Not a direct answer to the OP but still on topic, I hope:

Viajera and I recently returned from a 7 week DONEx, and as I usually do, just finished doing all the $$$ accounting for the trip. Boy, the OP is not really that far wrong wondering just how most can afford this stuff. Our grand total for this trip comes to the not so trivial amount of just under $35K, excluding shopping. We are budget travellers, who never get anywhere near a 5-star anything or drive anything much bigger than a compact, so hate to think what the total would be if we stay/eat at top places, or rented some sexy looking wheels. Now, time that x2 per year, all of it out of pocket, and we are talking about really serious money (for us anyway) over time. With that dough we could actually buy some of the places we stayed at. Anyhow, you can't take it with you...