Traveling beyond your means on miles and points
#121
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Times Square
Programs: SPG Gold, AAdvantage
Posts: 1,397
We are in the same boat regarding long trips - ours generally are 30 to 45 days long - may be 1/3 of the length is covered by free hotel stays. The rest are all paid nights whether it is on land or at sea. I have also found the transportation cost a major cash item - whether it is inter-cities on LCCs in Europe, or the local trains for day trips, r/t from/to airports, metro/bus within cities - all add up to the biggest cash item from the total cash cost of a trip... Foods actually much lower than that as we often take picnic lunch when we travel in Europe.
To answer the OP, international travel for leisure is not an uncommon thing to do amongst my friends and professional colleagues. Our friends do still think we are up to something very much not legit because we travel so much more often than them, but no one ever really questions if we can afford it. However, the staff I work with and clients at our offices would be in utter disbelief and jealous that I am probably one of those awful 1%-ers ruining this country one luxury vacation at a time if I told them of my vacation plans. To get around this, one colleague always tells his staff and clients that he is going to Albuquerque for business every time he goes away for a trip. No one ever questions a trip to Albuquerque and no one really desires to go there multiple times in a year. Of course this requires that you keep your FB account on super lockdown and not post pictures of Brazil when you were supposed to be in Albuquerque.
Unfortunately at my job, I had no way around it because I used to go to the airport straight from work, so when you show up with a rollerboard in a tiny office, people of course want to know where you are going.
#122
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,767
In Europe the custom is, when the hotel calls a taxi for you, the taxi starts its meter running from the moment the taxi is coming to the hotel... If your taxi driver started his meter when he arrived the hotel, you were already being charged LESS.
#123
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 448
I discovered this to be the case in Paris on our 1st europe trip. I also learned to keep exact change on me, otherwise taxi drivers seem to like to keep a big tip for themselves when giving change because all americans are big tippers right
#124
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Times Square
Programs: SPG Gold, AAdvantage
Posts: 1,397
I had just assumed he started the meter when he arrived. It may have very well been when he was called. I didn't know this is the custom in Europe. Learned something new on FT today!
#125
Suspended
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 2,998
To get around this, one colleague always tells his staff and clients that he is going to Albuquerque for business every time he goes away for a trip. No one ever questions a trip to Albuquerque and no one really desires to go there multiple times in a year. Of course this requires that you keep your FB account on super lockdown and not post pictures of Brazil when you were supposed to be in Albuquerque.
#126
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Brooklyn, NY, United States
Programs: AA, BA, UA, Spirit, Delta, PC Plat, SPG Gold, HHonors Diamond, Club Carlson Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,735
...To get around this, one colleague always tells his staff and clients that he is going to Albuquerque for business every time he goes away for a trip. No one ever questions a trip to Albuquerque and no one really desires to go there multiple times in a year. Of course this requires that you keep your FB account on super lockdown and not post pictures of Brazil when you were supposed to be in Albuquerque...
#127
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Southern California (LAX)
Programs: Marriott Gold, Identity Platnium (Cosmopolitan), Palladium Card, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 177
#128
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: MKE
Programs: WN CP, Hilton Gold
Posts: 205
This is great information -- thanks for sharing!
#129
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: Starwood, Delta, American Airlines, USA, United
Posts: 223
DOWN LOW
We also have to keep most of our trips on the down low from our staff, as they will think that we make too much money! Sometimes we go and don't utter a word about where we are going.... like Istanbul or Petra. That is a hard one to keep under the brim, as I am usually beaming with excitement! Other times we tell them we have a conference we need to go to for work... but we never befriend our staff on FB! that way I can still post my picks!
#130
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2012
Programs: AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Delta Silver Medallion, Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador
Posts: 14,117
Love it!!!
And agree with the general sentiment expressed here that it's best to avoid the issue of how one pays for things altogether. My family's finances are no one's business but our own, and we are very private about them.
#131
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA Plat MM, AA Gold, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Gold, IHG Plat, Marriott Titanium Elite
Posts: 5,015
When I talk about my upcoming trips, like the one to Brazil, I often find myself adding like a disclaimer or something--"Of course I got free flights on miles". There is no way someone of my income level could afford the kind of travel I do otherwise, especially in Australia where they don't have the mega credit card bonuses I can get as a US citizen with a good Fico. It's like I don't want people to think I am secretly wealthy (I am not) and try to hit me up for loans or something. And I don't want people who see us walking out of an IC or Westin (on points) to think I am one of those rich people who usually stay there.
Does anyone else do this? I mean "apologize" or add disclaimers when they talk about their travels?
Does anyone else do this? I mean "apologize" or add disclaimers when they talk about their travels?
#132
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Phoenix area
Programs: AA, SWA, most hotel programs
Posts: 356
It's not just coworkers. The hotel concierge thinks I want to take a deluxe taxi to an expensive restaurant, when all I really want is directions to the metro and a nearby 7-11 with a bakery section. A hostel reception knows I want to travel cheaply and is often more helpful.
The problem is: you can get to your destination free of cost but the free ticket may delude you into thinking that your trip is free. Its not.. By the time you add up your other transportation, meals, visit to attractions etc, you would have spent a significant amount.. more so if you are going to an expensive destination like Japan.
I try to avoid expensive countries but I can't think of anywhere that is truly too expensive to go to, except maybe Bhutan that I think still has a min. daily spending requirement. Generally, if there are local people living in a place, there are local places to eat for less.
Last edited by Bohemiana; Aug 10, 2012 at 8:06 pm
#133
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,767
I try to avoid expensive countries but I can't think of anywhere that is truly too expensive to go to, except maybe Bhutan that I think still has a min. daily spending requirement. Generally, if there are local people living in a place, there are local places to eat for less.
#134
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
#135
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Competition also drives down prices, too. Many of the expensive places have less competing transportation, lodging and meal facilities.
Well, Africa can be awfully expensive. Been doing a tiny bit of research right now. 2 FT friends have done African trips - both were frugal minded, esp one traveled in a family of 5... both told me it was a very expensive trip and there were very little ways to keep the cost down. The family of 5 has gone to many exotic places, incl Easter Island, Galapargos and Chilean Fjords yet he said the South African trip has topped the chart in terms of both expenses and excitement... I guess it boils down to in countries / cities where the infrastructures are not there, it can be an expensive trip.