's quarters of a 1000 year old castle in Tuscany.. about $45 USD for two of us, including breakfast! That was one of my most memorable stays ever.

But the opportunity cost of missing our income- that's the kicker! That is one reason why our trips are short but frequent. We try to get home, and back to work, before the loss becomes too great.

Jimmie76

28 days on ACK each year for a good few years. Really enjoyed that and disappointed that I can't still do it.

Jeannietx

We have done several in the 3 1/2 month range and some 2 month.

I do not miss being home or get homesick. DH sometimes misses our mattress.

DH only works between our trips. We are both retired but he can work contract during the periods we are home.

Annalisa12

You sound like you travel just like me.

Fraser

About 3 months.

I took a very generous VR package from my employer when they relocated and the then ex-wife was between jobs. Decided to throw a few shekels at hang all expenses AONE4 trip. We were in our mid 20s and barring some huge windfall thought we wouldn't get the chance to do a similar length trip until retirement. Mostly 3-5 night city breaks but with about 7 days and 10 days in Alaska and south island of New Zealand.

bensyd

12 weeks when I was at uni, through South America. I couldn't tell you what that cost, but it was shoestring stuff. A few years ago I did an 8 week road trip that crossed a decent portion of the earth. I think from memory that cost about $15k including the car (for each of us). On that trip we stayed in everything from camping by the side of roads to stinking hot hostels to 4-5 star hotels. I wouldn't want to do that every year though, that sort of constant moving gets very tiring.

The_Bouncer

€10,000 a season is my travel budget (I am semi-retired - work in Summer and travel in Winter). How long I travel depends on where I go (and sometimes vice versa).

If I visit expensive places, I shorten the trips as a trade-off. If I visit places with a lower cost of living, then I can stay longer.

For example, I'm currently in South Africa, where I can live very well for not much more than my monthly bills cost at home in Austria.

pudgym29

After some contemplation; approximately one month July-August 1997.
I was still in a funk that our ownership group had not been allowed to obtain the Chicago POWER indoor soccer franchise. But, one benefit of my association with it was that I had piled up a number of free flights on Southwest Airlines.
So, I used one of those free roundtrips to fly MDW-LAX at the end of July. Spent one night in one of those funky hotels along Century Blvd. Next morning, flew Alaska Airlines (first time) LAX-SEA. [IIRC, WN did not fly northwest of SJC until it bought Morris Air, which it had not yet done.] Got to Seattle. Got a rental car. Drove to Portland, OR. to attend the Oregon Brewers Fest. Got a room at a hostel in central Portland. Car was physically sitting in a parking lot for # days while I rode transit. {Yes, I was on the W-WW by now. This was the least expensive way to do it.}
Attended OBF. Did not meet The Darklady, despite setting up a meeting time at a venue on SE Hawthorne Ave. (I couldn't recall her real name, which I later learned was Theresa. [Ding, ding, ding - my mom's name was Theresa. She loathed sexuality. I probably blanked out the name due to this connection.]) (If you've hit my adult bookmark page, this is the pockmark to which I refer.)
When OBF ended (now in August), got in rental car & drove back to Tacoma, WA. for the United Soccer Boosters' Convention, and our annual Beer Tasting @ The USBC.
The Convention went well. Having different beers than we typically got when being east of the Mississippi River was nice.
The Monday when the USBC ended; drove back to SEA, returned the car, and flew the return AS flight to LAX. There, obtained 2nd rental car from off-airport location and drove to Newport Beach, CA. to stay with my cousin Ron. This can get pretty lengthy, so I'll curtail it here by stating that in my span in Newport Beach, I did really well at finding video warehouses blowing out adult movies on VHS. Ron & I also explored a few first-wave craftbeer venues in Orange County (including the Goat Hill Tavern in Costa Mesa. ^). I was there for another 12 days. I could have stayed there longer, but deduced I had to get back to Chicago to pay my credit card bills. (Yes, I had booked my return LAX-MDW flight in advance.)
This is pretty much it. If there are any questions, I am reachable via the forum. I thank OP for posing this query.