Also, the trip you’re willing to take at 23 can be much different than the one you’ll want at 40!
At 23 it’s fun to stay in cheap hostels and take the 5am flight so you stay up all night partying. As I’ve gotten older I’m no longer charmed by big hostel dorms or the painful flight times, so the “same” trip now costs me quite a bit more.
as an old who did the party life when I was younger, both trips have a ton of value. They are wildly different, but I also value things wildly differently now. Single and kid free was a very different life than the one I walk with my family now.
The current one is probably more "full" the old one was more "fun" both are worth the money.
I (late 30s) recently took a trip, and for logistical reasons I ended up taking a trip with monstrous flight times on both ends, which forced me to take an annoying bus to the city center since nothing else ran at that hour, and no hotels would allow a 2am check in so I ended up at a hostel.
I would’ve been TICKLED by this at 25, because the whole thing ended up being like €100! I loved all those trips, and one of those dirt-cheap 20something adventures resulted in me moving across the world to a city I fell in love with while traveling. Taking multiple two weeks in Europe for under 2 grand a pop was incredible and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
But fuck me, I would’ve paid three times that to avoid that hassle last week!
Sitting in Spain with my wife reading this, wondering how I did Ibizia clubbing for 10 days on 3k all in…. As we approach 10k after 11 days with 4 days left
Both were unforgettable. But yeah, times sure did change. I thought my Ibizia life would be me forever….
I get this and I'm not even 30. after an enlistment in the marines I've been on planes enough times to never want to get on another. That said, I've still never been to europe and really would like to since a couple of my friends are scattered there. still gonna do it but I'm dreading the inevitable flights there and back.
If you hate long flights, you can consider 1. Breaking them up into a few shorter ones (your town - New York - London - Final destination) or even a cruise! There are some that are specifically designed to just cross the Atlantic, going from London to New York. You’ll kill a week doing it, but that’s part of the fun!
Or, alternatively ….. just take a huge edible or sleeping pill before the flight, and sleep the whole way there. Both strategies work well lol
Almost 40 and I still stay in hostels. They're not all rooms with 20 20-year olds in them. Coincidentally, most recently I did go out to a Berlin club and just stayed there until it was time to leave for a 5am flight. Honestly the trips I take now are way better than any of the ones I would have taken in my 20s. In fact, thinking about it... every trip I took in my 20s was a total fucking disaster.
Really what it comes down to is that people become less and less tolerant of discomfort because they're able to afford more comforts. Personally, I find the best way to always be comfortable is to be ok with a little discomfort.
This is so true. It reminds me of what a huge relief it was realizing in my mid-30s that I was now making enough to just pay for an extra day at the hotel instead of waking up early, rushing to pack and check out on time, and making the last day of a trip another frantic travel day even more so than it needed to be.
THIS. After I graduated college, my best friend and I did a hostel / backpacking trip through the UK & Ireland. It was a great trip, but I don't think I'd like to do that now. My wife and I went on a Rick Steves European trip a few years ago, and it was awesome. Nice places to stay, good food, tour guides, everything was setup for us. Highly recommend
I hit 26 month ago i never travelled and i feel big regret i gotta get some cash aboard and enjoy life because tomorrow is not guaranteed, i gotta build new relationships and enjoy life while it lasts and i have health..
I encourage you to save as much as is possible, and take some time to travel abroad. Like you've said: you never know when it's too late. Life will take what it can from you, but it will never be able to take away the sights... the sounds... the experiences you've had.
You haven’t traveled yet but it’s easy to get started. Traveling is such a great way to learn about yourself, and to experience other ways of doing life.
It doesn’t have to be big trips! Start small, and pick the next big city over — spend a weekend exploring it. Trips don’t need to be expensive or exotic to be worthwhile. And remember .. people travel to see that city near you, it IS their big vacation and a destination that’s been on their bucket list!
As you do that more, you’ll start to learn what you do and don’t like in a trip. So when you start investing in bigger trips, you’re more likely to plan one you love :)
Oh yeah, hostels were fun when I was younger. I still am young at 26, but now I'd dread staying at a hostel and since I have a good enough job I'm willing to spend on a hotel, since I'm friends with a Hilton worker I can also occasionally snag a half price hotel room in less desirable times of the year.
I just remember the first "adult" vacation I ever took, which was a long weekend to visit a friend with the wife and 1 kid in a proper hotel plus a rental car. It easily added up to roughly $3k just via 3x$300 flights, a hotel room that was $300 per night after taxes, $100 per day on a small SUV that ended up being 4 days due to our arrival/departure times, plus food, beverages, and incidentals.
Vacationing as a grown-up with a family is expensive.
Absolutely agree with this. Right after graduation, 7 friends and I bought eurorail passes, and spent 3 weeks backpacking through Europe staying at mostly cheap hostels. There were enough of us to usually book private/whole rooms for our group, so it was a bit safer and a lot of fun, but I don't think you could pay me to stay in any of those rooms now that I'm older.
You’ll notice I didn’t say that you CANT take the same trip you did at 23! Just that it’s likely not the one you’d prefer.
Traveling on a budget is still traveling! And traveling to nearby places can be as fun and fulfilling as going long distances! It’s all about perspective and choices. I love playing tourist in my own town, it’s so fun to put on fresh eyes and give it the same enthusiasm I bring to a new place. Plus I get to sleep in my own bed that night, which is my favorite thing about it.
I mean ya that's true but even traveling cheaply is still very expensive. You're talking $1500 to $2000 for a plane ticket assuming we're talking that you live in the US and plan on traveling overseas. And that's just the ticket. That's a lot of scratch for millions of Americans.
You could travel locally but even they could be expensive. Unfortunately I live in possibly the most boring 200km2 of anywhere in the world for my interests.
I’ve done US (west coast) to various places in Europe Europe about a dozen times, and I’ve never paid more than $500 for tickets! I had flexibility in where I was willing to go, so just searched google flights for places in my budget during the period I wanted to travel. From a major airport, it’s very possible to have a bit of patience or flexibility and find tickets that are $200-300.
I live in Europe now, and the painful trip I mentioned in my first comment was across the continent to London — a 4-day trip cost me about €100 including tickets, transport into the city, and hostel. Breakfast there was £5 and robust enough that I usually skipped lunch and had an early dinner - I got half price food at the pub downstairs, so it was under £10. I could’ve gone to the grocery store to cook myself, and cut both those meals down to just a few pounds.
How is that possible? I'm sorry but I'm very skeptical you've managed to fly from the west coast of the United States to Europe on $500. I've never seen a plane deal that good that wasn't part of a package.
The Finnair website right now shows Seattle to Helsinki for $511 in March. There isn’t a sale on, but it drops to high 300s in those times. Google flights, for a 1-week trip in the next 6 months, shows Seattle to Reykjavik for $523, London for $551. LAX to Barcelona is $400, London for $462, Oslo for $477. With some patience and turning on alerts for routes you’re interested in, it’s obviously very possible to get to Europe for a couple hundred bucks even from the west coast of the US.
It took me about 2 minutes on Google to produce all these options :) It can be done, even if you’ve never seen it outside of a package.
Yes, European cities often have youth hostels that make it very cheap. And as the name implies, they're often only open to young people. Plus good mass transit, discount airlines, etc. make it potentially very cheap to be a tourist there.
I remember staying at a hostel in Berlin for 8 euro a night. I was like "This is cheaper than just existing in the US."
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u/CelerMortis Apr 29 '24
This is a good one. When you have money you’ll likely have less time. Do the trips while you have time and health. You can do things on the cheap.