How do you pay for your trips?

[sandie]

Ok - When you have 4 people taking them to the US for 6 weeks is worth about $35,000. Peter and I both get good wages but we also have a salary, private school fees and 4 cars (no, I don't know why either!) So if we saved we would only go once every ten yeras not every 3. So how do you pay for your trips?

We can generally put aside $20000 in three years so that leaves a short fall of $15,000. Peter is not too fond of extra work - its all about the play time to him so that leaves me!

I run my ebay shop, I sell scrapbooking stuff at a couple of markets a year and I sell about 2000 home made cards a year.

Last trip I had paid for $12,000 worth of accomodation with selling scrapbooking stuff. Of course being organised (read anal) and booking most things 12 months in advance saves money like plane tickets San Francisco to Cleveland $59 each, and 5 star Atlanta Hilton Balconty room $101 instead of $420. Plus I won teh two stretch limos we used on ebay - got a 5 hour Atlanta tour in a stretch hummer and a 2 hour stretch 300c for $500.

Sandie

[ajp]

Interesting topic Sandie. And the answer to that question at the moment is, I have no idea how I'm going to pay for our trips.

On previous trips we used the redraw function of our mortgage, which means that the home loan doesn't go down as much as it should, but it's a great way of saving money. I also get a reasonably decent bonus each year which was able to top it up as well, but to be honest it is a stretch to achieve things now. With the cost of things including interest rates, savings are all but gone, which is why we have to book our next set of flights on Frequent Flyers, which has it's own challenges as we must travel around school holidays. About 2 years ago I put in place a comfortable savings plan that would have enable us to do a WDW/Cruise holiday in 2010, but the interest rates (and an unexpected hit) means that we'll only be looking at Tokyo/Hong Kong at the moment. So in short whilst we're trying for one soon, in reality we may need to wait until the kids are old enough where we can sell the house, downsize and start saving again!

[KeithS]

I spent a very frugal 10 years paying off my home (aided by having a Commonwealth Bank staff housing loan at 4.2%) - those 10 years were tough, but worth it in the long run. The first 5 years of going to the club meetings were strange, because everyone would tell us of their Disneyland adventures and it was hard for me and Della to fit in, not having been there (our holidays consisted of a week in Victoria etc). But now, no mortgage and good wages makes it a lot easier - but there have been job scares this year to put things into perspective - but I survived those for the time being.

[churros]

We never thought it was an option while I worked as a casual teacher with unpaid TAFE holidays but in 2005 Make-a-wish paid for our trip to DL and last year's trip to HKDL was just me. 2 years ago I moved into a full-time job that gives me 11 weeks paid holiday a year that I can take any time. I am also contracted to mark TAFE assignments all year and I get paid per paper. It means I am marking every night and weekends at home but it is completely paying for our upcoming trip. The only issue for us was when air prices started hiking up I wanted to pay for everything in advance so I took out a personal loan but my marking will cover it. I am also leaving my husband at home to feed the cat and that reduces the cost.

I figured this might be my last chance to take my eldest away as he is in Year 10 and I won't be taking him anywhere in the next 2 years and after that he may not want to travel with me. He is also well at the moment and we don't know what the future holds for him so I am taking advantage of his health now. My husband would prefer to spend our money on shower screens and a driveway but they will still be there when the children have grown up and moved out! Our priorities are very different but I would rather drive a bomb and travel than have a new car! However I also can see a day when I can travel without the kids!

[calisota]

When I was single and had no mortgage travelling was just a matter of deciding where I wanted to go each year. Then I got the mortgage and it all changed. Then I had to start to decide between things like a girlfriend (damned expensive things to run), toys with buttons and flashing lights and trips. Of course my last bit of travelling was because of a job so i don't know if it counts in this topic but now I have no idea when I might be able to travel again. I have just gotten a job working the console in a service station doing the night shift and it actually pays better than being a shift manager at the Casino did so maybe if i stick with it a trip every year or two isn't out of the question. To answer the question...I usually do it on savings.

Greg

[Mel]

Good question! At the moment we save, save, save! Save frequent flyer points (that's how we got to Tokyo two years ago) and save money in seperate accounts. We currently have a six month term deposit that we re-invest with an extra $500 in every six months. The $500 mostly comes from moneyboxes where we put all our spare change and we just make up the difference from our 'emergency' fund. DH and I are quite good savers as we're quite frugal - not to the point of being tight, but we're just not really into going out a lot (who can with a 15 month old anyway?) or shopping. We've paid a reasonable-sized chunk off our mortgage since we got it four years ago and if we didn't decide to start having babies and buy a new family car, we would have been able to pay it off in two and a half more years - ouch, that hurts to think about! Anyway, our tentative 2010 trip to Tokyo will be a mortgage re-draw as a reward for our good work with the loan. 2014 is our big trip where we will use our term deposit money and our frequent flyer points to take the kids to DL and WDW and maybe now (thanks to Jess!) a Disney Cruise.

Before the mortgage and DH I just used to pick a place and go.

[mushu mama]

Wow... next time I take a trip I'm employing some of you guys to organise my finances for me.

I can do a lot of stuff... but numbers scare the c*** out of me. I could no sooner put together those kinds of trip organisations than fly to the moon.

My trips have been a weird combo of savings, loans, credit cards and luck.
No two trips have been the same.
I've won holidays to QLD, Tokyo (Disneyland) and a few other Victorian destinations closer to what was then my home.
Some holidays I've borrowed every last cent and some I've done a borrow some/save some effort. I've never once regretted paying for it when I get back. Life is short and I don't plan on wasting all that much more of it.
One of my holidays to Bali was paid for via our home extensions ( thanks to a local Bunnings type of centre that had travel dollars promo they gave you according to your purchases) Our trip to Bali cost us about $300 ALL UP for two (only because we upgraded).
My last trip was a combo of windfall and borrowing.
The only trip I've planned in great detail was Tahiti ( because it was the first OS trip). After that, its been easier and easier to just decide, book and go in not too large a time frame.
I am an opportunistic traveller... when its possible, I go. If you want to go bad enough, its always possible, you just have to think outside the square.
Not all that organised, I admit, but it makes for an interesting life.

Lisa. -/

[Mel]

Lisa, you reminded me that two of my trips have been prizes. I won a trip on the Fairstar when I was 15 and instead of getting to stay in a suite, my family insisted we DOWN-grade so that both my folks and sister could come.

The second trip I won was to the Comedy Festival in Montreal. It was through the Comedy Channel on Foxtel and the Foxtel chicky who helped me organise it was really good and let me organise a week in Disneyland on the way to Montreal - that's when my husband proposed to me! And the best part (well apart from the proposal) was that we got a few thousand bucks in spending money so it took care of the Disneyland accommodation and tickets! Wouldn't mind winning something like that again!

[mushu mama]

those wins sound wonderful Mel... but I'm sure you learned what I did... it ends up costing you quite a lot regardless. I wasn't lucky enough to have spending money thrown in - that'd be great.

Lisa.

[KeithS]

Wow - I can't believe that there are two people on here who have won overseas trips via a competition! I never knew that normal people win these things - I'll have to enter more often

[sandie]

Angela and Jack also won a trip to WDW and DL in a Toy Story DVD comp when the boys were young.

Sandie

[mushu mama]

yep... it was a DVD comp that won TDL for me as well... and which one?

Mulan .


Lisa.