megalab

We're all over the place depending on the destination, purpose, or family members involved. We do have a generally generous budget but it's hard to please everyone cost-effectively. We'll use points/miles to upgrade where we can and shift budget to splurge elsewhere.

I've used a lot of miles to upgrade many of our flights, but since family vacations are usually during peak travel periods even Y fares can be eye-popping (we've gotten group rates when enough of us go together) so premium cabin fares are usually out of reach.

Lodging depends on the experience we want. We've stayed in some high-end resorts and have also gone camping. When the resort is the point we spend what it takes to get that Booking.yeah! feeling and all the activities/experiences needed to please everyone at least some of the time. OTOH, I won't spend resort-level prices for an airport Hilton when a decent, reasonable Hyatt Place or 4 Points is available. (Shout out to 4P SMF!) However, it seems our camping/"Eco-lodge" experiences generate the most "remember when..." conversations so money doesn't always buy the best memories.

If the whole family is together we can only fit in a minivan (and I don't like driving Suburbans), but if it's a special weekend with one of the kids we let them choose their special (luxury/muscle/quirky) car.

I'm a foodie and will do what it takes to experience the best local, authentic, unique cuisines, but it's hard to find something everyone can agree on so sometimes we end up at the lowest common denominator so there's not always any point in spending extra for that. I am starting to get more of them to come around though.

As the kids have gotten older we're spending more on tours and other experiences that will really make the trip memorable. No point going somewhere and not understand what made it worth going there in the first place. However, when there's a lot of us we're not above asking for a group rate for what practically becomes a private tour.