I earn money as well, I was just looking at ticket prices and some of the trip reports and doing the math in my head. This isn't an attack on people saying "Why are you spending your money that way?!", it's a question of how you make it affordable.
In the very near future I hope to take my girlfriend to a few far off destinations and maybe hop around a bit. I am just keeping this in the back of my mind as I write posts and try to figure out how to make that trip comfortable (hopefully in F or J) and as enjoyable as possible.